Our top five reads of the day:
- Shibley Telhami urges the U.S. to keep its distance in Egypt: “But if there is any lesson to be learned from Tunisia, and from the U.S. policy in the region in the past few years, it is that these historic and indigenous events in Egypt must not become about the United States. One reason the Tunisian revolution succeeded in toppling the president without major ramifications for the U.S. is that the revolt was not viewed as directly related to the West.”
- John Kerry wants the U.S. to align with the Egyptian people: “The awakening across the Arab world must bring new light to Washington, too. Our interests are not served by watching friendly governments collapse under the weight of the anger and frustrations of their own people, nor by transferring power to radical groups that would spread extremism. Instead, the best way for our stable allies to survive is to respond to the genuine political, legal and economic needs of their people. And the Obama administration is already working to address these needs.”
- Daniel Indiviglio argues that the federal government needs to reduce regulatory and financial uncertainty in the nuclear industry: “There’s no clear solution to this problem other than even more aggressive intervention by the government. … If we wait on the market to come around, it will likely be too late, as energy prices will already be increasing quickly as fossil fuel supplies shrink.”
- Jonathan Cohn makes the case that the Vinson health care ruling is overtly political: “But perhaps the clearest indicator of bias in the decisions against the Affordable Care Act is the gist of the decisions themselves. For generations, conservatives have championed “judicial restraint.” If judicial restraint means anything, it means deferring to the Congress on matters of policy preference”
- Russell Berman and Kevin Bogardus report on House Republicans’ rejections of Obama’s calls for transparency on lobbyist meetings: “Congressional leaders offered a chilly response to President Obama’s call for lawmakers to match the White House in publicly disclosing their meetings with lobbyists. The Republican in charge of government oversight, Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), rejected the suggestion out of hand and brushed the president back by noting reports that White House officials met with lobbyists at nearby coffee shops to avoid their own disclosure rules.”
