Perfect example of how Congress is out of touch and too concerned with their own status.  Senator Boxer is so petty and obviously suffers from low self-esteem.  Congress will never get anything done if they keep up attitudes like Senator Boxer's.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/17/please-call-me-senator/

A new Gallup poll shows that "Thus far in 2009, 40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% moderate and 21% liberal.  This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the US since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004".

http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/Conservatives-Single-Largest-Ideological-Group.aspx

These results show, in my opinion, that America is a center-right nation.  It also highlights the impressive personal victory of Obama's election but it was not an ideological turning point for America.  It also highlights that the Republican party is in significantly worse shape than the conservative movement.

Our President is extremely popular and I do not underestimate the value in this.  He is both liked and trusted by the public, which gives him the latitude currently to act in ways that others could not.  And Obama is exceptionally good at making his policies sound different than they are.   Still, Obama is governing to the left of where he ran, in a nation that is significantly more conservative than it is liberal.  So while much of the public has been willing to defer to him so far, I do not think the public's patience is endless.  If Obama's policies are seen as starting to contribute to our probems rather than solving them - and the staggering deficit and debt we are seeing are going to trigger some unpleasant outcomes and choices - the political climate can change very rapidly.  There's only so long that unemployment can rise but he can claim that he has "saved" jobs.  There's only so long that people can think that their taxes aren't going up - just wait for the day that your healthcare benefits start to be taxed and your utility bills go through the roof because of the new cap-and-trade taxes.

The President remains in a very strong position, but he is far from invincible.

God bless the NY Times for reporting on the cost of the new healthcare proposal and how many people will still be uninsured.  That's really encouraging what a trillion dollars of spending will get us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/health/policy/16obama.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

What I find most alarming is that there doesn't appear to be a middle ground from the Administration   It's either spend a trillion dollars and still have 36 million people remain uninsured, or as President Obama says - "do nothing".  Why is he talking about the "do nothing" option?  We all know that's not an option.  We all agree that "something" needs to be done but maybe that something doesn't entail spending a trillion dollars.

Maybe we need to spend more time finding ways to cut costs without needing to spend a trillion dollars.  Here's an interesting article from the CEO of Safeway on how they've been cutting their healthcare costs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124476804026308603.html