Mori Dinauer

Broken Senate Roundup: The confirmation process is untenable and Obama would be a fool not to make good on the perfectly reasonable threat of recess appointments; Republicans whine about the Senate parliamentarian they brought in to replace the guy who says any single senator can introduce a public option amendment during reconciliation; Jim Bunning‘s public […]

Like Kevin Drum, I’ve been having a difficult time putting into words what motivates the post-Jim Bunning GOP who have decided, through their complicity, to needlessly inflict pain on the American public. Is it just pure malice at the Democratic majority? A desire to create a Dickensian dystopia through government indifference? Inchoate rage that they’re […]

With Dick Durbin jumping on board, Democratic support in the Senate for re-introducing the public option is now at 30 and counting, which means it’s time again to play “will Democrats act in their own narrow self-interest?” Now clearly 30 votes is not 50 votes, and a reconciliation bill that includes a public option changes […]

“Every now and then a piece of writing captures the mood of the moment and the essence of an ideology so completely that it warrants special attention,” begins Damon Linker‘s response to Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru‘s National Review cover story, subtitled “The Obama administration’s assault on American identity.” And indeed, what follows is a […]

Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) says he believes “there should be a federal safety net” yet also asks rhetorically whether extending unemployment insurance is the equivalent of the government “creating hobos.” In attempting to reconcile these two sentiments, I have to ask: at which point do our unemployed on government assistance officially become hobos? After one […]

The health-care summit, rather than being an informative policy debate, has instead put on display an uncomfortable truth about the presidency of Barack Obama. On the one hand, as Jon Chait remarks off-the-cuff, Obama is a remarkably cogent communicator, and despite my allegiance to the “structural factors” view of elections, I can’t help but believe […]

Tom Goldstein has a long post arguing that Justice John Paul Stevens will retire this spring, and by “October 4, 2010, Elena Kagan will ask her first question as a Supreme Court Justice.” As far as his analysis of Supreme Court politics goes, the thesis is plausible enough, but I don’t see why the president’s […]

Harry Joe, a junior at Dartmouth, has put together a convincing argument that, based upon the generic congressional ballot, Democrats stand to lose an unprecedented number of seats in the midterm elections. Joe grants that national polls might not necessarily reflect the opinions of every individual congressional district, but when plugged into a particular regression […]

Lost in all the ink spilled over whether Rahm Emanuel is wrecking the White House, offering shrewd advice, or even being responsible for the rise of the tea partiers is an overwhelming consensus: Rahm Emanuel is the center of the political universe. I find this very strange since, in his capacity as White House chief […]

The White House has finally taken a stance on health care: they are committing to it, one way or another, even if that means using budget reconciliation. The unveiling of what one could accurately call “Obamacare” will premiere on Monday, in advance of Thursday’s health-care summit. I like this approach because it acknowledges the source […]