memeorandum: Health Reform Realities (Paul Krugman/New York Times)

4:50 PM ET, January 18, 2016

Top Items:

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:

Top Google debate question: Will Hillary be prosecuted? — Some of the top trending questions on Google during Sunday's Democratic presidential debate related to Hillary Clinton's legal troubles. — “Will Hillary Clinton get prosecuted?” is the top question being asked on Google searches concerning …

Discussion: Mediaite, Political Wire, BizPac Review, Politico and Washington Post

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

Bernie mopped the floor with Hillary — Mainstream Democrats breathed a sigh of relief in October when Hillary Clinton dominated the first debate with Bernie Sanders — but after Sunday night's debate, they're probably hyperventilating. Or ought to be. — The Sanders surge …

Discussion: Althouse, New York Times, Weasel Zippers, Instapundit and Power Line

Peter Schweizer / New York Post:

Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive Marc Rich continues to pay big — Fifteen years ago this month, on Jan. 20, 2001, his last day in office, Bill Clinton issued a pardon for international fugitive Marc Rich. It would become perhaps the most condemned official act of Clinton's political career.

Discussion: Hot Air

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Winners and losers from the fourth Democratic presidential debate

Discussion: Gothamist and Bloomberg Business

Washington Post:
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders …

Discussion: Common Dreams, Daily Wire, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog …, Forbes, Slantpoint and Associated Press

Paul Sperry / New York Post:
Don't be fooled by Bernie Sanders — he's a diehard communist

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and alan.com

Rick Klein / ABC News:
Hillary Clinton Embraces Obama Legacy, as Bernie Sanders Aims for Democrats' Hearts

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, Yahoo Politics, The Hill, Shadowproof, Washington Post, Raw Story, WCDC-TV, Vox, Hot Air and Bloomberg Business

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Bernie Sanders's single-payer plan isn't a plan at all — Sanders's long-awaited health care plan is, by turns, vague and unrealistic. — Hillary Clinton has made a lot of bad arguments about Bernie Sanders's support for single-payer. But her best argument was her simplest …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Power Line, New York Magazine, National Review, Washington Post, Mother Jones, NBC News, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Forbes and Politico

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Health Reform Realities — Health reform is the signature achievement of the Obama presidency. It was the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare was established in the 1960s. It more or less achieves a goal — access to health insurance for all Americans …

Discussion: Washington Post and PoliticusUSA

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Hillary Clinton Turns, Repeatedly, to a Democrat Not on the Debate Stage: Obama

Discussion: Political Wire, The Atlantic, Des Moines Register, BostonGlobe.com, Los Angeles Times, naked capitalism, Washington Post, Post and Courier, NBC News and The Week

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Sanders plan would cover undocumented immigrants

Discussion: ABC News, Quartz, Mediaite, Washington Post, Fusion, Mother Jones, The Daily Caller, Yahoo Politics and addictinginfo.org

Blake Hounshell / Politico:

Trump bungles Bible reference at Liberty University — Donald Trump, speaking to a religious crowd at Virginia's Liberty University on Monday, turned to scripture. — “We're going to protect Christianity. I can say that. I don't have to be politically correct,” he said.

Discussion: TIME, Bloomberg Business, Washington Monthly and addictinginfo.org

Leon H. Wolf / RedState:

Donald Trump's Epic Weekend Meltdown — Maybe Donald Trump needs some of that “free” mental healthcare that the Democrats were talking about last night. — If you are like most ordinary Americans, you probably spent the weekend watching the NFL playoffs, or spending time with your family …

Discussion: Guardian and Booman Tribune

Molly Ball / The Atlantic:

Portrait of a Party on the Verge of Coming Apart … CHARLESTON, South Carolina—For a certain type of Republican, the fantasy world where Donald Trump is not winning the GOP primary is a very nice place to live. — Beth Hansen, the campaign manager for John Kasich, is this type of Republican.

Discussion: Online Library … and FOX News Radio

Peter Fricke / Campus Reform:

Portland Community College to devote an entire month to 'whiteness'-shaming — The school says the month is an “educational project” exploring how the “construct of whiteness” creates racial inequality. — Portland Community College has designated April “Whiteness History Month” (WHM) …

Discussion: Hot Air, VICE, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Truth Revolt

Zeke J Miller / TIME:

Exclusive: Chris Christie Calls Ted Cruz ‘Asinine’ For New York Values Smear — He also calls Cruz a ‘Washington insider’ — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is none too pleased with rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's criticism of “New York values.” — In an interview with TIME in Iowa Sunday …

Discussion: Washington Post, Patterico's Pontifications, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Iraqi official: 3 Americans missing in Baghdad were kidnapped by gunmen — BAGHDAD — Three Americans reported missing from a Baghdad neighborhood were kidnapped by militiamen from an apartment in the capital on Saturday, a senior police official and resident of the building said.

Discussion: Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon, New York Times, Mashable, VICE, Fox News Insider, CNN and Agence France-Presse

Ron Paul / Townhall.com:

When Peace Breaks Out With Iran... This has been the most dramatic week in US/Iranian relations since 1979. — Last weekend ten US Navy personnel were caught in Iranian waters, as the Pentagon kept changing its story on how they got there. It could have been a disaster for President Obama's big gamble …

Discussion: Mediaite

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
Obama's Republican Foreign Policy Critics Don't Understand How the World Works

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times and The Mahablog

Juan Williams / The Hill:

GOP to blame for civility's breakdown — If you ask me, President Obama is being way too hard on himself. — “It's one of the few regrets of my presidency, that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” the president said during his final State of the Union address last week.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

The American Interest:

Andrew Jackson, Revenant — The biggest story in America today is the roaring return of Andrew Jackson's spirit into the political debate. — Not since he fought with Nicholas Biddle over the future of the Bank of the United States has Andrew Jackson been this controversial or this central in American political life.

Discussion: New York Times

Mary Papenfuss / International Business Times:

US: Legendary musician Carlos Santana calls Donald Trump “an angry ape” — Apparently rocker Carlos Santana will not be voting for Donald Trump. He used his Facebook page to post an open letter praising President Obama and referring to the Republican candidate for president as an angry ape who has “no consciousness or integrity.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Raw Story, addictinginfo.org and Slantpoint

Larry Elliott Economics / Guardian:

Richest 62 people as wealthy as half of world's population, says Oxfam — Charity says only higher wages, crackdown on tax dodging and higher investment in public services can stop divide widening — The vast and growing gap between rich and poor has been laid bare in a new Oxfam report showing …

Discussion: Samizdata and The Daily Caller

Jeb Bush:

Restoring the Right to Rise Through a Quality Education — A Blueprint for a 21st Century American Education System — Every individual in this country has the right to rise. Yet today, the American Dream—the idea that anything is possible through hard work—is threatened …

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, RedState, Florida Politics and Naked Politics