Six years after the start of the Great Recession, there should be little disagreement what America's number one domestic priority should be. With unemployment still stuck around 7 percent four plus years after that recession was declared "over," creating jobs has to be Job #1. That urgency is underscored by the new analyses warning that […]

As he tries to right the course with the troubled launch of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama finds himself at the mercy to the American insurance industry. And that's not a good place for him--or the American people--to be. After all, while Obama now needs the insurers to work overtime to manually enroll […]

During the run-up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Americans were introduced to a dictionary of terms used by health insurers to maximize their profits by denying or dropping coverage for the costliest customers. For example, a "pre-existing condition" allowed the insurance companies to reject millions of potentially sicker applicants--as many […]

On Monday, the Washington Post ("Paul Ryan, GOP's budget architect, sets his sights on fighting poverty and winning minds") published a glowing profile of failed 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. His extremist makeover, the Post suggests, can be summed up by Jesus Christ and Jack Kemp, the two names whose emphasis on charity […]

While Republicans and their media echo chamber have been quick to pronounce the Affordable Care Act "dead on arrival" and its troubled launch "Obama's Katrina," polling suggests the American people have reached no such conclusion. A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted last weekend found that 41 percent of respondents approve of the ACA, little changed from a […]

This week's target in the never-ending Republican crusade to sabotage the Affordable Care Act is the Obamacare navigators, the dozens of community groups, hospitals and other non-profit organizations who have received federal grants to help Americans enroll in new health insurance plans. After launching a House probe of the groups and enacting draconian state restrictions […]

The following transcript is from "Yes He Kenyan" which is scheduled to air on November 17, 2013. The correspondent is Lara Logan. Max McClellan, producer. A follow-up segment, also included below, is slated for broadcast on Sunday, November 24, 2013. From the moment he announced his candidacy for president, Barack Obama has been surrounded by […]

And now for today's memo for Republicans and the media outlets determined to amplify GOP talking points. The troubled launch of the Affordable Care Act's enrollment period is neither Barack Obama's Iraq nor his Katrina (New York Times). Leave aside for the moment that one program is designed to reduce America's unnecessary body count while […]

In the 1978 classic Animal House, Kent Dorfman (Flounder) is distraught after seeing the damage his frat brothers had done to his brother's brand new Lincoln Continental. In response, Eric Stratton (Otter) famously tells him, "You f**ked up. You trusted us." That scene came to mind as President Obama announced his "fix" to the policy […]

NBC has announced that former President George W. Bush will appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Tuesday, November 19. Coming just days after the Anti-Defamation League admonished Bush for agreeing to deliver the keynote address at a fundraising event for an evangelical group whose mission is to convert Jews to Christianity, the […]