Overview for David Frum in Print

Prelude to Republican Fratricide

GOP candidates in New York and New Jersey should be cruising to victory this November. But angry conservatives would rather hand power to Democrats than help moderate Republicans win. At the beginning of the summer, most observers expected Republicans to win all three of the big elections on Nov. …

Written by David Frum on Thursday October 22, 2009

How Will Great Recession Shape Youth?

The generation that endured the Great Depression was shaped by it. They felt little patience for the next generation when it began to demand creativity and self-expression at work. Will this Great Recession have an equal cultural effect? If you are over 30, be grateful. Tough as this recession is …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 17, 2009

Will Peace Prize Handcuff President When Time Comes for An Air Strike?

Barack Obama might have benefited had the Nobel prize gone to someone else. The prize functions, as one contributor to my NewMajority website quipped, as a form of "preventive diplomacy": a pre-emptive intervention against possible future military actions by the Obama administration. From the age …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 10, 2009

The Trillion-Dollar Tedium of Health Reform

Crucial decisions are being made on health reform, with vast amounts of money and power at stake. Too bad the public won't know what's been decided until after the fact. Medieval barons ruled by the edge of the sword; Chinese emperors by the mandate of heaven. In modern America, power goes to …

Written by David Frum on Thursday October 8, 2009

America's Private Sector Era is Over

The U. S. private economy continued its horrifying downward trajectory in the second quarter of the year. Private investment in everything except housing dropped 9.6%. The great thing about the Obama administration is that it's full of former academics. Of all the world's occupations, academics …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 3, 2009

Obama's Cynical Afghan Ploy

As a candidate, Barack Obama demanded that we commit ourselves to the "real war" in Afghanistan. Now that he's in office, is he about to declare "mission accomplished?" Those hints we keep hearing from the Oval Office—could they be a warning of the most breathtakingly cynical about-face in recent …

Written by David Frum on Thursday October 1, 2009

More Regulation Isn't the Only Answer

We are in danger of learning the wrong lessons from the banking crisis. Are we in danger of learning the wrong lessons from the banking crisis? President Obama is pushing for tighter regulation of U.S. banking -- maybe to look more like Canadian banking, which has largely escaped the current …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 30, 2009

Obama Heads for Foreign Policy Disaster

Despite the domestic focus of these early months of his presidency, Barack Obama thinks of himself as a foreign policy thinker above all, according to those who know him best. His confidence is undiminished by his lack of experience and credentials, and that confidence continues to flourish despite …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 17, 2009

Israel - Denounced for What It Is

Activists are calling for a boycott of the Toronto International Film Festival which is screening films from Israel. Anti-Israel protests, however, are not aimed at altering Israel’s behavior. Singling out Israel is a goal in itself. The Toronto International Film Festival will this year feature a …

Written by David Frum on Sunday September 13, 2009

Obama Must Face Reality

President Obama will try to rescue his health reform plans with a big speech to a joint session of Congress. But it will take more than a speech. Obama’s health reforms can only succeed if he jettisons the bad approach foisted on him by liberal House Democrats and builds a broad national …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 7, 2009

Four Simple Steps to Health Care Reform

In an effort to seal a deal on healthcare reform, President Obama may just be on the brink of giving up on a government insurance plan. But much of the reform comes down to individuals. How much does health care matter, really? The numbers suggest that for most of us individual behaviors matter …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 2, 2009

Qaddafi's Gift to Obama

My latest column in The Week tries to analyze what we know - and what we have yet to learn - about the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber. Luckily for President Obama, nobody is asking many questions on this side of the Atlantic. Or more exactly: nobody is asking any of the questions that …

Written by David Frum on Thursday August 27, 2009

Biggest Stimulus, Slowest Recovery

The Obama administration has borrowed more money and then spent it later, with less economic benefit, and more political calculation, than the government of any other major economy. Country by country, America’s misery is losing company. The recession has ended in Germany and France. Japan too. …

Written by David Frum on Thursday August 20, 2009

Still the Best Healthcare in the World

Fear of the loss of American medicine at its best is what is riling the town halls. Americans like what they have. They worry that it cannot continue. And they correctly surmise that a president with other spending priorities seeks to take it away. A pregnant American arrives at her doctor’s …

Written by David Frum on Friday August 14, 2009

The Reckless Right Courts Violence

Hysterical talk from TV and radio hosts may be a cynical marketing exercise. But it's getting too dangerous to ignore. A man bearing a sidearm appears outside President Obama's Aug. 11 town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., under a sign proclaiming, "It is time to water the tree of liberty." …

Written by David Frum on Thursday August 13, 2009

The Lunacy of the Birthers

The birthers claim that President Obama is not legally entitled to occupy his office because he is not in fact a “natural-born citizen” of the U.S., as the federal Constitution requires. This claim rests on two assertions, one wrong, one crazy. It used to be tough and unrewarding to be a crank. …

Written by David Frum on Saturday August 8, 2009

Has Obama Turned His Back on Dissidents?

Soon after coming to office in 1981, President Reagan issued an order. At every meeting with Soviet officials, American officials were to begin by posing a question: "How is Natan Sharansky's health?" Soon after coming to office in 1981, President Reagan issued an order. At every meeting with …

Written by David Frum on Friday August 7, 2009

The GOP's Same Old Tax Cut Refrain

Mortimer Zuckerman published an alarming essay in The Wall Street Journal this week. Among the dismal economic numbers he highlighted was this one, which was especially painful and poignant to those of us who served in the Bush administration: The total number of jobs lost since the onset of …

Written by David Frum on Thursday July 16, 2009

Bring on Stimulus II

In February, Obama offered voters a deal: If they would accept a massive increase in government spending and debt, he would hold unemployment below 8%. It's now 9.5% and still rising. There was a saying last year: "Flat is the new up." This year's saying: "Less bad than feared" is the new …

Written by David Frum on Monday July 13, 2009

Damaged Goods

Sarah Palin may yet try a run for the presidency in 2012. But if her political career is not quite ended, it now seems headed nowhere positive. Sarah Palin said on Friday that her decision to resign as Governor had been in the works "for a while" and "after much consideration." In that case, you …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 5, 2009