Jamelle Bouie

I’m not sure that Republicans will have any success at this: With a big new majority in the House, Republicans will have little trouble passing whatever they want – including a full repeal of the health care reform law. But Republicans don’t have a majority in the Senate, so even modest changes to the law […]

Paul Krugman gets to the heart of the liberal objection to Simpson-Bowles: It will take time to crunch the numbers here, but this proposal clearly represents a major transfer of income upward, from the middle class to a small minority of wealthy Americans. And what does any of this have to do with deficit reduction? […]

This is low-profile, but significant: Unions are increasingly looking to the National Labor Relations Board to seek favorable workplace rulings, and the agency is showing a willingness to reopen matters previously decided in favor of employers. […] The NLRB can’t overhaul labor law, but it can make rulings on a case-by-case basis and set broader […]

I hope this happens, if only because the irony would be delicious (via Ben Smith): The citizens of Virginia will soon be able to express their support for smaller government and protest the federal government’s intrusion into the affairs of private citizens. How? With license plates that make a statement! Protest the government with your […]

I liked my colleague Adam Serwer‘s take on the deficit-reduction proposal from committee Co-Chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson: But as an expression of the values of political elites, this document is appalling. It recommends that veterans pay for their combat injuries, working people take a payroll tax hike and social security benefits get cut […]

Sam Stein and Howard Fineman report that the Obama administration is ready to cave on the Bush tax cuts: President Barack Obama’s top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board, temporary continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers. That appears […]

Democrats really want compromise, says a new poll by USA Today and Gallup. Republicans? Not so much: Americans think it is generally more important for political leaders to compromise to get things done (47%) rather than sticking to their beliefs (27%), but Republicans and Democrats hold differing views on the matter. Republicans tilt more toward […]

Rereading Amy Sullivan‘s 2006 piece on then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, I’m struck by her description of how the public came to oppose President Bush‘s plan to reform Social Security: Most of the press corps expected the debate to be a painful defeat for Democrats. Not only were moderates predicted to jump ship and join with […]

The New York Times has a nice piece on the political revival of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a year (and some) after the summer of national mockery surrounding his affair with an Argentine woman: After the scandal, Mr. Sanford, who had been considered a likely presidential candidate in 2012, resigned as chairman of the […]