"Ohio Slipping Away?"

I get 20 emails a day from Democrats trying to scare me into donating, so I know to take campaign emails that raise an alarm ("we're being outspent!) with a grain of salt.  Ergo, I'm not going to get too excited by this campaign email from Josh Mandel, the GOP Senate candidate in Ohio, relayed by National Review. But it is rather cheering -- and a jarring counter-narrative to the one put forward by Romney momentum-mongers. Subject line: Ohio Slipping Away?

I would add, too, that by current American standards it's a fair pitch. The enemy is liberalism, spending, taxes. Nothing incendiary.  But there is a, shall we say, archetypal subtext: Democrats are voting early by the busload (you know what kind of people rely on buses); they want to bank enough \votes to win before election day (clever thieves that they are); I need you (patriotic American) to stand with me (the marine) and block the invading end-running busloaders marshaled out of their "strongholds" by the "Obama-Brown machine." We few, we happy few....

Here's the letter:

Dear Patriot,

Early voting has begun in Ohio.

And the Obama campaign is turning out Democrat voters by the busload.

The Senate gets into the swing of bankwhacking

Some months ago, as health care reform languished and the Senate ground nearly to a halt, one read frequent laments that the moment for sweeping financial reform was being wasted -- that by the time the Senate got around to full consideration, memories would have faded, rage against the banks cooled, and lobbyists' hooks sunk ever deeper. 

Reasonable worries, perhaps. But those who despaired of strong reform did not reckon on HCR passage changing the dynamic in Congress; or on the pressure that would be generated by bringing the bill to the floor just as election season heated up; or on the fresh spur to rage afforded by an SEC suit (and criminal investigation) against the nation's most lucrative financial institution.

Just nine days ago, Jonathan Chait was marvelling at the strength of the Dodd ill as it came to the floor. Now, the WSJ reports, a tide of amendments is bidding to restrict financial institutions' activity far more radically:

Sens. Ted Kaufman (D., Del.) and Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) plan an amendment that would prohibit any bank from ever holding more than 10% of the country's deposits and put strict caps on the debt banks issue.

Sens. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and John McCain (R., Ariz.) have worked on an amendment that would force commercial banks to separate from investment banks—revisiting the Glass-Steagall Act of the 1930s.

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) and Carl Levin (D., Mich.) plan a provision to forbid banks with federally insured deposits from certain trading activities.

A gallon of water at bedtime for bedwetters: Obama's HCR prescription

Once again, Obama will not meet the cravings of ardent supporters of comprhensive health care reform. He simply refuses to step in aggressively and steer floundering  House-Senate negotiations for a "reconciliation sidecar" that would make the Senate bill palatable to the House.  As Jonathan Cohn outlined with perfect clarity last night, the basic structure of such a deal is as plain as the forever-postponed deal between Israelis and Palestinians. But Obama refuses to catalyze it -- now.  That's notwitstanding the litany of prominent Democrats --  Weiner, Sherrod Brown, Franken, Sanders -- openly exhorting him to weigh in decisively.

Obama wants to first step back and redress what he's acknowledged as errors in communication and process and rebuild support for the bill before asking House members to vote for it. He is gesturing toward bringing Republicans back in because he wants to expose the bankruptcy of their proposals; he is defending the passed bills' essentials; he wants also wants time to highlight Republican intransigence and do-nothingism on creating jobs and reforming the financial system.  The Times reports that Obama laid the strategy out at a fundraiser last night:

At the fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee later on Thursday, however, Mr. Obama said that once Congressional Democrats had worked out their differences and settled on a final bill, he would push for a vibrant, public debate over the health care legislation. He said he planned “to call on our Republican friends to present their ideas.”

The staggering Narcissism of House progressives

Brian Beutler interviews Sherrod Brown:

Based on his conversations with House progressives, Brown says the mood right now is fairly dour."They're very unhappy," Brown admits. "Their viewpoint is it can't be just the Senate version because, first of all, it's not what they want in terms of the substance, and second it really writes them out of having any impact."

Let me get this straight. House Progressives would rather write some dismembered, scaled down piece of crap that will cover maybe 1/3 of the uninsured and leave the dysfunctional rules by which health insurers now play more or less intact than sacrifice a bit of impact and pass a bill that overlaps 90% with the one they wrote?

Regardless of how much they can or can't be promised in advance of a reconciliation bill, these progressives, if they pass the bill, will have until 2014 to strengthen subsidies, amend taxes designed to pay for those subsidies, and make any other changes that can be related to the budget. Or they can let the Senate bill die and see how much "impact" they have -- either when their sorry butts are voted out of office or they're flailing in the minority or with a radically diminished majority.

Meanwhile, Brown claims that Obama continues to hold off from engaging with the House and trying to set a course  -- while supporters of Obamacare yearn to have him gather the House children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing and tell them to pass the Senate bill.  It seems that he "would not." Supporters can only hope that this is some kind of tough love/shock therapy and that the House will somehow be nudged to do the right thing.