Let Bankruptcy Courts Change Mortgages By Froma Harrop
Let bankruptcy courts modify the terms of home mortgages, says President Obama and legislation now before Congress. Banks don't like the idea, but it's a good one, possibly even for them.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
February 24, 2009
February 22, 2009
Bad Times Visit Our Betters in Europe By Debra J. Saunders
LONDON -- Think that credit collapse that triggered the Bush administration's $700 billion bank bailout was necessary because of Republican hostility to regulation and the ineptness of President George W. Bush?
February 21, 2009
Count on the Constitution By Michael Barone
All of America was watching Barack Obama on Jan. 20 as he promised to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." But few thought that, within a month, controversy would arise over the Constitution's census clause.
February 20, 2009
Not Your Father's Democratic Congress By Rhodes Cook
The last two Democratic presidents have a lot in common. Like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama is a gifted 40-something politician, a strong orator with a high likeability quotient, and a successful candidate who captured the White House by running on a platform offering big change. And like Clinton, Obama begins his administration blessed with large Democratic majorities at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
February 20, 2009
Senate 2010: A Three-Peat for Democrats or Comeback for the GOP? By Larry J. Sabato
Last week in the Crystal Ball , we looked at the historical background of off-year Senate elections and laid the groundwork for the earliest possible projection of the 36 contests on the ballot in 2010. This week we call the Senate roll among sitting Democrats to see who appears safe and who might be in trouble. Next week, in our final round-up, the Republican seats will be under the microscope.
February 19, 2009
Latino-American Dream on Hold By Froma Harrop
Open most any urban newspaper to the foreclosure notices, and you'll find the list heavy with Hispanic names. Times are tough for Americans of every demographic, but for Latinos they are grimmer still.
February 19, 2009
There Was No GOP "Victory" By Joe Conason
With President Obama's signature affixed to the economic stimulus bill, his landmark victory can be put in proper political context. Regardless of that bill's manifest imperfections and the messy legislative process, the new administration achieved a difficult objective on the tightest possible schedule.
February 19, 2009
The Celtic Tiger Hits Bad Times By Debra J. Saunders
The unemployment rate in Ireland is 9.2 percent and expected to climb, perhaps as high as 15 percent. A real estate market that, according to Bloomberg, quadrupled from 1997 to 2007, is crashing.
February 18, 2009
With All Due Respect By Susan Estrich
The purpose of being a columnist is not to win friends. It is not to provoke silent nods of agreement. The goal is to strike a chord, hit a nerve -- which is to say, at least sometimes, make people mad. Controversy is good, not bad.
February 18, 2009
Obama's Governing Style By Tony Blankley
In the Middle Ages, when a young prince suddenly and prematurely became king, the royal court, the church leadership and other senior aristocrats would scrutinize his every word and habit for signs of what kind of mind would be deciding their country's fate and their personal prosperity and safety.
February 17, 2009
Will Obama Cross the 'Reefer Rubicon'? By Froma Harrop
The War on Drugs is ridiculous, behold the storm over Michael Phelps' partaking of marijuana, an illegal substance that at least two presidents have used.
February 14, 2009
The Real Lessons of the Great Depression By Michael Barone
"Not since the Great Depression." "Not since the 1930s." You hear those phrases a lot these days, and with some reason. As Congress prepares to pass the Democratic stimulus package, it may be worthwhile to look back at Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and consider how well it worked as policy -- and politically.
February 13, 2009
Mr. Credibility By Debra J. Saunders
Quoth President Obama: "It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package, after they've presided over a doubling of the national debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility."
February 13, 2009
Live to Risk By Susan Estrich
Why would someone risk his life by, as the LA Times described, "extending his body away from a motorcycle and grabbing the seat as the motorcycle is upside down, then pulling back aboard as the motorcycle is righted before landing"? Or not. In which case, as it was with 24-year-old Jeremy Lusk, he ends up dead.
February 13, 2009
The False Hope of Bipartisanship By Alan Abramowitz
It's not a matter of "if." It's a matter of "when." As in, when will all of the feel-good rhetoric about Democrats and Republicans joining hands to solve the nation's problems come to an end and open partisan warfare resume in Washington?
February 13, 2009
Senate 2010 By Larry J. Sabato
It's never too early for the Crystal Ball to look ahead to the next election. But unlike the Wizard of Oz's phony orb (when he's still the Kansas medicine man who peeks into Dorothy's purse for photos of Auntie Em), we try to run an honest Ball.
February 12, 2009
The Harder They Fall By Debra J. Saunders
I ran into a friend in Sacramento Tuesday -- one of the many disappointed Republicans who inhabit the capital -- who told me that he will never again vote for a candidate for governor who has not lost an election. He had soured on the lack of humility invasive in state politics.
February 12, 2009
Is Tim Geithner Ready for Prime Time? By Lawrence Kudlow
The day after President Obama's big news conference, and on the day Treasury man Tim Geithner unveiled his Bank Bailout Nation TARP III Plan, stock markets plunged in a vote of no-confidence, with the Dow dropping nearly 400 points.
February 12, 2009
The Old Folks Are Doing OK By Froma Harrop
"Round up everybody that can ride a horse or pull a trigger," John Wayne says in "Chisum." "Let's break out some Winchesters."
February 12, 2009
Stronger, Please, Mr. President By Joe Conason
Having allowed his Republican opponents to dominate the economic debate for two weeks as his stimulus proposal languished, President Obama used his first news conference to rebut them -- coolly and civilly, yet without leaving any doubt that he can strike back harder if necessary.
