Copyright (c) 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. http://news.yahoo.com/i/2709 opinion Opinion - RealClearPolitics.com en-us Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT 5 142 18 http://news.yahoo.com/i/2709 http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/th/main_142b.gif http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090702/cm_rcp/politics_takes_chunk_out_of_white_house_payroll realclearpolitics/20090702/politics_takes_chunk_out_of_white_house_payroll RealClearPolitics.com opinion Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:00:00 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090702/cm_rcp/politics_takes_chunk_out_of_white_house_payroll"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090623/i/r489046897.jpg?x=130&y=93&q=85&sig=W2NRnX3fBVFpHvcrT915xw--" align="left" height="93" width="130" alt="White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel listens to U.S. President Barack Obama during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington June 23, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES POLITICS)" border="0" /></a>RealClearPolitics.com - During his two months on the campaign trail as Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden was fond of sharing his father's witticisms with audiences to illustrate a point. One of the more common ones went something like this: "Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value."</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090702/cm_rcp/politics_takes_chunk_out_of_white_house_payroll"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090623/i/r489046897.jpg?x=130&y=93&q=85&sig=W2NRnX3fBVFpHvcrT915xw--" align="left" height="93" width="130" alt="photo" title="White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel listens to U.S. President Barack Obama during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington June 23, 2009. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES POLITICS)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (RealClearPolitics.com) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090630/cm_rcp/left_dodges_moral_debate_on_ricci_case realclearpolitics/20090630/left_dodges_moral_debate_on_ricci_case RealClearPolitics.com opinion Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - It took the story of one firefighter to expose the tension between fairness and affirmative action. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/sanford_family_learned_of_affair_amid_stimulus_battle realclearpolitics/20090624/sanford_family_learned_of_affair_amid_stimulus_battle RealClearPolitics.com opinion Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/sanford_family_learned_of_affair_amid_stimulus_battle"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090624/capt.6563d02bf32a4a868388a570c57577eb.sc_governor_where_ny113.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=64sX0wrEjHyDOb4WYpnW8w--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="FILE - In this April 3, 2009 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford fields questions during a news conference in Columbia, S.C. Gov. Sanford told a newspaper Wednesday, June 24, 2009 that he was in Argentina during his unexplained 5-day absence, not hiking along the Appalachian Trail as his office previously said. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, file)" border="0" /></a>RealClearPolitics.com - During a gripping press conference carried live on national cable, Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) acknowledged having been unfaithful to his wife for the past year, and also misleading his own staff and through them the state about his whereabouts in the past week.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/sanford_family_learned_of_affair_amid_stimulus_battle"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20090624/capt.6563d02bf32a4a868388a570c57577eb.sc_governor_where_ny113.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=64sX0wrEjHyDOb4WYpnW8w--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="FILE - In this April 3, 2009 file photo, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford fields questions during a news conference in Columbia, S.C. Gov. Sanford told a newspaper Wednesday, June 24, 2009 that he was in Argentina during his unexplained 5-day absence, not hiking along the Appalachian Trail as his office previously said. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain, file)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (RealClearPolitics.com) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/gop_pushes_back_against_dem_energy_deal realclearpolitics/20090624/gop_pushes_back_against_dem_energy_deal RealClearPolitics.com opinion Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/gop_pushes_back_against_dem_energy_deal"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090622/i/r117558271.jpg?x=130&y=85&q=85&sig=fLH3AjJBINIHsEBZDP6niw--" align="left" height="85" width="130" alt="The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E), a high-resolution passive microwave Instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows the state of Arctic sea ice on September 10 in this file image released September 16, 2008. Arctic nations are promising to avoid new "Cold War" scrambles linked to climate change, but military activity is stirring in a polar region where a thaw may allow oil and gas exploration or new shipping routes. To match feature CLIMATE/ARCTIC REUTERS/NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Handout/Files (UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENT MILITARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS" border="0" /></a>RealClearPolitics.com - Following an agreement last night with Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), House Democrats are poised this week to pass an energy and climate change bill that has stewed in uncertainty since being passed out of committee one month ago.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090624/cm_rcp/gop_pushes_back_against_dem_energy_deal"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090622/i/r117558271.jpg?x=130&y=85&q=85&sig=fLH3AjJBINIHsEBZDP6niw--" align="left" height="85" width="130" alt="photo" title="The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E), a high-resolution passive microwave Instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows the state of Arctic sea ice on September 10 in this file image released September 16, 2008. Arctic nations are promising to avoid new "Cold War" scrambles linked to climate change, but military activity is stirring in a polar region where a thaw may allow oil and gas exploration or new shipping routes. To match feature CLIMATE/ARCTIC REUTERS/NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Handout/Files (UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENT MILITARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (RealClearPolitics.com) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090623/cm_rcp/obamacare_kiss_your_access_goodbye realclearpolitics/20090623/obamacare_kiss_your_access_goodbye RealClearPolitics.com opinion Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - President Obama and the Democratic Congress repeat a mantra so often that it has become a truism: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090622/cm_rcp/high_stakes_for_obama_in_health_care_fight realclearpolitics/20090622/high_stakes_for_obama_in_health_care_fight RealClearPolitics.com opinion Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:00:00 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090622/cm_rcp/high_stakes_for_obama_in_health_care_fight"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090622/i/r3229762862.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=bFNmeO_SS8jzShqEdcw6mg--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="US President Barack Obama speaks about the health care system at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago, Illinois, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" border="0" /></a>RealClearPolitics.com - It began to sink into the political class last week that Barack Obama's push for health care reform could fail. If it does indeed fail, it would be a stunning knockdown blow to Obama's presidency. He would likely never be as powerful thereafter.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20090622/cm_rcp/high_stakes_for_obama_in_health_care_fight"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20090622/i/r3229762862.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=bFNmeO_SS8jzShqEdcw6mg--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="US President Barack Obama speaks about the health care system at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago, Illinois, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (RealClearPolitics.com)