Word: specializing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Murphy said that her client—"the one person who did not overreact, a woman with no special training who nevertheless did everything right"—had not been asked to join Obama, Gates, and Crowley—"the three highly trained guys who reacted badly"—at the White House. She said that Whalen "doesn't like beer anyways" and joked that "maybe it's a guy thing," but added that she thought it was "strange" how little positive attention has been paid to Whalen...
...difficult things to do in a democracy is react to a problem that is real, but not immediately threatening. Obama is trying to do this in two monster areas, health care and climate change. "He's killing me," says Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, referring to the hordes of special-interest groups that have camped on her doorstep and clogged her phone lines. Stabenow is smiling as she says it. She supports the broad thrust of Obama's initiatives. "But you can't believe all the groups that want to make their case. There are the doctors, the nurses...
...long ago as 1982, the economist Mancur Olson made the argument, in The Rise and Decline of Nations, that as a democracy matures, special interests grow more entrenched. Their intense dedication to their own specific needs, Olson wrote, often trumps the broader, but less focused, interests of society. And that was before the rise of cable news and talk radio. It was before the utterly corrupting effect of televised advertising on politicians really kicked in - the need to raise money (from interest groups, mostly) and to exercise extreme caution lest one of your votes be used to decapitate...
...Bush enacted. Occasionally, responsible actions take place in the budget process. Bill Clinton spent most of his political capital on deficit reduction, which helped fuel the economic boom of the 1990s. Obama has just managed to kill the F-22, an anachronistic fighter jet. Very, very occasionally a special interest will take it on the chin - as the teachers' unions did when Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandated a testing regimen the teachers didn't like. But the passage of landmark legislation like the health-industry reforms that Obama is seeking has become about as common...
...Special envoy Mitchell made his own news over the weekend in Damascus. He announced the U.S. intention to ease sanctions on sales of aircraft parts and computer and telecommunications equipment to Syria. The Obama Administration is hoping that a diplomatic rapprochement with Syria will help peel Damascus away from its longtime role as Iran's key Arab ally. Though Syria is hedging its bets, it has opened up to Washington's advances. (See pictures of the world's worst nuclear disasters...