Politics

Since announcing her resignation, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been pummeled by critics who have called her incoherent, a quitter, a joke and a "political train wreck." And those were fellow Republicans talking. Palin has been a polarizing figure from the moment she stepped off the tundra into the bright lights last summer as John McCain's surprise vice presidential running mate. Some of that hostility could be expected, given the hyper-partisanship of today's politics.

In the Ozark Mountain town of Rogers, Ark., more than 250 business owners gathered for lunch at a construction company last month to focus on what they saw as a major threat -- a proposal in Congress to make it easier to form labor unions. At each place setting, attendees found pre-stamped postcards and pre-written letters to be sent to Arkansas' U.S. senators, Democrats Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, who had supported the labor bill in the past.

With House leaders struggling to reach agreement on healthcare legislation, aiming toward a possible vote this week, a new hurdle has emerged: abortion. Some conservative Democrats are threatening to pull their support from the massive healthcare bill unless their concerns over potential federal funding of abortion procedures are met. They fear that the Obama administration will take advantage of an expanded government role in healthcare to increase the availability of abortions nationwide.

In an age when Americans compare hotel rooms, cars and even prospective mates with the click of a mouse, helping people identify the most cost-effective medical care seems like common sense. But when President Obama included money in his economic stimulus plan to do just that, he set off one of the sharpest, and most unexpected, political fights of his young administration. Though Obama prevailed -- securing $1.

With Senate leaders threatening to block Roland Burris from being sworn in today as Barack Obama's replacement, many of his supporters see a familiar story of race and injustice. An all-white club, they say, is trying to prevent a black man from gaining admission, as well as the power that comes with a Senate seat. Summoning a harsh metaphor from the nation's racial battles, Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) even called the Senate "the last bastion of plantation politics."

The broad outlines of the $3.5-trillion spending blueprint that Congress approved this week hews closely to President Obama's spending targets and pays homage to his ambitious agenda. But the fine print contains a sobering warning about his marquee initiatives on healthcare, energy, education and economic recovery. Congress' message: We can't do it all at once.

Hundreds of young women in head scarves scream, stomp their feet and wave green flags and banners inside the Bahman Cultural Center, often a venue for pop bands performing in Tehran. But it's not a rock star they await -- it's an aging politician and his wife, who has electrified female voters with her impressive resume and seemingly modern relationship with her husband.

As the Clinton White House discovered to its grief more than a decade ago, and the Obama White House is learning, no minefield of American politics is as uncharted and explosive as healthcare reform. And no piece of healthcare reform is as explosive as the issue of cost control. Consider the conniption being thrown by Republican senators and other conservatives over a $1.1-billion provision in the stimulus package to fund "comparative effectiveness research."

Whether you label it the "card check" bill or the Employee Free Choice Act, you can also call it something else -- in deep trouble. Key senators this week appeared to cripple prospects for passing the highly polarizing measure, the labor movement's top priority in Congress, which is aimed at making it easier for workers to join unions. The latest hurdle came Friday, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she would seek alternative legislation that was less divisive.

President-elect Barack Obama says he does not want to use special interest money to pay for inaugural events, but the lobbyists are coming anyway. The calendar is chock-full of parties and receptions, brunches and breakfasts -- not to mention lunches, dinners and prayer services. Many, and perhaps most, are designed to bring those who need influence into contact with those who wield it.