In a recent Op-Ed for the NYT, Krugman pushes back against the talk of even calmer conservatives of late whom have been “issuing dire warnings that Obamacare will turn America into a European-style social democracy.” Krugman doesn’t challenge that health care reform will place us closer to European-style social democracy, instead he challenges the idea that European-style social democracy is bad.

A good piece from the Washington Post about how Hillary Clinton’s presence as Secretary of State has lead to a record increase in the number of female ambassadors in the U.S.

In today’s race to become the greenest nation in the world — the 21st century’s equivalent to the epic space race between the Soviets and Americans — the Brits are having a good time looking at us in their rear view mirror. As fun as it would be to attribute this to some overhyped cultural [...]

Flawed as it may be, health care reform is still worth passing. In the coming days as the House and Senate bills are combined, we must accept the result. Even the strongest of progressives need to realize that no single bill will fix the system. Whatever Barack Obama signs will only be the beginning.

This year will pose a significant fork in the road towards responsible and sensible politics and policy. With midterms looming, one would hope that the Democrats have enough foresight to not let 2010 become a repeat of 1994. That said, there are five stories to watch this year, each of which ties into what will happen in November and beyond:

Song of Sibyl’s inaugural Special Comment on the man who killed the public option and the Medicare buy-in plan for adults over the age of 55.
Seven presidents have tried to reform a health care system that everyone agrees is broken. Seven have failed. Now, at the dawn of his second year in office, President [...]

Here’s a not-bold prediction: China’s approach to climate change mitigation will be a defining issue of the decade for which we have just embarked. Part two of this series continues to look at why climate change might be pushing China to the precipice of its path toward economic growth.
The impact of climate change on Chinese [...]