3/8: On The Road Again

Pres. Obama hits the road to pitch health care legislation today, and conservatives are doing their best to gear up a response.

"Same pitch, new day," writes NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez. "This is not a done deal. If it were, President Obama wouldn't have to try again today."

Jim Geraghty spotlights Rep. John Adler's (D-NJ) appearance on "Fox News Sunday," where the freshman Dem still sounds like a "no" vote on health care.

And Quin Hillyer examines polls conducted for the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life group, that shows pro-life voters will play a role in 8 districts where incumbents voted for health care in Nov., but may get pressure to vote no because of abortion language in the Senate version.

At OpenLeft, Chris Bowers defends progressives' roles in making the bill stronger, while Paul Rosenberg takes another look at past conservative efforts at health care reform.

The GOP has made a big deal of what they say is the unprecedented nature of using budget reconciliation to get health care overhaul passed. Now, the left is fighting back, offering examples of times the right has used the process to pass narrow, party-line votes. In fact, writes TNR's Jonathan Chait, the process isn't even that complex.

Chait: "There are a lot of thorny issues in American politics that require a great deal of concentrated attention to grasp. The controversy over budget reconciliation and health care is not one of them. It's pretty simple, and can be explained in thirty seconds or so. And yet large chunks of the political class seem unable to grasp it."

Adds Paul Krugman: "Kent Conrad has said -- with complete clarity -- that reconciliation could not have been used to pass comprehensive health reform, but the Senate has already done that. And now, in Conrad's judgment -- which matters, because he's a stickler on such matters -- reconciliation can be used to modify the bill which has already passed."

And Taylor Marsh has heard enough: "The bottom line is that if the Democratic party is going to sell out the voters who put them in office, The People should burn down the party and start over with people who don't, no matter how long that takes. When Obama was elected people wondered if conservatism was dead. Ah, those were the days. They didn't last long and it's not the fault of the voters. But it will be if they continue to prop up these losers."

ACLU: Hey, Big Spenders

Meanwhile, with the ACLU running an ad in yesterday's New York Times urging Obama not to go back on his word over detainees, the left, right and media have the same thought: Sounds more like Pres. Bush.

Says TalkLeft's Jeralyn: "Obama needs to listen. For many of us, this could be his 'pink slip' moment." Charles Lemos warns of "the consequences of alienating perhaps irrevocably those for whom civil liberties are non-negotiable as well as the certainty that Cheney-led right will use the reversal to further paint the President as a dangerous neophyte who is weak, indecisive and who lacks the proper judgment to be Commander-in-Chief." GottaLaff: "The ACLU took a tough, clear stand. Somebody had to."

Ed Morrissey: "Bush got less interested in leading on legislative issues after 9/11, and his big foray back into that realm in 2005 with Social Security reform flopped on partisan bickering. Obama, on the other hand, has yet to take any interest in leadership at all -- and on his own policy agenda items, such as ObamaCare. His problem is that he's too interested in the integration of politics and communications; all he ever does is give speeches. From the first days of his presidency, Obama has abdicated that role to Nancy Pelosi, and more than a year later, still hasn't demanded it back."

Righty Donald Douglas: "Normally, I'd just shrug off the ACLU's remarks, but if they're running an ad like this in the New York Times, let's just say Obama's getting thrown under the bus at this point/"

And the debate over DoJ attys who worked on behalf of terrorism suspects continues today as several prominent GOP legal experts take Liz Cheney to task for her criticisms.

"It's nice to see that even conservatives are disgusted with Liz Cheney's latest attack on Eric Holder," writes HuffPo's Daphne Eviatar. "Cheney and her small but highly vocal group Keep America Safe know how to prey on people's worst fears and prejudices. So I'm not all that surprised by their attack on lawyers like Neal Katyal, a Georgetown law professor, now Principal Deputy Solicitor General, who previously argued that the Bush administration's military commissions were unconstitutional -- and convinced a conservative U.S. Supreme Court that he was right."

Adds Adam Server: "The reason for the backlash is that the attack on the so-called Gitmo Nine or al-Qaeda Seven wasn't just an attack on a handful of liberal lawyers -- it was an attack on the American system of justice, suggesting that certain classes of people aren't entitled to robust legal representation and that those who chose to represent them in order to ensure due process are America's enemies. If anyone can be denied due process, than all of us can be denied due process. The people at [Keep America Safe] for whatever reason, are incapable of looking beyond their political self-interest and are willing to cannibalize the very institutions of American democracy in order to gain political ground against their political targets."

JOBS: When Good News Goes Bad

The nation's unemployment rate remains unchanged even as the economy shed another 33K jobs last month. But to Robert Stacy McCain, the news is still ugly: "Even if the U.S. economy suddenly began adding jobs at the rate of 1.2 million a year, it would take seven years to get back to the employment level of 2007. So the real problem with Obama's economic agenda isn't political, it's mathematical."

Speaking of jobs, thousands of jobs are on the line on the Space Coast, where budget cuts threaten NASA's future. Righty Glenn Reynolds, on Pres. Obama's Apr. "Space Summit": "I favor Obama's plan here, but I can see why losing 23,000 jobs in a recession isn't playing well with Floridians. This damage-control effort suggests that the White House wasn't prepared for the reaction, though."

"This time, he's trying to revise and extend his plans on space policy," adds Moe Lane. "There are so many other campaign promises that the President has broken; why should this one be treated any differently?"

POLITICS: It Was A Good Week

Kos writes on progressive's "big week" in AR: "There's no doubt that Halter's entrance into the race shook the political world. The netroots has responded big time, led by the fundraising powerhouse MoveOn. As of this writing, Halter had raised, via ActBlue or MoveOn, $1,149,752. ... While it's clear Halter would be a huge step up from Lincoln, the challenger must walk a tight rope -- between providing the red meat that would take his national standing to the next level, while remaining competitive with the Arkansas electorate -- an increasingly conservative bunch." Charles Lemos shows off AR companies who have benefited from Lincoln's post on the Ag Cmte.

Matt Yglesias takes issue with NV SEN candidate Sue Lowden (R), who wants to prevent health care legislation from passing while strengthening Medicare.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Well It's No Good Now

States have been slow to spend money set aside by the stimulus bill for weatherization, according to a review of the bill by DailyKos's MeteorBlades.

"The weatherization money - 10 times the annual budget of the federal Weatherization Assistance Program - had the advantage of not only being green, but also being directed at the most obviously shovel-ready projects, capable of generating jobs faster than just about any other part of the stimulus package. But it didn't. In fact, thanks to foot-dragging at the state level, only 8% of that money had been spent by the middle of February, according to a special report from the Department of Energy's Inspector General."

LEST WE FORGET: Fit Like A Bunny

FLOTUS Michelle Obama's fitness initiative will be shown off next month during the annual WH Easter Egg roll. This year's theme: "Ready, Set, Go!" And the logo's a rabbit in jogging shorts.