Carnival of Politics - A weekly blog magazine about politics

Monday, and the holidays are over (But winter weather isn't.) The roads have been sanded - get back to work. Bob Graham and Jim Talent: For generations, the United States has neglected to nurture the technologies and systems needed to respond to emergencies related to disease. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the response to H1N1... In short, despite the tireless efforts of public health and health-care workers, America's experience with H1N1 shows that the nation is not prepared to deal with a flu pandemic. The really bad news is that we are far more prepared to respond to a flu outbreak than to any other biological event, natural or manmade, such as the ebola virus. Some truth (we need more advanced vaccine technology) and some nonsense (you can never, ever count every case of flu, and ebola is not what we need to prepare for, it's outbreaks in general, hospital surge capacity, and communications and tracking systems.) I am all for investing in public health infrastructure. But let's do this wisely and not redo the excess of the last administration on bio-terror. And for more on H1N1 lessons learned, see The Year Of Health And Politics from Sunday Daily Kos. Paul Krugman: It's 1937, and improved employment numbers are no reason to let our guard down. As you read the economic news, it will be important to remember, first of all, that blips — occasional good numbers, signifying nothing — are common even when the economy is, in fact, mired in a prolonged slump. In early 2002, for example, initial reports showed the economy growing at a 5.8 percent annual rate. But the unemployment rate kept rising for another year... Will the Fed realize, before it’s too late, that the job of fighting the slump isn’t finished? Will Congress do the same? If they don’t, 2010 will be a year that began in false economic hope and ended in grief. Ross Douthat: Look, I know we failed, but you guys suck. I will admit we were wrong and Reaganism is exhausted, but I will never admit you were right. EJ Dionne: Behind the 1994 Republican midterm sweep was a dispirited Democratic base unhappy about the failure of heath-care reform, grumpy about the economy and badly split over the North American Free Trade Agreement, for which President Bill Clinton pushed so hard. While Democrats stayed home, Republicans mobbed the polls and won races all the way down the ballot. It's the midterm rule: No base, no victory. But this doesn't mean independents or swing voters can be ignored, and there are ways to turn out the base that don't turn off the middle. For the party that's out, opposition to the party in power is often enough. Democrats swept the 2006 midterms because their base was wildly enthusiastic about rebuking George W. Bush and the political center had turned on the president, too. Republicans would like to repeat that in reverse this year. Ah, yes. Politics. let's get back to politics. Kathleen Parker: As the new year begins, two facts emerge: George W. Bush is officially retired as the fault-guy for the nation's ills, and Barack Obama owns the game. Whether he wants to or not. Of course he wants to. All Presidents want to own the ball, the league and the stadium, else they wouldn't run. They don't do it as favor to you. Al Hunt: This year will be a difficult one for Democrats. The only issue is how tough. If conditions and circumstances take a negative turn, Democrats could lose 40 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and more than a half-dozen in the Senate in the November midterm elections. With this prospect, any lingering clout enjoyed by President Barack Obama would evaporate. If things break the right way for the Democrats, however, the congressional losses might be minimal -- 15 to 20 in the House and several in the Senate -- and the president, while weakened, would still govern with some authority.