Word: big
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...eloquence is a big part of the reason that Barack Obama got to the Oval Office. There's always been a sense that his ability to explain things was tantamount to his ability to fix them. But the sheer complexity of health care has so far defied both his ability to explain and his power to fix. And in this case, the latter is an even greater challenge than the former...
...Obama has gotten this far in part because he has put off the thorniest questions of who should pay and how big a role government should have. These, he says, are the issues that deepen "some long-standing ideological divisions in our Congress and, frankly, in our society." They are also the ones that have defeated Presidents who have tried to solve the problem, going all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt. But what looked like shrewd politics early in the process is increasingly being viewed on Capitol Hill as a failure to lead. As a senior Democratic congressional aide...
...there is also much about how Washington works that hasn't changed. LBJ once said the only way to deal with Congress is "continuously, incessantly and without interruption." To get anything really big done, a President must not only rally public opinion but also keep the legislative machinery turning despite the brakes applied by moneyed interests and public doubts. That is the hard work of governing, and it is very different from campaigning...
...might the U.S. have benefited from interrogating Saad instead of killing him? We may never know. Saad "was a small player with a big name," says the counterterrorism official. "He has never been a major operational figure." (His brother Mohammed is thought to be more influential.) But terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, author of Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden, points out that having Saad bin Laden in custody "would have been a great propaganda victory" for the U.S., greater than his death could be. Adds the Western intelligence official: "Think of how Americans would feel...
...group in 2004 ended with the police claiming victory. But five years on and the militants are back, stronger and more vicious. In the latest outbreak of violence, in Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state, militant gunmen assaulted police stations and engaged armored-personnel backed troops. (Read "Big Tobacco Sets Its Sights on Africa...