The willingness of some in the media to accept even the most vapid of statements from international leaders as evidence of major policy change provides evidence daily that reporters, like the rest of us, can let their hopes get in the way of their judgment. A case in point is today’s editorial in the Washington Post by David Ignatius on the G-20 summit getting underway in Toronto. For Ignatius, President Obama’s recent letter to his G-20 counterparts, in which he called for restraint in easing government spending, fewer exports by …
As President Medvedev of Russia is coming to visit Barack Obama, the Administration’s spokesmen are desperately trying to convince us that the “reset” policy with the Russia has paid off. They argue that Russia and the United States have developed a real partnership, as demonstrated by the signature of the New START treaty, Russian support for the U.N.’s sanctions on Iran, and transit agreements to move troops and supplies into Afghanistan through Russian territory and air space. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thinks …
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will visit the United States from June 22 through 24 at the invitation of U.S. President Barack Obama. Topping the agenda will be the New START Treaty between the two countries, a treaty that is likely to arouse controversy in the Senate. The visit occurs after the United States was able to secure a vote by Russia on the United Nations Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran. The Obama Administration hails its “reset button” policy with Russia as an unqualified success. …
Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will host a summit to discuss health care reform, but as Heritage’s Nina Owcharenko notes in this video, if the President is serious and sincere about making the summit a success, he should simply start over. Owcharenko, who is Heritage’s Deputy Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies, says that the fundamental direction of the President’s plan is flawed.
In the run-up to his proposed health care summit, President Barack Obama this morning unveiled an 11-page outline of his health care proposal. Within the outline, there are 33 specific policy changes. Of course, there is no legislative text yet, so the full impact of what the President is proposing will not be known for some time. The President’s revisions are based on the Senate bill, as amended by Senate majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and passed last Christmas Eve. According to the February 22, 2010, edition of Congress Daily, on …
A Down Payment on Nationalization Trillion Dollars Down: In less than two months, the President has already budgeted nearly $1 TRILLION on his health care proposals—SCHIP, the stimulus, and now the budget. A Bottomless Well: President Obama’s FY 10 budget proposal offers a $634 billion “down payment” on health care reform. The only truth to this number is that it will continue to grow, and they openly admit it in the President’s budget proposal: “The budget calls for an effort beyond this down payment, to put the nation on a …
