The White House knows President Obama's plan, which he'll lay out this week in the State of the Union Address, is unrealistic. Dan Pfeiffer, a top White House adviser, said so earlier today on CBS:
As Republican euphoria over the November 4 election begins to subside and more practical considerations emerge, a looming question is whether the various factions within the Republican party will be able to work together. One recent but little-noted change in Senate leadership may have increased…
Pundits throw out all sorts of numbers to explain the Republican defeat in the 2012 presidential election. So here’s our number: $65,000. That is a rough estimate of the household income of the average 2012 voter. Republicans lost because Mitt Romney did not do well enough with this voter or those…
The WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on President Obama's speech on his administration's strategy to take on ISIS.
2017 Project executive director Jeffrey Anderson issued a memorandum this morning reporting that the nonpartisan Center for Health & Economy has "scored" the group’s alternative to Obamacare. THE WEEKLY STANDARD readers are familiar with the broad case for the alternative (see here and here), which…
The world continues to ask questions about who is responsible for the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines (MH) flight 017 as it was crossing the airspace over the border between Russia and the eastern region of Ukraine near the city of Donetsk. The aircraft, a U.S.-made Boeing 777, was by all…
The big topic of discussion on the Sunday shows was, of course, Obamacare. And the big challenge for supporters of the president, and his signature program, was to parse the language of “If you like your plan …” so as to make it mean something other than what millions reasonably assumed it meant.
The full reality of what Obamacare will mean for average Americans is only now becoming clear as the crisis over cancelled insurance plans in the individual market has steadily unfolded in recent days. Some 3 to 4 million people have already received notices from their insurers that their policies…
Last night, Fred Upton, the Republican chairman of the of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the "Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013." The goal is simple: To allow people who like their health care plans to keep them for the next year under Obamacare.
On the very day the Obamacare insurance marketplaces opened for business, a new topic appeared on the HealthCare.gov website:
As Obamacare was being pushed through Congress in 2010, the Obama administration and its allies were unequivocal in two claims: If you like your doctor and you like your current health care plan, you can keep them both. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the…
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, revealed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that he “burst into laughter” when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlined President Barack Obama's fiscal cliff plan yesterday. McConnell believes the plan is "completely unserious."
Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, responds to reports of Barack Obama's fiscal cliff "plan" by calling it a "fabrication."
Mitt Romney, the cautious candidate, wary of being specific, and counting on the bad economy to defeat President Obama – forget all that! The Romney who picked Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate is an entirely different person. He’s prepared to take the fight to Obama on the biggest…
I've gotten several inquiries about the poll numbers I cited this morning on Fox News Sunday.
Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal:
The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that, by a margin of 20 percentage points (56 to 36 percent), Americans support the repeal of Obamacare. This marks the first time since the spring of 2010, shortly after Obamacare’s passage, that 3-straight Rasmussen polls have shown at least…
President Obama, whose annual deficit spending has been more than twice as high as any other recent president’s (even as a percentage of the gross domestic product), has now released his new deficit plan. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “It is the president’s fourth package of deficit-reduction…
The White House briefing room is often known as the place where news goes to die. Reporters try hard to get the press secretary to “make news” – or say something useable for their television/radio/print/web stories of the day. They often fail, in part because the job of the press secretary, in many…
The Republican presidential field is beginning to take shape, and candidates and maybe-candidates are figuring out where they stand and what to say. Sooner or later, they will need to say something about education. May we suggest a few talking points?
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