Reform's status is cloudy

Political reporting from our mainstream media indicates that to the extent that "health reform" happens at all in 2010, it will be a much smaller package than we would have predicted just a week ago.

Certainly the White House isn't vowing to fight on for what it once described as a top domestic policy priority. Instead, WH staffers speaking on background previewed the announcement of only "modest initiatives" (none of them relating to health care) in the State of the Union Address on Wednesday.

Congressional leaders continue to weigh their options as to what they might do next with the competing House and Senate bills, but they are also struggling to take steps to protect their majority.

Meanwhile, problems in the existing health care system continue to dominate the headlines. And so it goes.