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The Real Sexism and Hypocrisy in the Gingrich Marriage Discussion
Tweet Share on Facebook January 26, 2012 Comment (24)Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's marriage history has raised hackles among some conservatives who wonder why "feminists" weren't harder on Democrats who had extramarital affairs. Attacking Gingrich while supporting former President Bill Clinton is just hypocritical, the argument goes.
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Obama's Best State of the Union Speech
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 Comment (11)The State of the Union was upbeat and positive, and that's saying a lot from me, a pessimist. Now I know those on the right will tell you everything that was wrong with the president's speech; heck, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney told America what they thought of the president's speech before he even uttered a word!
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Obama Win or Loss, Deficit Fix Will Still Require a Grand Bargain
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 Comment (1)Ross Douthat rightly calls out President Obama for proposing a bevy of costly new populist microinitiatives in his State of the Union address.
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The Evolving Fear of 'Big Government' and 'Big Business'
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 CommentI've got in front of me a fascinating little document, published in 1952 and now apparently out of out print, called Big Business: A New Era.
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State of the Union Shows Why GOP Must Pick Romney Over Gingrich
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 Comment (6)The State of the Union address could not have come at a better time for the GOP. No, not because the speech will cause some sort of seismic negative shift in President Obama’s approval rating--these addresses have barely moved the needle in approval polls historically.
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Kochs Won't Benefit From Keystone XL--But Warren Buffett Might
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 Comment (3)The Democrats are taking a beating over President Barack Obama's decision to "red light" the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf coast.
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With Fairness, Obama Finds a Winning State of the Union Theme
Tweet Share on Facebook January 25, 2012 Comment (5)The first populist speech President Obama ever gave to Congress was not a pretty thing. At the annual look in the mirror at the State of the Union yesterday, Obama firmly held the gaze--and the daze--of a deeply discouraged nation and offered up a smorgasboard of solutions.
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Bipartisanship In Congress Can Start Small, But It Must Start
Tweet Share on Facebook January 24, 2012 Comment (5)I like to think of the day of the State of the Union as America's annual civic sabbath, a periodic opportunity to gather as a community and reflect on our progress. Unfortunately, this year's assessment won't be as positive as we'd like. Certainly 2012 is not 1863 or 1917 or 1941, but it's still hard to shake the overwhelming sense that we face urgent challenges and our political institutions might be too broken to address them. Despite the range of economic, fiscal, social, and environmental problems on our horizon, over the past year, nearly the only bills that Congress and the president have managed to pass have named post offices, shuffled public land ownership, or extended expiring (or better yet, already expired) statutes.
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Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren Rebel Against Super-PACs
Tweet Share on Facebook January 24, 2012 Comment (2)Of all the populist backlashes of the past few years, the revolt by rivals Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren is the most impressive.
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Don't Expect Too Much From Obama's State of the Union Speech
Tweet Share on Facebook January 24, 2012 Comment (6)The funny thing about the State of the Union address is that after it’s great build-up and huge pomp and circumstance, it usually amounts to very little that endures. It’s a good road map for the government in terms of priorities (or, in election years, a road map for re-election), which is why there is such fierce lobbying behind the scenes just to get a mention of a program into it. But that is also why the speech is often a crashing bore, because it becomes a laundry list.
