What the GOP Can Learn From Canada's Conservatives By Michael Barone
Some years ago, the columnist and editor Michael Kinsley sponsored a contest to come up with the most boring headline. The winner was, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative."
Commentary by Michael Barone
Most Recent Releases
May 9, 2011
May 5, 2011
To Get Bin Laden, Obama Relied on Policies He Decried By Michael Barone
Let's cheerfully and ungrudgingly give credit to Barack Obama for approving the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
May 2, 2011
On Foreign Policy, Obama Leads From Behind By Michael Barone
Sometimes a sympathetic and perceptive journalist paints a more devastating portrait of a public figure than even his most vitriolic detractors could. A prime example is Ryan Lizza's New Yorker article titled "The Consequentialist" and subtitled, "How the Arab Spring remade Obama's foreign policy."
April 28, 2011
Barbour's Withdrawal Gives No Clues to GOP 2012 Nominee By Michael Barone
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's abrupt withdrawal from the race for the Republican presidential nomination -- after hiring a topnotch New Hampshire campaign manager and planning to fly around the country next week -- has naturally inspired a lot of punditry on the Republican presidential race.
April 25, 2011
The Death of the 'Defined Benefit' By Michael Barone
The defined benefit is dying. Barack Obama is struggling to keep it alive, but it's apparent that it's something that even as bounteously rich a society as ours can't afford.
April 21, 2011
Mr. Obama: Taxing the Rich Won't Increase Revenues By Michael Barone
Did Barack Obama take Tax 1 in law school? I did, and I remember the first day of classes, when mild mannered Professor Boris Bittker asked a simple question, "What is income?"
April 18, 2011
President Whatever Finds Things Not Going His Way By Michael Barone
Barack Obama is a politician who likes to follow through on long-term strategies and avoid making course corrections. That's how he believes he won in 2008, and since then he's shown that he's not much into details.
April 14, 2011
When Politicians 'Bicker,' They're Really Negotiating By Michael Barone
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank attracted some attention when he promised not to mention Sarah Palin for a month. He kept his promise. The republic and the Post survived.
April 11, 2011
Spending Cuts Are Hot in the Political Marketplace By Michael Barone
One of the things that fascinate me about American politics is how the voices of the voters as registered in elections and polls are transformed into changes in public policy. It's a rough-and-ready process, with plenty of trial and error. But for all its imperfections, the political market seems to work.
April 7, 2011
Ryan Steals March on Obama as Fiscal Crisis Looms By Michael Barone
"My worst experience was the financial crisis of September 2008," responded House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan yesterday to a reporter's question about Democrats' attacks on the budget he unveiled earlier in the day.
April 4, 2011
GOP Shouldn't Panic If Whites Become a Minority By Michael Barone
Are whites on the verge of becoming a minority of the American population? That's what some analysts of the 2010 Census results claim. Many go on, sometimes with relish, to say that this spells electoral doom for the Republican Party.
March 31, 2011
Is the Tea Party Pooped? It Must Keep Making Its Case By Michael Barone
Has the wind gone out of the sails of the smaller government movement? Is the tea party movement going through a hangover?
March 28, 2011
The Eyes of Texas Are Sparkling in the 2010 Census By Michael Barone
The Census Bureau last week released county and city populations for the last of the 50 states from the 2010 Census last week, ahead of schedule. Behind the columns of numbers are many vivid stories of how our nation has been changing -- and some lessons for public policy, as well.
March 24, 2011
The Damning Contradictions of Obama's Attack on Libya By Michael Barone
Let's imagine that all goes well in Libya. The rebels, protected by air strikes, recapture lost territory and sweep into Tripoli. Moammar Gadhafi and his sons one way or the other disappear.
March 21, 2011
US Is the Unilateral Power in a Multilateral World By Michael Barone
One thing on which there seems to have been agreement during the monthlong debate about how the United States should respond to the uprisings in the Middle East -- in particular to the anti-Moammar Gadhafi rebels in Libya -- is that we must not act unilaterally.
March 17, 2011
The Framers Never Imagined a New Hampshire Primary By Michael Barone
The weakest part of our political system is the presidential nomination process. And it's not coincidental that it's the part of the federal system that finds least guidance in the Constitution.
March 14, 2011
On Libya and Budget, President Obama Votes 'Present' By Michael Barone
In the Illinois legislature, state Sen. Barack Obama voted "present" 129 times. Today, he seems to be voting present on two major issues, Libya and the budget.
March 10, 2011
Why NPR Should Urge Congress to End Its Subsidy By Michael Barone
What do they put in the water cooler over at NPR? First, they fire Juan Williams in October for comments he made on Fox News Channel -- and Vivian Schiller, the CEO of public radio, smilingly suggests he needs to have his head examined.
March 7, 2011
Who's to Blame for Union Woes? By Michael Barone
The labor union movement is in deep trouble. Only 6 percent of private-sector employees are union members.
March 3, 2011
Government Shutdown No Longer a 'Train Wreck' By Michael Barone
Sometimes you get an idea of the way opinion is headed by the phrases you don't hear. Case in point: In all the discussion and debate these past weeks about a possible government shutdown if Congress and President Obama fail to agree on funding bills, I don't recall having heard the phrase "train wreck."
