Washington DC

But he thinks as well. (Yeah, I know, scary stuff.)

[h/t ThinkProgress]

Another day, another example of David Brooks' infatuation with something he calls 'populism'.

Odd that we only hear of this now that people are protesting against Democrats in power.

Throughout the long period of Republican Ascendancy, the people protesting then were never populist (though the demographics might have been similar) -- no, those protesters were nothing but a bunch of radical USA-hating elitists.

Love the narrative; the original populists are turning in their graves.

I'm still trying to figure out why one election in Massachusetts ought to be a game-changer for anything, let alone vitally important national issues. There's just no proportionality.

What makes me optimistic is the confidence that simply out of a sense of self-preservation, if nothing else, we're going to see something moving -- for real and not rhetorically -- on HCR, banks & the economy. It just can't end like this.

Pass. The. Damn. Bill.

[h/t S. Benen]

Obama on great and proud nations:

The Senate has reached a milestone of sorts as observed by Sen. Whitehouse (D. R.I.) in this NYTimes article on the atmosphere in the Senate leading to a vote on HRC in the Senate:

Surveying the current state of health care reform, I'd say it resembles nothing more than a version of 'Medicare Part D'. I mean, the outcome is bound to do a lot of good, no doubt about that, but it's going to be at a terrific cost because the original structure of the thing, as inefficient and cumbersome as it is, is being left largely intact.

Well, I guess the best thing you can say about it is the very thing that's upsetting the GOPers most, namely, giving a date certain when we can start to leave. That date, plus the date we'll start withdrawing troops from Iraq after the election there, are the metrics we have for judging whether this move is a good idea or not.

It looks like we're finally going to get this done in America. 'Bout time.

I can hardly wait...

UPDATE: Yup, Public Option is in the house (err, Senate)!