Political Commentary

September 28, 2011

President's Foreign Policy Failures Increase By Tony Blankley

President Obama, like most American presidents, is lucky that the public pays little attention to foreign policy and rarely casts its votes on the basis of presidential foreign-policy performance. It required something as dramatic as the November 1979 Iranian seizing of our diplomats as hostages, followed the next month by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to turn Jimmy Carter's foreign policy mess into a major negative issue for him in his failed 1980 re-election bid.

September 27, 2011

The Middle Class and Its Entitlements By Froma Harrop

To what are Americans entitled? Government-guaranteed health coverage in old age? Government-guaranteed health coverage at any age? Subsidized housing if they're low income? Subsidized food? Subsidies for growing wheat but not making shoes? Subsidies for homeowning?

September 26, 2011

Still Looking for a Candidate to Replace Obama By Michael Barone

The Republicans' presidential debate Thursday night sponsored by Fox News and Google gave primary voters and caucus-goers at least one good reason to reject every candidate on the stage. The interesting question now is whether someone else will enter the race -- at just about the same point in the election cycle in which Bill Clinton entered the Democratic race in 1991.

September 22, 2011

What 'Developing' Countries Can Teach the U.S. By Michael Barone

As Barack Obama huffs and puffs about his tax plan, which is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-majority Senate much less the Republican-controlled House, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, has provided a much broader view of where the United States stands amid great changes in the world and some useful guidance on what direction public policy ought to take.

September 22, 2011

The Housing Bust Has a Good Side By Froma Harrop

Anyone who has seen a friend kick an addiction -- be it to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes -- knows the extreme discomfort and force of will required. America has long suffered repeated bouts of binging on real estate. The booms inevitably trigger busts, one of which we're now in deep.

September 21, 2011

Double-Dip Learning Curve By Tony Blankley

In one of the least needed reassurances in modern political history, President Obama's top political man David Plouffe, "told Democrats late last week that the White House would not suffer from overconfidence. 'What I don't want to suggest is that we're sitting around and thinking everything is great,' he said."

September 20, 2011

Obama Has It Right in Deficit Plan By Froma Harrop

President Obama's deficit-cutting plan is not perfect, but close to it. It's fiscally smart and politically smart.

September 20, 2011

Obama’s Bizarre Tax Attack By Lawrence Kudlow

It could almost make your head spin. With an economy on the front end of another recession, President Obama’s tax attack on the folks who are most likely to succeed, invest, start new businesses, and create jobs is nothing short of staggering. Only liberal-left class-warfare ideology can explain this.

September 19, 2011

As President, Obama Acts as Shop Steward in Chief By Michael Barone

Barack Obama has been at pains to convince voters that he cares about jobs. It seems to be a hard sell.

September 17, 2011

Mike Bloomberg’s Irresponsible Riot Tactic By Lawrence Kudlow

New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, in a radio interview on Friday, warned that high unemployment could lead to widespread rioting. That’s right. He actually said that. At a time when European cities have suffered massively from hooliganism, and at a time when U.S. towns like Philadelphia and Kansas City have suffered huge human and commercial tolls from so-called flash riots.

September 16, 2011

Preserving Life (Except the Uninsured) by Joe Conason

Watching the Republican presidential candidates and their agitated tea party supporters at the CNN/Tea Party debate, an ordinary citizen might feel confused. Those people sound angry, but exactly what do they believe our government should (and shouldn't) do on behalf of its citizens?

September 16, 2011

The Downturn Scenario By Lawrence Kudlow

Is the economy standing on the front end of a new recession? As IMF executive director Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Robert Zoellick warn that the global economy is entering a new economic danger zone, there’s plenty to be worried about right here in the U.S.A.

September 15, 2011

Obama Tainted by Loan Guarantees to Solar Firms By Michael Barone

One factor favoring President Obama's re-election, according to a recent article by political scientist Alan Lichtman, is the absence of scandal in his administration.

September 15, 2011

Global Warming Is Here, All Right By Froma Harrop

Bark beetles and egrets don't care whether Governor This or Senator That believes in global warming. They feel it in their whatevers. Responding to warmer temperatures, plant and wildlife are moving north or uphill to cooler elevations, according to a new study published in Science magazine. For example, higher temperatures in the Rocky Mountains have set off a population explosion of bark beetles now devouring its beautiful pine forests.

September 14, 2011

The King Dollar Frontrunners By Lawrence Kudlow

Watching the two GOP frontrunners in last night’s debate -- Mitt Romney and Rick Perry -- a couple of policy points jumped out at me.

September 14, 2011

Is It Still Good to be the King? By Tony Blankley

Since the end of World War II, in both the United States and Western Europe, the best way to win a national election has been to be the incumbent political party. But that 3-generation-old predisposition of publics in Western democracies may be coming to an end.

September 13, 2011

Disapproval, of Course, Is a Relative Thing By Froma Harrop

If the 2012 election were held today, Republicans could very well have their heads handed to them. I do not think this alone. Their debt-ceiling high jinks were no doubt immensely amusing to the tea party fringe, but to those of us not getting the joke, they were an appalling attack on a fragile economy.

September 12, 2011

Obama Buys the Drinks That Other Guys Pay For By Michael Barone

What is there to say about Barack Obama's speech to Congress Thursday night and the so-called American Jobs Act he said Congress must pass? Several thoughts occur, all starting with P.

September 10, 2011

Tiny, Targeted, and Temporary That won’t do it, Mr. President By Lawrence Kudlow

Who would have really expected a 300-point stock market plunge on the day after President Obama’s so-called jobs speech?

September 9, 2011

For the Campaigns, It’s Already About Electoral College Math By Larry J. Sabato

Straw polls, real polls, debates, caucuses and primaries — these comprise the public side of presidential campaigns 14 months before Election Day. But behind the scenes, strategists for President Obama and his major Republican opponents are already focused like a laser on the Electoral College.

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