The Limits of Rahmism  —  AS A DOZEN or so top White House officials gathered in Rahm Emanuel's corner West Wing office one morning in early January, the president's political director, Patrick Gaspard, reported on the latest poll numbers in Massachusetts.  With less than two weeks until …

Sarah Palin heads north.  Er, south.  Er, to Calgary.  - UPDATED  —  It was little surprise that Sarah Palin's first visit to our home and native land (of public health care and gay marriage) would be in Calgary.  It also shouldn't be surprising that she was able to curry favour …

Obama-Bush Same Mistakes: President Repeats Stumbles  —  Who would have thought that one of Barack Obama's biggest missteps as President would be repeating some of the bad habits of George W. Bush?  No single factor was more instrumental in Obama's 2008 victory than his pledge to completely reverse …

Conservative California state senator comes out  —  California State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a conservative Republican with a solidly anti-gay voting record, came out as gay today on a Bakersfield radio station talk show.  Ashburn's sexual orientation had been the talk of Sacramento since …

The story behind Oscar's “Kanye moment”  —  We talk to the two filmmakers whose personal fight became one of the ceremony's weirdest moments … People are already saying you “pulled a Kanye.”  What happened?  —  BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference …

Obama To Dems: Reform Will Kick In This Year.  This Year.  This Year.  —  One striking thing about the speech Obama just gave at the big health care rally in Pennsylvania is how many times he stressed that if reform passes, voters will begin enjoying the benefits this year.

The end of the road for Barack Obama?  —  Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer in New York.  —  It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: it only happens when they go badly …

Republicans scold Liz Cheney  —  A group that includes leading conservative lawyers and policy experts, former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and several senior officials of the last Bush Administration, is denouncing as “shameful” Republican attacks on lawyers who came to the Obama Justice Department …

Where are Obama's foreign confidants?  —  I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office.  A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.

Business Lobbyists Push to Revive Estate Tax They Tried to Kill  —  Lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they've fought for years to abolish.

Illinois Democrat Lipinski Will Switch from Yes to No if Health Bill Lacks Stupak Amendment  —  Add Congressman Dan Lipinski of Illinois to the coalition of pro-life Democrats standing firmly with Bart Stupak in the fight over taxpayer-funding of abortion in the health care bill.

Health-care reform is progressive  —  Reading Chris Bowers's excellent list of the progressive priorities fulfilled or partially fulfilled by the health-care bill's sidecar amendments is a reminder of how peculiar the framing of this debate has been.  There's no doubt that progressives …

Alabama Dem lawmaker will break from campaign trail to oppose health reform  —  Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who opposed the House version of the healthcare reform bill last year, will make sure to take a break from his campaign for governor to travel to Washington to vote against the final version of the bill.

THE GOP STILL JUST DOESN'T LIKE THE UNEMPLOYED.... It's astounding, but in the midst of an unemployment crisis, prominent Republicans continue to castigate those struggling to find jobs.  —  Yesterday, for example, disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) argued that unemployment benefits …

Déjà vu all over again … A Republican on Capitol Hill points out that we're going through a health care press coverage time warp.  In each of the following four headline pairs, one is from this morning.  The other is from last year.  See if you can guess which is which.

Mass-Market Epiphany  —  Mysticism is dying, and taking true religion with it.  Monasteries have dwindled.  Contemplative orders have declined.  Our religious leaders no longer preach the renunciation of the world; our culture scoffs at the idea.  The closest most Americans come …

Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss  —  In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes.  Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.  —  This latest program, which will allow owners …

Abortion Views Getting More Partisan  —  Here's an interesting bit of survey analysis from Gallup.  Americans' views on abortion aren't changing but are getting more sorted by party.  —  Here's the overall picture:  —  But here's a glimpse at the underlying changes:

An Irish Mirror  —  Everyone has a theory about the financial crisis.  These theories range from the absurd to the plausible — from claims that liberal Democrats somehow forced banks to lend to the undeserving poor (even though Republicans controlled Congress) to the belief …