So much for transparency - LA Times: "Democrats quietly working to resuscitate healthcare overhaul." If you read the article, you'll find that the subtext is that they don't intend to make significant adjustments to the legislation as it stands. Instead Pelosi and Reid are going to do some old-fashioned arm-twisting and horse-trading behind closed doors while hoping to "shift public perception of the bill," i.e. get those stupid Americans to come around.

Extra - Red State: "Sen. Snowe flat out rejects reconciliation." Considering that key Democrats have rejected this parliamentary trick and Republicans have warned they'll bog it down with amendments, there's virtually no chance health care will pass in this manner.

Speaking of Detroit - Remember when Obama criticized those U.S. companies "shipping jobs overseas?" A big offender is taxpayer bailout recipient General Motors, which as been sending manufacturing jobs to Mexico and China.

Dis-union - Not surprisingly, tensions are running high in Detroit and this meeting of UAW workers shows that tension boiling over. Warning: a lot of shouting and uncivil language.

Tipping point - What happens to America when more than 50% of the nation's income goes to the government? We're getting close.

Hey big spenders - Via the Corner, here's a fact check for the President: "Over 12 years of Republican rule [in Congress], there was an average annual budget deficit of about $104 billion. Compare that with an average annual deficit since 2008 of $1.074 trillion - or about $90 billion per month."

Good news - Business Week: "U.S. economy growth jumps 5.7%." Now let's see some jobs.

Like the muffler said: "I'm exhausted." - Wow, what a long week. I got home and slept for an hour. Thank heaven the weekend's here.

The awesomeness of O

You should thank your lucky stars for the Big Guy: he's trying real hard.

Now, Florida, that's why Joe and I asked for the chance to serve as your President and Vice President. (Applause.) Look, we didn't seek this office to push our problems off or take the easy road through the next election. We ran to solve problems -- problems that had been nagging at America for decades. We want to solve them for the next generation.

We ran to get the tough stuff done. (Applause.) So as I mentioned last night, I make no apology for trying to fix stuff that's hard, because -- (applause) -- I'll be honest with you -- I'll be honest with you, Joe and I are both pretty smart politicians, we've been at this a while. (Laughter.) The easiest way to keep your poll numbers high is to say nothing and to do nothing that offends anybody. (Applause.) That's true. No, no, no, you just wave, smile and -- (laughter.) That's how you do it.

That's not the big O's style: he's breathed new life into his #1 priority with his stirring speech and bold leadership. Hey, it ain't easy, but he's just the guy to do it.

Extra - VDH with the straw men: "The 'I didn't ask for' trope: Obama acts as if he bravely endures persecution on our behalf, rejects the easy path, and presses ahead on the difficult path."

SOTU snap analysis - I can't give this justice so here's some thoughts that come to mind: the President's rebuke of the Supreme Court, sitting ten feet away, was jarring. Agree or disagree with the legal argument, this seemed to cross a line of decorum. Second, blaming Bush is Obama's ultimate coping mechanism, which allows him to dismiss the ocean of red ink that Obama alone has created. Finally, the tone was hectoring, combative nonsense where Democrats shouldn't run scared from health care and Republicans can't just be a party of "no."

And why not? In a democracy, why shouldn't Representatives - you know - represent the views of their constituents? Health care is unpopular across the board but Obama wants everybody to bend to his will, although (despite all evidence) not for him. Heavens no!

If health care reform is an issue whose time has come, Obama should be able to easily make the case for reform in the full glare of the C-Span cameras. Didn't he say that it was a fight he wanted to have? Instead, every move is shrouded in secrecy and buried into a 2,000+ page bill, read by nobody, and propped up with backdoor deals.

Seems to me you don't want to talk about it

Fox News: "Obama urges Congress not to 'walk away' from health care reform"

Game over, man – No need to puzzle out Slate's reader contest on how Congress might pass health care reform through parliamentary tricks. Blanche Lincoln's announcement that she won't support reconciliation should be enough to frighten off any red-state Democrats. There's no way that House Democrats are going to pass the Senate bill on a pinky-swear that everything will be worked out later.

Update - The white flag is up.

We're slashing everything! Well, there are exceptions

I got a kick out of President Obama's big announcement that he was going to freeze the federal budget to save money over the next decade.

Well, except for Medicare and Social Security. And interest on the national debt. And military spending. And certain social programs. In fact, just a tiny sliver of stuff.

Wait...where have I heard this before?

Navin: For one dollar I'll guess you weight, your height, or your sex.
The most exciting thing on the midway. Imagine the thrill of getting your weight guessed by a professional. You can blow up your cheeks, you can stick out your chest, but you're not going to fool the guesser. How about you sir? Step right up!

Carnival Rube: Hey honey, let's see how good this guy is. What'd I win?

Navin: Uh, anything in this general area right in here. Anything below the stereo and on this side of the bicentennial glasses. Anything between the ashtrays and the thimble. Anything in this three inches right in here in this area. That includes the Chiclets, but not the erasers.

Chiclets for everyone!

Extra - Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight calls the spending freeze "a mistake on par with John McCain's 'suspending my campaign' gaffe."

More - Open Left (!) writes "It's official: Obama is an idiot."

And there's this - As Obama plans to save $25 billion a year: "CBO projects 2010 budget deficit at $1.35 trillion."

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) opposes reconciliation to force HCR thru Congress. The back burner awaits...

Put it on the back burner - Never to return. Megan McArdle: "Why I still think health care won't pass." Megan touches upon something I mused about last week: a lot of Democrats secretly welcomed Scott Brown's election because it gave them a rationale to avoid a vote on an unpopular piece of legislation.

Pre-SOTU gimmicks - Word is coming down the wires that Obama is going to address the exploding federal budget deficit by applying a spending freeze on certain government programs. Any potential savings (which were minuscule the last time this was tried) will be easily overwhelmed by entitlement spending and interest on the national debt.

The MSM and its discontents - Running with my post from the other day, here's the WashPost's media guy Howard Kurtz: "If Martha Coakley's defeat in Massachusetts was a political earthquake, most journalists were slow to hear the tremors."

More - From Pundit & Pundette.

The Messiah complex

What is wrong with this guy?

President Barack Obama said that he "would rather be a really good one-term president" than have two mediocre terms. In an interview to air Monday, the president stated his preference as negotiations have stalled over the health care reform package he championed.

This "sacrifice for the greater good" act is wearing thin, especially since the man's arrogance is well-known. His unbounded obsession with getting health care reform passed has spawned a 2,000 page piece of legislation that must be propped up every month with a new special interest outrage: the Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, the union exemption on "Cadillac" plans, etc. But even though the public is against both the process and the product, he's going to keep plowing ahead, even if it means he must give up all he's gained.

Because that's the kind of guy Obama is.

Extra - From Peter Wehner: "Obama's wax wings."

More - Mark Steyn: "According to Barack Obama, the problem is he overestimated you dumb rubes' ability to appreciate what he's been doing for you." (H/T Maggie's Farm)

Now where did I put my church key? - Yahoo News: "Canned beer turns 75." (H/T Fark)

Tuesday in Oregon - Keep an eye on two special statewide ballot measures there to raise taxes on the "rich" and businesses, thereby affirming De Tocqueville's maxim that "A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it." Or, as I like to put it: robbing Peter to pay Paul will always have the enthusiastic support of Paul.

The ubiquitous Ellie Light - Via Patterico, one energetic letter writer walks everywhere on Astroturf.