Dan Diamond

This is a conservative hobby horse, the idea that if you give people more control over their health spending, there will be less health spending and more accountability.

But we know from in the past, these are not sufficient replacements for health insurance.

You don't have to take the word of a Washington Post reporter.

We talked to Doug Holtz-Akin, who is an economist who advised John McCain's campaign.

He says giving people money just doesn't work the same way that health insurance would.

I'm Dan Diamond, a White House reporter at The Washington Post.

I'm usually covering the people and the policy and not the upholstery.

But I think part of the beat is the actual building.

And that was the story this past week.

Now that East Wing, with all the history it contained, is gone.

The East Wing was the entrance for lots of visitors who made their way to the White House.

If you went to a Christmas party at the White House the past number of years, you probably went in through the East Wing.

If you were visiting the First Lady's office, that was located in the East Wing.

There was a movie theater that the president would sometimes screen special films in.

So it was not as glamorous as the West Wing, but it was an important part of the White House, and it had been part of the White House for decades.

So the fact that it is now rubble is a very big change.

That's right.

And sometimes to the detriment of staff who ended up in the East Wing, I was talking to Tevi Troy, a historian about this over the weekend, who made the point that I think it was during the Kennedy administration, there was a fight between some Kennedy staffers, and they were mocking the East Wing folks as they were only in the East Wing.

That was the more feminine side of the White House with Jackie Kennedy.

So it was a little bit of machismo and not as prestigious as being in the West Wing.