‘Opinion’ Articles
The state of our ‘union’
We will see if his aspirations are more successful in the next 10 months. But the contrast between the president's State of the Union speech last night and the endless round of Republican debates was remarkable. It was Obama at his best — earnest, high-minded and hopeful (despite three years of evidence suggesting the contrary) for a union of [...]
SOTU response
Once again President Obama’s style was polished; yet his substance was tarnished. In what felt like a rerun of last year’s SOTU, in which the president portrayed himself as a free marketer while championing more top-down, big-government spending projects, the president again spoke out of both sides of his mouth. As in the past, Obama talked [...]
Tea Party totalitarianism: What’s next for Rick Perry?
“Come and take it” — Texas flag at the Battle of Gonzales, March 1831Rick Perry takes it back to Texas. He might run again for governor. He should. As Steve Forbes says, he's a great governor with great ideas. I'd make the case that his poor performance in the presidential race is a credit to him as a Texan and as a Texas governor. He feels [...]
‘No juice’ Obama
I have to hand it to President Obama, he talks a good game. That teleprompter can help a man work wonders with the spoken word.It's evident I don't care much for the president's policies, but there's good reason. And nowhere is that more evident than with Obama's approach to energy.Last night, the president revisited the importance of home-grown [...]
Obama’s unfair tax plan
Tax fairness is the campaign theme for the State of the Union political theater, yet what is being proposed doesn’t seem very fair. According to the Census Bureau, 48.6 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some sort of taxpayer assistance, and USA Today reports that only 54 percent of the people who file tax returns end up [...]
The meaning of ‘despicable’
“deserving to be despised : so worthless or obnoxious as to rouse moral indignation Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press: despicable: adjective deserving hatred and contempt. (–– origin C16: from late L. despicabilis, from despicari ‘look down on’.) In the debate in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich [...]
Engagement with the Arab world
The United States has advocated democratic and liberal reforms in the Middle East for over half a century. Sometimes it has worked behind the scenes. Other times, it has been out in front, trying to catalyze change.Whatever the strategy, U.S. policymakers have repeatedly found their efforts stymied by the grip of longstanding authoritarian [...]
NEWS FLASH: Newt is not the nominee
Saturday’s primary in South Carolina rocked the entire field. No doubt about it. But let’s not get carried away, folks. Yes, Newt Gingrich won handily with 40 percent of the vote. But now that the hangover has passed, let’s put the South Carolina primary in perspective.A few hundred thousand votes in arguably one of the most conservative [...]
