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100 Days of Devastatingly Swift Success

by Newt Gingrich

To mark President Obama's 100th day in office, I'm going to say something you might find unexpected, even shocking:

President Obama's first 100 days have been spectacularly successful.

President Obama is the strongest domestic Democratic President since Lyndon Johnson. His ability to get Democrats in Congress to give him things that undermine their own power is impressive.

In just 100 days, President Obama has been devastatingly effective in moving forward swiftly the most radical, government-expanding agenda in American history.

Successfully Moving to a European Model of Government Control

At home, in everything from his economic policy to his energy policy to his just-announced science policy, President Obama has successfully moved the country from a traditional American model of entrepreneurship and private initiative to a European model of regulation and government control.

Abroad, he has succeeded in his apparent goal to be the un-George W. Bush; replacing aggressive, if sometimes flawed, American leadership with a humbled, weakened America on the world stage.

Judged by these standards, President Obama's first 100 days have been a remarkable success.
Getting Congress to Give Him Things That Undermine Their Own Power
The Obama record in the first 100 days includes three instances of spectacular political impunity:
• Under the guise of "economic stimulus" he was able to pass a $787 billion gift for his liberal special interest base. And he did it so quickly that no member of Congress was able to read it before they voted.

• After campaigning on a pledge to end earmarks, he signed an appropriations bill loaded with 8,000 earmarks - and paid no political penalty.

• President Obama has kept congressional Democrats marching with him in lockstep. House Democrats tow the party line an amazing 94 percent of the time and Senate Democrats vote Democratic 91 percent of the time.

Two Historic Bureaucratic Power Grabs
In these first 100 days, the Obama Administration has achieved two historic bureaucratic power grabs:

• President Obama has transformed the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) into giant engines of unsupervised spending. Together, they've spent the equivalent of the entire federal budget for 2007, without having to disclose where the money went.

• Just two weeks ago, the President presided over an unprecedented bureaucratic power grab when his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. This seemingly innocuous decision opens the door to wholesale regulation of American life by government. The threat is so great that politicians and activists are using the specter of an out-of-control EPA to force Congress to pass a $1 trillion to $2 trillion energy tax in the form of cap-and-trade legislation.
In Foreign Policy, Weakness and Self-Delusion
The Obama 100 days record also includes remarkable weakness and self-delusion overseas:
• In an attempt to overcome anti-Americanism abroad by agreeing with it, President Obama has gone on a global apology tour, labeling America as "arrogant, dismissive and derisive" in front of foreign audiences.

• President Obama has unleashed a domestic war over the meaning of guilt by caving in to the anti-American left and leaving the door open to prosecuting Bush Administration officials over the interrogation of terrorists who plotted to kill Americans.
All Other Obama "Accomplishments" Are Only a
Prelude to His $3.5 Trillion Budget
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But all these successful expansions of government at home and retractions of American leadership abroad are merely a prelude to President Obama's looming crowning achievement: His 2010 budget which remakes our health care system, remakes our energy system, raises taxes and forecasts an amazing $9 trillion increase in the national debt.

As I write this, Democrats in Congress are fashioning a deal to pass the budget's provisions on health care by preventing Republicans and moderate Democrats from having a voice in the debate.

Think about that. The Obama-Reid-Pelosi political machine is going to pass legislation that fundamentally affects every single American - as well as 17 percent of our economy - by cutting the elected representatives of half of all Americans out of the process.

If they succeed, the budget will be President Obama's most enduring - and devastating - accomplishment.

Will the Future Bring Change We Can Believe In?

Or a Change in What we Believe?

One thing is clear at this point in President Obama's presidency: His control of Washington Democrats has been so masterful, and his policies so successful, that he has officially claimed ownership of the American economy.

Going forward, it won't be possible to continue to place blame on former President Bush and the Republicans. If President Obama fails, it will be his failure and his alone.

As for us, the "success" of the first 100 days of the Obama presidency raises a threatening possibility.

As my daughter and columnist Jackie Cushman put it, if we're not careful, instead of change we can believe in, we're going to have change in what we believe.

It's something to ponder for the next 1,361 days.

Hope for Ending Alzheimer's

by Newt Gingrich

There is new hope for ending Alzheimer's Disease.

That was the message I helped deliver last Wednesday before the Senate Select Committee on Aging (watch the video here).

But it wasn't just my opinion. I was able to cite three Nobel Prize winning scientists and over 125 other neuroscientists who have proclaimed that with an Apollo moon launch-style national research initiative, it is possible to end Alzheimer's by 2020.

This potential breakthrough is so important I want to share it with you. I believe we are on the cusp of an historic breakthrough. The best and brightest in the scientific community share this belief.

If you agree, I hope you will contact your House and Senate members today and urge them to support an Alzheimer's Solution Project.

The Most Difficult Part of Alzheimer's Has Been the Lack of Hope.

I first became aware of the devastation of Alzheimer's disease as a young college teacher. I was asked to teach a Sunday school class to the older members of the First Baptist Church in Carrollton, Georgia. I watched as some students in my class went from being totally alert and totally engaged to gradually and inexorably disappearing before my eyes.

For years, this fact has been the most difficult part of Alzheimer's disease, both for those who suffer from it and those who care for them: The lack of hope.

Alzheimer's has been described as a runaway train; once you or a loved one is on the track of decline, there's no stopping it.

"It's Like Caring For a Small Child. You Can't Leave Them Unattended."  

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor serves with me on the congressionally created Alzheimer's Study Group. Her husband suffers from Alzheimer's.

Justice O'Connor describes the progression of her husband's disease as "a downhill slide, there is no interruption in the process."

When her husband is left unattended, he wanders off, not knowing where he is or how to return home.

"It's like caring for a small child. You can't leave them unattended," says Justice O'Connor, echoing the burden faced by all those - primarily family members - who care for someone with Alzheimer's.

Maria Shriver Has to Reintroduce Herself to Her Father Each Time She Sees Him.

California First Lady Maria Shriver's father, Sargent Shriver, has Alzheimer's. Maria Shriver speaks painfully of having to reintroduce herself to her father when she sees him, and of the helplessness felt by a daughter or son who cares for a parent with the disease.

"No matter who you are, what you've accomplished, what your financial situation is, when you are dealing with the parent who has Alzheimer's, you yourself feel helpless."

Every 70 Seconds, Someone in America Develops Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's is a personal tragedy, but it is also a national crisis.

Last week I presented the Senate committee with these disturbing facts about Alzheimer's disease, developed by the Alzheimer's Association:

Alzheimer's is a growing epidemic:
" Every 70 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer's disease-by 2050, someone will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds.

" 5.3 million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's-one-in-eight Americans over 65 and almost one-in-two over 85.

" 10 million baby boomers will develop the disease.

" The CDC lists Alzheimer's disease as the 6th leading cause of death.

" Today there is no cure, no disease-modifying treatment, and no prevention.
Alzheimer's places an enormous burden on families:
" Alzheimer's is a family disease. 9,900,000 caregivers provide 94 billion hours of uncompensated care per year.

" Healthcare costs for people with Alzheimer's disease are three times greater than for people with other diseases.
Alzheimer's places an enormous burden on taxpayers and our health system:
" In 2005, Medicare spent $91 billion on beneficiaries with Alzheimer's and other dementias and is projected to spend $189 billion by 2015.

" Given the present trends, Alzheimer's will cost Medicare and Medicaid a projected $19.89 trillion between 2010 and 2050.

" Because people tend to get Alzheimer's later in life, even a delay of onset has a significant effect in lowering costs. A five year delay would save $8.51 trillion over that same period.

So much for the bad news.

Like I said, my message today to Americans suffering from Alzheimer's and the millions of family members who are caring for them is one of hope.

I believe we are at one of those rare moments in history where the right elements are coming together to make real change possible.

We have progressed enough in our knowledge of the brain and how it works that, with the right resources and the right experts working together, we could see a fundamental breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease within the next decade.

In just the past several weeks, almost 200 leading Alzheimer's research scientists have endorsed the goal of developing the capability to prevent Alzheimer's by 2020.

The Alzheimer's Solutions Project: A Roadmap to Ending Alzheimer's By 2020.

Last week, the Alzheimer's Study Group produced a groundbreaking report that lays out the roadmap to ending Alzheimer's by 2020.

We propose a national effort, modeled on the Apollo moon launch project or the Manhattan Project, called the Alzheimer's Solutions Project.

The Alzheimer's Solutions Project has three pillars:
1. Prevent new cases of the disease. Even preventing the onset of the disease by a few years will yield enormous benefits.

2. Take care of caregivers by reimbursing 20% of health and social services.

3. Make Alzheimer's a priority of Washington by establishing an Alzheimer's Solutions Project Office in the federal government.

Americans Can Do Anything. We Just Have to Decide We Want To Do It.

This is a moment of real hope for Alzheimer's. But I think it's fair to say that the amount of hope we have is at least matched by the amount of effort it will take from all of us to realize this goal.

As important as it was to get this Alzheimer's Solutions Report written, it is more important for you to go out and talk about it.

So contact your representatives in Washington and tell them you support ending Alzheimer's by 2020. Tell them you support giving relief to the millions of Americans who care for Alzheimer's patients.

Tell Washington you support an Alzheimer's Solutions Project.

A world without Alzheimer's is within our grasp. We just have to reach for it.

Gingrich Calls on Obama to End Bailouts

By Newt Gingrich

"Outrage" is the word on everyone’s lips to describe the fat bonuses being paid with taxpayer funds to the failed executives at AIG -- and it is an outrage.

It’s an outrage that the American people are being asked to pay for the bad behavior of people who should have known better, be they reckless traders on Wall Street or reckless borrowers on Main Street.

But the cure for our outrage is not merely, as President Obama is demanding, that AIG be prevented from paying its executives. The $165 million in planned bonuses -- as manifestly undeserved as it is -- is chicken feed compared to the $170 billion in taxpayer funds AIG has received so far.

Nor is it acceptable to ask Americans to keep throwing their tax dollars at failed companies and their leaders.

The answer is an old fashioned one: AIG should choose between receivership or bankruptcy. It should not be allowed to choose more bailouts from the taxpayer.

Restore the Rule of Law: Allow Failing Corporations to go Bankrupt

Under U.S. law, Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize. Chapter 7 allows a company to dissolve itself.

The choices for AIG, as both an insurance and non-insurance company, are more complicated, but ultimately boil down to the same options. And for other companies either receiving or looking to receive a bailout from the taxpayers, the option should instead be bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy would send a needed message to U.S. investors: Don’t assume the government will bail you out when you do something stupid.

And most importantly, bankruptcy would replace the rule of politicians over U.S. financial institutions with the rule of law.

Geithner Didn’t Inherit the Policy of Throwing Billions at Failing Companies -- He Helped Create It

Because when it comes to Washington’s handling of the financial crisis, so far we’ve had the rule of politicians, not the rule of law.

Most prominent among the politicians in question is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

As Americans’ level of outrage has risen, so has the level of finger pointing by Geithner and others for the mess we’re in.

But Treasury Secretary Geithner is disingenuous at best and untruthful at worst when he says that he “inherited the worst fiscal situation in American history.”

The truth is that Secretary Geithner didn’t inherit the policy of throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at failing companies -- he helped create it.

Even before he was Treasury Secretary -- when he was still head of the New York Federal Reserve -- Geithner was so deeply involved in the government’s bail out of Bear Stearns, its take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and its bailout of AIG that this was the Washington Post’s headline from September 19, 2008:

“In the Crucible of Crisis, Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner Forge a Committee of Three”

The first meeting of the first bailout -- of Bear Sterns -- was held in Geithner’s office. And the first meeting of what has become a $170 billion bailout of AIG was held -- where else? In Geithner’s New York Fed office.

Why Not Bankruptcy for AIG? Because Wall Street Wouldn’t Have Done As Well

From the outset, Geithner was central to the developing policy of having the taxpayers bail out ailing financial institutions like AIG rather than allow them to go bankrupt. And for months now, we’ve been told that these bailouts were necessary to avoid a wider, cataclysmic, financial meltdown.

But now it’s clear that other, less noble, considerations were at play.

As the Wall Street Journal editorialized yesterday, the real outrage over the AIG bailout isn’t executive bonuses, it’s that billions in taxpayer funds intended for AIG have been passed through to benefit foreign banks and Wall Street behemoths like Goldman Sachs.

And as former AIG CEO Hank Greenburg testified last October, these financial institutions wouldn’t have faired as well if AIG had filed for bankruptcy protection rather than do what it did, which was to negotiate a bailout with Timothy Geithner’s New York Federal Reserve.

Here’s how Greenburg put it:

“Although AIG stockholders could have fared better if the company had filed for bankruptcy protection, other stakeholders -- like AIG’s Wall Street counterparties in swaps and other transactions -- would have fared worse.”

For the Cost of Bailing Out AIG, Every American Household Could Have Free Electricity For a Year

So now everyone is outraged, and rightly so. But the lavish executive bonuses being paid with taxpayer funds are just the beginning of the story.

So far, the American taxpayers are on the hook for $170 billion to AIG -- that’s an astounding $1,224 per taxpayer.

What else could we have done with all this money?

$170 billion would pay for more than doubling the Navy’s fleet of aircraft carriers.

$170 billion would pay for a four-year education at a public university for more than two million Americans.

$170 billion would cover the electricity bill of every household in America for an entire year.

When You Reward Failure, All You Get is More Failure

What Washington should learn from all this outrage is to return to the common sense that should have guided it all along: When you reward failure, all you get is more failure.

A company that needs a $170 billion taxpayer bailout is a failed company. The executives that led that company are failed executives. But instead of having to face the consequences of their failure responsibly through bankruptcy or receivership, AIG and its Wall Street “counterparties” are being rewarded for their recklessness -- with our money.

Thanks to the Bush-Obama-Geithner policy of bailing out failing companies, we now have the worst of all possible scenarios: A taxpayer subsidized, government supervised private company; an unsustainable public/private hybrid that is too public to make its own decisions and too private to be responsible to the taxpayers that are keeping it alive.

Outrages like the fat cat bonuses currently dominating the headlines will only continue as long as the rule of politicians supplants the rule of law on Wall Street.

Congress should rethink this entire process. The dangers of a domino-like financial meltdown are real. But so, too, is the danger that the outrage of the American people will reach the point that we no longer trust the dire warnings -- or the righteous indignation -- coming from Washington.

Dancing to Big Labor's Tune

by Newt Gingrich

After spending an astounding $61 million to elect Democrats in the 2008 elections, union bosses are getting their payback this week.

Yesterday, so-called “Card Check” legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate. 

Card Check strips American workers of the right to a secret ballot and gives the federal government the right to impose labor contracts on workers.

The timing of this assault on the freedom of the American workplace could not be worse.  A new study shows that for every three workers coerced into joining a union under Card Check, one job will be eliminated by besieged American businesses. 

Card Check Could Eliminate 600,000 Jobs In Its First Year

That means that an estimated 600,000 jobs could be lost due to Card Check in the first year alone -- and that’s on top of the over four million jobs already lost to the flagging economy. 

Card Check is a job killer.  Even Obama supporter Warren Buffet opposes it, saying “I think the secret ballot is pretty important in the country.  I’m against card check.”  Watch him here. 

But as far as Big Labor is concerned, a deal’s a deal.  Their goal is to get their allies in Washington to ram Card Check through Congress this week, before anyone notices that American workers and businesses are losing fundamental rights. 

That’s why we need to act, and we need to act now at www.AmericanSolutions.com/FreedomNotFear.

Biden to Unions:  “You All Brought Me to the Dance…It’s Time We Start Dancing”

What’s happening in Washington this week is old style, quid-pro-quo politics – the kind President Obama pledged as a candidate to end.  Supporters of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (that’s their Orwellian name for Card Check) claim to be all about protecting American workers. 

But leave it to Vice President Joe Biden to inadvertently tell the truth.

In a meeting with the AFL-CIO last week, Biden made it clear who’s calling the shots when it comes to American workers, businesses and jobs.  He told the gathering of union big-wigs:

“You all brought me to the dance a long time ago, and it’s time we start dancing.”

82% of Democrats Oppose Eliminating the Secret Ballot

For big labor and their allies in Washington, it’s time to start dancing -- and dancing fast.

Vice President Biden and the union bosses hope to duplicate with Card Check the Obama Administration’s success in rushing the mammoth $787 billion stimulus bill through Congress so quickly most members never had time to read it.

The reason they have to act quickly is simply this:  The vast majority of Americans -- 77 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of independents -- oppose what they’re trying to do. (Source)

Not only that, but the latest surveys show that a full 82 percent of Americans say they don’t want to belong to a union.

The Stakes Are High This Week

But it’s precisely this kind of pro-secret ballot, pro-freedom sentiment among the American people that makes union bosses so eager to pass Card Check.

Under Card Check, union organizers and their enforcers will be able to go into any small business, hospital or construction site and coerce workers into signing cards.  If they get 50 percent plus one, the deal’s done, and the workers are forced into a union.  And if management and the new union fail to reach a negotiated contract, the federal government will just impose one.  Coerced unionization allows for what is effectively a new, unaccountable form of forced taxation.  Workers will have a portion of their paycheck going to the union to be spent as the bosses see fit, including political donations to parties and candidates that the workers may not even support. 

Talk about an “offer you can’t refuse.”  There’s no vote.  No secret ballot.  No right to freely negotiate the contract.  The workers, the workplace, and a portion of the worker’s paychecks are controlled by the union bosses. 

For Americans like you and me, the stakes are high this week.  Hanging in the balance are literally hundreds of thousands of jobs, not to mention fundamental freedoms like the ability of small businesses to create and sustain jobs, the freedom of American workers to have a say in how their workplace is organized, and the freedom of American workers to freely choose whether they want to give money to politicians and political parties.

Congress Is Holding Hearings This Week

The time to act is now -- this week, while Congress holds hearings on Card Check. 

You can make your voice heard by the people who matter most by joining in American Solutions’ “Freedom Not Fear” campaign.

Former Michigan Republican Chairman Saul Anuzis has agreed to lead this effort for American Solutions.  You can watch his video here.

Freedom Not Fear is grassroots petition drive to preserve American jobs and preserve the right of the secret ballot for American workers.  Over 80,000 Americans have already gone to www.AmericanSolutions.com/FreedomNotFear and signed the petition, but we need more help.

Remember the “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign from last summer?  With your help we were able to change hearts and minds on Capitol Hill about the necessity of using more safe, clean American energy.

We can do the same with Freedom Not Fear.  Congress needs to hear from the sweeping majorities of Americans of all political parties who oppose this massive power grab by Big Labor. 

The union bosses want to silence the voices of American workers and businesses.  Go to www.Americansolutions.com/FreedomNotFear today and let them know that we won’t go down without a fight.

Exactly Wrong on the Economy

by Newt Gingrich

I’m beginning this week by doing something I don’t usually do: thanking the New York Times.

Last week, this was the Times headline over a story about President Obama’s budget:

“A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas”

And so I want to thank the New York Times for portraying the Obama budget for what it is:  The most audacious attempt in generations to create a government-centered, bureaucratically controlled country.

“Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste”

We should have seen it coming.

Way back in November, when the Obama team was still flush with victory in the election, Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel laid out what he called “Rule One”:

“Never let a crisis go to waste.”

The Obama budget plan unveiled last week is proof that the goal of the administration is not economic recovery.  The goal is an unprecedented shift of power to politicians and bureaucrats.

Which America Do We Want?

Ronald Reagan believed that at the center of American life was the individual.  The entrepreneur.  The worker.  The doer.  The family man and woman.

The Obama budget reveals a very different vision of the men and women at the center of American life. 

They are the politicians.  The bureaucrats.  The interest groups that support an ever expanding government sector.

And so the American people are presented with a real choice:  Which America do we want?

An America in which citizens and entrepreneurs are free and hold the power? 

Or an American in which politicians and bureaucrats dominate and are in charge?

The New Religion of the Secular Left

The first month and a half of the Obama Administration has presented Americans with another choice to make.

The choice is captured best in the administration’s announcement last week that it intends to rescind the Bush Administration rule that allowed doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers to refuse to perform acts that violate their religious and moral beliefs.

I’ll have more to say about this in the future.  But for now, let me just point out what it bodes for religious freedom in America.

The Obama Administration’s reversal of what has become known as the “conscience provision” to protect doctors and nurses who have a moral objection to participating in or performing abortions is a direct assault on religious liberty.

It marks the establishment of a state-sponsored religion of secular leftism.  And it gives this new religion the right to eliminate the religious liberty of all others that it deems inappropriate.

It, too, presents the American people with a choice of two competing futures.  A future of traditional American respect for religious freedom.  Or a future in which the values of the secular left over-ride our religious liberty wherever they come into conflict.

The U.S. Has the Second Highest Business Taxes in the World

Concentrating more power in Washington politicians and bureaucrats means government dictating what it deems are the “right” choices to individuals and businesses, rather than giving them the freedom and incentive to make their own choices.

For example, in his address to the joint session of Congress last week, the President announced his intention to punish “corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”

The United States imposes the second highest business taxes of any industrialized nation in the world.  While countries like Ireland tax corporations at 12.5%, and even our neighbor Canada is moving its national business tax rate to 15% (the lowest among the G-7 countries), the United States taxes businesses at a whopping 35%.  And a number of states have corporate income taxes on top of that. 

Inevitably, high taxes in the U.S. cause some businesses to locate some or all of their business in lower tax countries overseas.

Don’t Punish Businesses for Locating Overseas.  Encourage Businesses to Come to America to Create American Jobs

But if President Obama were serious about wanting to create jobs, he wouldn’t be thinking up ways to punish companies for wanting to relocate overseas.

If President Obama were serious about creating and keeping American jobs he would be thinking of ways to make companies want to bring their jobs and capital to America -- and keep them here.

Americans Solutions has created 12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity.  Our No. 3 recommendation for jobs and prosperity is for America to match Ireland’s 12.5% business tax.

That would do more than anything in the President’s budget to accomplish his often-repeated goal of “creating and saving” American jobs.

What Entrepreneur Wants Chris Dodd to Dictate How Much He Can Earn?

As it stands, what entrepreneur in his or her right mind would risk the time, effort and capital to start a business in America? 

So Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) can act as income dictator and tell them how much they can earn? 

So a hidden energy tax can dramatically increase the cost of manufacturing, not to mention heating the business and transporting employees?

So union bosses can deny American workers the right to a private ballot?

Who wants to create a job in America at a time when Washington, D.C., not New York or Silicon Valley, is fast becoming the controlling center of American business?

Who wants to create jobs in America if politics trumps economics when it comes to determining who succeeds and who fails?

Yes to Bureaucracies, No to Charities

It’s not just in the area of jobs that the Obama budget sends a message that he would shift power dramatically from the people to the politicians.

At a time when charitable donations are suffering because of the economic downturn, President Obama’s budget discourages charitable giving by those Americans with the most to give by limiting the charitable giving deduction.

And at a time when cratering housing prices are driving the recession, President Obama’s budget discourages home ownership by those Americans who could most positively impact housing prices by limiting the mortgage interest deduction.

President Obama’s Budget Message:  Bureaucratic government is the solution, and we no longer have a choice about it.

Attorney General Holder:  Come to Detroit.  Let’s Talk About Cowardice

Another clue to how the Obama Administration views the intelligence and capability of the American people came when Attorney General Eric Holder recently called America “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race.

In my speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday I issued a challenge to Attorney General Holder that I repeat here:

Mr. Attorney General, the American people aren’t cowards.  Quite the opposite.  They have the courage to demand that their leaders tell them the truth.

So in the spirit of courageous truth telling, I invite you to come to Detroit to discuss politics and race.  I invite you to discuss the failure of the policies and institutions that you support in a city which those policies and institutions have failed more than any other. 

Let’s have the courage to debate the failure of the Detroit school system.  Let’s have the courage to discuss the bad policies, bad ideas and bad bureaucracies that have taken Detroit from No. 1 in the nation in per capita income to No. 62.

This is a serious invitation to the Attorney General to have a dialogue with me about what the residents of cities like Detroit need most:  More talk about race, or leadership that believes they have a God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness just like the rest of us.

Let’s Have a Debate, America

I’ve had some strong words for the Obama Administration today, but my real message is to the American people:

Now that President Obama has revealed the direction in which he wants to take the country, let’s have a debate.  Let’s choose up teams.

If you believe the best way to create jobs is to give more money to bureaucrats in Washington and more power to politicians in Congress, you have a team.

If you think the best way to create jobs is to make life easier for people who want to work hard, take risks and create businesses and wealth, you have a team. 

If you think America should be a place where politics trumps economics and religion, you have a team.

But if you think America is a place where freedom trumps it all, you have a team.

Let’s let the American people choose.  Which America do you want?

Scoring Obama's First Address to Congress

by Newt Gingrich

For those of us planning on keeping track of the big government, big spending proposals in President Obama’s first address to Congress tonight, here’s the key:

Start with $3.6 trillion.  Add from there.

$3.6 trillion is the total amount of new debt that Washington politicians have made taxpayers responsible for thanks to the Bush-Obama big spending, big government, big politician approach to fixing the economy.

Add up all the Bush and Obama spending and stimulus bills of the last year, plus the interest on the debt that they create and that’s (conservatively) what you come up with.

$3.6 trillion.  That’s real money, even in Washington,.

More Politician-Engineered, Washington-Centered Power Grabs To Come

And Washington is just getting started.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, calls last week’s mammoth $787 billion spending bill “stimulus No. 1.” 

In other words, there are more politician-engineered, Washington-centered power grabs yet to come.

Of course, President Obama has been talking a lot about “fiscal responsibility” lately.

But talk is just talk if it is not matched by deeds.  Tonight we will find out if the mountain of debt our children and grandchildren are inheriting will get even higher.  Every American who’s concerned about the jobs and prosperity that we are in the process of robbing from future generations of Americans should tune in.  And pay close attention.

Tonight, Watch For How Many Times the President Calls For Even More Spending

The most important thing you can do tonight is to watch the speech and keep track of how many times President Obama calls for even more spending and even bigger government.

Remember, start with recently added $3.6 trillion debt as your baseline, and then add from there.

I will be keeping count, and I urge you to keep count also.  We’ll be live-blogging the speech at newt.org tonight starting at 8:45pm ET.  You can join in by pre-registering at http://newt.org/Blogs/tabid/59/Default.aspx.

Next week I’ll report on the list.  For now, what follows are some other critical areas to watch in the speech tonight.

Where’s the Accountability?

President Obama has promised a “level of transparency and accountability never before seen in Washington.”  He’s even lectured the nation’s governors and mayors on being “responsible” in spending the billions that the federal taxpayers are sending them. 

But who really believes that politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, Sacramento and Detroit will spend all this money wisely and responsibly?  And who’s really keeping track?  If you find examples of waste, fraud and abuse in spending the taxpayers’ stimulus money, let us know at http://www.americansolutions.com/.

Does Obama Call For Healthcare Change That Will Save Lives and Save Money?

President Obama is right --we need real change in our healthcare system. But will he call for change that’s government-centric or patient-centric?  Will he have the courage to reform government programs that are wasting healthcare dollars?

For instance, outright fraud -- criminal activity -- accounts for as much as 10 percent of all healthcare spending, more than $200 billion every year. Medicare alone could account for as much as $40 billion a year. The Center for Health Transformation is actively working with government and industry officials so that this level of theft and crime can be detected, eliminated, and then prevented with the right kind of electronic resources.

Will Obama Increase the Cost of Energy?

President Obama apparently vetoed his Transportation Secretary’s proposal to tax Americans on the miles they drive, but will he propose another way -- directly or indirectly -- to increase the price of energy?

The Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signaled its intention to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, a move which will dramatically increase the costs of driving your car, heating your home, and manufacturing products -- anything, in other words, that produces carbon dioxide.

Americans profoundly disagree with this approach to protecting our environment.  According to American Solutions, by a margin of 79 to 15 we believe that we can solve our environmental challenges faster and cheaper with innovation and new technology rather than more government regulation.  Tonight, be on the watch for big government coercion disguised as environmentalism.

Does Obama Talk About Creating Jobs, Rewarding Work and Encouraging Savings and Investment?

President Obama has promised to devote much of his remarks this evening to the economy.  But will it be more talk of more government, more power for politicians and more make-work for bureaucrats?

Or will he propose real measures to let Americans keep more of what they earn and encourage small businesses to be created and grow?  Will President Obama continue to reward irresponsible economic activity, or will he propose ways to incentivize the hard work and individual responsibility that built America?

So far, over 50,000 Americans have endorsed American Solutions’ alternative economic plan, 12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity.  If you haven’t already, go to www.americansolutions.com/jobs to read the plan and let us know if it’s the kind of change you’re ready for.

The Plan

by Newt Gingrich

Democrats in Congress have made a $1.14 trillion bet on big government.

With less than 48 hours notice, they passed a 1,073 - page collection of special interest spending and dared to call it a “plan.”

With interest, the $787 billion bill will cost us, our children and their children about $1.14 trillion.  That works out to about $30,000 in new debt for each American household. Worse, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the cost of permanently extending the twenty most popular provisions in the bill.  The cost?  $3.27 trillion. 

But we’ve seen Washington bet on big government and big bureaucracy over the American people before.  In each case these bets have failed.  And when this latest wager fails, America will need a plan.

I’m writing today to tell you about such a plan.

The Bush-Obama Spending Frenzy, Part IV

Like I said, we’ve seen this kind of high stakes, big spending, big government and big bureaucracy gambling before.  This isn’t the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Spending Frenzy , this is the Bush-Obama Spending Frenzy, Part IV.

The first three parts of the Bush-Obama Spending Frenzy were on President Bush’s watch. 

The $180 billion stimulus program in the spring of 2008 failed.

The $345 billion housing bailout from the summer of 2008 failed.

And the $700 billion Wall Street bailout from the fall of 2008 failed.

All told, just last year, Washington wagered $1.2 trillion in spending and lost.  And like a problem gambler, Washington isn’t walking away from the casino, it’s doubling down.
 
What Would Reagan Have Done?  Bet on the American People

My nonpartisan, citizen-based organization, American Solutions, has developed an alternative plan, called “12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity.”

It takes its inspiration from Ronald Reagan.  Our plan doesn’t bet on government.  It bets on the American people.

Callista and I recently completed a movie about the life and vision of Ronald Reagan.  And what we found was that Reagan’s approach to the economy was more thoughtful than most of his critics -- and even some of his admirers -- give him credit for.

President Reagan had great compassion for the victims of economic crisis.  He spoke often of the Christmas Eve in the midst of the Great Depression when his father learned that he had lost his job.  “To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again,” he said.

But even as he understood the need for leadership to help Americans suffering from economic hard times, Reagan also understood that government’s role wasn’t to create economic prosperity -- it couldn’t then and it can’t now. 

“Government Can and Must Provide Opportunity, Not Smother It”

Government’s role, as Reagan understood it, was to give Americans real incentives to work hard, invest and create jobs -- incentives like keeping more of what we earn and the power to create and own our own businesses.

This is how Reagan put it in his first inaugural address:

“Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.”

In the spirit of Ronald Reagan, 12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity puts its faith in the people, not the government. 

Our plan isn’t more money for more government, more power for politicians and more make-work for bureaucrats.

It’s a clear and decisive alternative that creates jobs, rewards work and encourages savings and investment.

12 American Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity

1.    Payroll Tax Stimulus. With a temporary new tax credit to offset 50% of the payroll tax, every small business would have more money, and all Americans would take home more of what they earn.
2.    Real Middle-Income Tax Relief. Reduce the marginal tax rate of 25% down to 15%, in effect establishing a flat-rate tax of 15% for close to 9 out of 10 American workers.
3.    Reduce the Business Tax Rate. Match Ireland’s rate of 12.5% to keep more jobs in America.
4.    Homeowner’s Assistance. Provide tax credit incentives to responsible home buyers so they can keep their homes.
5.    Control Spending So We Can Move to a Balanced Budget. This begins with eliminating congressional earmarks and wasteful pork-barrel spending.
6.    No State Aid Without Protection From Fraud. Require state governments to adopt anti-fraud and anti-theft policies before giving them more money.
7.    More American Energy Now. Explore for more American oil and gas and invest in affordable energy for the future, including clean coal, ethanol, nuclear power and renewable fuels.
8.    Abolish Taxes on Capital Gains. Match China, Singapore and many other competitors. More investment in America means more jobs in America.
9.    Protect the Rights of American Workers. We must protect a worker’s right to decide by secret ballot whether to join a union, and the worker’s right to freely negotiate. Forced unionism will kill jobs in America at a time when we can’t afford to lose them.
10.    Replace Sarbanes-Oxley. This failed law is crippling entrepreneurial startups. Replace it with affordable rules that help create jobs, not destroy them.
11.    Abolish the Death Tax. Americans should work for their families, not for Washington.
12.    Invest in Energy and Transportation Infrastructure. This includes a new, expanded electric power grid and a 21st Century air traffic control system that will reduce delays in air travel and save passengers, employees and airlines billions of dollars per year.

I’ve already heard from thousands of Americans who believe that this is the kind of change our economy needs right now. 

I’d love to hear from you.  Please send me your thoughts about 12 Americans Solutions for Jobs and Prosperity using the suggestion box at www.americansolutions.com/jobs.

It’s not too late to be a part of real change for America.  When Washington’s latest big government gamble fails, we’ll be ready to put our money on a sure thing:  Real solutions for the American people.

Today's Message to Young Entrepreneurs: Get a Nice, Safe Government Job Instead

by Newt Gingrich

Imagine you are a young Bill Gates.  You’re smart.  You’re ambitious.  You’re thinking about starting a business to put your talents to their best use for you and for society.

Then you turn on the television and see President Obama say that “now is not the time” for entrepreneurs to make profits and get bonuses.

You hear Vice President Joe Biden say of corporate CEOs:  “I’d like to throw these guys in the brig.”

You pick up the newspaper and read about a bill sponsored by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) to cap the salaries of top executives (“idiots” in her words) of firms that accept government bailout money.

And you read about another bill speeding through Congress that will allow judges to alter the terms of mortgage contracts after the fact; to unilaterally reduce the amount of principal borrowers agreed to pay back when they signed their mortgage contracts.

The Vice President is Threatening to Throw Businessmen in the Brig.  Why Take the Chance?

What lessons does a young entrepreneur learn from listening carefully to the voices advocating more and more government regulation and intervention in our economy?

He learns that the President has more faith in government to save the economy than free enterprise.  So why not get a nice, safe government job instead?

She learns that starting a business and creating jobs may put her in the cross hairs of the Vice President.  Maybe he means that part about throwing her in the brig, maybe he doesn’t.  Why take the chance?

He learns that when politicians like Claire McCaskill get involved in economic enterprises, politics -- not economics -- rules.  Why risk everything to have your future controlled by Washington?

And she learns that contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.  When judges can unilaterally re-write contracts, lenders will charge more to lend.  So why even try to get that small business loan?

Biden and McCaskill Should Be Outraged With Themselves

Vice President Biden, Sen. McCaskill and others who are advocating greater and greater government intervention into private business are rightly outraged at reports of corporate CEOs receiving billions in taxpayer bailout dollars and then turning around and awarding themselves and their cronies lavish corporate bonuses.

This outrage is entirely justified.  Politicians are understandably looking for someone to blame for this breach of the public’s trust.

But they should be looking at themselves.  Vice President Biden and Sen. McCaskill should be outraged with themselves.

The reason is simple:  If there had been no big government bailout of these companies, their CEOs would have no fiduciary duty to the taxpayers.  It wouldn’t be any of Sen. McCaskill’s business how they compensate themselves.

But government offered the money, and private companies took it.  So now government is in charge.

The Rules for Spending Taxpayers Money Don’t Work in the Private Market

The great management guru Peter Drucker taught us that there is a set of rules for spending the taxpayers’ money that is antithetical to the proper functioning of a private business.

For instance, when taxpayers are footing the bill, it’s perfectly legitimate for the people, through their representatives in government, to set limits on compensation.

In the free market, however, if government sets arbitrary limits on compensation, the best minds and greatest talents will go to where there are no limits.  Politicians will have set these companies up to fail.

And if government decides some contracts are no longer politically tolerable, they erode the value of all contracts.  And in the case of home mortgage contracts, government abrogation only makes future mortgages more expensive.

Rent Seeking Capitalism:  The Growth of “Fusion Enterprise”

The danger is not simply that government will hobble private enterprise with regulation once it has become a stakeholder.

The greater danger is that the act of going into business in America will come to mean simultaneously going into the government lobbying business.  Future “entrepreneurs” will compete, not just for private capital, but for government investment to give them the edge over their competitors.

Former American Enterprise Institute President Chris DeMuth calls this “fusion enterprise” and warns that it’s catching on:

Already, the government-appointed chief executive of AIG is boasting to his customers and others that his firm is much better capitalized (that is, by Washington) than the mere private firms it competes with. Several of those rivals see the point and are lining up for their shares. We have no economic theory, and only fragmentary casual examples, to resist this halfway house between comprehensive socialism on the one hand and conventional regulation on the other …

“He Who Does Not Work Does Not Eat”

Since the earliest American settlers at Jamestown in 1607 adopted Captain John Smith’s rule, “He who does not work does not eat,” America has thrived in a system of private enterprise and incentives for hard work and risk-taking.

Today, we are on the verge of repudiating 400 years of free market principle. 

And the irony is that the $900 billion big government, big bureaucracy, big politician stimulus package that is being passed in the name of speeding our economic recovery may make emerging from the economic downturn that much harder.

What Began as an Economic Crisis is Becoming a Cultural Crisis

This crisis, which began as an economic crisis, is becoming a cultural crisis.  And the lessons being learned by young entrepreneurs are precisely the wrong ones.

We are teaching young Americans to ignore American history and look to government first.

We are teaching young Americans not to start businesses when small businesses are the engine of job creation.

We are teaching young Americans not to compete on the level playing field of the free market, but to seek to co-op government in the pursuit of profit.

In his inaugural speech, President Obama singled out the “the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things” as the source of American greatness.  Does President Obama mean what he says?  Or is this one more example of his moderate rhetoric not matching his liberal deeds?

Does It Work? Applying the Obama Test to Healthcare

Does it work?

That is the test President Barack Obama set out in his inaugural address for evaluating government programs.  When programs work, Obama said, we will “move forward.”  But when they don’t, he promised these programs “will end.”

Last week I asked readers to put aside their natural skepticism that any government program, no matter how dysfunctional, will “end” under the Obama Administration. 

And this week I’m taking a dose of my own medicine.  At the National Press Club yesterday, I joined with a group of physicians and healthcare experts to take the Obama challenge and apply it to healthcare.  We looked at Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare information technology and the range of healthcare programs and asked “do they work?”

You can watch the video here.

Fraud Accounts for As Much as 10% of All Healthcare Spending

The bad news we found won’t shock anybody.  In so much of our healthcare system, programs don’t work.

• Outright fraud -- criminal activity -- accounts for as much as 10% of all healthcare spending, more than $200 billion every year. 
• Just 4% of doctors use advanced electronic medical records, despite irrefutable evidence that electronic prescribing, record keeping and communication saves lives and saves money.
• The federal government treats science and healthcare investments as costs only, refusing to factor in the savings that result from investments like the $10 billion invested in basic research on HIV/AIDS between 1985 and 1995 that saved the United States $1.4 trillion in healthcare expenditures.

The Good News:  Health Entrepreneurs Are Creating Systems That Work

The good news is that there are healthcare entrepreneurs in America who are developing ways to provide more choices of better care at a lower cost.  The “best practices” they have developed aren’t theoretical.  They exist.  The key to transforming our health system is to see that they are adopted by all the players in the system, public and private.

• A workplace-based healthcare plan in Omaha, Nebraska called Simplywell gives employees at the Greater Omaha Packing Company the tools they need to take charge of their own healthcare, including an electronic personal health record, tailored patient education, and annual screening. Repeat participants had a 27% improvement in normal blood pressure readings; a 16.7% improvement in normal cholesterol levels, and 41.3% fewer participants had elevated glucose levels -- all at a cost per employee that was less than half the industry average.
• The Massachusetts eRx Collaborative uses e-prescribing tools to allow physicians to access patient-specific prescription drug and medical histories, be alerted to drug-to-drug and drug-allergy interactions, and electronically transmit prescriptions directly to a pharmacy, minimizing possible errors from illegible handwriting.  In 2007, approximately 104,000 electronic prescriptions were changed or cancelled because of drug-safety alerts to the physician.  And data from the previous year show that e-prescribers saved 5% on their drug costs compared to prescribers that did not use the technology.
• Memorial Hermann Health Centers for Schools, a group of five school-based clinics in Houston, Texas uses private funding to serve mostly uninsured students.  The centers diligently collect data and adjust their services to meet strategic objectives.  In 2006-2007, student asthma exacerbations, ER visits, and hospitalizations decreased by 67%; cholesterol levels among targeted students declined by 73%; and students who received mental health counseling had improved grade point averages and fewer suspensions, detentions, and days absent.

The Center for Health Transformation (CHT) has collected examples like these best practices that 1) Improve individual health and wellness through prevention and personal responsibility; 2) Improve the quality, administration and delivery of care; 3) Lower costs; and/or 4) Expand access to care.  All are available at CHT’s website, www.healthtransformation.net/cs/healthcarethatworks. 

Four Steps to Saving Lives and Saving Money
 
Using these best practices as a base, the Center for Health Transformation has developed four initiatives to improve healthcare, lower costs, and insure every American:

The first is creating a healthcare system that works by insisting that the government and other healthcare players constantly adopt these best practices.  Best practices should drive policy -- not the other way around.

Second is dramatically reducing healthcare fraud so the savings can help pay for health information technology and covering the uninsured.  Medicare fraud alone could account for as much as $40 billion in healthcare spending a year.  This level of theft and crime can be detected, eliminated, and then prevented with the right kind of technology.

Third is implementing science and investment-based budgeting with generation-long scoring.  This is an issue that I personally spoke to at length yesterday.  The federal government treats investments simply as costs and doesn’t take into account future savings that result from investments in science and healthcare. This must change if we are to have the kind of real change we need.

My Advice for Creating Electronic Health Records?  Be Like Ike

The fourth CHT initiative for transforming our healthcare system is one that President Obama has also made a priority: electronic medical records.  I couldn’t agree more with his goal of seeing that all our medical records are computerized within five years.

But as I pointed out in the New York Post recently, the hard part is making this goal a reality.  My advice?  Be like Ike.  President Dwight Eisenhower’s investment in creating the interstate highway system created a wave of productivity and prosperity that we continue to ride today.

The same can be true of electronic medical records.  Creating an infrastructure of an interconnected electronic health records system, that incorporates both the public and private sectors and the federal and state governments, is the first step in transforming our entire healthcare system and creating more choice of better care at lower cost.

To learn more about what some extraordinary Americans are doing to save lives and save money in their communities, go to www.healthtransformation.net.  For a direct link to the video of yesterday’s event, click here.

Taking President Obama At His Word

by Newt Gingrich

Presidential inaugurals are one of last aspects of our national politics that are genuinely welcoming of the American people.  So much of presidential campaigning is so tightly controlled and choreographed that it works to exclude Americans.  But inaugurations welcome us all in, and allow our part in the greatness of American democracy to extend beyond the voting booth.

Callista and I were fortunate enough to be present on the National Mall on Tuesday for what was a truly historic event.  For as far as we could see, down the great length of the Mall from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, there were people.  Americans.  Possibly the largest crowd in history for a presidential inaugural.

Regardless of who you supported in November, it was impossible not to be moved by this event, because it said extraordinary things about the United States of America.

Dictators Take Heed:  In a Single Generation, the Son of an African Immigrant Rose in America to Be Leader of the Free World

The first thing the Obama inaugural said was how far American has come in a short time.

There are people alive today who were once not allowed to sit at a lunch counter, not allowed to stay at a hotel, and prevented from exercising their right to vote by virtue of the color of their skin.  These Americans saw an African American man democratically assume the most powerful office in the world on Tuesday.  What an extraordinary breakthrough.

And the second message about America sent by the Obama inauguration was aimed straight at the heart of all the dictators, theocrats, oligarchs and military strongmen who rationalize their tyranny with the excuse that their people aren’t “ready” for democracy:  In the course of a single generation, the son of an immigrant from a poor country in Africa rose in America to be the leader of the free world. 

Freedom is our Creator’s gift, not just to Americans, but to all people.  President Obama stands as a powerful rebuke to those who deny this gift in the name of the best interests of their people. 

“We Will Not Apologize for Our Way of Life, Nor Will We Waver In Its Defense”

There has been volumes already written analyzing President Obama’s inaugural speech, but my take is that it was more a conversation than a speech; more a search for workable solutions than a listing of ideological marching orders.

Here was a young man who rose to the presidency with stunning speed and is now encountering challenges he never dreamed of.  In significant ways, his speech abandoned the liberalism of his campaign rhetoric in the face of a hard new reality.

•    He celebrated “the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things” as the source of American greatness.
•    He acknowledged that the free market’s “power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.”
•    He evoked the enduring wisdom of America’s Founders, our founding documents, and our traditional virtues.
•    At times he sounded just his predecessor in the weeks and months after September 11, 2001: 

“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

Obama’s Challenge is To Reconcile His Conservative Rhetoric With His Liberal Allies

Our challenge now is to overcome our skepticism about a man who expressed a preference for redistributing wealth as a candidate and now celebrates the American entrepreneur.

The man who on the campaign trail found it nearly impossible to say the word “victory” in the context of Iraq and now vows that we will “outlast” and “defeat” our enemies.

For his part, President Obama’s challenge is to reconcile the center-right conservative rhetoric of his first presidential address with the liberals who helped him get elected and who dominate the congressional Democratic caucus.

As for us, our way forward is -- or should be -- simple:  Where our new president lives up to his new conservative rhetoric, we should support him.  Where he doesn’t, we should respectfully -- and energetically -- oppose him.

“Restore the Vital Trust Between a People and Their Government” - Withdraw the Geithner Nomination

One promise made by President Obama in his inaugural address calls for immediate action to be honored.  President Obama said:

“Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

The first test of whether the President means these words or not -- whether he intends to make accountability, transparency and trust a part of his government  -- will come with how he proceeds with his nominee to be Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner.

We Need a Treasury Secretary Who Can Restore Broken Trust

Geithner was previously an employee of the International Monetary Fund and, as such, was responsible for paying his own self-employment (Social Security and Medicare) taxes.  Despite being repeatedly informed of his obligation to pay his own taxes, signing documents promising to do so, and accepting compensation from the IMF for precisely this purpose, Geithner failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

What’s more, after the IRS audited him, Geithner paid his 2003 and 2004 taxes, but paid his 2001 and 2002 taxes only after he was nominated to be Treasury Secretary.

In all, Geithner has had to pay over $48,000 in delinquent taxes and interest.

Some -- including some Republicans -- are suggesting that the Geithner nomination is “too big to fail” -- that the economic crisis demands that senators swallow their misgivings and confirm his nomination.

I believe the truth is precisely the opposite.  At a time when our confidence in our financial institutions has been shattered and our trust in our governmental institutions is broken, we need a Treasury Secretary who can inspire both.  Timothy Geithner is not that man.

President Obama should live up to his stirring words.  He should withdraw the Geithner nomination.

What Works In Healthcare

A final passage of the President’s speech that I want to draw to your attention is this declaration:

“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.”

The size of government is directly related to its ability to be effective, of course.  Bloated, politically powerful bureaucracies are not known for their speed and efficiency.

But let’s take President Obama at his word that he seeks more effective government.

Next Monday, at the National Press Club, I will apply the new President’s test of good government to our health care system.  I will examine what’s broken about our system, and what can work to effectively deliver better health care at a lower cost.