-
Obama’s Inaugural: What He Should Say
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (2)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
If you're in Philadelphia on Monday, December 8, the National Constitution Center is hosting what promises to be a fascinating discussion about what Barack Obama should say to the nation on January 20. The panelists will include former speechwriters Mary Kate Cary (Bush 41) and Terry Edmonds (Clinton). Oh yeah, and I'm moderating (having written White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters and all).
The program is part of the center's "Address America" initiative, which invites people to suggest six words Obama should use in his inaugural address.
I'll check back in Tuesday with insights the panelists impart.
-
Jeb Bush, the Outstanding Governor of This Decade, Should Run for Senate
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (19)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Florida Sen. Mel Martinez's surprising decision not to run for re-election in 2010 has led former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to seriously consider running for the seat. This is very good news for Republicans: Martinez's poll numbers have been lousy, while Bush's are very high. Bush, in my judgment, was the outstanding state governor of this decade, for reasons that Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution sets out. (His leading competitor for that title, in my judgment, is Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.) Operating in a state where liberal newspapers, teachers' unions, and trial lawyers maintained a continual barrage of criticism, Bush and the Republican legislature produced the nation's best education reform and major changes in healthcare, while Bush himself proved masterful in handling hurricane relief. One reason for the federal government's poor response to Hurricane Katrina was that the feds were used to dealing with Jeb Bush and Florida's competent local officials; dealing with the hapless New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was quite a different thing.
-
Barack Obama Should Keep Troops in Iraq
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (9)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
In 1993, Bill Clinton took office and raised taxes. He had promised Americans a middle-class tax cut, but by the time of his inauguration it was clear that the smart route to prosperity was to reduce the federal government's debt and deficits, not grow them with a tax cut.
So Clinton did the right thing, drew down his political capital, spent a time in political hell—then sailed to re-election on the wings of a strong American economy.
There is an analogy here for Barack Obama. Not on the economic side—the new president will find supportive majorities in favor of his campaign promise to cut taxes and boost federal investment in this recession.
I'm talking about Iraq.
-
Happiness and Being Happy Are Infectious
Tweet Share on Facebook December 5, 2008 Comment (1)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Feelin' blue? Latch onto someone you know who's naturally upbeat. There's plenty of misery to go around these days—the stock market's in the tank, pink slips abound and holiday sales are at record lows. But some naturally upbeat people aren't affected, or at least are not as affected, as some of us are. So if you know someone who's naturally gleeful and you are not, hang onto that person and hang out with that person as much as possible:
-
Bobby Jindal and the GOP Don’t Believe in Evolution
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 Comment (52)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's recent trip to Iowa, where they hold those presidential caucuses every four years, leads me to suspect he may share the media speculation that he could be the Next Great Thing in the Republican Party.
-
Ruth Marcus: Larry Summers Was Right About Men and Women in Math and Science
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 Comment (8)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
The always interesting Ruth Marcus in her Washington Post column confesses, with some caveats and apparent unease, that Larry Summers was right when he made his controversial statements about men and women in science and math—statements that resulted in his ouster as president of Harvard. Marcus cites studies that show that men outnumber women by a wide margin among those with the very highest (and very lowest) scores in math and science aptitude tests. But she concludes by saying that Summers shouldn't have said what he said, even though it was right, presumably because in his line of work—academe—you shouldn't utter truths people don't want to hear. What an indictment of the academy! Academics used to pride themselves as fearless seekers of truth. Now, an academic is chided by a journalist who is a pretty good seeker of truth herself for telling an impolitic truth. Fascinating.
-
GM Bankruptcy Speculation by the Media Hurts the Auto Industry
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 Comment (4)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
I'm not one of those "blame the media" types. But there are certain times when a journalist's "need to tell" overpowers the "public's right to know." And poor old tottering GM is being hurt by some reporters' timeworn need to get the story first, even if not getting it right.
WASHINGTON - (Dow Jones)- Sales of General Motors Corp. (GM) vehicles have already begun to dip because of speculation that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, the company's chief executive told lawmakers Thursday.
-
Alcohol After Prohibition: Do We Have It Right Yet?
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 Comment (3)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
Maureen Ogle, who has written a history of American beer, has a terrific entry in the "Past & Present" series in our op-ed column today, looking at the lingering effects of prohibition. She argues that while prohibition was legally repealed, the underlying view of alcohol as an inherent evil remains.
It's an interesting and worthwhile read, especially given that Friday marks the 75th anniversary of prohibition's repeal. It's also not the first time we've fostered alcohol-related debates here in the U.S. News opinion section: If you didn't catch it the first time around, be sure to check out the great argument we had over whether or not the drinking age should be lowered. John McCardell, a former president of Middlebury College (from whence I graduated—perhaps my friends and I are to blame for his views) wrote on behalf of the lower-the-drinking-age effort he has spearheaded, while Laura Dean-Mooney from Mothers Against Drunk Driving argued that that would be disastrous. (We also had a pro/con on legalization of drugs.)
All of these pieces get to larger questions about how as a society we view alcohol. Ogle and McCardell in different ways make an interesting argument that by painting it as illicit and dangerous we make it perversely attractive to, especially, teenagers.
What do you think? Does the United States treat alcohol in the proper manner? Give your thoughts in the comments section below.
-
Abortion Myth About Depression Falls Before Science
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 Comment (28)By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
First, there was the widely discredited claim that abortion raised breast cancer rates. Then, so-called pro-lifers avowed that women who had abortions became profoundly depressed afterwards. The list of myths propagated by right-wing abortion foes goes on and on. Today, yet another claim fell prey to scientific accuracy:
-
Barack Obama’s Online Policy Army
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2008 CommentBy Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Interesting piece in today's Washington Post , looking at how the soon-to-be Obama administration is already using the high-tech tools and tactics from the campaign to lay the groundwork for the coming debate on healthcare policy (in much the way that Brad Bannon wrote about here on Monday).
Of course, it's never simple:
In seeking to translate its political skills to policymaking, the incoming administration faces potential legal and political pitfalls. It is not clear, for instance, whether Obama can legally use his list of campaign supporters in the White House; the database would probably become government property. So far, the transition team has gotten around that issue by encouraging people to register on its Web site, Change.gov. Those names and e-mail addresses go into a new database, which can be tapped to generate activities such as house parties, YouTube videos and viral discussions to rally support.
