When health care reform was first passed, elected Democrats told progressives not to worry about how bad the bill actually was because it would serve only as a “starter home” that would be improved on later. Since then, however, several changes have been or will be signed into law by President Obama, all of which [...]

At the end of the health care debate, when Obama was desperate to get the final bill passed in the House, he agreed to make a deal with Bart Stupak (D-MI) on the issue of abortion, by offering an executive order that restricted the availability of insurance coverage for reproductive health. The right to abortion [...]

As last week drew to a close, the Republicans that control only the House of Representatives clearly bested President Obama and the Democrats that control the Senate in the budget fight.  Speaker John Boehner, despite controlling only one third of the relevant institutions in the budget fight, was able to get the President to agree [...]