Archives » Monday, August 17, 2009
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Katie Connolly
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Aug 17, 2009 04:03 PM
Today in things we never thought we'd see ... The White House has posted a video on its blog of chief of staff Rahm Emanuel reading a children's book to a group of kids as part of a summer reading initiative organized by the Department of Education. Rahm, who is notorious for his temper and profane language, entertains the kids with his rendition of Duck for President, a book about a young duck who defies the odds by winning the presidency. The best part comes at about 1:40, where he reads this passage about Duck's opponent, "Farmer Brown was furious. He ran to the barn and found the animals registering to vote," and then quips, "It's obviously not in Chicago." Watch the video here.
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Katie Connolly
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Aug 17, 2009 03:17 PM
Major newspapers today are reporting that the Obama administration is backing awayfrom including a public option in health-care reform legislation. I'min the camp that tends to believe that the cautious language employed by officials like Kathleen Sebelius in recent days isn't actually new,nor does it necessarily signal the death of the public option. Onereason is the difference between House and Senate politics. All oftoday's talk about shifting from a public option to a co-oparrangement emerges from the need to compromise with centrists in theSenate. In the House however, the political center is very different.
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Katie Connolly
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Aug 17, 2009 12:54 PM
Reading Politico's daily health care roundup Pulse this morning reminded me of a statement Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) made toCharlie Rose earlier this month. According to Politico, we should beexpecting Democratic lawmakers, in line with the President's wishes, topush for movement on the health care reform bill by mid-September, butsome, like Conrad appear reluctant to move so fast. "More importantthan any artificial deadline is getting this right," Conrad told Rose.In this context, does getting it "right" actually mean good policy?
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