In Iowa, Euphoria Gives Way to Second Thoughts on Obama Sally Ryan for The New York Times“I really thought there would be immediate change,” said Pauline McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse.       

 The two big mistakesMichael TomaskyComments (90) I do think there are two tactical errors the White House made with regard to healthcare. There may be more. But these are the two that matter. And these are beyond doing it this year, which I've said many times I was against.
 
First -- I've said this too, come to think of it -- not enough emphasis was placed on the moral case for changing the status quo. Obama placed emphasis on cost savings. One understands why, I guess, given the state of the economy right now (although this circles back to my main argument that they should have waited until the economy was better). But the problem with the p.r. campaign was that they didn't show how this would change many peoples' lives for the better. Now, lots of us are asserting that, but we're doing so in a vacuum because the White House didn't really do it.
 
For the last four months, Obama could have had weekly or bi-weekly events of some sort with humble working- to middle-class Americans who got thrown off their plans over cancer or diabetes or whatever. Or merely who saw their premiums increase by 18% in a single year. He talked a lot about these things in abstract terms. But that isn't remotely the same as putting actual human faces on the narrative. TV eats that kind of thing up. If he'd had eight or 10 such sessions over the last 16 weeks, the polls would be better right now -- not massively, maybe, but better enough that it would matter.
 
Second, the administration -- Obama himself sometimes, but especially Rahm Emanuel -- have tonally mishandled the relationship with the left-activist-blogospheric wing. Every time one of those stories appeared on…

   Obama must face down the ghost of VietnamAs the President ponders sending more troops to Afghanistan, he is haunted by the conflict that scarred the US psycheBen Macintyre 24 CommentsRecommend? (4) An unquiet ghost stalks the White House Situation Room as Barack Obama, increasingly Hamlet-like, ponders what to do in Afghanistan: it is the spectre of the Vietnam War, America’s enduring historical hang-up.Comparisons between these two conflicts are easy to make, but hard to avoid: a grinding, unpredictable battle in difficult terrain, a weak and corrupted foreign government kept afloat by American guns and money; a versatile enemy, adept at ambush warfare, with sanctuary in a neighbouring country.American public opinion on Afghanistan is shifting in a way reminiscent of the tide of feeling that brought the Vietnam War to its humiliating close. The death toll is ramping up, with 55 US servicemen killed this month — the war is suddenly being brought home to America, in bodybags.The first senior official has resigned in protest over a war that may be unwinnable. “I fail to see the value in the continued US casualties or expenditures . . . in what is, truly, a civil war,” declared Matthew Hoh, the decorated former Marine who resigned from the US Foreign Service this week. He might have been speaking in 1969.BACKGROUNDUS hero quits Kabul job over ‘unwinnable war’ Vietnam historians give Bush reason to stay in Iraq Death of 16 US troops turns up heat on Obama The most important parallels with Vietnam are neither tactical nor practical, but cultural and emotional. Americans are not backward-looking by nature, but the trauma of Vietnam is seared on the national memory like no other event in US history.The debate is suffused with the language of the Vietnam War:…

  The end of a career Mark Sanford's affair will ruin his popularity among Republicans searching for a conservative presidential candidate in 2012 Comments (34)    
James Antle guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 June 2009 00.01 BST Article history
When the headlines announced "South Carolina governor has been missing for days," it was unlikely that any subsequent news would be good. His wife didn't seem to know where he was. His staff's insistence that he was on a hike to "clear his head" after a gruelling legislative session rang hollow. And why would a father decide he needed to be away from his children – even to complete a "writing project" – on Father's day weekend?The other shoe has now dropped. Mark Sanford wasn't working on a writing project or hiking the Appalachian Trail. Sanford tearfully confessed on Wednesday that he was in Argentina visiting a woman with whom he'd had an extramarital affair. Whatever the impact on his marriage, this much is clear: The conservative Republican's political career is probably over, and a run for the presidency in 2012 is surely not in the cards.Cold, cerebral and introspective, Sanford was always an unlikely politician, much less presidential candidate. He doesn't speak in soundbites. He doesn't glad-handle or backslap easily. But with the Republican party leaderless and in disarray following the 2008 elections, Sanford emerged as an improbable voice for fiscal restraint.Sanford was an early and vocal opponent of President Barack Obama's stimulus package. Unlike other Republican governors who were willing to criticise the price – over $1tn, counting interest…