2009 Elections

Lessons for Democrats and Republicans From 2009 Elections
Tom Davis

The 2009 off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York's 23d Congressional District offer a small snapshot of the current views and motivations of the American electorate. While there may be a desire to extrapolate the events of Nov. 3, 2009 into a prediction of what will happen on Nov. 2, 2010, that is impossible.

Lesson Republicans Must Learn from Virginia and New Jersey: Finding the right issues
Mary Kate Cary

Election results in Virginia and New Jersey sent a clear message: to win elections these days, you have to win the independent vote and finding the right issues to appeal to an increasingly conservative country

2009 Elections: Referendum on Obama?
Jules Witcover

The great political debate in the wake of two gubernatorial elections and a special House election in upstate New York was whether or not they were a referendum on President Obama. The clear and definitive answer is: yes and no

2009 Elections: The Referendum on Obama That Wasn't
Bill Press

The entire panoply of political pundits, huddled with breathless anchors, providing the same wall-to-wall coverage you expect every four years for a presidential election. On the first anniversary of his winning the presidency, they struggled to offer in-depth analysis of what they all referred to as the national referendum on President Obama

2009 Elections: The End of an Era That Never Began
Jonah Goldberg

Obamaism is on the ropes. Congress is racing to pass health care reform because Nancy Pelosi and Co. know it is losing popularity, and they fear -- rightly -- that moderate Democrats will jump ship after reading the tea leaves of the Virginia and New Jersey blowouts. They also now know, thanks to Corzine's defeat, that Obama's personal popularity is not transferable

Exclusive Interview: President Obama on how he makes tough calls on Afghanistan, Healthcare, Economy, ...
Kenneth T. Walsh

President Obama sat down with Chief White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh to discuss one of the most important and fascinating aspects of his presidency--how he makes decisions in a crisis. He was, as usual, methodical, cerebral, and dispassionate. Excerpts

Barack Obama's Challenges and Why Leadership Really Matters
Brian Kelly

The President is just completing his first year in office, and Barack Obama's presidency is verging on crisis mode. Not a full-blown crisis, to be sure, but an array of bedeviling issues on so many fronts that he might soon set some kind of historical record for facing the most bad-choice / worse-choice decisions

Still No-Drama Obama: Despite Number of Crises President Obama is unflappable
Kenneth T. Walsh

Face to face, President Obama seems even more unflappable, cerebral, and dispassionate than he appears on television. While many Americans admire these traits, they are not an unmitigated asset. Some Obama critics say he is too reserved, and they wish he would show more emotion and fire. A prominent Democratic strategist says this bloodless quality particularly bothers liberal activists.

How Obama handles everything from healthcare to the war in Afghanistan could define his presidency
Kenneth T. Walsh

Since his election, Obama has been forced by circumstances to deal with one calamity after another. He is the rare president whose fate was to be plunged immediately into a vast maelstrom of bad news, and for week after seemingly endless week, he never got a breather. There was the financial meltdown that almost paralyzed the economy

Obama Slower Than Bush to Confirm Justices
Alex Kingsbury

More than 10 months into President Obama's term in office, he and the Democratic-controlled Senate have been notably slow to confirm judges to the nation's courts, particularly when compared with recent administrations. To date, the president has made some 26 lower court nominations, yet only four have been confirmed by the Senate.

Obama's Partisan Balancing Act on Afghanistan
Kenneth T. Walsh

A time bomb for centrists, and the whole country, is the war in Afghanistan. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and other critics argue that President Obama should have immediately approved the request of his senior military commander, General Stanley McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops.

Obama's Honeymoon is Over: Many Questioning him on the Economy and Afghanistan
Kenneth T. Walsh

In his first few weeks, the new president took aggressive action. Initially, 70 percent of Americans approved of the job he was doing, and his favorability ratings, which measure how much Americans like him, were even higher. As usual with modern presidents, however, the honeymoon did not last. A year later, much of Obama's initial luster has faded. His job approval ratings now hover at just over 50 percent, polarization in Washington is as bad as ever, and much of his agenda has stalled on Capitol Hill

Bush's Bad Speeches and Karl Rove's Disappointing Genius: Matt Latimer discusses Speech-less
Robert Schlesinger

The growing frequency of presidential speeches has necessitated staffs of White House writers to help presidents craft their messages. For Matt Latimer, writing speeches for President George W. Bush during the last two years of his administration was an exercise in disillusionment, as he recounts in his book Speech-less: Tales of a White House Survivor

Fox - White House Media War is Killing News
Anthony Rudel

When members of the Obama administration announced that they did not consider Fox a real news network, they were actually bringing attention to what has become the sad reality of real news gathering in this country: It's disappearing faster than contestants on Survivor

The War Obama Can't Win
Bill Press

No matter how many more troops he sends into battle, President Obama must understand that this is one war he can't win. No, I'm not talking about the war between American troops and the Taliban. I'm talking about the war between the White House and Fox News.

Obama Hopes to Paint Fox News Coverage as Biased. It's a Risky Strategy
Peter Roff

The news side of Fox, very likely having been tougher on Obama than its broadcast and cable competitors, has made itself a target for White House scorn. By arguing that Fox has an agenda, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seems to believe he will, for a time at least, create a shield to deflect questions other news organizations might raise about things Fox reports. He is following in the footsteps of Nixon Press Secretary Ron Ziegler which is a risky strategy

Sarah Palin Book: Feminists Jealous of Sarah's Rise
Paul Bedard

Talk about timing. With former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin readying the release of her own 432-page campaign tell-all, Going Rogue: An American Life, now would be the perfect time to pop out another Palin book, and that's exactly what Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti has done with The Persecution of Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah: Keep Up the Great Writing
Carl Hiaasen

Thank you for turning in the manuscript so quickly. I thought only Stephen King could crank out 400 pages in four months! Seriously, there's some terrific material here, and all of us are thrilled to be publishing your life story. Before we move ahead, the fact-checking department has asked me to pass along a few notes and comments that may require some revisions on your part.

Nobel Peace Prize: Mixed Signals, Or 'Blessed Are The Cheesemakers'
Paul Kennedy

On hearing the surprising news of President Obama's award of the Nobel Peace Prize, I could only wonder at the Norwegian award committee's own very long track record of sending out mixed messages about its intentions and reasoning. There was always a great irony in the original founding of the Peace Prize, since Alfred Nobel made his fortune through the invention and production of dynamite.

Dick Cheney's Blurred Memory
Jules Witcover

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and a cooperative judge, the 28-page summary of the FBI's 2004 interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney on the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson has finally come to light. It shows him to have done the political imitation of a rope-a-doping Mohammed Ali

Viewing the Cost of War
Jules Witcover

President Obama's middle-of-the-night visit to Dover Air Force Base to view the return of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan was a dignified recognition of their sacrifice. But it also was a reminder to him of the human stakes in his long deliberations on the course to take in the war triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks of eight years ago.

True Conservatives Just Want a Turn
Jonah Goldberg

If there's one thing liberal pundits are experts on these days it's the sorry state of conservatism. The airwaves and op-ed pages brim with more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger lamentations on the GOP's failure to get with President Obama's program, the party's inevitable demographic demise and its thralldom to the demonic deities of the right -- Limbaugh, Beck, Palin.

Can Civility in Politics Be Lost If It Was Never Found
Jonah Goldberg

Apparently, like Cupid with his arrow or a pixie with fairy dust, some magical sprite used to enchant America's political combatants, ensuring that all public discourse was full of beg-your-pardons and please-and-thank-yous. But we have offended our little leprechaun. He's taken his Lucky Charms and gone home, leaving Americans angry, cranky and rude.

The Best Politicians Money Can Buy
Carl Hiaasen

What's wrong with our American political system is that politicians can cuddle up to any big-talking hustler with a fat checkbook, and then scuttle for cover when he gets busted.

The Hate America Party
Bill Press

Today, the Republican agenda is clear. If it's good for America, they're against it. If it's bad for America, they're for it. You think I'm kidding? Just check out their recent record.

Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing
Arianna Huffington

Plouffe's book arrives at a crossroads moment for the administration -- exactly one year after the election, and one year before the 2010 midterms. A lot has happened in that year, as the audacity of winning has given way to the timidity of governing.

Barack Obama Is Doing My Job; Why America Needs Him to Do His
Arianna Huffington

When it comes to dealing with Wall Street, President Obama seems to have traded in his position as our economy's commander in chief for a different role: pundit in chief. He and his top advisers are suddenly very big on urging, advocating, recommending, strongly suggesting and cajoling.

Why Joe Biden Should Resign
Arianna Huffington

Obama may be no drama, but Biden loves drama. And what could be more dramatic than resigning the vice presidency on principle? And what principle could be more honorable than refusing to go along with a policy of unnecessarily risking American blood and treasure -- and America's national security?

President Obama

Speeches Not Enough for Obama to Succeed
Robert Schlesinger

President Obama has a great fastball, but he needs other pitches. Presidents are like pitchers. Success requires doing several things well; they cannot rely on one political skill. Their effectiveness is ultimately a function of their ability to exercise all elements of presidential power. Which brings us to Barack Obama. Obama has ridden a single pitch -- speechmaking -- to the pinnacle of politics. He spoke his way to the White House and has hardly quieted since.

Partisan Superfans are Driving Average Americans From Politics
Marc Dunkelman

The widest chasm in American politics is not between Democrats and Republicans or even progressives or conservatives. The nation may be most split between those who are intensely engaged in the national debate and those who are not.

Democratic majorities in Congress are hindering rather than helping President Obama
Mary Kate Cary

Why Obama Needs a Big Republican Victory in 2010. A number of political analysts are predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in the 2010 House races. This is great news for Republicans, but it's also good for Obama.

Senior citizens are more opposed to Obama's healthcare plans than any other age group
Kenneth T. Walsh

One of President Obama's biggest challenges this fall will be persuading seniors to accept his healthcare proposals. Many elderly voters are deeply worried about 'Obama-care' because they fear that his plans will reduce their coverage and increase their costs. Seniors, in fact, are more opposed to Obama's healthcare ideas than any other age group.

Obama's Never Ending Healthcare Campaign
Kenneth T. Walsh

On issue after issue, every imaginable political organization, constituency group, and self-styled movement seems to feel it necessary not only to state its case but to wage an election-style campaign to advance its interests. The goal is to mobilize public opinion and take on the opposition, often by using hype, distortion, negativity, and name calling.

Media Coverage of Obama Grows More Negative
Nikki Schwab

Obama's positive press coverage has slipped from 59 percent to 43 percent. What happened to the media's crush on President Obama? In the second 100 days of his administration, the majority of press coverage was bad, with the president's policy proposals receiving more criticism than praise from reporters.

Afterthoughts from Obama U.N. Address
Jonah Goldberg

The United Nations is an odd venue to say such things. The Security Council is premised on nothing if not a balance of power, and the U.N.'s roots go nowhere if not deep into the chilled soil of the Cold War. It is odder still for the president of the United States of America to say such things

President Obama creates tension in a supposed search for civility
Mary Kate Cary

It's hard to imagine the president working behind the scenes for two years with leaders of the other party. I wonder what guys like Rostenkowski and Reagan would say about things these days. Take President Obama's recent address to Congress on healthcare reform ...

Nastiness Dominates Washington & the Anti-Obama Movement
Kenneth T. Walsh

Civility in public life seems to be fading fast. Take, for example, the insult hurled at President Obama during his address to Congress on healthcare. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted, "You lie!" after Obama said his plan would not provide coverage for illegal immigrants. Wilson quickly apologized, but the House reprimanded him after Democrats argued that Wilson didn't show proper respect for the president

Politics: Incivility in Congress
Jules Witcover

There's a longstanding tradition on the floors of the House and Senate requiring members to address each other not only with courtesy but with extreme deference. That's why you will hear one address another as 'the distinguished gentleman' or 'gentlewoman.' The old rules of propriety came to mind the other night when a Republican House member, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, took it upon himself to call out, 'You lie!'

Obama's Pragmatism Will Strengthen Foreign Relations and National Security
Senator Evan Bayh

For the first time in almost a decade, we have an American president who approaches the security threats facing our country from a standpoint of pragmatism, not ideology. Barack Obama's young presidency has blended realism with fidelity to American ideals in a way that has not only kept us safe but represents a fundamentally better approach than the discredited unilateralism of the recent past.

Obama's Poor Choices Could Threaten Our National Security
Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon

The paramount duty of the president is to keep Americans safe. As President Obama continues his first year in office, surely he understands this awesome responsibility. The question facing Obama -- one that will be highlighted in the coming weeks -- is whether he will make the right policy choices across an array of thorny national security issues.

Campaign Finance Laws Under Siege
Robert Schlesinger

Remember campaign finance reform? A long time ago (way back in 2002), in a political world far, far away, Democrats and insurgent Republicans defied congressional rulers to pass the so-called McCain-Feingold law. It was signed, reluctantly, by a holding-his-nose President Bush. And then, the following year, the Supreme Court substantially upheld it in McConnell v. FEC. Quietly, but with gathering force, opponents of campaign finance laws have laid siege to the election funding system that has been constructed to combat the corrupting influence that money can have in politics.

Welcome to the United States of Plutocracy
William Pfaff

The United States has for practical purposes been a plutocracy for some years now. American national elections usually function more or less correctly, except that they have become all but completely dominated by money.

All U.S. Presidents Need a War to Call Their Own & Obama Has His
William Pfaff

The more one hears the discussion among Democrats about the war in Afghanistan, the more one feels that it is a serious handicap that Barack Obama has no personal experience of international relations or of foreign policy or military service, beyond such experience as one gains as a first-term U.S. senator.

Rep. Charles Rangel -- Sign of the Times
Victor Davis Hanson

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, is becoming a metaphor for almost all the sins of our age. Let us count the ways.

No Rules in the Arena (of Politics)
Victor Davis Hanson

Over the last three decades, we saw vicious attacks on Ronald Reagan and on Bill Clinton, and their tough replies in turn. But recently the vicious rhetoric has escalated far beyond anything in the past. The smears seem reminiscent more of the brawling on the eve of the Civil War, or the nastiness during the 1960s that took decades to heal.

Politics: Joe Biden Peripatetic Veep
Jules Witcover

At the outset, Vice President Joe Biden stipulated that he wanted to be a sort of minister without portfolio -- that is, without a specific agency or other narrow bureaucratic responsibility. Instead he wanted to be Obama's adviser-in-chief across the broad range of his presidential responsibilities

Pragmatic Look at Obama's Pragmatism
Jonah Goldberg

Obama came into office swearing he was a pragmatist who would support any approach that worked. That spirit has been woefully lacking in Obama's presidency so far. During the campaign, Obama's top domestic priorities were reform of health care, education and energy. When an economic crisis that is -- according to Obama, at least -- second only to the Depression exploded in front of him, Obama the alleged pragmatist concluded that his year-old agenda was the perfect solution.

Trouble in Liberal Land
Cal Thomas

As the first elections since President Obama's presidential victory approach, liberals are getting nervous that all this exposure is leaving them naked before an increasingly skeptical and angry public. The latest Rasmussen poll shows President Obama's approval rating has dropped to 46 percent, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, 'demonstrates a substantial drop in presidential approval relative to other elected presidents in the 20th and 21st centuries.'

The Reason for Our Discontent
Cal Thomas

The arrogance of power and disdain for average Americans is what fueled much of the dissent expressed in town hall meetings. Growing numbers of people see a small cadre of government, academic and media elites caring nothing about them, except when it comes to their tax dollars. Many, especially those who are conservative and even worse, religious, are viewed by these elites as enemies of progress and sophistication.

Glenn Beck Explained
Cal Thomas

Radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck was mentioned three times in separate opinion columns on the same day and in an article the next day in The New York Times, possibly a record for someone who does not hold elective office. He's everywhere. Beck is also the Left's latest explanation for what is wrong with America.

Glenn Beck: Joe McCarthy Lives!
Bill Press

There was a time, not so long ago, when calling the president of the United States a "racist" on national television would get an anchor fired. But that was before Fox News. At Fox, archenemy of President Obama, Glenn Beck was not only not fired he was treated like a folk hero -- even though some 60 major corporate sponsors stopped advertising on his program in protest.

Thank You, Glenn Beck!
Arianna Huffington

Thank you, Glenn Beck. By helping force the resignation of Van Jones, you have done a great service to your country. But in the exact opposite way than what you intended. Your vile and vicious smear campaign has helped reverse one of the worst examples of miscasting since John Wayne took on the role of Genghis Khan in 'The Conqueror.'

On Race: Carter v. Obama
Bill Press

The White House is never happy when a former president upstages the current president -- which explains why the Obama White House is not happy with Jimmy Carter. With one casual remark, Carter managed to steal all the headlines and turn today's battles over health care, energy reform, or economic recovery into a raging debate on race

In Defense of ACORN
Bill Press

It is a dangerous organization, indeed. Just look at what ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- has been up to since its founding in 1970. Today the largest community organizing operation in the nation, ACORN has long been fighting for free school lunches, better housing, safer streets, urban parks, childcare centers, health-care clinics, jobs, and higher wages. It also conducts voter registration drives and has led several successful efforts against predatory lending practices by banks

Obama Faces a Chilly Fall
Clarence Page

Watching President Obama's poll numbers slide in recent weeks takes me back to the worst moments of the presidential campaign. I'm not thinking of Obama's presidential campaign. I'm thinking five years ago to Sen. John Kerry's losing campaign. And I am wondering, as I did with Kerry, why didn't Obama see it coming

Obama - There's More Than Miles That Separate Us
Leonard Pitts Jr.

Last year, Barack Obama was elected president. If this was regarded as a new beginning by most Americans, it was regarded apocalyptically by others who promptly proceeded to lose both their minds and any pretense of enlightenment. These are the people who immediately declared it their fervent hope that the new presidency fail, the ones who cheered when the governor of Texas raised the specter of secession

Luster is Off Obama's 'High Moral Ground'
by Leonard Pitts Jr.

Back in April, the U.S. government snatched Raymond Azar out of Afghanistan. His waist, wrists and ankles were shackled, he was stripped naked and photographed, made to wear headphones, blindfolded, hooded and stuffed into an executive jet and flown to the United States.

You Can't Blame Obama for American Stubbornnes
William Pfaff

There was a telling caption to a recent French commentary on the American political situation. It read: 'Obama, the man who thinks he's president.

The Latest Tale From the 'War on Terror' Dark Side
William Pfaff

Little mainstream comment seems to have appeared on the latest revelations of incompetence and sadistic fantasy that have been published this week about the ways in which the American nation lost its honor and international reputation because of the Bush administration's infatuation with torture.

Our Road to Oceania
Victor Davis Hanson

In Orwell's Oceania, there is a compliant media that offers 'Newspeak' -- recycled government bulletins from the Ministry of Truth. 'Doublethink' means you can believe at the same time in two opposite beliefs. America is not Oceania, but some of this is beginning to sound a little too familiar. We see Barack Obama's smile broadcast 24/7, in a fashion we have not seen previously of earlier presidents.

Obamamania: Going Ga-Ga Over - Well, Let's See...
Ross Mackenzie

What's Obamamania? Domestically, it's a heart beating hotly for throttling American industry in the name of a cleaner environment. In matters foreign, it consists in going ga-ga over - well, let's see....

Republicans vs. Science
Robyn Blumner

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without scientists? Ask the Republican Party. It lives in such a world. Republicans have been so successful in driving out of their party anyone who endeavors in scientific inquiry that pretty soon there won't be anyone left who can distinguish a periodic table from a kitchen table.

Guns That Talk
Robert C. Koehler

It's like truth or dare. And it's legal. Get your permit or whatever and you, too, can bring an assault rifle to the next presidential speech you attend. There's nothing the police can do -- amazing! If only the Democrats, back when George Bush was president, had known there was a safe, legal way to protest presidential policy and register discontent with the direction the country was headed.

Senator Ted Kennedy Another Name to Remember
Paul Greenberg

Now let the trumpets blare and the obsequies begin, as full of bombast as some of Ted Kennedy's own orations. Let us begin in the spirit of nil nisi bonum: Speak nothing but good of the dead. Let us recall Senator Kennedy's work

Losing Touch: the President and the People
Paul Greenberg

It's nothing new for president and people to drift apart. Any more than there's anything remarkable about the ebb and flow of fickle American public opinion in general. It can swing from left to right and back again with the regularity of a metronome. What impresses about this latest shift, which is easier to feel than to measure in the polls, is the speed with which it is occurring. President Obama hasn't been in office a year yet he seems to grow ever more distant.

Obama Another Promise Broken -- in Record Time
Paul Greenberg

Remember those days of yore, namely the presidential campaign of 2008, when Democrats regularly accused the Bush administration of politicizing the Justice Department?

How Ethics Disappear in Politics
by Paul Greenberg

Gosh, what a surprise: A committee of their fellow senators has decided that Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad did nothing unethical when they took out loans from Countrywide Financial on the kind of favorable terms not available to us mere mortals without their financial or political standing -- or a personal connection to the head of Countrywide.

Cheney Out in the Open
by Jules Witcover

There was a time when an American vice president was seldom heard from when in office, and never heard from again after leaving it. No longer, with Dick Cheney taking on the role of avenger against the critics of the previous eight years.

A Tell-All Cheney Memoir
by Jules Witcover

Word that Dick Cheney, closed-mouthed as the Sphinx during their eight-year run of power, is preparing to spill out his deepest dissatisfactions in his own memoir should guarantee him a major best-seller.

Could Health Care Be 'Obama's Iraq'
by Clarence Page

Obama's proposed health care overhaul is taking a beating in the polls. Town hall meetings have been disrupted by angry voices, only some of whom were paid to be there. As Obama fights to get back in front of a signature issue of his presidency, he should find no comfort in how much his troubles remind one former White House aide of George W. Bush's biggest overseas headache: Iraq

Politicians - Hate the Job, But, Oh, Those Fringe Bennies
by Carl Hiaasen

We hear the question all the time: Why would anyone in their right mind go into politics? Campaigns are brutal, and once you're elected your work hours are long and the pay is lousy. But let's consider some of the fringe benefits, which are on display last week in two criminal cases at opposite ends of Florida. Rep. Ray Sansom ran up $173,000 on an American Express card issued to him by the state Republican Party. Meanwhile, suspended Monroe County School Superintendent Randy Acevedo was being prosecuted in another case of dubiously extravagant fringe benefits.

Obama Shines in Character Department: Despite falling job approval numbers
by Kenneth T. Walsh

Despite setbacks on the political front, President Obama is succeeding where many other politicians have failed -- in the character department. He has become a role model for the kind of traditional values that Americans have long celebrated. For years, the Democrats have been criticized by conservatives for lacking "family values." But today, it is Obama, a Democrat, who has emerged as the paragon of personal virtue, and even Republicans see it as a source of political strength.

Obama Not Overexposed, but Flaws in His Healthcare Reform Have Been
by Clark S. Judge

From network reporters to online commentators, the story of the day about White House communications is that President Obama getting overexposed. That's why, media critics say, the President's approval numbers have dropped so low and his healthcare package isn't selling. But they are wrong. Something very different is happening, and it has to do not with style but with substance.

Frustrated Baby Boomers Alienated from the Political Debate
by Mary Kate Cary

There's a big disconnect in politics right now. The older baby boomers, the ones in their 50s and 60s, are increasingly left out of the political discourse. That crowd is part of the biggest demographic segment of our population -- more than a quarter of our citizens. They're dismayed that their local newspaper -- if it still exists -- places more emphasis on obituaries and local real estate news. Any national news is buried somewhere far from the front page. They feel like they can't get issue-oriented policy news anymore and are ...

Senator Kennedy
(c) Paul Tong

Senator Kennedy's Legacy of Legislative Success
Amanda Ruggeri

Senator Ted Kennedy left behind a career as one of the most effective leaders in Congress. During his 46 years as a senator, the third longest of any senator in history, he helped craft legislation that profoundly reformed everything from the country's racial makeup to the federal government's role in education. That's not to say that he should be given all the credit, as much of his legislation was undertaken with Republicans in power. Some of his most important legislative accomplishments ...

Conservatives Try to Catch Up in Online Activism
Nikki Schwab

Recent dueling political gatherings drew activists and bloggers here and offered a glimpse into how conservatives and liberals planned to use the web next to promote their policies and politics.

Finding a Better Way to Prosecute Terrorists
by Queenie Wong

At the center of the controversy surrounding the closing of the Guant�namo Bay detention center is what to do with the suspected terrorists once the prison camp shuts in January. Trying detainees before military commissions or in federal courts isn't the solution, argues Capt. Glenn Sulmasy ...

Obama Caught Up in the Washington Blame Game
Kenneth T. Walsh

No matter how much politicians say they want to get along, a dominant feature of the political landscape in Washington is still the blame game. And it will intensify next month when congressional Democrats and Republicans return from their summer break to do battle on healthcare, the economy, climate change, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vocal Protests
(c) William Brown

Democrats' Fear Is Showing on Health Care
Jonah Goldberg

The Democratic Party is panicking, lashing out like a cornered animal, all because its effort to take over the health care industry is coming apart like so much wet toilet paper.

Nancy Pelosi, who will get her own bound volume in the annals of asininity, has outdone herself.

 

The Tea Baggers Are Back -- Crazy as Ever
by Bill Press

In health care reform forums held across the nation organizers bus in professional protestors and arm them with instructions on how to take over meetings, shut down discussion, shout over any pro-health care reform speakers, and then post video of the resulting chaos on YouTube. It's mob rule, pure and simple

On Birth, and the Death of the Conservative Movement
by Leonard Pitts Jr

The 'birthers' movement -- people who claim Obama cannot be president because he isn't a citizen -- has proved hardier than cockroaches in its ability to survive the passage of time and repeated collisions with reality. It is, if anything, more visible now than at any time in the year or so since first it surfaced. It even includes a handful of GOP lawmakers.

Dick Cheney Needs to Fade Away
Robyn Blumner

Dick Cheney was the ultimate puppet master. The former vice president had a direct hand in the administration's most unconscionable decisions. But as large as Cheney once loomed, that is how small he has since shrunken. Like an old man left to toot his own horn to a dwindling group of listeners, Cheney is trying to defend his legacy, even as evidence mounts that he led this country in tragic directions without enhancing our safety.

Orders Are Easy to Give, Just Hard to Carry Out
Paul Greenberg

On his first day in the Oval Office last January, our still new president issued an executive order closing down the military prison at Guantanamo, where hundreds of the enemy in this never-ending war on terror are being held. With a stroke of his pen, Barack Obama had wiped out years -- indeed, centuries -- of military law that had once provided the country with a way of dealing with enemy combatants through the well-established precedents of military law

What's the Matter With Fort Leavenworth
by Mary Sanchez

Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both Republicans, went berserk when it was leaked that the Obama administration was eyeing Kansas, home of the U.S. military's only maximum-security prison, as a likely site for transferring the Gitmo detainees. Envisioned is a courtroom in a prison set-up where the remaining detainees can be held and put on trial, finally lifting the human rights stain the abuses at Guantanamo Bay brought upon the United States.

President Obama's Healthcare Reform Sales Pitch
Paul Greenberg

President Obama's press conference to sell his health-care plan brought to mind nothing so much as the last time a car salesman urged me to sign on the dotted line right now, before I left the lot, because this was a great deal, time was of the essence, and wouldn't I like to add a few more expensive accessories on easy credit.

The Clintons Again
Jules Witcover

Well, after all the domestic criticisms of Bill and Hillary Clinton, it seems the old bargain of the 1990s -- two for the price of one -- is back, this time on the international stage. gainst last year, is like the return of an old vaudeville act, playing the Palace with renewed luster. This time, however, it's without all the negativity that has often cast the Clintons as a pair of blindly ambitious self-seekers muddling through personal scandal and miscalculations.

Careless Talk in High Places
Jules Witcover

Joe Biden, move over and make room for Barack Obama in the doghouse of the quick and errant jibe. Obama was the one most hurt by his hasty, harshly judgmental comment without knowing all the facts, that the Cambridge, Mass., Police Department 'acted stupidly' in the arrest of Harvard Prof. Henry Lewis Gates Jr. The famous Obama 'cool' was AWOL on that one. The public reaction was so immediately negative that the president was obliged to back off, though short of an apology

Obama's Brew-ha-ha
by Clarence Page

President Obama's got his hands full with health care, two wars and the economy. But he put all that aside to have a beer in the Rose Garden with a friend and the cop who arrested the friend in the friend's own home. Out of earshot, journalists focused on Job One: what to call this historic media event.

 

If Biden wants to diminish the office,
so be it (c) Jack Ohman

Joe Biden Restoring the Vice Presidency
Jules Witcover

Six months ago, embarking on the vice presidency, Joe Biden listed among his top priorities 'restoring' the office to its proper constitutional role in the wake of the eight-year tenure of predecessor Dick Cheney. It's early to attempt a reliable assessment of his achievement of that goal. But at the half-year mark, Biden has from all appearances made a good start

 

(c) Walt Handelsman

Still a Good Question: Why Biden
by Jonah Goldberg

Obama said he picked Biden for his unparalleled foreign policy experience and, 'above all,' because Biden was 'ready to step in and be president.' Six months later, it's doubtful anyone is any more keen on the prospect of Biden becoming president. Still, Biden does have a strange new respect from many on the right as the administration's unwitting 'truth-teller.'

The God Who Bleeds
Jonah Goldberg

All presidents go through rough patches, and Obama's no exception. On almost every domestic issue, polls show that support for Obama and his agenda is plummeting, and that the Democratic Party's advantages over Republicans on the economy, taxes, the deficit and health care have been erased or severely reduced.

Obama Haters' Disorder - The Birthers
Clarence Page

As congressional lawmakers return to their home districts for August recess, they could find a creature from Washington's silly season waiting for them: the 'birthers.' That's the nickname given to the odd activists who refuse to believe that President Barack Obama qualifies as a 'natural-born citizen.'

Born in a Manger in Honolulu - The Birthers
Bill Press

Yes, they actually call themselves that: 'Birthers.' That name alone proves they're crazy. According to the Birthers, Barack Obama is not the legitimate president of the United States because there's no proof that he was born in the United States. Of course, neither was John McCain, but why compound one conspiracy with another

Charlie Crist: And the Bucks Keep Flowing In
Carl Hiaasen

Unlike Sarah Palin, Charlie Crist has chosen not to quit his governorship early. Florida's own one-term wonder is using his remaining time to ingratiate himself with as many deep-pocket interest groups as possible.

Obama's Great Race to Change America
(c) Matt Wuerker

Obama's Great Race to Change America
by Victor Davis Hanson

Why does President Obama want to implement all at once radical changes in American foreign policy, environmental policy, education, health care and the tax code? The answer is easy: If he does not achieve these initiatives soon, he never will. Almost none of Obama's proposed policies any longer enjoy majority support among voters

Big Government Medicine
(c) Dick Locher

Big Government Medicine
by Victor Davis Hanson

Big new taxes. Big new spending. Big new government. This seems to be the proposed cure for the Wall Street-inspired recession. The government now runs major banks and companies, and plans to take control of the American health-care system. And it aims to tax how energy in the United States is used to monitor carbon use. But wait ...

The Growing Divide in American Politics
(c) Mark Weber

Polarization is the New Political Bipartisanship
by Mary Kate Cary

Gone are the days of Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan's famous friendship; George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton's joint humanitarian efforts seem like a relic from a different era.

 

Democratic 'Blue Dogs' Flex Their Muscle
by Anna Mulrine

After another day wrangling over healthcare reform, it was no small amount of frustration that inspired Rep. Henry Waxman to stand in front of a press gathering and not-so-subtly accuse the 'blue dog' Democrats of being party turncoats

Senator Jim DeMint Explains His Fight Against Obama and Socialism
by Andrew Burt

South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint has emerged as one of President Obama's most visible critics, comparing the United States to 'where Germany was before World War II' and saying that healthcare reform could be the president's 'Waterloo' and could 'break him.' Senator DeMint shares his perspective in this recent interview with Andrew Burt

GOP Gaining Traction Against Obama
by Kenneth T. Walsh

it looks as if the GOP has gotten its act together, at least in terms of public relations, playing upon public doubts about Obama's policies. Its new strategy seems to be based not on a compelling alternative to Obama's agenda but on the fact that many Americans are increasingly nervous about Obama's big-spending, activist-government policies.

Obama's Comments on Gates Arrest Stir Controversy
by Kenneth T. Walsh

President Obama has stepped into the minefield of racial politics, spawning a furor and inadvertently raising fresh doubts that America is anywhere close to being a post-racial society.

Why Jimmy Carter's Malaise Speech Should Have Changed America
by Robert Schlesinger

In the summer of 1979, America faced an energy crisis punctuated by long gas lines and frayed national nerves. President Jimmy Carter was scheduled to address the nation about its problems on July 5, 1979. But he canceled the speech on the day before and sequestered himself at Camp David for 10 mysterious days, communing with Americans from different walks of life in a 'domestic summit' that culminated in his famous 'malaise' speech

Presidents Aren't What They Used to Be
by Victor Davis Hanson

From 1933 to 1960, America had nearly three decades of fairly successful presidencies -- through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the threat of nuclear Armageddon. Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower were all re-elected. While contemporaries were critical of all three, they proved successful, stable executives.

Michael Steele & The Republican Blame Game
by Jules Witcover

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele has finally found the answer to the world of foes that has descended on his party ever since its loss of the White House last November.

Dick Morris Discusses Obama Catastrophe
by Robert Schlesinger

Fox News opinionator Dick Morris and his wife, Eileen McGann, are infuriated by Barack Obama. And they've turned that ire into a new book, Catastrophe, detailing their grievances.

Joe Biden Workhorse Vice-President
by Jules Witcover

While President Obama was abroad last week dealing with his self-assigned mission to restore respect for America in the international community, Vice President Joe Biden was occupied on the home front cheerleading for the administration's domestic agenda.

The Sonia Sotomayor Show on Capitol Hill
by Paul Greenberg

Call it The Sonia Sotomayor Show, or maybe An Invitation to a Confirmation. The pageant opened before the Senate Judiciary Committee with all rites observed in full. The nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court conducted herself with dignity and spoke of her devotion to impartial justice. And the politicians were, in a word, political. Especially when they were self-absorbed, self-promoting and self-serving.

 

 

Young Republicans & the Death of Prosperity
by Chris Thomas

Normally, the election of the president of the Young Republicans is not a matter of great consequence. But it is worth focusing on here not for what it is in and of itself, but for its larger implications on the nation's future. The mainstream media has covered ad nauseaum the decline of the Republican party over the last few months. While some of the coverage has gone too far, the reality is that GOP Decline is the story that keeps on giving. Had the supposed conservative party just lost the election last fall, we would have moved on to something more politically interesting at this point.

Obama's Secret Dinner With Presidential Historians
by Kenneth T. Walsh

The dinner President Obama recently hosted at the White House for nine of America's most distinguished presidential historians and scholars provided rare insight into Obama's intellectual curiosity, how he views his job, and, most important, his belief that he has a remarkable opportunity to bring transformational change to America.

Republican Sex Scandals Sign It's Time to End Family Values Wars
by Robert Schlesinger

The phrase "family values" first entered the political lexicon in the 1976 Republican platform. But, coinciding with the rise of the religious wing of the Republican Party, the term came into its own in the 1980s, with the Bushes and Quayles gathering together on stage to cap off the 1988 GOP convention with an illustration of their support of traditional families (not like those godless, family-hating Democrats) ...

Republican Leaders Debate Reagan's Relevance
by Kenneth T. Walsh

Ronald Reagan still stands larger than life -- 7 feet tall and full of vim and vigor. Actually, it's a bronze statue of the 40th president, unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda with much fanfare in early June. But to his admirers, the ceremony and the statue were reminders that Reagan can still teach the country lessons about leadership and charisma. Beyond the true believers, however, political leaders are increasingly debating Reagan's relevance.

Sarah Palin: Being Led Down the Garden Path
by Brian Lowry

With the latest turn in the spectacle surrounding Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the crown for cinematic prescience might have passed to 'Being There,' Jerzy Kosinski's screenplay about a platitude-spouting gardener, Chance, whose green-thumb observations are eagerly mistaken for political brilliance.

 

 

Congressional Lobbyists
(c) Nancy Ohanian

Lobbyists on a Roll: Gutting Reform on Banking, Energy & Health Care
Arianna Huffington

Remember all that change Americans voted for in November? Well, there's been a change in the plans for change. The detour has come courtesy of a familiar nemesis: DC lobbyists who, this year alone, have watered-down, gutted or out-and-out killed ambitious plans for reforming Wall Street, energy and health care.

Pork: It's for Everyone, Including Obama
by Jonah Goldberg

More and more, it seems the Obama administration has just that attitude toward the economic crisis: doling out pork for as long as possible.

 

We've Gone From Saving Wall Street in Order to Save Main Street to Just Saving Wall Street
Arianna Huffington

Remember how, when taxpayers were being asked to fork over billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street, we were told it was essential to saving Main Street? Well, in just a few months, we've gone from saving the banks in order to save the economy to just saving the banks. It's the opposite of mission creep.

Suddenly Democrats have 60 Filibuster-Proof Senate Votes and No More Excuses
by Bill Press

It took 239 days, but the Minnesota Supreme Court finally declared Al Franken the winner over Norm Coleman. And suddenly Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate -- and no more excuses. For six months, we've heard nothing but complaining from Democrats: Our hands are tied, they insisted

Obama's Iran "Crisis"
by Jules Witcover

Rather than leaping in with breast-beating bravado of the sort too often associated with his departed predecessor, Obama has responded with measured and gradually escalated criticism of the Tehran regime's repressive measures to deal with the street protests of the recent election. This controlled reaction, not surprisingly, has been met with overheated squawks from conservative Republican hard-liners

Obama's Honduras Predicament
by Cal Thomas

President Obama immediately "meddles" in the affairs of Honduras, denouncing a military coup, the intent of which is to preserve the country's constitution, but when it comes to Iran's fraudulent election and the violent repression of demonstrators who wanted their votes counted, the president initially vacillates and equivocates. Are we expected to accept this as a consistent foreign policy

Sarah Palin's Resignation Leaves GOP Searching for New Leader
by Kenneth T. Walsh

To be sure, many core Republicans don't want her to pass from the scene. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee remains the subject of intense public fascination as a vibrant, unorthodox conservative willing to take on the party establishment. Critics, however, say that she lacks knowledge of issues and is too harsh and divisive to extend her appeal beyond the hard-core right.

A Letter to Sarah Palin
by Jonah Goldberg

Dear Governor Palin, You're blowing it. We haven't met, but you might remember I was one of the first columnists to tout you for John McCain's running mate. There's a reason why the left and much of the media establishment hated you from day one.

Ghosts of 1994 Loom for Obama and Democrats
by Robert Schlesinger

Everywhere I look, I see the ghosts of 1994. There's the young Democratic president with an ambitious agenda, seemingly intent on doing it all at once. The Democratic president faces a Republican Party thirsting for a return to power.

Future Of The Federal Reserve - Exclusive Conversation With Ron Paul
by Matthew Bandyk

The person in Congress with perhaps the most unconventional point of view on these issues in American politics is Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), a longtime critic of the very institution of the Fed and fractional reserve banking. He recently sponsored a bill that would audit the Fed.

Governor Mark Sanford's Argentina Affair
Please Cry For Me, Argentina
by Bill Press

Governor Mark Sanford's fall from grace may be the most bizarre of all. When Lt. Governor Andre Bauer first reported his absence from the state, Sanford had already been missing in action for five days, over Father's Day weekend. He told no one where he was going. He left no one in charge. He did not phone or email. And nobody knew where he was. Not his staff. Not the Lt. Governor. Not even his wife and kids.

HBO's Shouting Fire Is More Congratulatory Than Analytical on Free Speech Issues
by Andrew J. Rotherhamis

Despite frequent admonitions from our political leaders to do so, it sure is proving hard to move past the last eight years. Add to the retrospectives Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus' Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech. Through accounts of flashpoints since 9/11 about the freedoms Americans enjoy under the First Amendment, the documentary film is intended as a sobering check-in on what's happening on the ragged edge of free-speech debates.

Former President George W. Bush Speaks
by Jules Witcover

In a closed-door talk to businessmen in Erie, Pa., former President George W. Bush according to the Washington Times jumped into the Republican-led argument that President Obama's sweeping and expensive government interventions into the private sector are steering the country into "socialism."

Et Tu, Big Business?
by Jonah Goldberg

It certainly seems a fitting declaration as the coup de grace of capitalism's murder is at the hands of its most successful child: big business

President Obama's Iran News Conference
by Cal Thomas

For the first time in a long time, the president was challenged about his positions on Iran, health care and his "occasional" smoking. This may be due to the heavy criticism the media have been getting from commentators who have accused them of not doing their jobs with coverage that has bordered on the worshipful.

Barack Obama, We Hardly Know Ye
by Joseph L. Galloway

Who stole our change? What happened to Barack Obama on his way to the White House? The Republicans have been so busy trying to paint President Obama as a socialist, as a radical, as a Marxist, as a Muslim, as the Devil, that they haven't even noticed that he has become one of them.

Ailments in Our Health Care Debate
by Clarence Page

As debate over President Obama's health care proposals kicks off, his opponents are lining up in a predictable way. On one side, conservatives call Obama a "socialist." On the other side, left-progressives wish that he were

Obama - A Plea for Public Patience
by Jules Witcover

The latest public-opinion polls indicate President Obama's personal popularity remains very high after five months in office. But the same doesn't go for Obama's mammoth spending plans, including the bailouts of Wall Street and Detroit

Government Intervention & Economic Risk
by Ian Bremmer and Sean West

It's no secret that politics affects economic markets. But in response to a financial crisis or economic downturn, political risk impacts markets much more broadly than just isolated policies and individual stocks.

Whistling Past Economic Graveyard: Audacity of Misplaced Hope
by Arianna Huffington

When Tim Geithner unveiled the Public Private Investment Program, he said that dealing with these assets was a "core" part of solving the financial crisis. But the banks would much rather keep pretending that their toxic assets are not that toxic, and worth much more than they really are -- a risky charade the relaxed mark-to-market rules allow them to continue to pull off

Judges and Justice Should Not Be for Sale
by Carl Hiaasen

If Sonia Sotomayor becomes the next member of the U.S. Supreme Court, she'll take a seat among colleagues who are divided into predictable camps that rarely agree on anything. The differences go way beyond judicial philosophy. It's political ideology gussied up as constitutional rumination -- the court's conservatives battling the moderates and liberals.

Reagan Unveiled
by Cal Thomas

Many Republicans, and even some conservatives, think Reagan's ideas are passe. Before moving on, Republicans, and those conservatives who don't want to live in the past, should be asked what better ideas they have to offer.

Republicans at Crossroads
Must Find Political Compass or Go Way of Whigs
by Jamie Stiehm

The GOP needs to find the old political compass or fade like the party it replaced. It's very simple: Good old-fashioned Republicans must come to the aid of the party or it will go the way of the Whigs, a major political party from whose own ashes it rose.

Everyone Agrees We Need Wall Street Reforms ...
by Arianna Huffington

Everyone agrees that we need reform of our financial system. Even Wall Street knows it is inevitable. So the question becomes: Are we going to get real reform or are we going to get the D.C. version of "reform"?

We've seen this before. Back then it was Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing and WorldCom.

After their orgy of greed and fraud was exposed, everyone suddenly demanded reform. But what we got instead were window-dressing changes and Band-Aid legislation. And the prevailing philosophy that the free market would regulate itself was, in effect, allowed to remain in place. Indeed, it was given even freer rein. So now it's deja vu all over again.

Is America Premodern or Postmodern?
by Victor Davis Hanson

Brilliant engineers may have designed our laptops, cell phones, online commerce and 1-800 call lines. But someone still has to answer the phone, enter data into computers and assist customers who fall through the electronic cracks. And such human audit of the growing power of computerized commerce requires more, not less, educated workers than ever before. And here is where problems arise. Too many of us are growing more illiterate -- reading less and watching television more.

Rating President Obama's First 100 Days in Office
by Robert Schlesinger

Two competing, contradictory bits of conventional wisdom regarding president's 1st 100 days in office often connected: A president's 100 days are a critical window into character of administration, but historians argue that it is too short a time period to draw meaningful conclusions.

There's No Place Like Home
President & First Lady Making Themselves Comfortable in Washington
by Amanda Ruggeri

He's striving to save the country from a second Depression, wind down two foreign wars, and fight climate change. So it wouldn't be a surprise if President Barack Obama skipped Friday-night dates with the first lady. Just a few months into office, the first couple have left their mark not only on domestic policy and domesticity but on the city beyond their doors. That's in stark contrast to most previous administrations, insiders say.

A New Role for Religion
by Dan Gilgoff

Faith has played a larger role in Obama's white house in the first 100 days than in any other president's The conventional wisdom was that George W. Bush was the most faith-based president in recent history, by a long shot. Citing Jesus as his favorite philosopher and Billy Graham as a mentor, Bush won evangelical voters in numbers not previously seen.

Democrats & The Nancy Pelosi Torture Smokescreen
by Chris Thomas

Editorial Cartoon by Dan Wasserman

What we have witnessed is a Left Wing that has become obsessed with using its new found political power to not just change previous government policy, but to criminalize and destroy the reputations of those who formulated that policy.

Pelosi and her henchmen, showing their true, authoritarian colors, want to not just discredit Bush administration officials: they want them jailed, preferably for a very long time.

 

 

Incompetence is Not a Crime
by Leonard Pitts Jr.

If incompetence was a crime, you might have a case. Heck, if arrogance was a felony, you could put them on death row. But these things are not against the law, so forgive me if I'm not sold on the argument that we should launch investigations into the failures of the Bush years. It's a view advanced by many, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, who wants to empanel a "truth commission," and CNN commentator Jack Cafferty, who wants a special prosecutor.

A Failure of Leadership
by Mary Sanchez

The American public is owed forthrightness from elected officials on matters as serious as the use of torture. But in Washington simple questions do not get straightforward answers. So now the public is presented with merry-go-round of accusations and denials on the question of whether Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi knew about enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, and whether she acted upon that information appropriately.

Can CIA Really Be Trusted on Briefing Flap
by Robyn Blummer

All this faux patriotic indignation over the suggestion that the CIA misled Congress in briefings over detainee treatment is just raw political theater. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and other congressional Republicans are relishing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's tiff with the CIA regarding what she knew about waterboarding and when she knew it. Now they want an investigation -- a ploy to keep the issue in the news, no doubt.

 

Obama Calls for Extreme Makeover of Our Culture
by Arianna Huffington

In his masterful commencement speech at Notre Dame, President Obama took his campaign theme of Change to a whole new level, telling the graduates -- and the rest of us -- that we find ourselves at "a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise."

Don Wright

What Does the Future Hold for GOP?
Future of the Republican Party by Jonah Goldberg

Compare and contrast Jack Kemp, one of the architects of the Reagan Revolution, who passed away last weekend at the age of 73; and Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania senator who switched parties.

Kemp's death should be cause for deep reflection about what the Republican Party is about. Specter's defection is much less significant.

 

We Need a Hero
Future of the GOP & Conservatives by Jonah Goldberg

We conservatives are having one of our grand, knock-down, drag-out fights over the future of conservatism and the GOP. Should conservatives compromise on gay marriage or abortion rights? Should we jump on the environmental bandwagon? Are there ways to reform health care without abandoning our principles? What would Reagan do?

Frankly, I love these arguments. I think they are healthy and good for conservatism and the country. One of the things I love about conservatives is that we have these internal debates more often than the Five Families went to war in "The Godfather."

The Jack Kemp I Knew
by Cal Thomas

Many have commented on the life and legacy of Jack Kemp -- the former Buffalo, N.Y., congressman, former vice presidential candidate, former HUD secretary, former professional football star and a friend for life to all those who knew him. Next to Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp was probably the most optimistic Republican I knew.

We Are What We Are
by Garrison Keillor

When I heard former Vice President Cheney talk about the meaning of Republicanism the other day -- "We are what we are," he said -- I felt drawn to the simplicity and dignity of that. And I have never been a Republican, just as I've never been to South America, and that makes it tempting.

Once Upon a Time in 2002
by Victor Davis Hanson

Opportunism, not principles, guides most in Washington. Consider also the dexterous Obama administration's own about-face. It still finds it useful to damn the old Bush government's embrace of wiretaps, military tribunals and renditions -- even as it dares not drop or completely discount these apparently useful Bush policies, albeit under new names and with new qualifiers.

Obama's Moment in South Asia

Fighting Extremism with Democracy in Pakistan

Cambodia Deja Vu: The Invasion of Pakistan

President Obama's First 100 Days

The Good, The Bad & The Geithner
Arianna Huffington

It's hard to believe that President Obama has only been in office for such a short time, but sometimes 100 days feels like more than 100 days. So how's it going? According to the American people, pretty darn good.

 

 

Our Jekyll & Hyde President
Victor Davis Hanson

In matters of foreign policy during the president's first 100 days, we have seen two Barack Obamas. So which Obama persona is the real president -- Obama I, more radical than Jimmy Carter, or Obama II, a smoother centrist than Bill Clinton?

Obama's Liberal Arrogance Will Be His Undoing
Jonah Goldberg

The most remarkable, or certainly the least remarked on, aspect of Barack Obama's first 100 days has been the infectious arrogance of his presidency. There's no denying that this is liberalism's greatest opportunity for wish fulfillment since at least 1964. But to listen to Democrats, the only check on their ambition is the limit of their imaginations.

 

Obama's Foreign Policy Challenge
by Henry Kissinger

The first overseas trip of a new president always has a significance beyond its itinerary.

The president has an opportunity to test the impact of his policies; his interlocutors begin to assess the leader with whom they will have to deal over at least four years.

 

Financial Outrages Past, Present & Future
by Arianna Huffington

Michael Osbun

Reading the business section these days is not for the faint of heart -- or those hoping to drift off to sleep.

Instead, you end up like Scrooge, visited by the ghosts of outrages past, present and future.

As a public service (I toss and turn all night so you don't have to) -- and also to make sure you haven't succumbed to outrage fatigue -- I've decided to distill some of the more infuriating recent lowlights. Warning: If you are reading this after 10 p.m., you might want to hold off until morning.

 

Roving Towards Irrelevancy: The GOP in the Obama Era
by Chris Thomas

Dick Locher

Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, once wrote that one of the features of western civilization that gave it a leg up on other cultures was the concept of self-audit, or the capacity for us to critique ourselves and our institutions.

Which brings us to the Republican Party of 2009 which has fallen.

Unfortunately the GOP is currently incapable of embracing Hanson's concept of self-audit.

 

Victory at Sea
by Paul Greenberg

Home is the sailor, home from sea. Capt. Richard Phillips, his five-day ordeal happily concluded, has been rescued in the finest tradition of the United States Navy, and his captors dealt with. Effectively and summarily.

Some Good News About Banking
by Arianna Huffington

Nancy Ohanian

And now for something completely different: some good news about banking.

Yes, I know that an upcoming analysis by the IMF reportedly says that, when all is said and done, toxic debts on the balance sheets of banks and insurers could go as high as $4 trillion. And I realize that last weekend saw the FDIC take over two more banks -- the 22nd and 23rd takeovers of the year.

But, It's not all doom and gloom.

 

Obama Economic Team's Flawed Cosmology:
Still Believing Universe Revolves around Banks
Arianna Huffington

A series of recent meetings with members of Barack Obama's economic team leading to a spirited back-and-forth that made me feel like I was back at Cambridge, debating the smartest kid in the class), left me with a pair of indelible impressions:

First, these are all good people, many of them brilliant, working incredibly hard with the best of intentions to solve the country's financial crisis.

Second, they are operating on the basis of an outdated cosmology that places banks at the center of the economic universe.

On the Road to Buenos Aires
Even the United States can Manage Itself into Irrelevance
Chris Thomas

America has been the greatest of all nations for a long time. But we should not forget.