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Jonathan Tobin compares and contrasts Palestinians and Israelis and their regard for murderers.
… It is true that the video did include a bit where one man sang a song in praise of Baruch Goldstein, the mad Israeli who murdered 29 Muslims in Hebron on Purim in 1994. That is offensive. But for those who see this as the equivalent of Arab incitement, it is worth pointing out that this is just one Jewish extremist. No one could credibly assert that the Israeli government or the overwhelming majority of the Israeli people share his views. In fact, such despicable beliefs are completely marginal in Israel. But while Baruch Goldstein is a hero only to a tiny fragment of a percentage of Israelis, Dalal Mughrabi is a heroine to virtually all Palestinians. Rather than an illustration of how both sides are mired in mutual hate, the reaction of the Israeli and Palestinian publics to these two names actually shows how different the two cultures are at this point in time.
Indeed, true peace will only be possible when Palestinians think of Mughrabi the same way most Israelis view Goldstein.
In Commentary, Tevi Troy reviews the past twenty years of healthcare politics.
…There are, however, alternatives to the expensive and cumbersome approach promoted by the Democrats thus far. Some proposals, if packaged in a smaller bill, could potentially secure bipartisan support. Although President Obama has recognized physician complaints regarding the high cost and perverse incentives generated by an uncontrolled medical–malpractice system, he has until now been unwilling to accept the well-reasoned position that punitive damages should be capped. Another proposal, long promoted by Republicans, is to expand the insurance market by allowing individuals to purchase insurance across state lines. A third idea, the expansion of high-risk pools, would help individuals with pre-existing health conditions secure insurance policies. The point is not that Democrats and Republicans agree substantially about these issues right now but that these are matters for both parties to talk about.
Unfortunately, while the Brown election has upset Obama’s plans in the short term, it has not caused the Democratic leadership in Congress and the White House to question whether they are right on either the merits or the politics of the health-care issue. The merits can be debated endlessly, but this review of the past two decades indicates the foolhardiness of Democratic certainty regarding health care’s political advantages. Not only do Republicans have the ability to play in the health-care arena, but the recent debates have also further diminished the American people’s faith in the Democrats, both on the issue itself and on the larger question of profligate government spending. …
In WaPo, Patrick Caddell and Douglas Schoen comment on their polling results about Obamacare, and what it should mean to Democrats.
…As pollsters to the past two Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively, we feel compelled to challenge the myths that seem to be prevailing in the political discourse and to once again urge a change in course before it is too late. At stake is the kind of mainstream, common-sense Democratic Party that we believe is crucial to the success of the American enterprise. …
…Nothing has been more disconcerting than to watch Democratic politicians and their media supporters deceive themselves into believing that the public favors the Democrats’ current health-care plan. Yes, most Americans believe, as we do, that real health-care reform is needed. And yes, certain proposals in the plan are supported by the public.
However, a solid majority of Americans opposes the massive health-reform plan. Four-fifths of those who oppose the plan strongly oppose it, according to Rasmussen polling this week, while only half of those who support the plan do so strongly. Many more Americans believe the legislation will worsen their health care, cost them more personally and add significantly to the national deficit. Never in our experience as pollsters can we recall such self-deluding misconstruction of survey data. …
In The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez posts excerpts from Thomas Friedman. He wants to do an Iraq victory lap about now, but where was he when the heavy lifting had to be done?
Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.
It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war. . . .
Leaving, while bringing other problems, might also make it easier to build coalitions to deal with post-U.S. Iraq, Iran, Hezbollah and Syria.
In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby discusses Iraqi democracy, in light of their elections.
RONALD REAGAN liked to say that there was no limit to what a man could accomplish if he didn’t mind who got the credit. The transformation of Iraq from a hellish tyranny into a functioning democracy will be recorded as a signal accomplishment of George W. Bush’s presidency, and he probably doesn’t mind in the least that the Obama administration would like to take the credit.
This week’s parliamentary elections in Iraq brought 12 million voters to the polls – a remarkable 62 percent turnout, notwithstanding a wave of Election Day bombings that killed 38 people.
…Iraqis have paid a steep price for their burgeoning young democracy; tens of thousands of lives were wiped out in the horrific insurgency that followed the ouster of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps that awful butcher’s bill explains the fervor with which Iraqis have embraced democratic self-governance. In Sunday’s elections, 6,200 candidates representing 86 political parties contended to fill 325 seats in parliament. (Would that our own congressional elections were so competitive.) Such democratic passion would be impressive anywhere. To see it flourish in one of the world’s most dangerous and undemocratic neighborhoods is downright heroic. …
That the Obami have made no course corrections is still a source of amazement. In the Washington Examiner, Noemie Emery comments suggesting the president needs and intervention.
Denial is a river that runs through the White House, where the denizens are in the grip of two major delusions: One, that the country really wants really expensive big government, and two, that Obama is “sort of like God.”
Since early last spring, they’ve been waging a fight with the reality principle, convincing themselves (and fewer and fewer in the larger political universe) that in the very next speech, Obama will recapture that old campaign magic. …
…A year in, the Obamatrons barely seem to have noticed that they have divided the Democrats, lost independents, and revived the small-government forces as never before. …
In The Corner, Veronique de Rugy posts on spending issues.
The Hill reports that in a rare 100-0 roll call vote “The Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to tell the public when it isn’t paying for new spending or tax cuts.” The amendment, which would be applied to the job bill, “would create a running tally on the secretary of the Senate’s website of any new mandatory spending that isn’t paid for through offsetting spending cuts or tax increases.”
Still, “Coburn wasn’t optimistic over the chances his proposal will end up becoming law.” That is because Democrats may replace it with one authored by Sen. Max Baucus “that requires the Secretary of the Senate to create a new website that links to Congressional Budget Office information,” and “would only be updated every three months.” …