Here are today's must read opinion and editorial columns.
A SERIOUS GOP CANDIDATE: JON HUNTSMAN BY MICHAEL GERSONWASHINGTON POSTHuntsman may not be able to overcome the obstacle of his anonymity, at least this time around. But he contributes a thoughtful competence to the Republican field. While some seem to be running for a host position on Fox News, Huntsman appears to be running for president.
OBAMACARE'S NEXT CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE BY RICHARD EPSTEIN & MARIO LOYOLAWALL STREET JOURNAL
In neither New York nor Printz did the result turn on the "level" of coercion, nor should it do so in the current case. The constant backdrop of the federal taxing power makes a mockery of the claim that state participation under ObamaCare is voluntary. The only way to prevent this grave intrusion on state autonomy is to strike down the Medicaid provisions of the health-reform law.
WHERE WISDOM LIVES BY DAVID BROOKSNEW YORK TIMESThis basic debate will define the identities of the two parties for decades. In the age of the Internet and open-source technology, the Democrats are mad to define themselves as the party of top-down centralized planning. Moreover, if 15 Washington-based experts really can save a system as vast as Medicare through a process of top-down control, then this will be the only realm of human endeavor where that sort of engineering actually works.
'I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING' EDITORIALNEW YORK TIMES
Mr. Weiner says he will not resign, and there is no evidence yet that he broke the law or abused the resources of his office. He said the computer and BlackBerry that he used were his own, not issued by the government. But Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, was right to call for an ethics investigation into whether he had broken any House rules, an investigation with which Mr. Weiner said he would cooperate. If it shows that he did abuse his office, he should resign.
POLITICAL LABELS OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE BY RICHARD COHENWASHINGTON POSTIn essence, Obama needs to lead. He needs to show those qualities that made Ronald Reagan and FDR such formidable politicians. They both served in economically perilous times — Roosevelt much more so than Reagan — and had an internal and external consistency that Obama has lacked. ... Their critics called them many things, but never dour, and never oxymoronic.ANTHONY WEINER'S JUDGMENT EDITORIALWALL STREET JOURNALIn an age of aggressive computer hacking, he also put himself at risk of blackmail by criminals or adversaries. His week of fantastic lies proved how vulnerable he or any public figure is to selling out his integrity to save himself from humiliation. Anthony Weiner now joins a disturbing list of elected officials in our time who've lost any sense of self-discipline. If there are others out there wandering in the confused ethers that trapped Anthony Weiner, we have a request: Get out now. Spare the rest of us.