After the Futuretag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-2235642009-12-26T09:07:28-08:00"Without the ultrarational hopes and passions of religion no society will ever have the courage to conquer despair and attempt the impossible; for the vision of a just society is an impossible one, which can be approximated only by those who do not regard it as impossible."--Reinhold Niebuhr TypePadCorporate Liberalism (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20128768225f5970c2009-12-26T09:07:28-08:002009-12-27T12:25:03-08:00Jonathan Chait in the New Republic: There is more at work in the progressive revolt than an irrational attachment to the public plan or an executive distrust of private industry. The bizarre convergence of left-wing and right-wing paranoia echoes the...Jack WhelanQuote of the Day: Drew Westen (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a770f0e3970b2009-12-21T23:22:47-08:002009-12-22T09:48:08-08:00What's costing the president and courting danger for Democrats in 2010 isn't a question of left or right, because the president has accomplished the remarkable feat of both demoralizing the base and completely turning off voters in the center. If...Jack WhelanHacker on the Exchangestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a76c90b5970b2009-12-21T09:18:57-08:002009-12-21T09:28:39-08:00The lack of a public option also makes even more imperative tough requirements on insurers to make them live up to their stated commitment to change their business model and slow the spiraling cost of coverage. The most important way...Jack WhelanObama, the Scam Artist? (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a76accf5970b2009-12-20T12:23:22-08:002009-12-21T12:40:55-08:00Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger’s public image — a marketing scam designed to camouflage either his covert...Jack WhelanDemocratic Fault Lines: Corporatism vs. Progressivismtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a7643ac3970b2009-12-18T11:27:55-08:002009-12-18T18:34:43-08:00. . . in the health care reform debate, the Obama administration pursued legislation that utilized regulated and subsidized private for-profit health insurers to achieve universal health coverage. This approach was inherently flawed to "single-payer" advocates on the left, who...Jack WhelanWhat about Kerry's Work on the Exchanges? (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e201287660adf2970c2009-12-17T09:14:34-08:002009-12-17T10:27:09-08:00Not sure. Ezra Klein criticizes Howard Dean's opposition to the current Senate bill by saying that there will be cost controls through the prudent purchaser limits in the exchanges: What's so strange about Dean's objection is that the exchanges in...Jack WhelanHealthcare Boondoggle (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a75b6c37970b2009-12-16T23:23:59-08:002009-12-17T11:19:39-08:00Somebody explain to me why this bill as it stands is worth passing. I haven't read a thing yet that's convinced me. Sure there are a few improvements here and there, but are they worth the price? I recognize that...Jack WhelanHealthcare Bill, Yes or No?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a75851d0970b2009-12-16T08:52:48-08:002009-12-16T10:35:38-08:00Obama can say that you're getting a lot, but also saying that it "covers everyone," as if there's a big new benefit is a big stretch. Nothing will have changed on that count except changing the law to force people...Jack WhelanGame Changer?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a74fca3c970b2009-12-14T10:20:58-08:002009-12-14T11:16:55-08:00Except when Republicans are in power, nothing gets done, and what gets done by them is regressive and destructive of the public interest. We've become virtually ungovernable when Democrats are in power. If there's any hope for the Obama administration,...Jack WhelanObama's Nobel Speech (Update)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20128764cc1c1970c2009-12-12T22:54:52-08:002009-12-15T10:16:57-08:00I'm at a point now when I'm responding to Obama's speeches similarly to the way I responded to Bush's. Obama's might be more interesting to listen to, more eloquent and complex, but ultimately his speeches, like Bush's, are just propaganda....Jack WhelanQuote of the Day: Ezra Kleintag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a73e9290970b2009-12-10T11:45:02-08:002009-12-10T11:45:02-08:00But though Obama's program is quite liberal, he doesn't seem to care much how it's achieved. A public option would be nice, but if it's not there, then that's fine, too. Full auction of permits is a good idea, but...Jack WhelanOn Political Disappointment (Updated)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e2012876315147970c2009-12-08T09:52:25-08:002009-12-11T08:50:47-08:00A point of clarification about my recent posts regarding my disappointment with Barack Obama. I think that a lot of it is not so much disappointment with him as a politician, but that for awhile his candidacy gave me some...Jack WhelanQuote of the Day: John Colestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20128761f7e83970c2009-12-06T08:42:08-08:002009-12-06T09:55:51-08:00. . . a weak public option is worse than no public option at all, and a carelessly constructed public option will just become a dumping ground for high-risk patients that will require billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars to...Jack WhelanShaping Reality or Accepting Ittag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a70eb766970b2009-12-04T10:14:12-08:002009-12-15T08:58:30-08:00But, of course, the Obama campaign, like all presidential campaigns, was built on a series of fictions. . . . All presidents have to adjust to these realities when they move to the White House. The only surprise with President...Jack WhelanObama's Afghanistan Speechtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20128760014d9970c2009-12-02T07:37:13-08:002009-12-04T14:53:45-08:00Greenwald sums it up pretty well: He's convinced his admirers that this is a form of noble "pragmatism" but, far more often, it appears to be a mishmash of political calculations bereft of principle and plagued by numerous internal contradictions...Jack WhelanThe Real Conservativestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e20120a6f2f760970b2009-12-01T09:09:38-08:002009-12-01T09:13:32-08:00The left, to be quite blunt about it, has something to conserve. It is the right that has inherited the ambitious modernist urge to destroy and innovate in the name of a universal project. Social democrats, characteristically modest in style...Jack WhelanBishop Tobintag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d834520c4d69e2012875dfca86970c2009-11-26T11:24:56-08:002009-11-30T12:38:53-08:00Normally, I don't get into discussions about the church hierarchy because, sub specie aeternitatis, the hierarchy doesn't really matter that much. Its role is to keep the lights on and pay the bills, and to provide a minimal sense institutional...Jack Whelan