Jacob Christensen » Barack Obama http://jacobchristensen.name Notes of a trailer park political scientist Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:24:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Listen Very Carefully: I Shall Say This Only Once http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/10/19/listen-very-carefully-i-shall-say-this-only-once/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/10/19/listen-very-carefully-i-shall-say-this-only-once/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:05:31 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=3748
  • The Prime Minister’s New Year’s Speech – Some Extremely Short Notes 1. Now that Lars Løkke Rasmussen has held three programme...
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  • But on the Other Hand, That’s What the Confederation of Danish Industries Always Sound Like Via Dan Drezner and Crooked Timber: The Republicans1 want to...
    • Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>     Wow. Just: Wow.

    Billede 3

    Wordled that one as well. But that doesn’t really capture the speech.

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    2. One Year of Løkke I considered writing a post about Lars Løkke’s anniversary but...
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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/10/19/listen-very-carefully-i-shall-say-this-only-once/feed/ 0     Tequila! http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/07/31/tequila/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/07/31/tequila/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:54:23 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=3476
  • Daniel Davies Solves the Eurozone Crisis. Click. (Don’t worry: It’s perfectly safe for work. Unless you...
  • My (or rather: Randall Munroe’s) Only Possible Comment on COP15 I think this one pretty much nails it. Click....
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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/07/31/tequila/feed/ 0     Turkey http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/04/08/turkey-2/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/04/08/turkey-2/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:59:52 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=3104 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Charlemagne – of The Economist, not of the Franks – wonders if Barack Obama has accidentally fired a rather explosive device in the run-up to the European elections by calling for Turkish membership of the EU.

    As we all remember, there were some recent incidents involving Denmark and Turkey and the Danish People’s Party tried to make to most of it. If we look at the platforms for the 2009 European Parliament election – see my links here – most parties dodge the issue one way or the other.

    • No mention: Social Democrats, Conservatives, June Movement, People’s Movement.
    • Strongly negative: Danish People’s Party (“Turkey should never be a member of the EU” – Islam, women’s rights and size/economic development as the main arguments)
    • Mention: Liberals (“Not relevant at the moment or in the shorter term”)
    • Positive: Socialists, Social Liberals (long term – when the country lives up to membership criteria)

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/04/08/turkey-2/feed/ 0     Today’s Big Question http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/20/todays-big-question/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/20/todays-big-question/#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:46:55 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/20/todays-big-question/
  • Listen Very Carefully: I Shall Say This Only Once Wow. Just: Wow. Wordled that one as well. But that...
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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/20/todays-big-question/feed/ 0     Obama by Appiah http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/15/obama-by-appiah/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/15/obama-by-appiah/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:03:37 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2809 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> The BBC World Service is hard to beat: It had philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah discussing the academic background of a certain Barack Obama.

    Available as a podcast here, but hurry!

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2009/01/15/obama-by-appiah/feed/ 0     The Next President of the US http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/12/17/the-next-president-of-the-us/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/12/17/the-next-president-of-the-us/#comments Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:48:00 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2720
  • Farewell GeoCities, We Hardly … well, We Did Know You Hurry over to XKCD to behold the resurrected glory of...
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    HT: BoingBoing, IssTumBul.

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/12/17/the-next-president-of-the-us/feed/ 0     Quote of the Day http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/11/14/quote-of-the-day-11/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/11/14/quote-of-the-day-11/#comments Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:13:53 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2572
  • Listen Very Carefully: I Shall Say This Only Once Wow. Just: Wow. Wordled that one as well. But that...
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    Give a man enough coffee and he’s capable of anything.

    Malcolm Gladwell, via Brad deLong.

    Apparently, Barack Obama isn’t a coffee drinker by the way. No latte-sipping revolutions here :-)

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/11/14/quote-of-the-day-11/feed/ 0     Confederates for Obama! http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/10/29/confederates-for-obama/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/10/29/confederates-for-obama/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:37:37 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2506 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I kid you not.

    HT: Rustbelt Intellectual.

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/10/29/confederates-for-obama/feed/ 0     Bismarck Obama http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/27/bismarck-obama/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/27/bismarck-obama/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:41:30 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2088
  • Listen Very Carefully: I Shall Say This Only Once Wow. Just: Wow. Wordled that one as well. But that...
    • Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>     I have to admit that I haven’t followed the US debate about health insurance too closely, but I found James Wimberley’s discussion about the Obama health plan interesting:

    [Obama] didn’t mention that his universal health insurance plan is basically a clone (via Edwards and Clinton) of the cunning old warhorse’s revolutionary 1884 law. This also left an existing patchwork of enterprise-based plans in place, adding a default public one. So I’ll call Obama’s scheme by its Bismarckian name: a Krankenkasse.

    Just some notes about the Scandinavian systems (which are not completely identical):

    • One thing they have in common is that they are basically tax-financed, although there are some complications with regard to sickness benefits.
    • In Sweden, sickness benefits are administered by a state agency; in Denmark, by local councils (but under national guidelines)
    • In Denmark and Sweden, there is no national health care in the strict meaning1 – regional councils are in responsible for running primary and secondary health care. Norway is different these days and there are definitively tendencies towards centralisation of the provision of health care.
    • The rule of thumb in Denmark and Sweden seems to be that a health care authority should cover 1-2 million people.
    • In principle, these systems will work with private providers of health care. GPs and many specialists are private entrepreneurs in Denmark. Equally, there are a number of private clinics.
    • Private insurance has played a minimal role in Denmark and Sweden, but is becoming more popular in Denmark. The question is if work-based private schemes will supplement or crowd-out public health care in the medium to long term.
    1. You are of cause entitled to emergency care everywhere and there is some choice between different providers, and the systems are of cause regulated by national legislation.

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/27/bismarck-obama/feed/ 0     Obamania: Berlin Edition http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/25/obamania-berlin-edition/ http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/25/obamania-berlin-edition/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:48:44 +0000 Jacob Christensen http://jacobchristensen.name/?p=2065
  • Berlin, S-Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz Taken in 2004. I first visited the place in 1993....
  • Berlin, Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse Taken in November 2004....
  • Berlin, Palast der Republik Taken in November 2004....
    • Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>     That was fast. The Obama campaign has the Berlin speech out:

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    ]]>     http://jacobchristensen.name/2008/07/25/obamania-berlin-edition/feed/ 0