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Category Archives: Columns
Inflexible GOP Should Listen to Reagan on Debt – CNN.com
As the debt-ceiling deadline ticks closer, conservatives in Congress are fighting among themselves. The civil war is between responsible Republicans and extreme ideologues. The question is whether the collateral damage will include the American economy. House Speaker John Boehner abruptly … Continue reading
Our Stupid Self-Inflicted Debt Crisis – CNN.com
Let me get this straight. The people who have been preaching the most about the dangers of American decline are right now helping to hasten American decline. Because if America defaults on its debt, not only will we find ourselves … Continue reading
The Web’s Stealth Presidential Race – The Daily Beast
magine what our election system might look like if it were designed today: No Byzantine electoral college, no long lines on a random Tuesday, no closed primaries that force candidates into the arms of their party’s special interests. Modern Madisons … Continue reading
Good news: The Gang of Six is back – CNN.com
That’s thanks to the Lazarus-like resurgence of the Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of senators who have been working tirelessly to come up with a balanced plan to restore our nation to fiscal responsibility. Washington’s professional partisans and cynical … Continue reading
Where the GOP Went Wrong on Deficits and Debt – The Daily Beast
When did fiscal responsibility and fiscal conservatism get de-linked? That is the key question that underlies the fault lines in the current GOP civil war, playing out over the debt-ceiling debate as every day we get closer to default. It’s too simple … Continue reading
GOP’s Debt Kamikazes – The Daily Beast
Call them Debt Ceiling Deniers. Believers in faith-based fiscal policy. Math-challenged cause-and-effect-skeptics. And an uncomfortable chunk of the GOP’s 2012 contenders. The costs of courting conservative populists should be clearer than ever to reality-based fiscal conservatives inside the Republican Party. Their … Continue reading
In Debt Talks, Obama as Grown-Up in the Room – CNN.com
The enemy of problem-solving in politics is ideological inflexibility. That is the case President Obama made to the American people on Monday as ongoing debt and deficit talks try to stop the nation from default on August 2. The president … Continue reading
‘Palm-gate’ proves centrists’ Palin doubts – CNN.com
She was caught red-handed. The surreal scene of Sarah Palin referring to notes written on her palm during a Q&A session after her speech at the National Tea Party convention has validated skeptics even as it’s been dismissed by her … Continue reading
Our Pathetic Debt Debate – The Daily Beast
A cataclysmic game of chicken. Negotiating with a gun to your head. A Thelma & Louise-style full throttle off a cliff. The dire metaphors for the debt-ceiling debate proliferate as we get closer to the August 2nd due date.
Birth of a Nation – The Daily Beast
A new nation was born today, as the Republic of South Sudan officially became the 193rd country on earth. But the joyous celebration in the new capital city of Juba should not cause observers to think that the struggle for … Continue reading
In 2011, It’s Truly Independents Day – CNN.com
Our first president, George Washington said, “I was no party man myself, and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to reconcile them.” His vice president, John Adams, once wrote, “There is nothing which I dread … Continue reading
Clinton to Obama: ‘Don’t Blink’ – The Daily Beast
There were lines outside the big tent where Bill Clinton spoke an hour before he was set to begin. A seminar on “The Future of Cancer” was his warm-up act. When he took the stage, spillover crowds were placed in … Continue reading
Has the Third Party’s Moment Arrived? – The Daily Beast
Independence Day came a few days early this year, as columnist and author Tom Friedman declared his support for a third party at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “We need a third party. I am for a third party,” Friedman said to … Continue reading
New York Passes Gay Marriage: This Is the Tipping Point – The Daily Beast
If you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. Celebrations erupted in the streets of New York after the Empire State became the sixth and largest state in the nation to legalize same sex marriage after weeks of gridlock … Continue reading
In GOP Presidential Field, Only Three Are for Real – CNN.com
There are three ways to run for president these days. The first is to run to promote yourself. The second is to run to promote ideas. The third is to actually run for president of the United States. The Republican … Continue reading
Obama Speech Looks Toward 2012 – The Daily Beast
President Obama wore the mantle of commander in chief with uncharacteristic ease in his prime-time East Room address announcing the end of the surge in Afghanistan. The theme was “promises kept.” The frame was America 10 years after the attacks … Continue reading
Huntsman the Dark Horse – The Daily Beast
It’s so crazy, it just might work. Jon Huntsman is set to officially announce his run for the presidency today in sight of the Statue of Liberty, where the Gipper kicked off his fall campaign in 1980. The Reagan homage … Continue reading
The Religious Right Is the GOP’s New Norm – The Daily Beast
Some surprises in the first New Hampshire GOP debate—Mitt Romney avoided taking fire as the front-runner and Michele Bachmann exceeded (admittedly low) expectations. While GOP field is united on fiscal issues and predictably quick to declare President Obama a “failure,” … Continue reading
‘Live Free or Die’ state good test for GOP – CNN.com
It makes sense that the first major Republican debate is going to be held Monday night in New Hampshire. The Granite State is the best test of general election appeal of any presidential candidate before Super Tuesday. That’s because New … Continue reading
Sex scandals turning into civic problem – CNN.com
Really? Another ambitious politician is laid low by personal behavior that would make a drunk frat-boy think twice. What’s with these people? At this point, Americans are scandalized but unsurprised. Political sex scandals feel like giddy new installments of reality … Continue reading