The Swing Vote

I celebrate the victory of the Affordable Care Act in the Supreme Court today! It delivers a solid thwacking to the president's bitter foes who choose party over country. It shall be delightful to see them squirm and spin over the next week. Right now it matters little what the fight was about, but merely that the battle was joined and won. The bullying shall be dealt a second and perhaps fatal blow in November, I hope.

Many Republicans in Congress sought to, as Senator DeMint put it, make health reform Obama's "Waterloo". We should invest in the pillars of our economy: education, health and infrastructure. But all efforts to govern were opposed by any means necessary and all means available. Liberals should not be allowed to govern; they are altogether illegitimate however reasonable and decent they may seem. Compromise is a four letter word.

Liberals would have preferred a single payer system, like those that work so well in Japan, Taiwan and Europe. But that was a non-starter and even the 'public option' was stricken from the bill. So the issue of cost was side-lined. But at least the lack of health insurance for over 15% of the population will be addressed starting in 2014. The double irony is that not only was the mandate a Republican idea, it was Mitt Romney's baby. The party that opposes its own ideas is surely the party of nope and hopefully voters will see this.

Schrödinger's Pharaoh

The Arab Spring is flailing in Egypt this month. Just like the fabled quantum cat, Mubarak is dead, but also alive. So too are the other trappings of the ancien regime.

After over 30 years, Egypt finally allowed, if allowed is the word, its State of Emergency to expire. This was one of the most hated institutions of the old order and it allowed the military to make arbitrary arrests and detentions. But shortly before the election a decree was issued to restore those same powers to the military.

Speaking of the election for president, it now appears that both sides have won. But it is equally true that neither has won. After all, the term "presidency" has been redefined. The courts dissolved parliament's lower house, and guess who will now take the responsibility for defining the presidency?

Was it all a mirage? Does the Arab Spring wither in the sweltering Cairo summer? After all Egypt sets the trend for the Arab world. Or is it a sign of a desperate military establishment scrambling to protect its interests, but fated to succumb to gravity?