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The Left's Political Opportunism in the Trayvon Martin Tragedy
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2012 Comment (7)Trayvon Martin's death is a tragedy, no matter how you look at it. And when struck by tragedy, people look for someone to blame. But there's a difference between searching for meaning and political opportunism. For an example of the latter, look no further than the commentary of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO Arlene Holt Baker, or Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who recently guest hosted for MSNBC's Martin Bashir. She blithely, and wrongly, suggested that the National Rifle Association, Charles and David Koch, and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, were somehow responsible for the shooting.
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Barack Obama Is Struggling as Much as Mitt Romney Is
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2012 Comment (6)The political shows are awash with commentary on the purported weakness of the Republican field in this election cycle. Well that weakness is apparently also shared on the Democratic side. Whether measured in polls or dollars, President Obama isn't generating a lot of excitement these days. This matters because, as history has shown, incumbents aren't really beaten by challengers; they defeat themselves.
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Supreme Court Healthcare Hearing a Political Storm for Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook March 16, 2012 Comment (4)Within a matter of days, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding the constitutionality of President Obama's massive healthcare legislation. Word is that the Obama administration purposefully asked the court to accelerate consideration of the law. While the significance of the legal issues at stake is signaled by the historic allotment of time allowed for argument--three days--my guess is that the Obama camp is more focused on the potential negative political consequences of the court's decision. They, of course, would prefer such fall-out occur as far from the November election as possible. Republicans, however, stand to benefit politically almost regardless of what the court decides.
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The Silver Lining in Ron Paul's Virginia Primary Showing
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2012 Comment (18)Post-Super Tuesday news coverage was fraught with a refrain of failure for Rep. Ron Paul. Even his campaign openly bemoaned the gap they have experienced between enthusiastic crowds at speeches and people who actually cast their lot with the candidate when it counts. But at the risk of breaking a decades long tendency to see the "glass half empty" politically, there is a clear upside for small government advocates in Ron Paul's relatively strong performance in Virginia. Yes, he lost. Yes, he lost by 20 points. But Ron Paul did something remarkable: In a head-to-head contest with the establishment Republican candidate, he pulled fully 40 percent of the vote.
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On Gas Prices, Believe What Obama Does, Not What He Says
Tweet Share on Facebook March 5, 2012 Comment (12)Who or what is most at fault for current and anticipated high gasoline prices? Choose one: a) increased demand in China and other countries; b) OPEC; c) geopolitical tensions; d) technical difficulties; or e) President Obama's anti-U.S. supply policies? It may surprise you to find out that some experts believe the most important driver to be "a)", increased demand in China. As with all markets, supply and demand determine price—whether it is oranges or oil. Expectations about demand growth and the availability of supply are reflected in future prices and may even have some impact on current prices.
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Why Does Barack Obama Hate Savings and Investment?
Tweet Share on Facebook February 24, 2012 Comment (12)President Obama's election year messaging is all about class warfare. Worse, under this guise, his recent budget submission makes it clear he plans to dramatically penalize savings and investment through the tax code. Since incentives matter, taxing something produces less of it for the same reasons subsidizing something yields more of it. Given that axiom, one is forced to conclude the president thinks we have too much savings and investment in the U.S. economy today. Hence his draconian proposal to increase the tax on capital gains from 15 percent to nearly 24 percent and to nearly triple taxes on dividends from 15 percent to 43.4 percent.
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Lessons From Barack Obama's Catholic Betrayal
Tweet Share on Facebook February 16, 2012 Comment (11)For a man with a well-earned reputation for picking and framing his political battles well, the president blew it last week when his administration went after a key pillar of the Catholic Church: its support for life. Worse, the White House went out of its way to communicate that its decision was done with intent and was determined by Obama personally. While the president's team quickly swung into damage control mode when it was clear that they had miscalculated, the decision offers tremendous insight into this presidency. Let's recap:
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There Is No Equivalence Between Solyndra and Keystone XL
Tweet Share on Facebook February 8, 2012 Comment (6)Members of Congress seem hell-bent on trying to establish moral equivalence between failed solar panel producer Solyndra and the Keystone XL pipeline extension. But even by D.C. standards, this is ridiculous. The Solyndra fiasco was a glaring example of the government playing fast and loose with more than half a billion taxpayer dollars. It has become the poster child of why governments should not try to anoint technologies and is just the latest in a long string of green energy boondoggles embraced by the politically correct here and abroad. Alternatively, the proposed pipeline extension is a project capitalized by the private sector. It expands capacity for a proven and reliable energy source (oil) and the increased supply would create downward pressure on prices for consumers.
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How Mitt Romney Can Make His Tax Returns a Winning Issue
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2012 Comment (6)Everyone knows that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had a very bad Saturday night. Losing South Carolina's primary by 12 points should qualify as a profound wake-up call to his campaign. But, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's Palmetto State comeback clearly demonstrated, great challenges sometimes provide great opportunities. Romney, who stumbled over and has not yet recovered from his tax return brouhaha, should use this as a chance to embrace dramatic tax reform. As a committed advocate of transforming the tax code, Romney would be in a much stronger position to answer critics clamoring for his own tax filings. After all, the current code is bizarrely constructed and filled with provisions that distort economic decision-making.
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Attacks on Romney and Bain Reflect Gingrich's Economic Ignorance
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2012 Comment (5)In the convoluted world of politics, maybe it is a good thing that some Republican candidates are revealing their ignorance about free market economics by attacking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for his role at Bain Capital. If nothing else, it helps clarify what they don't understand about value creation in the economy and provides the opportunity for a national debate on this now rather than in, say, October.
Nancy Pfotenhauer
Nancy Pfotenhauer is president of MediaSpeak Strategies, a national communications firm. Nancy was a senior policy adviser and spokesperson with the McCain for President campaign. She has served as president of the Independent Women’s Forum, director of the Washington office of Koch Industries, a cabinet level adviser, economic counsel to Sen. William Armstrong, chief economist for the Republican National Committee, and she served on President George H. W. Bush’s transition team in 1988. You can follow her on Twitter at @npfotenhauer.
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