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Richard Holbrooke, a Passionate Peacemaker
Tweet Share on Facebook December 14, 2010 CommentDetermined and passionate people often get described as “abrasive” or someone who “ruffles feathers.” The fact that those descriptions have been applied to veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke only underscores the great loss the country and the world have suffered with Holbrooke’s untimely death this week.
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Christine O’Donnell Can't Compare to Sarah Palin
Tweet Share on Facebook December 13, 2010 Comment (28)Christine O’Donnell, You’re No Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, is no Jack Kennedy and maybe is not even Dan Quayle. But as shallow and self-promoting as Palin can be with her tweets and her Alaska reality show, O’Donnell can’t even come close to Palin when it comes to political savvy or populist charm.
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Martinez Case Shows FBI Skill
Tweet Share on Facebook December 10, 2010 Comment (3)Another holiday season, another thwarted bombing. But in the case of 21-year-old accused would-be attacker Antonio Martinez, there’s great reason to feel safer, instead of more afraid.
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Elizabeth Edwards: A Courageous Inspiration
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2010 CommentIt’s common to laud the “courage” of people afflicted with fatal illnesses, mainly because most of us simply don’t know what else to say. It seems patronizing to bestow pity on someone faced with an untenable situation, and yet unkind to pretend someone is not facing death. So we present the terrible condition as a good-vs.-evil battle between the indefensible illness and the defiant person at war with it, all the while denying the sad truth--that the disease almost always wins.
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Obama-GOP Tax Cut Deal a Sign of Politics as Usual
Tweet Share on Facebook December 7, 2010 Comment (7)It would be encouraging to view the deal President Obama brokered with Republicans on extending unaffordable tax cuts as a signal that national leaders are newly willing to compromise. Instead, the move merely solidifies what has become politics as usual in Washington: that the minority rules.
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GOP Holding the Needy Hostage on Unemployment Benefits
Tweet Share on Facebook December 6, 2010 Comment (22)The holiday season leads many of us to reconsider our priorities, weighing whether we are spending our time and money on the right things. How unfortunate that the period of reflection does not seem to include some of the biggest money-movers in America.
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Congress Fiddles While the Country Burns
Tweet Share on Facebook December 3, 2010 Comment (9)If there was any hope that things might settle down in the highly-partisan Congress now that the nasty 2010 election season is over, leaders in both parties dashed them this week.
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Deficit Commission Proposal a Welcome Step
Tweet Share on Facebook December 2, 2010 Comment (10)The prospects for achieving a 14-vote supermajority to approve the fiscally brutal recommendations of President Obama’s deficit reduction commission appear uphill at best, with some panel members still unwilling to endorse the whole, controversial plan to cut $4 trillion from the federal deficit. But even if the 18-member panel does not approve the document Friday, its work is still a huge advance in both deficit reduction and the handling of public policy.
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Condoleezza Rice Thrives Outside Government
Tweet Share on Facebook December 1, 2010 Comment (5)CAMBRIDGE, MASS.--To watch former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speak so impressively at Harvard Tuesday night was to ask this question: what do we do to people in government and public life that squelches the very talents they bring to the job?
