President Barack Obama says he will have his health care bill passed by the House before he leaves for Australia on March 18th. Nobody outside the White House believes that is going to happen. Next week’s blown deadline will join a crowded graveyard of past deadlines including July, August, and September. But blown deadlines are not the only reoccurring storyline from this health care debate. President George Bush economic adviser Keith Hennessey has paired thirteen 2009 health care headlines with thirteen 2010 headlines. See if you can tell which are from this year and which are from last year:
Politico: President Obama takes reform on the road
AP: Obama takes health care pitch to people—again
Bloomberg: Obama Set to Fight ‘Uphill Battle’ on Health Bill
Bloomberg: Obama to Appeal to Public on Health Care as Senate Struggles
AP: Obama’s health care pitch to Democrats: Trust me
AP: Obama makes last-minute appeal to Democrats for health care votes
AP: Obama to appeal for public support on health care
AP: Obama appeals for health care votes
CSM: To pass healthcare reform, Democrats may go it alone
CNN: Democrats May Pass Health Reform without GOP Support
NYT: Obama Takes Health Care Deadline to Democrats
AFP: Deadline looming, Obama urges health care action
Boston Globe: Obama steps up health care pressure
Politico: President Obama steps up health care push
AFP: Obama presents make-or-break health reform plan
NPR: For Obama, Health Care Overhaul Is Make-Or-Break
AP: Top Dems looking to Obama for health care momentum
Reuters: Obama tries to regain momentum in healthcare debate
Reuters: Obama seeks momentum, funds for Senate allies
Reuters: Obama team tries to regain momentum on healthcare
CBS: Obama’s Health Care Push: The Race is On
WaPo: Obama Health Care Push Resumes This Week
AP: Obama turns up the heat for health care overhaul
AP: Obama expands health care push
HuffPo: White House, Dems, Plan For Make-Or-Break Summit
Bloomberg: Obama Sets ‘Make-or-Break’ Deadline on Health Care
Despite as many as 100 explosions which killed at least 38 people in Baghdad, Iraqis defied a desperate insurgency yesterday and turned out in strong numbers to choose a new Parliament. According to The New York Times, “turnout was higher than expected, and certainly higher than in the last parliamentary election in 2005. … Sunnis who largely boycotted previous elections voted in force, and an intense competition for Shiite votes drove up participation in Baghdad and the south.” The NYT went on to describe the election as “arguably the most open, most competitive election in the nation’s long history of colonial rule, dictatorship and war.”
The United States still has much work to do in Iraq, but yesterday’s successful election is a major victory not just for Iraqis, but for everyone who wants to see peace and prosperity in the Middle East. Unfortunately there is still at least one nation in the region that is bent on seeing Iraq’s democratic experiment fail: Iran. The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is set to be released in a few weeks, and many insiders fear it is being tweaked to downplay the danger Iran represents to Iraq, the region and the United States. That would be a mistake.
As CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus told CNN this weekend, “Iran has gone from a theocracy to a thugocracy because of the citizens who are outraged by the hijacking of the election that took place last June.” And this thugocracy has responded to internal opposition by doubling down on their nuclear ambitions. Nobody wants to live in a world with a nuclear Iran, but too often we are told our choices are limited between the Obama administration’s do-nothing Iran policy and all out aerial bombardment. There are other realistic and effective steps that can be taken. Specifically, The Heritage Foundation has outlined Ten Steps to a Free Iran, including:
1. Impose and enforce the strongest sanctions.
2. Drop opposition to U.S. gasoline sanctions.
3. Target public diplomacy to expose the regime’s human rights abuses.
4. Facilitate communications among dissidents.
5. Aid opposition groups.
6. Reduce Iran’s meddling in Iraq.
7. Target covert actions to discredit the regime.
8. Modernize the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
9. Expand U.S. military capabilities to defend U.S. interests and allies.
10. Deploy a robust and comprehensive missile defense system.
None of these ten actions constitutes a silver bullet that could dismantle Iran’s thugocracy, but taken together they give the Iranian people a great hope for freedom. That is what makes yesterday’s Iraqi elections so important. A stable and democratic Iraq offers Shiites an alternative model that helps de-legitimize Iran’s Islamist system. Winning in Iraq can be just the first step to bringing freedom to its neighbor to the North.
Quick Hits:
- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates does not see eye-to-eye with President Barack Obama’s nuke-free dreams.
- Responding to reports the White House is considering trying Khalid Sheik Muhammed before a military tribunal, the ACLU is running a full-page New York Times ad showing President Obama morphing into President George Bush.
- Democratic pollster Mark Penn explains why the President should abandon his current health care bill for a step-by-step approach that would attract bipartisan support.
- A Congressional Budget Office report shows President Obama’s bank tax bill would ultimately be paid by you, the consumer.
- According to a new Center for Competitive Politics poll, Americans do still support the First Amendment and the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision.