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What Obama Should Address in the State of the Union
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 CommentThe State of the Union is to politics what the Super Bowl is to football. Both events involve weeks of analysis and predictions before a down is played or a word is spoken; they both cause onlookers to engage in superfluous and unnecessary standing ovations; and they are both marked by copious amounts of drinking. If you think I’m stretching the truth on the last one, I encourage you to Google “State of the Union” and “drinking game.”
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Obama's Right, America Needs an Industrial Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (3)“Industrial policy.”
In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama won’t utter those exact words. Instead, he’ll talk about “innovation” and “infrastructure” and “education”—things we’ll need to invest in as a nation in order to remain competitive in the global economy.
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Return of 'Baby Doc' Duvalier Is An Insult to Haiti
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (5)Of all the wrenching scenes I have witnessed in several visits to Haiti—and there are many—the one that haunts me to this day is the one I witnessed in Fort Dimanche.
Residents of the neighborhood around the former prison offered a grim tour of the old prison where the Tonton Macoutes, the brutal paramilitary force established under Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, tortured political opponents of the Haitian regime. Some of the tiny cement cells still showed the evidence of torture, although imprisonment in the hellish conditions was surely torture enough.
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GOP Budget Cut Battle Shows Party Health
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (3)In the campaign that recently ended, the House Republicans made—as part of their “Pledge to America”—the promise that they would cut $100 billion out of the federal budget over the course of fiscal year 2011.
It's a promise that has created some trouble for them. The U.S. fiscal year begins in October, meaning we're almost a third of the way through it, a fact that has led some GOP leaders to redefine the number downwards.
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A Brief History of the State of the Union Address
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (1)President Obama this evening will perform one of the specific duties charged him by the Constitution. Article II, Section 3 mandates that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." It's a tradition which dates, of course, from George Washington, but it has evolved enormously since the Father of Our Country gave his first report to Congress, in 1790. Here are some firsts, facts, and other trivia about the State of the Union:
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Court Ruling Against Rahm Emanuel Devalues Service
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (17)Rahm Emanuel would probably be the best mayor of Chicago, considering who is running for the office. But that's not why the ruling yesterday of the Illinois appellate court is so egregiously wrong. It's because the decision totally devalues service to our country.
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State of the Union Is High Risk, Low Reward for Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2011 Comment (3)With his approval numbers gently rebounding in the aftermath of his Tucson speech, President Barack Obama has been presented with the opportunity to use Tuesday night’s State of the Union address to redefine his presidency.
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Green Bay Packers a Model for NFL, All Pro Sports
Tweet Share on Facebook January 24, 2011 Comment (7)As we prepare for the celebration of obscene profits, commercialism, and grandstanding so unfortunately displayed in increasing amounts at each Super Bowl, let us give thanks for an exception to the profit-driven madness: the Green Bay Packers.
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Joe Lieberman Is No Jack Kennedy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 24, 2011 Comment (8)On a wistful bleak wintry week when John F. Kennedy's inaugural 50 years ago was celebrated with ceremonies and concerts of remembrance and Sargent Shriver's death was greeted with a genuine outpouring of grief and love, a third man seemed to suggest he belonged in that august company.
No, Joe, I don't think so.
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Bachmann State of the Union Response Shows GOP Message Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook January 23, 2011 Comment (18)When it was announced last week that Wisconsin budget wonk Paul Ryan would be delivering the GOP’s response to the State of the Union, I missed the additional tidbit that Michele Bachmann will be delivering an a response of her own, streamed over the Tea Party Express’s website.
