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As the Arkansas Senate race heats up, Sen. Blanche Lincoln wants to set the record straight on her view of settling health care reform with a simple majority vote.

Leonard Pitts, Seattle Times
Fear again.Not hope, nor patriotism, nor progress, nor any of the nobler emotions and impulses by which human beings are driven. Nope. None of those.Instead, fear. Again.We've seen this movie many times. So there is little that is surprising about the Republican National Committee fundraising document recently reported by Politico, the one that offers strategies to get donors to part with their money. Donors can, it says, be persuaded to give by appealing to their egos, by offering them tchotchkes, or by promising them access. And some, the small donors, the five- and 10-dollar Janes and...

Michael Barone, Wall Street Journal
Are there enough votes in the House to pass the Senate's health-care bill? As of today, it's clear there aren't. House Democratic leaders have brushed aside White House calls to bring the bill forward by March 18, when President Barack Obama heads to Asia. Nevertheless, analysts close to the Democratic leadership tell me they're confident the leadership will find some way to squeeze out the 216 votes needed for a majority. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indeed shown mastery at amassing majorities. But it's hard to see how she'll do so on this one. The arithmetic as I...

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
There is a pathetic quality to our discussion of deficits and fiscal responsibility because we never face up to how much we need government to do. Our debates are also characterized by a politically convenient amnesia. Just a decade ago, we were running surpluses so big that Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, worried about what would happen once our national debt was liquidated. We had this problem well in hand until we started waging wars and cutting taxes at the same time.

Jay Newton-Small, Time
As the Massa implosion fades, Capitol Hill returns today to health care reform with both chambers considering obscure parliamentary procedures in order to pass legislation before Easter recess, which officially starts March 28. The House is on a shorter leash, with the White House pushing them to get something done before President Obama leaves for a tour of Indonesia and Australia next Thursday (the CW being that massive legislation is more easily passed with the president physically in Washington). Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, though, noticeably left the door open for missing that...

Ron Hart, Orange County Register
Americans do not want this massive government takeover of our health care. Fearing that Cajun extraterrestrial James Carville is correct, Obama is intent on ramming it down our throats. This is not about what's right; it's about politicians perpetuating their power.

George Will, Washington Post
There are legislative miles to go before the government will be emancipated from its health care myopia, but it is not too soon for a summing up. Whether all or nothing of the legislation becomes law, Barack Obama has refuted critics who call him a radical. He has shown himself to be a timid progressive.His timidity was displayed when he flinched from fighting for the boldness the nation needs -- a transition from the irrationality of employer-provided health insurance. His progressivism is an attitude of genteel regret about the persistence of politics.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000. That's close to Wall Street analysts' estimates of 460,000 and the second straight drop.

The New York Times reports that investigators have new evidence that Sen. John Ensign tried to find lobbying work for the husband of his former mistress.

Michael Crowley, The New Republic
In the late summer of 2007, Baghdad was buzzing with talk of a coup. Iraq was gripped by horrific civil war, and the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki seemed at best unable to do anything about it. (At worst he appeared guilty of contributing to sectarian violence himself.) In November, U.S. national security advisor Steve Hadley had returned from a visit with Maliki and reported grave doubts about the prime minister’s competence. “[T]he reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions, or...

Der Spiegel
Related articles, background features and opinions about this topic.The euro is under attack like never before, as the promises on which it was based turn out to be lies. Hedge funds are speculating against Greek debt, while euro-zone politicians work behind the scenes to cobble together rescue packages. But fundamental flaws in the monetary union need to be fixed if Europe's common currency is to survive. By SPIEGEL staff. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was full of praise and recognition for Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou. His government, Merkel said on Friday evening after...

Nouriel Roubini, Forbes
A slew of poor economic data over the past two weeks suggests that the U.S. economy is headed for a U-shaped recovery--at best--in 2010. The macro news, including data on consumer confidence, home sales, construction and employment, actually suggests a significant downside risk even to the anemic levels of growth which I forecast for H1 (the first half of the year). The U.S. faces continued challenges in H2--particularly as historic levels of fiscal stimulus fade--and appears far too close to the tipping point of a double-dip recession. This is not the conventional wisdom. Heated debate...

Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic
Divided by geography, cursed by corruption, stunted by poverty, staggered by a growing insurgency"”Afghanistan seems beyond salvation. Is it? From Somalia and the Balkans to Iraq, the U.S. military has been embroiled in conflicts that reflect an age-old debate: Can individual agency triumph over deep-seated historical, cultural, ethnic, and economic forces? Drawing on his experiences in Iraq, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, has his own answer to that question.Image credit: Kate Brooks We were there to fight, to do PT, to eat, to...

Noam Scheiber, The New Republic
Allow me to posit a case study: Two high-ranking government officials are the subject of multiple newspaper and magazine profiles in the span of a few weeks. The first official resists the attention. He isn't so much as quoted in any of the pieces, whose authors glumly note his lack of enthusiasm for their projects. By contrast, the second official goes out of his way to cooperate with the profile-writers. He submits to numerous, on-the-record interviews and mounts a detailed defense of his actions. His aides even distribute one of the articles after the fact.Now, which of these...

Sunlen Miller, ABC News

Margaret Carlson, Bloomberg

Randi Weingarten, USA Today
A weekly series explores the issues of faith that are shaping our world.In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model.An at-a-glance look at online conversations selected for the newspaper.Readers discuss their personal experiences.Readers share the impact Hurricane Katrina has had on their lives.What people are saying about the news of the week. Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters Editorials,...