An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll finds 6 in 10 Georgians “have little understanding of how Obamacare will affect them or their families, but most of them still don’t like it.”
That pretty much summarizes the problem facing the Obama administration as they work to implement the law.
New York magazine has a must-read profile and interview with Hillary Clinton:
“Clintonworld, however, speaks with many voices–albeit many of them not for attribution. Some of her close confidants, including many people with whom her own staff put me in touch, are far less circumspect than she is. ‘She’s running, but she doesn’t know it yet,’ one such person put it to me. ‘It’s just like a force of history. It’s inexorable, it’s gravitational. I think she actually believes she has more say in it than she actually does.'”
“And a longtime friend concurs. ‘She’s doing a very Clintonian thing. In her mind, she’s running for it, and she’s also convinced herself she hasn’t made up her mind. She’s going to run for president. It’s a foregone conclusion.'”
The Fix has a good summary of the entire piece.
Byron York: “Here is the defunders’ dilemma. Senate rules require a cloture vote — that is, a 60-vote margin — to begin debate and then to limit debate on the continuing resolution that contains the defunding language. If Republicans vote to do both — after all, they support defunding and want it to go forward — then after the vote to limit debate, Majority Leader Harry Reid can propose an amendment to strike the defunding provision. The rules allow that amendment to be passed on a simple majority vote. That means Democrats could strip out the language, and then pass — again, on a simple majority vote — a ‘clean’ spending resolution funding the government but making no change in Obamacare, and send it back to the House.”
“When Republicans who oppose the defunding gambit pointed out what the rules allow Reid to do, defunding proponents called it a ‘procedural trick’ and came up with an alternative strategy: Yes, Republicans should vote to begin debate on the bill. But they should then vote in a bloc against limiting debate. That would stop dead the entire continuing resolution –including the defunding provision — as the clock ticks toward a possible government shutdown. Nothing could go forward. Republicans would then press Reid to adopt a procedure that would require a 60-vote threshold to pass an amendment striking the defunding provision. At that point, if the Senate’s 46 Republicans remain united, Reid’s amendment could not pass.”
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Der Spiegel: “A tight race is shaping up between German parties ahead of the federal election, which could make for a suspenseful evening on Sunday. The latest polls suggest incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel’s current coalition government has a slight lead and could gain re-election on Sunday. But that outcome is far from certain, with polls showing her junior coalition partner, the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), just barely eking out the five percent of the vote required to stay in parliament.”
President Obama “will likely nominate Janet Yellen soon as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Yellen, the current vice chairman of the central bank, should enjoy uniform Democratic support and will almost certainly pick up enough Republican votes to win confirmation,” Politico reports.
“Then her real problems will begin.”
“Yellen, should she get the job, would take over at a uniquely difficult time for the nation’s central bank. Since the financial crisis, the Fed has been among the few constant sources of economic stewardship in Washington, pumping money into the struggling economy as Congress and the White House lurched from near-default to the first credit downgrade in the nation’s history to a series of high-stakes spending battles.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is trying to stay in the mix of possible presidential contenders, Politico reports.
“His strategy: Curry favor with influential party stalwarts, demonstrate to voters in key Democratic strongholds that he has the answers for how to jumpstart the economy and even show a little political leg with a pit stop in Iowa this November.”
“All this activity comes as Perry is weighing whether he should take another shot at the White House. It isn’t a simple calculation. Not only would Perry have to win back the support of those who abandoned his disastrously unsuccessful 2012 run, he would also have to contend with a new crop of party favorites like Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and fellow Texan Sen. Ted Cruz that are gaining a national following.”
“If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
— Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), responding on Facebook with a Biblical verse to a constituent opposed to cutting the food stamp program via North Decoder.
Out next month from Alan Greenspan: The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting.
“Our highest priority going forward is to fix our broken political system. Short of that, there is no viable long-term solution to our badly warped economy. In America we are being pulled apart politically in ways unrivaled since the aftermath of the 1929 crash.”
A newly-published book reports that a U.S. hydrogen bomb “nearly detonated on the nation’s east coast, with a single switch averting a blast which would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima,” the AP reports.
The Guardian published the recently-declassified document which details the information.
Roll Call notes they all have a negative net worth.
A new Roanoke College poll in Virginia shows Terry McAuliffe (D) edging Ken Cuccinelli (R) by two points in the race for governor, 35% to 33%, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis at 8%.
“It’s awfully hard to repeal Obamacare when a guy named Obama is president of the United States. We’re in a position to stop a lot of what he wants to do. We’re not in a position to undo.”
— Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), quoted by the New York Times.
After months of flirting with another campaign for Florida governor — “and trashing likely Democratic frontrunner Charlie Crist (D) — Alex Sink (D) has decided to stay on the sidelines,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Said Sink: “I’m enjoying the possibility of making a difference in private life.”
“Sink’s decision not to run was widely expected in Florida political circles, as she showed little sign of putting together a campaign and was up front about her ambivalence and her family’s opposition. But until Friday the former Bank of America leader and former state chief financial officer continued to keep the door open and several times pushed back her deadline for announcing a decision.”
“We’re not some banana republic. This isn’t some deadbeat nation. We don’t run out on our tab. We’re the world’s bedrock investment. The entire world looks to us to make sure the world economy is stable. We can’t just not pay our bills. And even threatening something like that is the height of irresponsibility.'”
— President Obama, quoted by the Boston Globe.
A clear divide over President Obama’s health care law “separates the emerging field of potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates. And it offers a preview of the battle Republicans nationwide will fight in their effort to build the party and win back the White House,” the AP reports.
“On one side of the health care fight are Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Texas’ Cruz and others who say they are standing on principle and willing to oppose the law at all costs.”
“On the other side are those taking what they call a pragmatic approach by accepting the law, if grudgingly, and moving on. Holding that view are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who says that shutting down the government would violate the public trust.”
Just fascinating: Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences by John Hibbing, Kevin Smith and John Alford.
“Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways, not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said that he will run for re-election again in 2016, the Des Moines Register reports.
“If Grassley wins in 2016, as expected, he will be 89 years old at the end of his next term. Today’s news was a political bombshell, just as Harkin’s surprise decision caught activists and political operatives off guard.”
Wonk Wire reviews the key indicators.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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