In the ArenaUncategorized
Latest Column: The Mitt Mirage
Well, Matt Drudge has linked to this, saying Time Magazine “trashes” Romney. You be the judge…More in sadness than in anger, Matt.
Articles from Contributor
In the ArenaUncategorized
In the ArenaMideast
Enter Bibi
In the ArenaViewpoint
Lessons of 9/11: A Response to Evil
It is a perfectly beautiful morning in New York, just as it was 11 years ago today. By the end of that day, the world, as I knew it, had changed. In the small suburb where I lived, nine fathers didn’t come home that night. Our …
In the ArenaDemocratic Party
Obama Argues for a Second Term Without Closing the Deal
The President gave a fine speech Thursday night. His vision of the country is much closer to the place where I live — and, I daresay, where most Americans live — than Mitt Romney’s. It is an America that includes truck …
In the ArenaIn the Arena
Latest Column: The Press Depression
Well, everyone was feeling really bummed about the 2012 presidential campaign–BC. (Before Clinton.) And while a gust of great oratory always lifts my spirits, we still have a gridlocked political system and a fiscal cliff looming. In the two days since I wrote this column, I’ve done some reporting–the fiscal cliff seems to be Topic A …
In the ArenaConventions
The Clinton Speech
Bill Clinton talks about policy — about the substance of governing — better than any other politician I’ve ever heard. He keeps it simple and he keeps it accurate. He can make Medicare as dramatic as warfare. He did a major demolition job on the Republican Party’s economic policy on Wednesday night. He held it to the light of the …
In the ArenaConventions
The Jerusalem Controversy
Whoever took the usual language about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel out of the Democratic platform is an idiot. This is a long-time silliness that can’t really be resolved until a Middle East peace is achieved, but lip service must be paid. For what it’s worth, Jerusalem really is, most definitely, the capital of Israel. It is …
In the ArenaConventions
About Last Night: Wow
The streets and hotel corridors of Charlotte are still vibrating this morning after Michelle Obama‘s remarkable effort, the Democratic Party’s remarkable opening convention night. There was just a quantum leap of energy from the …
In the Arena2012 Election
The Race Card
According to Mr. Drudge and Real Clear Politics, I’ve advised the President to play the race card on the Chris Matthews Sunday show. I didn’t, of course. The question to the panel was whether the President was going to have to address what appears to be a growing racial bitterness in the country. My response was that he should. That’s …
In the ArenaUncategorized
What About the Veterans?
Bill Kristol is absolutely right that Mitt Romney made a major mistake last night, mentioning neither the war in Afghanistan nor the troops who have fought there and in Iraq. Kristol and I would probably disagree on Afghanistan: I think Obama has, finally, chosen the right course–get the troops out and continue the effort as a special …
In the Arena2012 Election
Latest Column: And Now The Democrats
In my print column this week, I argue that it’s time for the Democrats to abandon identity politics.
In the Arena2012 Election
The Romney Speech
I think Mitt Romney just gave a very smart speech. It wasn’t a particularly stirring one, and it was certainly as insubstantial as any I’ve ever heard. It was rhetorical comfort food, a Father Knows Best speech. And perhaps the …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Facts Are Stupid — or Maybe Stubborn — Things
It seems Paul Ryan has run into fact-checker hell after his fantastical convention speech on Wednesday night. I suspect that if Republicans have found a holy grail in President Obama’s “You didn’t build it” trope, then Democrats are finding similar succor in Mitt Romney pollster Neil Newhouse’s pronouncement that the campaign “will not …