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Blogs FeedElection Watch Weekly: Happy 4th of July!
5 July 2012
News
Fallout from the healthcare ruling continues to dominate the news cycle. Sources inside the Court indicate that Chief Justice John Roberts initially voted to strike down the mandate and actually wrote much of what ended up becoming the dissent. Outraged conservatives feel that Roberts was pressured into his decision by politicians and liberal pundits who had suggested that invalidating the law would undermine the Court's reputation and legitimacy.
There's also been much discussion over what the November elections mean for the fate of Obamacare. I speculate on how the Supreme Court ruling will influence the presidential race and Sarah Binder discusses the Republican's chances of successfully repealing the law if they take back the White House and Senate.
"So, assuming a Republican Congress under President Romney were to judge repeal to be politically feasible, then a road to at least partial repeal would technically be possible in the Senate. But it would be a bumpy and it might hit some dead-ends."
The US celebrated Independence Day and the LA Times reminds us that the Founding Fathers disagreed over many of the same political questions that still divide us today.
Around the Web
Kevin Drum is troubled by what he sees as the real motivation behind the recent wave of Republican sponsored voter ID laws.
"Electoral politics has always been a dirty game, but in recent decades most of us felt that there was, at least, a consensus that systematic, national-level efforts to discourage minority voting were at last beyond the pale. But maybe we were just kidding ourselves."
Victor Davis Hanson says "there is much to criticize" when it comes to the Obama foreign policy.
The Wall Street Journal's Thursday editorial is making news for its tongue lashing of the Romney campaign:
"The Romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the White House by saying the economy stinks and it's Mr. Obama's fault. We're on its email list and the main daily message from the campaign is that "Obama isn't working." Thanks, guys, but Americans already know that. What they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the President's policies aren't working and how Mr. Romney's policies will do better."
In a paper co-authored with Macquarie Universitie's Lloyd Cox the USSC's Brendon O'Conner argues that Australia did not passively follow America into Iraq and Vietnam but rather viewed the conflicts as opportunities to strengthen key aspects of the US-Australia alliance and pursue other strategic objectives.
Maybe a sign Politico's taking the election a bit too seriously (h/t Matthew Yglesias):
"It’s difficult to game out exactly what global peril would mean for Obama’s election hopes."
The best political cartoons of the week
Looking Ahead
Important: The June job's report will be released on Friday and the figures should provide some clarity as to the pace of the recovery and what to make of the lousy May numbers. A payroll survey released Thursday estimates an above expected net gain of 176 000 private sector jobs. However, it's the official government numbers which matter most.
The IMF warns that the US needs to address the 'uncertainty' created the by the end of year 'fiscal cliff' when $4 billion in tax cuts are set to expire and large spending cuts automatically kick in.
Fun Fact: The US has the highest per capita meat consumption "just barely edging out Australia."
Trivia: Which of these Founding Fathers did not sign the Declaration of Independence: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams or Alexander Hamilton?
Answer to Last Week's Trivia: Minnesota
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