AnnotatedOpinions.com

·       ABCs of change: On Sesame Street, ‘E’ was for equality [Houston Chronicle]

·      ‘Sesame Street’ turns 40: The iconic children’s show broke the mold on educational programming. [LA Times]

The Ban on Abortion Coverage: The House health care reform bill passed with a steep price. The Senate should work to preserve a woman’s right to abortion services. [New York Times]

Why preventive care is critical: Congress should not focus on how much preventive health care will cost, but on how much it will earn. [Washington Post]

Historic, but unaffordable: The Democratic-controlled House took a historic step in passing a health-care bill over the weekend, yet the measure – unless it’s modified – could mean the death knell for health reform this year. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The wall after the wall: Unlike the old militarized geopolitical wall of the Cold War, the new heavily policed wall between rich and poor regions of the world is designed to keep people out rather than in. [Boston Globe]

Sick day, sick pay: Congress is considering a mandate that would require employers to pay five sick days if they send a worker home or advise him to stay home. [Chicago Tribune]

The U.S. needs to teach Hamid Karzai a thing or two: The Afghan leader needs to learn how to act as a wartime leader. [LA Times]

Cutting our losses: Leave Afghanistan to the drones and the Special Forces. [Washington Post]

A Word, Mr. President: Health care reform is important, but President Obama’s priorities should be putting Americans back to work and ending the war in Afghanistan. [New York Times]

Bailing out GMAC: Its health is key to helping U.S. automakers rebound. [LA Times]

Needle exchanges: New law, same bad policy – The federal bill allowing needle exchanges to prevent transmission of HIV was a step forward, but includes a punishing restriction: No exchanges can happen within 1,000 feet of a school or park. [Boston Globe]

Guarding the ranks: Religious tolerance in the military does not trump security concerns. [LA Times]

Ticking bomb at Fort Hood: The Army failed the thousands of Muslims who serve with honor and distinction. [Washington Post]

Don’t let the shooters win: My beloved Virginia Tech again is linked to a mass murder. But Fort Hood, too, can heal by rejecting our torturers’
hate-filled scripts [USA Today]

The Rush to Therapy: The well-intentioned public commentary that followed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage at Fort Hood denied any possibility of evil in his actions. [New York Times]

The ‘closure’ myth: The ‘Beltway sniper’ will be put to death, but will it help the victims move on? [Washington Post]

Counting Forward: The approval of an election law by Iraq’s Parliament is good news, but neither Baghdad nor Washington should be complacent about power-sharing issues. [New York Times]

You Don’t Want to Be Downwind: Now that the House has passed a bill to shore up security at chemical plants, the Senate should pass a parallel bill and the president should sign it. [New York Times]

No medals for hiring vets: Public and private efforts to employ ex-military aren’t what they claim. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

‘Greeters’ give troops the homecoming they deserve [USA Toay]

The lesson from the streets: Big money is not the answer [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Without family planning . . . poverty will spread across the globe, and children will die [USA Today]

. . . the most important effect of Tuesday’s elections is historical. It demolishes the great realignment myth of 2008. [AO: Ok. Bring on the evidence and/or reasoning why a couple of gubernatorial and congressional elections should cause us to reinterpret the meaning of the 2008 election.]

This was all ridiculous from the beginning: 2008 was a historical anomaly. A uniquely charismatic candidate was running at a time of deep war weariness, with an intensely unpopular Republican president, against a politically incompetent opponent, amid the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression. . . .

Exactly a year later comes the empirical validation of that skepticism. Virginia — presumed harbinger of the new realignment, having gone Democratic in ‘08 for the first time in 44 years — went red again. With a vengeance. Barack Obama had carried it by six points. The Republican gubernatorial candidate won by 17 — a 23-point swing. New Jersey went from plus 15 Democratic in 2008 to minus 4 in 2009. A 19-point swing.  

What happened? The vaunted Obama realignment vanished. In 2009 in Virginia, the black vote was down by 20 percent; the under-30 vote by 50 percent. And as for independents, the ultimate prize of any realignment, they bolted. . .  

[AO: If Krauthammer is correct, the political realignment is dead because the black vote, which was down 20 per cent in Virginia, will not return (not even if Obama seeks a second term)
and the under-30 vote, which was down 50 percent in Virginia, is also not returning. In other words, before these gubernatorial elections can be used to demolish the 2008 “myth” we must first accept that these elections represent the new normal. But off-year elections are notorious for only exciting long-term, consistent voters. These people tend to be elderly and non-minorities. In other words, the basis for comparison, this year’s off-year elections, is not an apples-to-apples comparison to last year because the yardstick is different. This difference is shown in the change in voter representation. Who really believes that if Obama ran for a second term that the African American vote would remain down 20 per cent? How about the under-30 vote? But if you accept that the African American and under-30 vote, voters likely to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, will increase significantly, how can these off-year elections be meaningfully compared to last year’s elections?  

But there are other problems with Krauthammer analysis. Specifically, he makes no room for an argument that voters actually cared about whether their governor was effective. In other words, the elections were entirely about Democrats and Obama. By his logic, had the contenders been replaced by Donald Duck and Goofy, the outcome would be the same because the electorate voted based on issues that had nothing to do with the contestants. Obviously this cannot be true. If voters are so upset about the Obama administration’s policies, why did NY-23, a district that has not voted for a democrat since 1978, send a democrat in to congress?  

Krauthammer did have the following to say regarding the candidates: ]  

White House apologists will say the Virginia Democrat was weak. If the difference between Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds was so great, how come when the same two men ran against each other statewide for attorney general four years ago the race was a virtual dead heat? Which made the ‘09 McDonnell-Deeds rematch the closest you get in politics to a laboratory experiment for measuring the change in external conditions. [AO: Not true. They were running for very different positions. By his logic, had McDonnell and Deeds run for head of the PTA and almost tied, we should expect the same here. The problem is that the qualifications for these positions are different.   As any scientist will tell you, if you change two conditions in an experiment, you can't be sure which one is the cause of any difference you notice as a result. Here, the position the candidates ran for is different and so is the conditions under which they ran. The writer asserts simply that the cause of the different election results was the latter and note the former without providing any evidence to support his assertion. Scientists call this junk science. This "junk" leaves his argument unconvincing.

Of course, none of this is to say that things haven't changed. No, iour argument is that the writer lacks the evidence for the assertions he make. Ultimately, we will have to wait until 2012 or at least 2010 to get a better sense of the electorate’s mood. While 2012 will provide the best measure, 2010 will at least be much better than 2009. ]

·       Op-Classic, 1989: Freedom Danced Before My Eyes [New York Times]

·       The rusting and fall of the Iron Curtain: Today is the 20th anniversary of the event that proved the realists wrong. When joyous citizens breached the Berlin Wall with rock music and dancing instead of guns and tanks, the Cold War was over. [Boston Globe]

·      After the wall fell: Too many of the commemorations treat the past two decades as a foregone conclusion. [Washington Post]

·       Cold War nostalgia: In the former East, there is ostalgie. In the West, we too look back in longing: for the symbol of moral clarity and superiority the wall was to us. [LA Times]  

·       After collapse, jubilation, fear, and uncertainty [Boston Globe]

·     Hungary was the first rip in Iron Curtain: Months before the Berlin Wall fell, Hungarians had marched to demand  democracy. [LA Times]

A 2d chance at freedom for juvenile offenders: The United States stands apart from its European allies in sentencing minors to languish in prison until they die. [Boston Globe]

Imprisoning a Child for Life: Sentencing children to life without the possibility of parole for a nonhomicide violates the Eighth amendment. [New York Times]

Healthcare’s hurdles: Democrats in the House get their way, but what we need is real debate. If only the Republicans would oblige. [LA Times]

Why is reforming health care so hard? Broad satisfaction and deep divides hinder change. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

House-passed health plan mixes good ideas, deep flaws [USA Today]

The next bubble? There’s a thin line between promoting recovery and the next crash. [Washington Post]

Who’s afraid of the big, bad Fairness Doctrine? If Rush Limbaugh and his ilk were forced to engage in a reasonable debate, rather than ad hominems, they would forfeit the moral surety — and the seductive rage — that is the central appeal of all demagogues. [Boston Globe]

Climate change bill is in trouble: Political tactics tie up the Senate version, and efforts to salvage it may be too little too late. [LA Times]

Government-haters lose: Apparently some voters think government is necessary — and good. [Washington Post]

Mickey goes rogue [Chicago Tribune]

Disney: The mouse that bored – In some ways, the effort to revitalize Mickey seems sad and desperate [Boston Globe]

Paranoia Strikes Deep: If the G.O.P. essentially shrinks down to a rump party across America, the country could become ungovernable in the idst of a continuing economic disaster. [New York Times]

Letting big money in: Supreme Court watchers are growing anxious about an imminent legal ruling that could open the floodgates of money in politics like never before. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Red flags at Fort Hood [USA Today]

Voters thinking about jobs, not Obama [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

The smell test: Canine witnesses need tighter judicial leashes [Houston Chronicle]

Guinness got it: The company’s 250-year legacy of God-inspired good provides myriad lessons for today. Among them: A benevolent corporate vision is good for business, for its employees and for the world. [USA Today]

Liberals and conservatives each have their own intellectual food chains. . . Independents, who are the largest group in the electorate, don’t have any of this.  

Independents are herds of cats who find out what they think through a meandering process of discovery. Right now, independent voters are astonishingly volatile. . .  

According to Gallup, the share of independents who describe their views as conservative has moved from 29 percent last year to 35 percent today. The share of independents who believe there is too much government regulation of business has jumped from 38 percent to 50 percent. Independents are in the position of a person who is feeling gravely ill at the same time he has lost faith in his doctor.  

This does not mean that independents are turning into Republicans. G.O.P. ratings are still in the toilet. But it does mean the Democrats have to fight to regain some of their most crucial supporters. . .  

First Wall Street got disproportionately big, then Washington. It’s time to return to fundamentals. No short-term fixes. Government should do what it’s supposed to do: schools, roads, basic research. It should not be picking C.E.O.’s or setting pay or fizzing up the economy with more debt. It should give people the tools to compete, not rig the competition. Lines of restraint have dissolved, and they need to be restored.  

Independents support the party that seems most likely to establish a frame of stability and order, within which they can lead their lives. They can’t always articulate what they want, but they withdraw from any party that threatens turmoil and risk. As always, they’re looking for a safe pair of hands.  

[AO: David Brooks identifies two problems when he says “First Wall Street got disproportionately big, then Washington.” Yet, his solution, making government smaller, may exacerbate the first problem. This is because all of his recommended solutions only address the second problem. Furthermore, his recommended solutions explicitly include suggestions that would allow the first problem to grow.  

There is also tension is the larger premise of the column. Brooks argues that independents want stability. He states that “They can’t always articulate what they want, but they withdraw from any party that threatens turmoil and risk. As always, they’re looking for a safe pair of hands.” Yet, one problem most conservatives have with the Obama administration is a concern that it is, in a way, removing too much risk. In other words, by accusing President Obama and Democrats of wanting to turn America into an European-style welfare state, Conservatives mean that Obama and Democrats seek to place the government in the position of assuming responsibility for the welfare of its citizens by creating social safety nets. All of this is the opposite of uncertainty and turmoil. As such, it doesn’t explain why, if fear of uncertainty and turmoil is really what is moving independents, why they would move away from Democrats. ]

·       Voters remain fearful about the economy. Independent voters are a force to be reckoned with. Everyone wants results. [New York Times]

·       Democrats must focus on getting stuff done. Republicans must move toward the middle, away from fringe party elements. [Charles M. Madigan, Chicago Tribune]

·       Democrats can’t take their current dominance for granted; Republicans will falter if they insist on candidates who conform to rigid national party standards over the interests of local points of view. [USA Today]

·       Republicans must run as center-right problem-solvers or risk the fate of Doug Hoffman in NY-23 [Washington Post]

·      Persistent high unemployment and the spectacle of continued gridlock in Washington threaten Democratic dominance of the political landscape [David S. Broder, Washington post]

·      While the elections were a rebuke to the right wing, Obama and democrats must find a way to reenergize their base [E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post]

·      Ignore the post-election analysis. [Ruth Marcus, Washington Post]

These lessons boil down to three messages: results, results, results; focus on improving the economy; and embrace independents. The second lesson, a facus on improving the economy, can be seen as a subset of the first, getting results. Our view is that getting results is the most critical lesson that Democrats must take away from these elections. For Republicans, the lesson requires both getting results and embracing independents.

A referendum on Obama? Not likely [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Getting a handle on elections [Chicago Tribune]

The Off-Off-Year Elections: If there were broad messages in the grab bag of contests, they were for both parties. [New York Times]

Voters send cautionary messages to both parties [USA Today]

Time for equal rights for gays is now: Progress is occurring, but Tuesday’s rejection of a same-sex marriage law in Maine shows there’s still a lot of work to be done. [LA Times]

Who ended the Cold War? The fall of the Berlin Wall is as much Gorbachev’s unheralded achievement as it is Reagan’s. [Boston Globe]

1989 was a very good year: The end of the Cold War brought change that sent ripples around the world. [LA Times]

Berlin Wall’s lessons for today: The oxygen of a free society is accurate and trustworthy information. Yet even today, regimes around the world are intent on cutting off the supply. [USA Today]

Deteriorating relationships? The United States only seems to be more polarized [Chicago Tribune]

Welcome sign: U.S. ends a misguided HIV policy [Houston Chronicle]

Women and health care [Washington Post]

Fixing healthcare: Primary care is job No. 1 – Effective reform requires spending for front-line doctors, those who screen for preventable diseases and are a patient’s advocate. [LA Times]

A Powerful Idea on Youth Violence: A Chicago plan that will put high-risk youth on the road to productive lives deserves full support. [New York Times]

Airline safety: I say Obama, you say O’Bama – New requirements by the Transportation Security Administration that names on plane boarding classes exactly match those on personal identifications could present major headaches. [Boston Globe]

Cyclists and motorists on collision course: A physician’s conviction in a bicycle crash case reveals a noxious form of road rage. [LA Times]

For university presidents, a pay cut is in order: Presidents at the top research universities should be embarrassed by 2008 average salary increases of more than 15 percent. [Boston Globe]

The Facebook grave site [Chicago Tribune]

Take the Shot: The most vulnerable people and those in critical jobs should take the swine flu vaccine. [New York Times]

One mom’s rapid conversion to swine flu vaccine believer [USA Today]

Obama must stand firm on Honduras crisis: A U.S.-brokered deal to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to office is unraveling, and the Obama administration seems to be wavering. [LA Times]

Iran’s abuse goes on: The problem is not limited to Tehran’s illicit nuclear activities. [Washington Post]

I will not tackle what I consider a failing of her analysis here. Instead, I will make the argument that, assuming these elections can tell us something, the message is more in favor of Democrats than Republicans, as many news outlets may report. At its core, arguing that yesterday was a positive message for Republicans is akin to the Marcus’ error: it amounts to counting up the number of wins without attention to the context.

There are at least three reasons why the GOP gubernatorial wins don’t say much about congressional elections:

First, the wins for the GOP in New Jersey and Virginia says little about how people are viewing President Obama. This is confirmed by exit polls in those two states where voters said that Obama was not a factor in their vote. See, for example, here.

Second, a governorship is a position farther removed from national politics than many other positions, especially congressional positions. That is, whether a particular state votes for a Republican or Democrat as governor, there is not necessarily a connection between that and the party majority of the state’s residents vote for in a presidential or congressional race. For example, residents of New England states regularly vote for Republican governors but rarely vote for Republican congressmen/women or senators. Governors are far from Washington, politically speaking, and have limited influence on what comes out of Washington.

Third, the two Democratic governors who lost their races yesterday were each running on his own, very long, records. Their loss can easily be seen as a result of their achievements or lack there off as governors.

Now if we consider the race in New York’s 23’rd congressional race, on the other hand, the above discussion suggests that if there is any message at all, it is one favoring Democrats.

But beyond the discussion above, there is another very important message that was sent by NY-23. The voters chose the Democrat over the conservative candidate when embodied all of what GOP leaders have been espousing. The voters did so after the GOP ran off its own candidate who the people actually favored.

In other words, the voters favored and chose a GOP candidate who was in favor of many of President Obama’s policies. Prominent conservatives such as Glen Beck, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty ran off the GOP candidate, effectively replacing that candidate with one off their own stripes. These prominent conservatives argued for a more insular Republican party, demanded it, and got their way. The voters, on the other hand, would have none of it. As a result, a district that hasn’t elected a Democratic representative since 1978 (in some parts of the district, since 1850)* revolted, choosing a candidate it thought would best represent it in congress. The message from the district is that the individual who can best represent the district in congress is someone who favors many of President Obama’s policies.

* As a result of redistricting, different part of the district last voted for a republican at different times.

A good night for Reed, a better night for Republicans [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Don’t believe the hype: The election results won’t forecast much for anyone. [Washington Post]

Amid terrorism, Iraq matures: In an odd way, the response to recent bombings in Baghdad shows that the Iraqi political world is evolving in a healthy direction. [Boston Globe]

The Best Allies Money Can Buy: America has been able to fight two wars with few allies because we’ve hired the help. [New York Times]

Two bills, clear winner: Why the House’s health reform proposal is better public policy than the Senate’s. [Washington Post]

Health: Fighting flu with… corn syrup? Amid a swine flu scare, Kellogg’s puts forth Cocoa Krispies as a boost for children’s immune system. [Boston Globe]

Justice delayed: Hispanic farmers battle USDA practice Hispanic farmers battle USDA’s long-standing discriminatory loan practices. [Houston Chronicle]

Justice and truth take a back seat in Chicago [Chicago Tribune]

Justice restored: Finally, a court ruling that considers the impact on the Luzerne County kids whose lives have been upended. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Driving Without English: The abuses by Dallas police officers who fined drivers for not speaking English exemplify why cops should not be turned into immigration agents. [New York Times]

Cut off the gas [Chicago Tribune]

We need a Karzai strategy: In the wake of the Afghan leader’s odd victory, Obama must revamp his approach. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

‘Messy’ Afghan election deepens Obama’s dilemma [USA Today]

Reform or die: Now the U.S. confronts the hardest puzzle of all in Afghanistan: improving governance. [Washington Post]

Some Sense on Defense Spending: President Obama must work hard to make sure that his hard-won victories to reduce defense spending stay won. [New York Times]

Net revolution – and rerun: The emergence of cable and pay-TV programming marked an exciting and explosive stage in America’s communications history. [Boston Globe]

Racial hope fades despite Obama [Chicago Tribune]

Protection for Investors: The Investor Protection Act of 2009 should not exempt small public companies from the audit requirement. [New York Times]

Academic salaries: Paying the smart money: The salaries of college and university presidents have been going up, but savvy leadership has a price. [LA Times]

It’s been good year for charity bakery [Chicago Tribune] 

Gov. races that teach: Lessons for Democrats and Republicans from Virginia and New Jersey. [Washington Post]  

Hillary Clinton: Corn tastes better in Karachi [Boston Globe]  

Michael Vick: a dog’s new best friend? The Humane Society’s arrangement with the convicted football player deserves the public’s support. [LA Times]  

Ongoing Agony of the Banks: If the federal government’s strategy to save the banks was meant to get them back into the business of lending, it has not worked yet. [New York Times]  

Suddenly, America digs farming: The Huffington Post’s ‘hot organic farmers’ and the Internet social game FarmVille may be signs of a growing interest in growing things. [LA Times]  

Democrats’ dodge on voting rights: D.C. representation in Congress isn’t being seen as the civil rights issue it is. [Washington Post]  

Block this music monopoly: Ticketmaster’s bid for a merger with Live Nation would hurt concert consumers. [Philadelphia Inquirer]  

Fitness: Marathon gripe session – Experienced runners are griping about how many slow pokes are signing up for marathons these days. [Boston Globe]  

Trust, Antitrust and Your Vote: If any one voting machine maker is allowed to dominate the market, there will be even greater reasons to worry about the vulnerability of future elections. [New York Times]  

Vaccine technology a recipe for disaster: Vaccine production relies on a time-consuming process that cannot be rushed, and therefore is completed too slowly to deal with new pandemics such as swine flu. [Boston Globe]  

A Watershed Decision: The Chesapeake Energy Corporation’s decision not to drill in New York City’s watershed is good news, but the threat has not disappeared. [New York Times]  

Food labels and unwise ‘Smart Choices’: Too many compromises — Froot Loops and Ritz Bits Peanut Butter Chocolatey Blast? — doomed a program to help consumers make nutritious selections in the grocery store. [LA Times]  

Israel must end provocative digs: The Netanyahu government should crack down on a group of extreme Israeli nationalists who are conducting provocative digs in East Jerusalem. [Boston Globe]  

Public interest suffers as politicians pick their voters [USA Today]

GOP defined by its extremists, like Dems in the ’70s [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

The politics of shouting [Chicago Tribune]

Walt Whitman’s answer to Joe Wilson: The writer said the way to raise the sorry level of political discourse is to raise the level of culture. [LA Times]

A brush with the facts helps: Rep. Joe Wilson’s accusation that President Obama lied about health care for illegal immigrants was not only a boorish public display; it was wrong in fact. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Reforming the Financial System: Legislation should strengthen protection of consumers, firmly rein in derivatives and take steps to identify and resolve emerging risks. [New York Times]

A down-to-earth space program: An Obama administration panel has come up with a vision that is a combination of practical steps and inspiring explorations. [LA Times]

The Eeuww! Ads: The new “Don’t drink yourself fat” commercials are stomach-churning, but a tax on sodas and sugary beverages would be best at changing people’s behavior. [New York Times]

Washington Mean Time: Are we losing the caring and  welcoming part of our national character? [Washington Post]

Obama’s speeches are the stampede GOP needs: Obama has all of the cards and all of the information necessary to expose the Republicans for the mercenaries that they are, and said as much. [New York Daily News]

How we can end the cycle of bullying: Without meaningful health care reform that places value on primary care and mental health, the bullies will prevail. [Boston Globe]

Giant rats? Really, it’s a good thing: As species disappear with alarming regularity, the discovery of a new group of animals is a welcome break from the news of extinctions. [LA Times]

Don’t Tweet About Health Care: Social media help stir up excitement during elections, but they are a much less effective tool for articulating the complicated details of health care reform. [New York Times]

Book Burner for UNESCO? A serious contender for head of the U.N.’s cultural organization has suffocated cultural and intellectual freedom. [Washington Post]