Conservatism Dead by Its Own Hand: O'Rourke

Lefty glories in Bush's imminent departure, fires off some parting shots

(NEWSER) - George W. Bush will soon no longer be president, and “it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the multifaceted burden that will soon be lifted from our collective shoulders,” Paul Waldman writes in the American Prospect, taking more than a few minutes to catalog the low points of 43's legacy. With the spectacular achievement of Barack Obama, it’s easy to pass over the spectacular failure of Bush. “Goodbye,” Waldman writes, “to the culture of incompetence.” More»

Longevity expert debunks myth that White House duty shortens life

(NEWSER) - President Obama's graying hair has set off the typical chatter that serving as president is so stressful it's bound to take years off a person's life. Not so, says a longevity expert in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In fact, our presidents tend to live longer than the rest of us. S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois crunched the numbers involving 34 presidents who died of natural causes and found that 23 exceeded the life expectancy of men in their era, reports Reuters . More»

US increasing spending on HIV treatment by $50 million

(NEWSER) - President Obama marked World AIDS Day with a promise of more money and increased attention both in the US and abroad, reports AP :

• The US will increase spending on HIV treatment within its own borders by $50 million.
• He promised to help 6 million people in hard-hit countries get access to proper medicine by 2014, raising the original goal by 2 million.
• The US also aims to help get drugs to 1.5 million pregnant women who are HIV-positive, to distribute 1 billion condoms in the developing world over the next two years, and to pay for 4.7 million male circumcisions in Africa.

Bush policies account for $7T: Washington Post

(NEWSER) - The United States started 2001 with a cozy nest egg of more than $2 trillion, and now the country owes about $10 trillion—but who's to blame? Put simply, Obama-era policies account for $1.7 trillion of the debt, and Bush policies for over $7 trillion, the Washington Post reports in an economic breakdown of the past 10 years. As the Post has it, America's biggest challenge entering the 21st century was figuring out how to spend its Clinton-era surplus—and Bush decided to throw most of it at tax cuts. More»

Clinton precedent may not help with midterm dilemmas

(NEWSER) - President Obama is far from the first president to see his party humbled in midterm elections, but precedent may not be much help as he wrestles with tough choices in the wake of yesterday's drubbing. Obama—who plans a press conference today and has already spoken to House speaker-in-waiting John Boehner—must now decide whether to move to the center and reach out to victorious Republicans or steer left to reach out to liberal voters, the Wall Street Journal finds. More»