I try never to read The Wall Street Journal editorial page. Every now and then, I fall off the wagon, and I usually regret it. This morning I was tempted by the prospect of Ronald Dworkin's thoughts on health reform. One of the world's leading legal scholars and political philosophers, Dworkin has written brilliant books and articles about delicate constitutional and public policies in end-of-life care.

The first hundred days of any presidency rarely go off as planned, but, for now, Barack Obama seems to know what's at the top of his to-do list.