Tag Archives | Barack Obama

Why Are We So Uneasy About 9/11?

Feature Article by , September 12, 2017

I didn’t plan to write anything for the anniversary of 9/11 this year, because I figure we’re at the point where we save the extended analysis for round-number anniversaries. It’s something I care about deeply, as longtime readers know, but they will also know that I have written a great deal about that attack and […]

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The Constitution Is Foolproof, But It Isn’t Damned Fool Proof

Feature Article by , May 17, 2017

Let’s start at the beginning: our president is a fool. President Trump has been in office long enough to demonstrate a chronic lack of elementary prudence or any shred of self-discipline. He has a knack for constantly creating crises by his own recklessness. He does things like set off totally unnecessary tensions with South Korea […]

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Our Multiple-Choice Strategy in Syria

Feature Article by , April 9, 2017

The United States has launched air strikes against the Syrian regime, but do we have a strategy for Syria yet? Judging from the past few days, we have too many. Launching a couple dozen missiles to blow up a runway at an airbase controlled by the regime may or may not sound impressive, but in […]

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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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