Quickly, this a.m.

I am off to Vermont for a wedding.

Paul Krugman nails how wrong the GOP is on the failure of ObamaCare and what they are trying to accomplish.

"What was especially odd about the incessant predictions of health-reform disaster was that we already knew, or should have known, that a program along the lines of the Affordable Care Act was likely to work. Obamacare was closely modeled on Romneycare, which has been working in Massachusetts since 2006, and it bears a strong family resemblance to successful systems abroad, for example in Switzerland. Why should the system have been unworkable for America?"

Link to Krugman Column

And David Brooks nails the result of what 8 years of Bush II leading the country, followed by the rancor of the subsequent 6 years of Obama's terms, has done to the national spirit.  My friend RedStateVT will no doubt object to my failure to get over my disgust with George W. Bush, but one must remember he squandered the balanced budget that fiscal conservatives like myself value so highly.  He had to fight the War on Terror, but misled us about Iraq, and failed to raise the revenues to pay for either War.  He expanded Medicare Part D without paying for it.  His antipathy toward Regulation lead to a casino mentality toward housing that, in retrospect, I don't know how I managed to misjudge the potential for this to ruin the economy for so many people.

So fiscal conservatives were angry, anti-war people were angry, and then President Obama comes in and creates the ACA, which anyone (particularly GOP supporters) with secure health insurance distrusts because it creates uncertainty for them and people go out of there way to avoid uncertainty with their health insurance.  But there was a national disgrace in that once you were out of the world employer provided health insurance, you had health insurance uncertainty (unless you live in VT, MA or NY, and then the only issue was cost).  Of course, cost is the ultimate uncertainty if you don't have a lot of money.  And almost everyone eventually lands outside of the world of employer provided health insurance.

Then, the Sunni/Shia thing erupts, the Taliban are still in their Pakistan base and we don't have a clear victory from the War on Terror or the War in Iraq.  So now the military supporters have questions about our national will.  As do fiscal conservatives, as do people concerned about global warming, as do people concerned about getting a job, as do people concerned about maintaining health insurance, as do people concerned about running out of savings now that they are retired.  Retirees hate the fact that risk free savings earn them nothing.  The only winners out there are people with jobs who could refinance their mortgage at 3.5%.

Anyway, David Brooks describes the decline in U.S. support for Democracy Building.

Link to Brooks Column