The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Health Reform By Froma Harrop
It's high noon on health care reform. Time to identify the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Commentary by Froma Harrop
Most Recent Releases
July 23, 2009
July 21, 2009
The Logic of a Locavore By Froma Harrop
"Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008," read the headline in Mother Jones magazine. You can imagine the snark that followed.
July 16, 2009
Mature Women Want Their Stories on Screen By Froma Harrop
Back when the boomers were babes, the girls would strut and preen around a stylish health food restaurant in Manhattan. No one took much note of a 70ish woman in comfy shoes who would sit quietly along the wall at lunch. She was Greta Garbo.
July 14, 2009
Immigration Reform Is Quietly Here By Froma Harrop
One of America's toughest problems is being solved right before our unseeing eyes. As Mark Sanford strayed, Michael Jackson departed and Sarah Palin quit, the Obama administration was quietly putting law, order and the national interest back into our immigration system.
July 8, 2009
Are Latinos Ethnics or a Racial Minority? By Froma Harrop
Some years ago, I shared cocktails along San Antonio's River Walk with Richard Estrada, the legendary columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Estrada would trace the nuances of the Mexican-American experience while framing it in the long sweep of American history.
July 7, 2009
Cities Are Back -- but for How Long? By Froma Harrop
Why are cities growing faster than the rest of the country? That's happening and reverses a decade-long trend, according to new U.S. Census figures. Gainers in 2008 included such diverse locations as Chicago, Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, and Lincoln, Neb. The Census found that cities losing people, such as Cleveland, were shrinking at a slower rate.
July 2, 2009
A Health-Care Greeting: Welcome to Wal-Mart By Froma Harrop
Americans agree on health care. Ask them, "Who should pay for it," and they all answer, "Not me." But follow up with, "Who, then?" and you have a fight on your hands.
June 30, 2009
For Straying Pols, It's the Hurt That Matters By Froma Harrop
An open-minded individual, I am willing to support an adulterer for elective office. But my ability to look past marital infidelity depends on how much humiliation was heaped on the wife. The details matter.
June 25, 2009
Helping Borrowers Save Themselves By Froma Harrop
An 11th Commandment could read: Thou shalt not cheat the meek.
June 23, 2009
Act Fast on Health Care, Obama By Froma Harrop
President Obama has a green light and open eight-lane highway for health-care reform. But somehow the guy can't put his foot on the gas.
June 18, 2009
Timid Obama Succumbs to Old Politics By Froma Harrop
This has been a tough week for the hopeful ones who believed President Obama's vow to break with the old politics. Every day, it seems, the president caved in to another Democratic interest group working against the public weal.
June 16, 2009
Deficit Worry Is the Greenest Shoot By Froma Harrop
Never mind firmer retail sales, rising stock prices and moderating job losses. The greenest shoot is Americans' changing economic fixation. There's less panic over collapsing banks, home foreclosures and the prospect of another Great Depression. Attention has moved to budget deficits and the resulting federal debt. These are worries of a more stable time, when people had the luxury of looking at the long-term.
June 12, 2009
Sotomayor, the New Yorker By Froma Harrop
While walking recently on a crowded Manhattan sidewalk, I suddenly saw a wall of water crash down from somewhere over our heads. The source was a truck from which a fat hose was pouring water on the flower baskets hanging from posts. The baskets were intended to add some charm to the urban streetscape. Nice try.
June 9, 2009
A Texas-Size Medical Lesson By Froma Harrop
McAllen, Texas, spends more per person on health care than any other metropolitan area in America, except for Miami. Why would this poor border town spend $15,000 a year per Medicare enrollee?
June 4, 2009
Motown Wonders: Where Did Our Love Go? By Froma Harrop
The alternative to a government rescue of General Motors is the collapse of the industrial Midwest. Nonetheless, there's been a surprisingly large amount of dumping on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan. The government-sponsored deal seems to have stirred up resentments for every ideology.
June 2, 2009
Toad Hall Madness Fades, but Sadness Lingers By Froma Harrop
The most notable downsizing of the American home has been in its price. The luxury end usually escapes the worst of housing downturns, but not this time. For those seeking a reprieve from teardown mania, this is not a bad development. I refer to the trend whereby bungalows, Cape Cods and other assorted gracious homes are flattened and replaced by monster mansions. Perhaps the forces of sanity can regroup.
May 28, 2009
Sotomayor and Condescending Identity Politics By Froma Harrop
Identity politics are not good for the country or for the groups they purport to advance. This is not to undercut Sonia Sotomayor, who, as the news reports all start out, is the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, would be the third female justice. From what we know about her so far, she seems qualified for the job.
May 26, 2009
Obama's Halfway Change on Stem Cell Research By Froma Harrop
President Obama often tries to defuse divisive debates by talking of "false choices." A false choice implies that by restating the argument, both sides can get what they want.
May 21, 2009
Cars: What We Need vs. What We Want By Froma Harrop
The new fuel-efficiency and emission standards may lead to smaller cars with lighter engines. This is not what consumers prefer, auto analysts tell us.
May 19, 2009
New Standards for Credit-Card Decency By Froma Harrop
By the time you read this, the Senate may have passed a bill to put a leash on the nastiest credit-card company tactics. Lenders warn that changing the rules would make it harder for people to get credit.
