Patient Protection Needs Focus in Obama's Second Term

Inaugural pomp, tickets for seats with an enviable view of the Capitol balustrade, and the need for a vacation formed a confluence that got me to fly back to my geographical roots this week.

Lucky for me, a college friend's mother owns an apartment high above the parade route, directly across from the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.

We had a good 90-second view of the motorcade, and our parapet provided a long-lens close-up of the spot where, four years earlier, the President and First Lady stepped out of the presidential limousine and walked alongside cheering throngs.

Four years later, we've got to ask ourselves: Can we stop the sniping? Can we get things done? Can we trash the sour grapes?

Already there is catty silliness, so typical of Washington: Did the First Lady really roll her eyes at whatever House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) was saying during the inauguration lunch?

And in his inaugural remarks about Medicare and Social Security, did President Obama really pull a "switcheroo" and "shadowbox a straw man in order to win an argument by default” as former vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has charged?"