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Morning Must Reads -- Harry Reid is so optimistic that he might just cry
By: Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor
10/26/09 8:48 AM EDT
New York Times -- Democrats Are Optimistic That Public Option Will Be Approved
Writer Joseph Berger has caught the public option fever and he can’t shake it. Berger’s piece reflects a theme building steam since Harry Reid’s effort to dump Medicare costs into the deficit failed on Thursday: that Reid and President Obama will have no choice but to accept a government-run insurance plan favored by liberals.
I argue in my column today that the re-emergence of a public option is not a good sign for overall Democratic aims. For the reasons Robert Samuelson and others ably explain, the dangers of such a plan are so great that they scare even some liberals.
But Berger runs with the theme, even as he provides quotes from Obama allies who sound anything but convinced. The momentum seems to be for passing anything, calling it health reform and then running away from it as fast as possible.
“Speaking on ABC’s ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos,’ Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri took note of various alternatives that could pass, including the trigger mechanism or a bill that would allow states a choice to ‘opt in’ to a federal government plan.
‘I remain pretty optimistic,’ she said. ‘I think it gets done this year and I think we end up with some opportunity to go to some kind of nonprofit.’”
Washington Post -- If you build a coverage mandate, will they come?
Writer Alec MacGillis offers the defense of mandatory health insurance without a government-run plan from supporters of the plan in the White House, namely Peter Orszag and his warren of econogeeks at the Office of Management and Budget.
Orszag and others in the administration know that a public option would blow up any hopes for deficit reduction, and, therefore a viable Obama agenda. They also know that making penalties for failing to buy insurance high enough to scare people into coverage will be disastrous for those at the margins of the middle class.
That’s why they are all reading David Brooks and arguing for a mandate-based system, low penalties and the power of “behavioral economics.”
“As the behavioral economists see it, compliance will depend not only on the penalties and cost of coverage, but also on the ease of signing up for coverage and whether people can be persuaded that it is a widely accepted social norm. They point to the large number of eligible people who fail to take advantage of Medicaid, food stamps and Pell grants as a sign that perceived inconvenience can keep people from taking steps in their economic interest.”
Washington Post – U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game
Writers Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung found out what’s still on the table after the president’s month-long reconsideration of his Afghan strategy, including 15 hours of meetings.
The options are a mini surge of 15,000 more troops and the 44,000 troops requested by his commander in Afghanistan. Jaffe and DeYoung know that the Pentagon ran war games (presumably virtual) on both scenarios. They don’t, however, know the results.
One tends to think that the president will be loathe to accept the $40 billion-plus in costs and anger from his base for doing what Gen. Stanley McChrystal has asked. That means a 15,000-troop increase, the declaration of a new strategy, and maybe some additional civilian or police support from other NATO nations.
But when?
“Administration officials say Obama might settle on a plan but delay announcing it until after a runoff in the Afghan national elections, scheduled for Nov. 7. The president is to begin a 10-day trip to Asia on Nov. 11.
Early this month, McChrystal was told to delay a planned Washington trip until Obama had finished gathering facts on the way ahead. ‘When you see McChrystal in town,’ along with [the ambassadors to Pakistan and Afghanistan], a senior administration official said, ‘you'll know that [Obama] is close to a decision.’”
New York Times -- U.S. Considers Reining In ‘Too Big to Fail’ Institutions
Writer Steven Labaton believes that some companies are too big to be allowed to fail. He also has a source at the Treasury Department who hints that Secretary Tim Geithner and Rep. Barney Frank have cut a deal on what kind of authority to give the executive branch when it comes to taking over, destroying, and operating firms that have a substantial impact on the national economy.
Frank will give up his plan for pre-emptive demolitions of large banks and Geithner will promise to be horribly bothersome to his old friends on Wall Street.
“It would force such institutions to hold more money in reserve and make it harder for them to borrow too heavily against their assets.
Setting up the equivalent of living wills for corporations, that plan would require that they come up with their own procedure to be disentangled in the event of a crisis, a plan that administration officials say ought to be made public in advance.”
Wall Street Journal -- Obama Races for Cash
While President Obama has been complaining about his job, he is still inspired by campaigning and fundraising.
As Obama prepares to head to Florida for his 26th fundraiser of the year, writer Jonathan Weisman looks at the numbers. Obama’s love of campaigning, displeasure with life in the White House, and the arbitrary caps of the McCain-Feingold legislation have kept the president on the road.
“White House spokesman Robert Gibbs noted that in 2001, Mr. Bush's first year in office, donors could write unlimited checks to political parties. In 2002, the campaign-finance law by Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) outlawed unlimited "soft money" donations to parties. Donations to parties are now capped at $30,400, indexed to inflation. Donations to individual candidates can't exceed $2,400 each election cycle.
CBS radio correspondent Mark Knoller, who tabulates presidential statistics, said Mr. Bush raised $48 million in six appearances. The most-recent figures available show Mr. Obama raised $21 million after 20.”
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