Editor’s note: Will Marshall is the president of the Progressive Policy Institute. The views expressed are his own.

Since he took office, Obama has displayed deep ambivalence about using U.S. power to advance the nation’s liberal ideals. Early on, he was at pains to distance himself from George W. Bush’s “Freedom Agenda,” which unwisely conflated U.S. support for democracy with military intervention. In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress the new administration’s foreign policy would revolve around diplomacy, defense, and development, pointedly omitting a fourth “D” – democracy.

Now Obama wants to test President Hassan Rouhani’s professed desire to negotiate an end to the nuclear confrontation, and hastens to reassure Iran that the United States is not interested in “regime change.” But what happens if talks collapse again, or simply buy time for Iran to enrich enough uranium to make nuclear bombs? Over the long-term, our best hope for better relations with Iran rest on internal political change that gives rise to a more representative and less outwardly aggressive government.

But such is the lot of a superpower. In any case, it makes little sense for Washington to ignore or downgrade the “values dimension” of American power. Like Europe a century ago, the broad Muslim crescent from Afghanistan to Morocco is convulsed by ethnic, religious and national feuds. It is hatching virulent ideological rivalries and most of its governments lack solid foundations of political legitimacy. (Hereditary monarchies seem the most stable).

Obama is right that the United States ought to be humble about our ability to shape events in the Middle East. But we should always throw America’s weight behind popular hopes for greater economic and political freedom. And for democracy too, because as a means of sharing power, enabling compromises and trade-offs, and managing social pluralism, it’s the only plausible alternative to the region’s zero-sum politics of guns, rockets and car-bombs.

The NBC News investigations unit is reporting that “50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a ‘cancellation’ letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law” — a fact administration officials knew but kept from the public.

The debate was widely covered in the press, so it’s unclear what exactly the NBC investigation unit has uncovered.

The goal of grandfather regulations is to allow a consumer to keep their existing policies, while also ensuring that there are some basic patient protections built into these plans. If insurers make changes that significantly burden enrollees with lower benefits and increased costs they have to come into compliance with all consumer protections. Therefore, policies lose their grandfathered status if insurers cancel coverage when a person becomes ill, impose lifetime limits on benefits, eliminate all benefits for a particular condition and reduce the cap for covered services each year, among other changes. (In fact, in November of 2010, the federal government loosened some of these standards.)

So yes, individuals can keep the plans they have if those plans remain largely the same. But individuals receiving cancellation notices will have a choice of enrolling in subsidized insurance in the exchanges and will probably end up paying less for more coverage. Those who don’t qualify for the tax credits will be paying more for comprehensive insurance that will be there for them when they become sick (and could actually end up spending less for health care since more services will now be covered). They will also no longer be part of a system in which the young and healthy are offered cheap insurance premiums because their sick neighbors are priced out or denied coverage. That, after all, is the whole point of reform.

Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Monday that she is "totally opposed" to surveilling allied leaders, amid reports that the National Security Agency has been monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other U.S. allies.

The revelations require a "total review of intelligence programs," Feinstein said in a statement.

“Unlike NSA’s collection of phone records under a court order, it is clear to me that certain surveillance activities have been in effect for more than a decade and that the Senate Intelligence Committee was not satisfactorily informed," she said. "Therefore our oversight needs to be strengthened and increased."

Feinstein added that it was "a big problem" that President Obama was not aware of the surveillance. The administration has assured Feinstein that the surveillance would not continue, she said.

“Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers. The president should be required to approve any collection of this sort."

Breaking News @BreakingNews

Federal judge blocks enforcement of Texas abortion law, says restrictions are unconstitutional - @becca_aa, @jgrovum

AUSTIN, Texas -- AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — New abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature are unconstitutional and will not take effect as scheduled on Tuesday, a federal judge has ruled.

District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote Monday that the regulations violated the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman's access to abortion clinics.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers brought the lawsuit, arguing that a requirement that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic would force the closure of a third of the clinics in Texas. They also complained that requiring doctors to follow the Food and Drug Administration's original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny women the benefit of recent advances in medical science.

The Texas attorney general's office argued that the law protects women and the life of the fetus. Attorney General Greg Abbott was expected to file an emergency appeal of Yeakel's order to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

Beshear, who was repeatedly pressed by moderator David Gregory to discuss the national exchange instead of Kentucky’s, said the president’s law will work.

“People are going to sign up for this,” Beshear said. “It’ll take us a while to get it in process, but I’ll guarantee you we’re going to make it work because it’s good for the American people and it’s good for Kentucky.”

To the law’s critics, Beshear advised they “take a deep breath.”

“Look, this is going to take some time to get done, but everybody needs to chill out because it is going to work,” the governor said.

Agence France-Presse @AFP
#BREAKING: 14 Iran guards killed in clashes on Pakistan border

PakistanKaKhudaHafiz @PKKHTweet
Just in: Clashes has been reported from Pak-Iran border. 14 Iranian guards said to be killed in retaliation by Pak forces. #Pakistan #Iran