Must Reads: Pakistan Fears Osama-Style Raid on Its Nukes
A conspiracy theory that actually matters: Pakistan’s nuclear paranoia
The U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden is fueling the amazingly widspread Pakistani belief that the U.S. is willing and able to send forces in seize control of its nuclear weapons, the better to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists or being used against India. Willing and able? We doubt it. Would love to be able to if it came to the crunch? You bet. [National Journal]
Oh, yeah, that: Obama rediscovers immigration reform
President Obama heads to Texas to talk up his administration’s progress on beefing up border security and call for Congress to get its act together on fixing our screwed-up immigration system. As a candidate, Obama talked a good game on the issue, but hasn’t really made it a priority, annoying reform advocates and Latinos, the latter a huge and growing political force. [WSJ]
States pushing anti-union laws
Lawmakers in New Hampshire and Missouri are going all-in to to curb labor unions via so-called ‘right-to-work’ bills that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of joining unions. If passed, the measures would mark the first expansion in a decade of right-to-work laws, which are on the books in 22 states. [WSJ]
Democrats tie oil subsidy cuts to deficit, calling Republicans’ bluff
Senate Democrats have come up with a plan to cut subsidies for oil companies and divert the savings to offset the deficit. The beauty of this approach is that it puts Republicans, who are falling over each other to be toughest on the debt, in tricky spot, since opposing the cuts will look like a vote against deficit reduction. Or so Democrats hope. [NYT]
Obama took a serious flyer on Bin Laden operation
Credit where it’s due: Barack Obama came away from his Sunday night 60 Minutes interview looking not at all like a cautious, difference-splitting, indecisive, law professor. Turns out key aides advised against the risky raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound, and not only that: “At the end of the day,” the president told reporter Steve Kroft “this was still a 55/45 situation. I mean we could not say definitively that bin Laden was there. Had he not been there, then there would have been some significant consequences.” [CBS]