Obama and Kagan Whisper in the Faculty Lounge By Michael Barone
Professor chooses professor. That's one headline you could write about Barack Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
Commentary by Michael Barone
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May 13, 2010
May 11, 2010
In Britain, a Cautionary Tale for U.S. Parties By Michael Barone
LONDON -- We Americans may have declared our independence from Britain in 1776, but there are still similar rhythms in British and American politics. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan both came to power amid the ruins of the 1970s and restored their nations' economies and spirits in the 1980s. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair both developed "third-way" politics that transformed unelectable left parties into center-left political colossuses in the 1990s.
May 7, 2010
In Downcast Britain, a Pox on All Three Parties By Michael Barone
British voters go to the polls today, and it appears likely that they will boot out the party in power for only the second time in 31 years. Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives ousted a Labor government in May 1979, and Tony Blair's "New Labor" party ousted the Conservatives in May 1997.
May 3, 2010
The Left Loses Its Way by Abandoning 'Third Way' By Michael Barone
Left parties are in trouble in the Anglosphere. Here in America, Democrats are doing worse in the polls than at any time in the last 50 years.
April 29, 2010
After Policy Stumbles, Obama Turns to Politics By Michael Barone
Setting legislative priorities has been one of the chief tasks of American presidents for the past century. Sometimes, they concentrate on changing public policy. At other times, they highlight issues for political reasons, with an eye to the next election.
April 26, 2010
Hold the VAT -- Taxpayers May Prefer Spending Cuts By Michael Barone
The Obama Democrats' stealth strategy for increasing the size and scope of the federal government is well underway, despite huge voter backlash. Federal spending has been increased from a 30-year average of 21 percent of gross domestic product to 25 percent, and a bipartisan commission tasked with reducing the deficit may recommend tax increases.
April 22, 2010
Gangster Government Becomes a Long-Running Series By Michael Barone
Almost a year ago, in a Washington Examiner column on the Chrysler bailout, I reflected on the Obama administration's decision to force bondholders to accept 33 cents on the dollar on secured debts while giving United Auto Worker retirees 50 cents on the dollar on unsecured debts.
April 19, 2010
Tea Partiers Fight Obama's Culture of Dependence By Michael Barone
"Do you realize," CNN's Susan Roesgen asked a man at the April 15, 2009, tea party in Chicago, "that you're eligible for a $400 credit?" When the man refused to drop his "drop socialism" sign, she went on, "Did you know that the state of Lincoln gets 50 billion out of the stimulus?"
April 15, 2010
GOP Should Push Tough Regulation of Wall Street By Michael Barone
It's not hard to predict how the coming fight over financial regulation legislation will be framed by most of the mainstream media. Democrats like Christopher Dodd, the sponsor of the pending Senate bill, will be portrayed as cracking down on greedy Wall Street operators. Republicans will be portrayed as letting Wall Street operators have their way.
April 12, 2010
Obamacare Will Be at Center of High Court Hearing By Michael Barone
The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens means that in coming months we'll have another hearing on a Supreme Court nominee. But it's not likely to be the sort of hearing we got used to in the two decades after Edward Kennedy declared war on Robert Bork in 1987.
April 9, 2010
Losing the Stomach for Humanitarian Interventions By Michael Barone
Over the last two decades, the United States has intervened militarily in several countries to protect human rights. Now, writes historian Mark Mazower in World Affairs, "the concept of humanitarian intervention is dying if not dead." And a good thing, too, he concludes.
April 5, 2010
Under Obama, a diminished sense of opportunity By Michael Barone
Last summer, I wrote a column framed as a letter to a young Obama voter. It concluded: "You want policies that will enable you to choose your future. Obama backs policies that would let centralized authorities choose much of your future for you. Is this the hope and change you want?"
April 1, 2010
Tea Partiers Embrace Liberty, Not Big Government By Michael Barone
Over the past 14 months, our political debate has been transformed into an argument between the heirs of two fundamental schools of political thought, the Founders and the Progressives.
March 29, 2010
Obama Slights Our Friends, Kowtows to Our Enemies By Michael Barone
Barack Obama's decision to postpone his trip to Indonesia and Australia -- to a democracy with the world's largest Muslim population and to the only nation that has fought alongside us in all the wars of the last century -- is of a piece with his foreign policy generally: attack America's friends and kowtow to our enemies.
March 27, 2010
Bond Markets Reflect the True Cost of Obamacare By Michael Barone
Not many people noticed amid the Democrats' struggle to jam their health care bill through the House, but in recent weeks U.S. Treasury bonds have lost their status as the world's safest investment.
March 22, 2010
Health Plan Means Bigger Deficits and Higher Taxes By Michael Barone
As this is written, the lobbying of House Democrats on the health care bill is going on apace, and every hour brings news of another no vote converted to yes, or a yes vote switching to no.
March 19, 2010
What's Good for House Leaders Is Bad for Members By Michael Barone
The Democratic leadership's struggle to pass the Senate health care bill in the House looks like a great case study for political scientists. They have many examples of the leaders of a party majority trying to push controversial legislation through a balky chamber.
March 15, 2010
Tea Party Brings Energy, Change and Tumult to GOP By Michael Barone
The political commentariat doesn't know what to make of those thousands of Americans who have spontaneously thronged to tea parties and town hall meetings to oppose the big government programs of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders.
March 11, 2010
Dems Are Stuck With a Mess of Their Own Making By Michael Barone
There's a lively debate going on in the blogosphere and the press about whether Democrats would be better off passing or not passing a health care bill.
March 9, 2010
Low-Tax Texas Beats Big-Government California By Michael Barone
"Stop messing with Texas!" That was the message Gov. Rick Perry bellowed on election night as he celebrated his victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor. In his reference to Texas' anti-littering slogan, Perry was making a point applicable to national as well as Texas politics and addressed to Democratic politicians as well as Republicans.
