By James Freeman – Wall Street Journal
Barack Obama speaks to his old campaign comrades at Organizing for Action.
HOLY OBAMACARE
Last night in Washington President Obama addressed the national meeting of Organizing for Action, the outfit formerly known as his re-election campaign. Young OFA volunteers have been redeployed to the task of persuading Americans to sign up for new health insurance plans created by the President’s Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama urged his young fans to sign up as many people as possible before this year’s March 31 enrollment deadline. “The work you’re doing is God’s work,” he said.
The irony is particularly rich given that under a mandate issued under the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama is still trying to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to violate their religious beliefs. The Little Sisters are nuns who run a nonprofit nursing home and hospice and are resisting the government’s order to pay for birth control, which they oppose.
ANOTHER INFRASTRUCTURE SPEECH
Today the President travels to St. Paul, Minn. to propose more than $300 billion in new spending to repair the country’s roads and bridges. The plan would be partially funded with tax hikes on business—specifically by closing loopholes in the tax code. But there’s still no hurry on the country’s most famous unapproved infrastructure project—the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Mr. Obama was pressed on the issue in a White House meeting this week with the nation’s governors. Reports the Los Angeles Times: “‘I did ask the president when we could anticipate a decision on the Keystone pipeline,’ said Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, the association’s chairwoman. ‘Finally, he did come back and say that he anticipates an answer one way or the other in a couple of months.'”
TWEET OF THE DAY
Journal columnist Daniel Henninger: “Reality gap: 11% of business leaders say college grads have poor skills. 96% of college chiefs say we’re doing great.” The Gallup survey was commissioned by the Lumina Foundation, which is also supporting an encouraging effort by Gallup and Purdue University to measure the performance of colleges and universities.
