While History Never Repeats Itself, Political Patterns

We Live In A Media World Simultaneously Obsessed With Technology And Personality.

Philosophers And Theologians Have Argued For Centuries Over The Morality Of Targeted Assassinations - A Technique That The Israelis Use With Some Frequency - Without Ever Reaching Anything Approaching Consensus.

Obama, Like Carter, Is Reacting To Warning Signs By Seeking To Split The Difference Between Dispirited Democrats And Increasingly Radicalized Republicans.

Veteran Print Editors And Reporters At Places Like The 'times' And 'the New Yorker' Manage To Feed And Clothe Their Families Without Costing Their Companies A Million Bucks A Month, And They Produce A Great Deal More Valuable Reporting And Analysis Than The Network News Stars Do.

So Was It A Political Mistake For Obama To Put So Many Eggs In The Health-care-reform Basket? Well, A Negative Decision From The Supreme Court Will Certainly Make It Appear So.