Tag Archives | Barack Obama

In Syria, the First Step Is Recognizing That We Have a Problem

Feature Article by , April 5, 2017

It’s really nice that everybody is all worried about Syria now, at least for the next five minutes, because Bashar Assad decided to take a break from killing his people in other ghastly ways and decided to gas them. It’s all very shocking—if you haven’t been paying any attention to Syria for the past six […]

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The Democrats’ Sad Search for an “Appalachian” Savior

Feature Article by , April 2, 2017

A little gaffe caught my eye recently that sums up the desperate state of the Democratic Party right now. It was alert from the New York Times teasing the first lines of a David Leonhardt op-ed describing Tom Perriello, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia, as a “populist former Congressman […]

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The Trump Threat Level Is: Elevated

Note by , February 15, 2017

Three weeks into the Trump administration, is the new president living down to our worst fears, or is he doing better than expected? Let me put this in terms borrowed from the old color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System. The current Trump Threat Level is: Elevated. That’s the middle level, the yellow one between High and […]

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To Dissolve the People and Elect Another

Feature Article by , January 17, 2017

Protesters against Donald Trump’s inauguration are flooding to DC and putting forth their best effort to ensure that there will be a second Trump inauguration to protest four years from now. I’m not boasting or gloating about this outcome. I didn’t want there to be a first Trump inauguration, and I probably won’t be too […]

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Democratic Party Death March

Feature Article by , December 22, 2016

Top Stories of the Year: #3 This year, I kept predicting that Donald Trump would lose the election and would drag down Republican candidates for lower offices. In my defense, I based this on polls whose results were fairly consistent, but which all turned out to be a wee bit off. In my further defense, […]

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Liberalism Is Dead, Long Live Liberalism

Feature Article by , December 20, 2016

Top Stories of the Year: #5 It’s time to count down the top five stories of the year, looking back at the big events of 2016 and reviewing my coverage of them. We’ll start the countdown with #5, a continuation of a long-running story, but one that reached new milestones this year: the ongoing death […]

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How to Repeal Obamacare: Repeal Obamacare

Feature Article by , December 12, 2016

Since the Democrats passed Obamacare in 2010, shoving it through in the face of clear public disapproval, Republicans have vowed to repeal it. They won a huge congressional victory in 2010 partly on the basis of that promise. But, they pointed out, they couldn’t repeal the law if they only controlled the House. In 2014, […]

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Trump Is Obama’s Legacy

Feature Article by , November 9, 2016

When a party loses a presidential election, especially one as eminently winnable as this, the primary blame has to go to the candidate. Hillary Clinton was a deeply flawed, uncharismatic, scandal-plagued candidate who ran a lackluster, uninspiring campaign where her main strategy was simply to run out the clock. After this, Democrats are going to […]

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Scandinavian Cultural Imperialism

Note by , October 24, 2016

I have long held the thesis that the Nobel prizes have turned into a form of Scandinavian cultural imperialism. Since they’re Scandinavian, it’s a new, passive-aggressive kind of imperialism. So I was not surprised to see the Swedes get into a snit about Bob Dylan being “impolite and arrogant” for failing to say anything to […]

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What Is the National Interest?

Feature Article by , September 15, 2016

The Road from Etchasketchistan, Part 2 A few years ago, I compared the state of our foreign policy debate to the fictional country of Etchasketchistan. It is as if the foreign policy establishment have been turned upside down and shaken, resetting the alignments that have held since 9/11, and in some cases since the end […]

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