Lieberman's Name Ain't Benedict

Looks like Dems have missed their chance again

(NEWSER) - This week’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell hearings were typical of Washington lately: “The Democrats waited too long to close the deal, the president showed no leadership, and a campaign promise that was seen as a fait accompli now seems a casualty,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times . Meanwhile, that "erratic and intolerant" "Arizona old-timer" John McCain inexplicably battled to prevent repeal, though even his own family and bosom buddy Joe Lieberman support it. More»

Need big gains in Congress ... and GOP president

(NEWSER) - While the idea of repealing the health-reform measure passed last night has Republicans buzzing nationwide, the actual chances of it happening are tiny, Nate Silver writes. At very least, nothing happens before January 2013, and that’s if President Obama and his veto are out of office. So from there, Silver continues on FiveThirtyEight , the GOP needs:

• To control the House. Given the tide of public sentiment, this could be a fait accompli by 2011.

President doesn't have LBJ's deal-making skills

(NEWSER) - People are urging President Obama to start acting like Lyndon Johnson, but the president isn't going to suddenly turn into LBJ any more than the 2,000-page health care bill will turn into the 4-page Civil Rights Act LBJ muscled through as Senate majority leader in 1957, writes Daniel Henninger. Johnson got the act through with a "mind-boggling effort of legislative politics" that Obama can't match, Henninger writes in the Wall Street Journal . More»

'It's good to see Obama displaying LBJ's wiles'

(NEWSER) - The Republicans' claim that the Democrats are using reconciliation to ram through a health care bill is a flat-out lie at worst and stunning hypocrisy at best, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. The health-care bill has already passed the Senate with 60 votes, and the only thing that would pass under a simple majority vote would be amendments that fit easily within the reconciliation rules, Dionne notes in the Washington Post. More»

Wants GOP help but will do what's needed

(NEWSER) - President Obama will tell Democrats tomorrow to use reconciliation to get health-care reform passed if Senate Republicans won’t cooperate, White House sources tell ABC News tonight. That option would allow a previously passed bill to be “fixed” with 51 votes (which the Democrats have) and not a filibuster-proof 60 (which they don’t). Both the House and Senate have passed health bills, and reconciliation could unify the measures. More»