Overview for National Post Archive

Canada's Uneasy Quiet

My column in today's National Post expresses worry whether Canada's relative prosperity can continue to survive global economic turbulence: Canada increased its exports by $26.7-billion in 2010 over 2009. Almost 80% of that increase was driven by sales of automotive products into the U.S. …

Written by David Frum on Saturday August 6, 2011

Will America’s Debt Crisis have Canadian Aftershocks?

If worse comes to worst, here’s a question that few in Washington are asking: What will a U.S. default mean for Canada? Republicans and Democrats probably will reach a deal to pay America’s bills before the U.S. government runs out of cash at the end of July. Probably. But if worse comes …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 16, 2011

Obama Falls for Abbas' Bluff

Holding the geopolitical equivalent of a pair of twos and a pair of threes, the Palestinian Authority President has bluffed and bullied Obama into an awkward predicament. Mahmoud Abbas must be a very good poker player. Or else Barack Obama must be a very bad one. Holding the geopolitical …

Written by David Frum on Saturday May 28, 2011

The Glorious Life of Arnold Beichman

Since his death on Feb. 17 at age 96, the tributes have flowed to Arnold Beichman, the legendary anti-communist journalist. Since his death on Feb. 17 at age 96, the tributes have flowed to Arnold Beichman, the legendary anti-communist journalist. But there is one aspect of Arnold's life that …

Written by David Frum on Saturday March 6, 2010

The Glorious Life of Arnold Beichman

Since his death on Feb. 17 at age 96, the tributes have flowed to Arnold Beichman, the legendary anti-communist journalist. Since his death on Feb. 17 at age 96, the tributes have flowed to Arnold Beichman, the legendary anti-communist journalist. But there is one aspect of Arnold's life that …

Written by David Frum on Saturday March 6, 2010

Something's Seriously Wrong at York University

Next week, Canada’s York University will open its halls and classrooms to “Israel Apartheid Week” allowing militants and activists to use taxpayer-funded facilities to vilify the Jewish state. But for those who would defend Israel, the university sets very different rules. Next week, York …

Written by David Frum on Saturday February 27, 2010

Something's Seriously Wrong at York University

Next week, Canada’s York University will open its halls and classrooms to “Israel Apartheid Week” allowing militants and activists to use taxpayer-funded facilities to vilify the Jewish state. But for those who would defend Israel, the university sets very different rules. Next week, York …

Written by David Frum on Saturday February 27, 2010

Still Waiting for the Obama Recovery

The most important statement of the week was not President Obama's State of the Union address, but rather the warning from Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office that unemployment will hover around 10% through 2010, and only slowly decline thereafter. The most important …

Written by David Frum on Saturday January 30, 2010

Still Waiting for the Obama Recovery

The most important statement of the week was not President Obama's State of the Union address, but rather the warning from Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office that unemployment will hover around 10% through 2010, and only slowly decline thereafter. The most important …

Written by David Frum on Saturday January 30, 2010

Twelve Months of Fizzle

Obama bet his Presidency on economic remedies, and 12 months into that Presidency, those remedies have not yielded perceptible positive results. Barack Obama's first year in office may well be marked by an epic political disaster: an upset Senate victory for Republicans. The Massachusetts seat …

Written by David Frum on Monday January 18, 2010

Twelve Months of Fizzle

Obama bet his Presidency on economic remedies, and 12 months into that Presidency, those remedies have not yielded perceptible positive results. Barack Obama's first year in office may well be marked by an epic political disaster: an upset Senate victory for Republicans. The Massachusetts seat …

Written by David Frum on Monday January 18, 2010

Saving the U.S. Economy — the Canadian Way

America’s situation today resembles Canada’s in 1992-93: a horrific recession, terrifying indebtedness, and gathering doubts about the country’s future. Barack Obama this week convened a jobs summit to discuss the awful U.S. unemployment numbers. Should the federal government hire unemployed …

Written by David Frum on Saturday December 5, 2009

Tehran's Last Chance

With their rejection of the latest offer from the IAEA, the Iranians could not make their message clearer if they had sent a crayoned letter: “We’re building a bomb — and you don’t dare stop us. Boom boom, suckers.” If Iran were a normal country, the offer would have been handsome. Iran …

Written by David Frum on Saturday November 21, 2009

Demonizing Food Corporations Won't Make America Thin Again

The fabulous productivity of modern agriculture and industry have made food more available than ever before in the history of the world. Human beings, who evolved in conditions of food scarcity, are understandably finding it difficult to adapt to these new conditions of abundance. If you were born …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 31, 2009

When Politics and Baseball Collide

At age six, my son Nathaniel discovered baseball and the New York Yankees came into our lives. In our household, there was one special complicating factor: Since the Eisenhower administration, the Yankees have never won a World Series with a Republican in the White House. If you had told me 12 …

Written by David Frum on Saturday October 24, 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

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

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

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