Top Items:
Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:
Obamacare's Problems Could Haunt Democrats for Years — The party's strategists thought the program would show white voters that government programs can help them. It's not going so well. — President Obama's health care law is now compounding a political problem it was meant to solve …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, ABC News and ABC News
RELATED:
Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Insurance chiefs called to White House for meeting — Several insurance company CEOs have been called to a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House Friday afternoon, POLITICO has learned. — The meeting comes one day after the White House announced a plan to allow insurers …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and TheBlaze.com
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Health Law Rollout's Stumbles Draw Parallels to Bush's Hurricane Response — WASHINGTON — Barack Obama won the presidency by exploiting a political environment that devoured George W. Bush in a second term plagued by sinking credibility, failed legislative battles, fractured world relations and revolts inside his own party.
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:
The President's ObamaCare Backpedal — His proposal to allow people to keep their health plans will not provide a political escape hatch for beleaguered congressional Democrats. — Succumbing to the growing panic over his health law, the president on Thursday moved to throw his party a political lifeline.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys and Politico
New York Times:
A Health Care Fix — President Obama has come up with a modest fix for a self-inflicted political wound: his repeated — and wrong — assertions that Americans would be able to keep their health insurance plans if they wanted to under the health care reform law.
Politico:
Trust frays between President Obama, Democrats
Trust frays between President Obama, Democrats
Discussion:
Roll Call, Hot Air, BizPac Review, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, CNN and Washington Post
Todd S. Purdum / Politico:
The Obamacare fumble — It's the cardinal rule of marketing …
The Obamacare fumble — It's the cardinal rule of marketing …
Discussion:
USA Today
Megan McArdle / Bloomberg:
Obamacare Is Whatever Obama Says It Is — Well, it's been a pretty busy couple of days for Obamacare. — First we got the enrollment numbers, except for the one we'd like to know, which is how many people have actually gone through the process of enrolling in a plan.
Discussion:
Wonkblog and Wall Street Journal
RELATED:
Yuval Levin / National Review:
The President Is Losing His Plan — The most important thing about the policy move announced by President Obama on Thursday is not its practical significance—which is frankly very hard to predict—but rather what it tells us about the mindset of the president and his top lieutenants.
Discussion:
Power Line, The Dish, A plain blog about politics and Weekly Standard
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Why liberals are panicked about Obamacare — “Even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.” — Bill Clinton, Nov. 12 — So the former president asserts …
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
To pass health plan, Obama and Dems kept mum about its downsides
To pass health plan, Obama and Dems kept mum about its downsides
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Lonely Conservative, National Review and Weasel Zippers
David Martosko / Daily Mail:
Revealed: Obamacare plans will cost MORE ‘in many cases’ …
Revealed: Obamacare plans will cost MORE ‘in many cases’ …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and “The Lid”
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Pelosi: No apology for ACA promise
Pelosi: No apology for ACA promise
Discussion:
The Week, American Thinker, Weasel Zippers and Balloon Juice
Jonathan H. Adler / The Volokh Conspiracy:
The Legality of the Latest ObamaCare Fix — Yesterday, the President announced a purported fix to the problem that, under the PPACA, insurance companies are not allowed to renew policies that fail to comply with PPACA requirements, even if consumers like their existing plans. This was not an accident.
Discussion:
Post Politics, National Review, Hit & Run, Talking Points Memo, The Dish and AEIdeas
RELATED:
Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Regulators ‘unclear’ on O-Care fix plan — President Obama's proposed fix for ObamaCare may not work in practice, according to state insurance regulators who would help implement the policy. — The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) suggested Thursday that the plan …
Discussion:
Politico, The Lonely Conservative and Weekly Standard
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
White House defends legality of Obamacare fix
White House defends legality of Obamacare fix
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, National Review, Weasel Zippers and Wonkblog
Jon Passantino / BuzzFeed:
Obama Vows To Veto “Keep Your Health Plan” Bill
Obama Vows To Veto “Keep Your Health Plan” Bill
Discussion:
Fox News, Questions and Observations, Red Alert Politics and National Review
Richard Spencer / Telegraph:
Al-Qaeda-linked rebels apologise after cutting off head of wrong person — Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham militants say sorry for decapitating a fellow extremist rather than enemy — Militant Islamist rebels in Syria linked to al-Qaeda have asked for “understanding and forgiveness” …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, The Daily Caller, Atlas Shrugs, “The Lid”, BBC, Liberaland, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News, The PJ Tatler, Jihad Watch and Gawker
RELATED:
Salma Abdelaziz / CNN:
Al-Qaeda-linked rebels mistakenly behead fellow fighter, rebel group says
Al-Qaeda-linked rebels mistakenly behead fellow fighter, rebel group says
Discussion:
National Review
Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:
Companies Use Obamacare Confusion To Sell ‘Junk Insurance’ — Georgene Mortimer, who runs a winery and lives in Hilton Head, S.C., was recently having trouble accessing the online health insurance exchange. So she decided to check in with the local insurance agent who in 2010 had sold …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Liberaland
RELATED:
Donald Gilliland / Marching toward Gettysburg:
Living on the wrong side of history? The Harrisburg Patriot & Union's notorious ‘review’ of the Gettysburg Address — “We pass over the silly remarks of the President. For the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall be no more repeated or thought of.”
Discussion:
Poynter
RELATED:
New York Times:
C.I.A. Collects Global Data on Transfers of Money — WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency is secretly collecting bulk records of international money transfers handled by companies like Western Union — including transactions into and out of the United States …
Discussion:
Liberaland, Shakesville, emptywheel, Guardian, Gawker, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch and Prairie Weather
RELATED:
Evan Perez / CNN:
Source: CIA using Patriot Act to collect money transfer data
Source: CIA using Patriot Act to collect money transfer data
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and The Hinterland Gazette
Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
Oprah: Old Racists ‘Just Have To Die’ To Further Racial Progress — Oprah did not hold back when talking about race in an interview with the BBC on Friday. — She was in the UK to promote “The Butler,” and forthrightly told interviewer Will Gompertz that there needed to be some demographic pruning to stamp out racism more fully.
Discussion:
Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, The Hinterland Gazette and The PJ Tatler
ABC News:
GOP Rival Romney: Obama Dishonest on Health Care — Republican Mitt Romney is accusing President Barack Obama of being “dishonest” about his health care law. — Romney says Obama knew people would lose their private insurance coverage under the law. He criticizes Obama for promising …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Politico