Barack Obama

In the Arena In the Arena

“…And I Approve This Message”

President Obama is rightly outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which allows corporations and unions to directly support political candidates during campaigns. Anything that adds to the sum total of consultant-driven crap that besieges us at election time is a bad thing.

But. There are no ground rules …

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Mass. Murder

If Martha Coakley actually manages to lose the Senate race in Massachusetts, there will be all sorts of recriminations–but, I believe, one inescapable conclusion. People will say she was a lousy candidate who went to sleep after the primary, taking the general election for granted. True enough. Some will say that Scott Brown is an …

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Way Smart

Bill Galston is a good friend of mine, but that shouldn’t disqualify him from the praise and attention he deserves–especially when he lays out a really smart draft State of the Union Address (at least, the domestic policy part) like this one.

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The Wages of Liberalism

The excellent Dsvid Leonhardt has an important column today in the Times about the Obama Administration’s failure to name a Medicare director. I can cite many other such vacancies throughout the Administration, mostly attributable to the perverse scrupulousness of the confirmation process…which, in turn, is mostly attributable to my …

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Reid v.Lott

There should be no surprise that Republicans have raised a considerable dust storm about Harry Reid’s obnoxious private comments about Barack Obama. Democrats would do the same, if the situation were reversed, and often have. But it is just so much baloney to find moral equivalency between Reid’s support of a black man for President (in …

Harry Reid Apologizes To Obama

The White House has just put out this statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2010

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

“Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today. I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s

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More Historicity

After last night’s venture into Walter Russell Mead’s four American foreign policy traditions (Jefferson, Jackson, Wilson and Hamilton), we have Chuck Lane plumbing another foursome today: the four American political traditions that the brilliant historian David Hackett Fischer–I mean, you really have to read this guy; it’s both deeply …

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Obama as Jeffersonian Carterite? Hmmm.

Walter Russell Mead, usually a very fine foreign policy thinker, has a piece in the new issue of Foreign Policy that sort of compares Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter…and to Thomas Jefferson in his attitudes about America’s place in the world. I don’t find it very convincing. Here’s Mead’s definition of a Jeffersonian foreign

Obama’s “Pep Talk”

President Barack Obama journeyed to Capitol Hill for a rare Sunday visit as the Senate pushed through the weekend on health care reform. The president spent more than 40 minutes rallying the Senate Democratic caucus, underlining to them the importance of passing a bill not only to the economy, but to the 2010 elections and “the …

Congress’s Tepid Reaction to Obama’s Afghanistan Plan

Congressional reaction to the 30,000-troop surge in Afganistan was as tepid as President Obama’s West Point speech. As details of the plan leaked out throughout the day — with more than 30 members traveling to the White House to be personally briefed — few spoke with passion: no one – including Obama – mentioned human rights, the …

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The Wrong Word

Over at the Commentary blog, Max Boot notes that even the gung-ho U.S. special forces seem “a bit worn down and pessimistic” in recent conversations he’s had with them about the situation in Afghanistan. I’ve had similar conversations with rank-and-file members of the U.S. military recently–in part, because they’re not sure that this …

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