memeorandum: Can Democrats Recover From the Obamacare Catastrophe? (Charlie Cook/NationalJournal.com)

12:05 PM ET, December 6, 2013

Top Items:

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:

Rick Santorum ties Obamacare, Nelson Mandela — As condolences and reflections followed the passing of Nelson Mandela, Rick Santorum linked the injustices the former South African president fought and Obamacare. — “He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, The Dish, Outside the Beltway, p m carpenter's commentary, The Reaction and CNN

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:

Rick Santorum Compares Obamacare To Apartheid — Rick Santorum, the erstwhile Republican presidential candidate with a penchant for controversy, appeared on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor on Thursday night and memorialized the passing of South African leader and global visionary Nelson Mandela by equating Obamacare with apartheid.

Discussion: Austin Chronicle, Washington Monthly and Mediaite

Nick Wing / The Huffington Post:

Dick Cheney Didn't Regret His Vote Against Freeing Nelson Mandela, Maintained He Was A ‘Terrorist’ — In 1986, Nelson Mandela — the former president of South Africa who died Thursday at the age of 95 — was serving the 23rd year of what would ultimately be a 27-year prison sentence.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, US Department of State, Gawker, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Brains and Eggs

Leslie Larson / NY Daily News:

Sen. Ted Cruz's praise for Nelson Mandela met with criticism by supporters — The Texas senator posted a message on his Facebook page saying that Mandela would ‘live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty,’ but some of the comments posted called the former South African leader a 'terrorist …

Discussion: Liberaland, BOR and Joe. My. God.

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Richard Branson: Mandela Tried To Stop The Iraq War

Discussion: CNN and Liberaland

Faith Karimi / CNN:
Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid icon and father of modern South Africa, dies

Discussion: Culture Desk, Firedoglake, The Other McCain, Patterico's Pontifications, AMERICAblog News, CNN, Hit & Run, his vorpal sword, Reuters, Scared Monkeys, The PJ Tatler, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Weasel Zippers and The Moderate Voice

Bill Keller / New York Times:
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95

Discussion: BBC, NPR, Washington Post, Associated Press, naked capitalism, Hit & Run, KHOU-TV, New Orleans Times-Picayune, ≠ Inequality Matters, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, The Democratic Daily, Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mashable, BBC, The Hugh Hewitt Show and Colorlines

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
Mandela's cause shaped Obama's political awakening

Discussion: Washington Wire, Booman Tribune, The New Republic, Post Politics and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul Taylor / Washington Post:
Nelson Mandela knew how to deploy the moral high ground

Discussion: Gothamist, NBCNews, Politico and Business Insider

Nelson Mandela / CNN:
Political world reacts to Nelson Mandela death

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, What Would Jack Do, News Desk, Politico, Connecting.the.Dots, ABC News and The Democratic Daily

Lydia Polgreen / New York Times:
Mandela's Death Leaves South Africa Without Its Moral Center

Discussion: Guardian, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, ANIMAL, The Lede and Shakesville

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Eagle-killing rule almost done — The Obama administration has nearly finalized a rule that would give energy companies lengthy permits for wind farms that end up killing bald and golden eagles. — Hundreds of thousands of birds are killed every year after flying into large wind turbine blades …

Discussion: americanthinker.com and Prairie Weather

Peter Schweizer / Politico:

When Barry Met Kathy — Almost never, it turns out. — Journalists and pundits have begun offering lengthy postmortems to explain the causes of the ruinous Obamacare rollout. The debacle's scale has surprised even progressives who supported the Affordable Care Act.

Discussion: PostPartisan, Hot Air, National Republican … and Government Accountability …

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

No talk of affordable health care in Obamacare PR push — WHITE HOUSE BARACK OBAMA OBAMACARE KATHLEEN SEBELIUS JAY CARNEY — One striking thing about the new White House Obamacare promotion campaign is that so far it hasn't had much to say about the central focus of Obamacare …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:

Can Democrats Recover From the Obamacare Catastrophe? — If Republicans don't flub the coming fiscal debates like they did in the fall, voters will focus squarely on the health care rollout. — Most graphs of polling data show shifts that are very gradual.

Discussion: First Read and Roll Call

Michael O'Brien / NBCNews:

Obama: GOP should be ‘embarrassed’ by low productivity on Hill — Republicans ought to be “embarrassed” of their record low productivity during their time in charge of the House of Representatives, President Barack Obama said Thursday. — In an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Liberaland and Independent Journal Review

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Approval Down Most Among Hispanics in Past Year

Discussion: Right Turn, CBS DC, Scared Monkeys, National Review, AMERICAN DIGEST, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Hill, Naked Politics, Weasel Zippers, Political Capital, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and The PJ Tatler

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
Budget Deal? Big Obstacles, New Year's Deadline

Discussion: CNN

Art Swift / Gallup:

Majority of Americans Want Major Changes to Health Law — Fifty-two percent want Congress to repeal or scale back the law — WASHINGTON, D.C. — After two months of glitches with the new federal healthcare website and attempts to fix it, the percentage of Americans who prefer that Congress scale …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, JustOneMinute, The Plum Line, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Reuters

First Read / NBCNews:

First Thoughts: Universal, bipartisan praise for Mandela — when that wasn't always the case — Universal, bipartisan praise for Mandela after his passing — when it wasn't always the case... Cincinnati-area focus group: Voters angry with Washington, down on Obama, and feeling helpless in fixing things …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Fix

Tal Kopan / Politico:
Scott Brown: Where am I?

Discussion: Londonderry Patch News

Marc Fortier / Londonderry Patch News:
Scott Brown in ‘No Hurry’ to Decide on NH Senate Run

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Obama Gets Real — Much of the media commentary on President Obama's big inequality speech was cynical. You know the drill: it's yet another “reboot” that will go nowhere; none of it will have any effect on policy, and so on. But before we talk about the speech's possible political impact …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Via Meadia, Washington Center …, nextnewdeal.net, Balloon Juice, White House.gov Blog, News Desk and msnbc.com

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Biden or Clinton? Obama won't choose — President Obama stayed neutral Thursday about his possible sucessor, saying both Vice President Biden and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton “would make outstanding presidents.” — Asked to “compare and contrast” the pair's presidential attributes …

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:

Jobless Rate Lowest in 5 Years, Raising Odds of a Fed Move — The jobs picture brightened in November as hiring in the United States was stronger than expected and the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low, data that increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will begin easing its stimulus efforts sooner, rather than later.

Discussion: Wonkblog, American Spectator, Prairie Weather and Outside the Beltway

Todd Spangler / Detroit Free Press:

GOP comes to Detroit, trying to win over African-American voters — WASHINGTON — Today, Detroit has the eye of the Republican Party. — This morning, the state Republican Party will open an African American Engagement Office as part of a nationwide effort to reach out to black voters.

Bryan Preston / The PJ Tatler:

Striking Wendy's Worker: Hike the Minimum Wage, and I Can Work Fewer Days — Well, this report by WTNH TV says a lot. — Reporter Jeff Valin interviews Alesha Fuller. Fuller is among the fast food workers striking to get their pay raised to $15 per hour. Why $15? Why not $20? Or $30?

Discussion: TheBlaze.com