THE DICK CHENEY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC DEBATE:

Is Obama's vow of public debate on health care fading? (DAVID LIGHTMAN AND MARGARET TALEV, 7/12/09, McClatchy Newspapers)

Campaigning for president, Barack Obama said repeatedly that any overhaul of the health care system should be negotiated publicly and televised for all to see. Throughout this year's negotiations, however, the big deals have been struck in secret.

With tax increases and limits on what's covered among the possible ways of offsetting perhaps $1 trillion over a decade in expenses, neither the administration nor Congress is willing to give up its right to do the most sensitive talking in private, as it's always been done.