Daily Political Wire 12-31-2010

George Wenschhof

New York Times Readers Weigh In on Top Political Moments of 2010 - from the passage of health care legislation, to the flurry of activity during the lame duck session. You can read more here.

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Politico.com Looks at the Top Ten Worst decisions for 2010 - From Delaware Republicans nomination Christine "I am not a Witch' O'Donnell for Senate, to Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) firing his lawyer before his ethics hearing. You can read them here.

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Chris Cillizza Takes a look at 2011 - on his Washington Post "The Fix" Blog. He wonders how the incoming Republican "tea party" backed members of congress will get along with the other Republicans, whether immigration legislation will be passed and more. You can read it here.

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CNN Poll Shows optimism Up For 2011 - 63% are optimistic what the new year will bring, which is up 12% from one year ago. CNN.com has more here.

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How will Unemployment Effect the 2012 Presidential Election? - an interesting question with the answer being; significantly. No president since WWII has been elected with unemployment rates as high as they are today. When Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 with unemployment at 7.6%, it was the highest rate in over 50 years. FirstRead.com has more here.

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What is Obamanomics? - Ezra Klein takes a stab at defining the major components of the Obama administration approach to the economy. In spite of being hammered by the GOP, Obama's purchase of GM has turned out to be a success, Stimulus I and the most recently passed Stimulus II (disguised as the tax compromise) has kept unemployment from skyrocketing, and low interest rates and the buying of mortgages have kept the Housing industry afloat. You can read more here.

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Pathway to Citizenship Most Difficult part of Immigration Reform - agreement between Democrats and Republicans on methods to strengthen U.S. borders, enforcing laws against business who hire illegal immigrants, and the creation of a universal ID, all seem to be reachable, among the politicians on the Hill.

However, once the discussion turns to how to create a pathway to citizenship, the divide remains huge. TheHill.com has more here.

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