Overview for News

Gitmo: Ideology First, Security Second

The news of President Obama’s Executive Order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year – with all the headaches and risks that entails – recalled to mind an episode from more than five years ago, when I served on the National Security Council staff of President …

Written by Michael Anton on Thursday January 22, 2009

Good News Gop: Barbara Boxer Is Beatable In 2010

At last some good news for the GOP: Uber-liberal California Senator Barbara Boxer is shaping up to be surprisingly vulnerable in 2010. Never wildly popular, the recent December, 2008 Survey USA poll confirms Boxer's longtime inability to inspire the electorate as a problem solver. The junior …

Written by Larry Greenfield on Thursday January 22, 2009

Is The Research Triangle The Next Northern Virginia?

1996 was a big Democratic year. Bill Clinton won nationwide by a near-landslide 8.5% margin over Bob Dole. Yet Bob Dole won North Carolina by a comfortable 4.7% margin. Republican strength in North Carolina looks even more impressive when we consider the candidates. The Democratic ticket consisted …

Written by FF Political Report on Thursday January 22, 2009

Bush Could Learn From Carter

Call it a hunch, but I bet that George W. Bush doesn’t like my old boss, Jimmy Carter, very much. That doesn’t mean, however, that Bush can’t learn something important from Carter. Defeated for reelection in 1980, Jimmy Carter left office with an approval rating of only …

Written by Les Francis on Thursday January 22, 2009

The Village Smithy's Kalashnikov

You often read that a Pashtun village blacksmith can make his own AK-47. This is not quite right. Kalashnikov rifles are not high-technology devices. Invented in the 1940s in the Soviet Union, designed for durability rather than precision, as originally conceived they relied on technologies …

Written by J. Moses Browning on Thursday January 22, 2009

Grateful... And Joyous

John S. Gardner joined those gathered at Andrews AFB yesterday to bid former President Bush and Mrs. Bush farewell on their way to their new life in Dallas . On a normal day, you hear the helicopters first. The sound is unmistakable and provides the signal that the President is approaching.…

Written by John S. Gardner on Wednesday January 21, 2009

Thinking Ahead On Retirement Security

One of the principal fiscal and policy challenges facing the nation is the aging of the population. Social Security faces significant funding shortfalls – and Medicare even larger – while traditional defined benefit pensions are disappearing and 401(k) plans face many challenges in …

Written by Andrew Biggs on Wednesday January 21, 2009

Reading Obama 4

Listening to Obama, I often think of the nervous comment of Michael Banks when he meets Disney’s Mary Poppins for the first time. “We better keep an eye on this one. She’s tricky.” Here’s Obama at his trickiest: "Nor is the question before us whether the market …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday January 21, 2009

Reading Obama 3

Obama surely ranks as one of the more intelligent presidents. Reading his books though it becomes clear that his intelligence is more that of a poet than an intellectual. He recoils from the rigors of logical reasoning. Rather than choose between alternatives, he invents beautiful verbal formulas …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday January 21, 2009

What Keeps Obama Up At Night?

Did President-elect Obama schedule his resignation from the Senate in order to shut down an embarrassing investigation of his personal finances by the Senate Ethics Committee? This is a question the new President has at least temporarily suppressed as he embarks on what he himself has pledged …

Written by Moira Bagley on Wednesday January 21, 2009

Writing History's Wrongs

Note to President Bush: Beware of finding comfort in hopes that history will look back on you favorably; if you don't take care for your historical narrative while in office, no one will bother to give you credit later. As the great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, I know. Hoover's stubborn …

Written by Margaret Hoover on Tuesday January 20, 2009

Will The French Declare The "big Mac" A Mystery Too?

When em> Le Monde

Written by Jean Granville on Tuesday January 20, 2009

The Republican Party Is On The Precipice Of Irrelevance...

I believe the Republican Party is on the precipice of irrelevance if it cannot rebuild a respect for civil debate-including self-criticism. The formation of powerful ideas requires the push and pull of varying viewpoints testing and informing one another. The litmus test politics that has …

Written by Michael K Powell on Monday January 19, 2009

Economic Policy in the Rear-View Mirror - Grading the Bush Terms

It’s that time again. The term has ended and grades are due. The arrival of the Obama Administration is a natural moment to look back and assess the economic policy legacy of the Bush Administration, especially with an eye toward learning from mistakes of the past. At least in my mind, …

Written by Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Monday January 19, 2009

How Republicans Can Reconnect With Independents And Win In The Northeast Again

The 2008 election showed Republicans playing to an ever-shrinking base and in the process of becoming a regional party, without a single congressman in the entire region of New England – the party's historic home. Ten years ago, before the Bush/Cheney/Rove/DeLay-era, centrist Republican …

Written by John Avlon on Monday January 19, 2009

The Village Smithy's Kalashnikov

You often read that a Pashtun village blacksmith can make his own AK-47. This is not quite right. Kalashnikov rifles are not high-technology devices. Invented in the 1940s in the Soviet Union, designed for durability rather than precision, as originally conceived they relied on technologies that a …

Written by J. Moses Browning on Wednesday January 14, 2009

The Right Time For The Right Books

From the spring of 2003 until the spring of 2007, I ran American Compass, a commercial book club that was part of the same company that operates Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Guild, the History Book Club, andÑat the timeÑmore than 30 others. I'd been a senior editor at Bantam Books and HarperCol…

Written by Brad Miner on Wednesday January 14, 2009

The Kids Aren't Alright: Youthful, S/w/m Exuberant Seeks Conservative Party, Answers. Serious Inquiries Only.

I was born during Jimmy Carter's last week in the White House. As such, I mercifully can't/don't have to remember anything about the man, those wide-as-a-Buick lapels he wore, or the stagflation over which he presided. I also don't remember much about Ronald Reagan other than he had a warm, …

Written by Cheves Ligon on Wednesday January 14, 2009

Cultural Moderates And The Republican Coalition

Is it possible to be less than conservative on social issues and still be a part of the Republican coalition? Of course it is. Many voters, such as myself, vote GOP for the fiscal conservatism the party has traditionally espoused. The last several years has shaken that somewhat, but fiscal …

Written by David Kirkpatrick on Wednesday January 14, 2009

When They Win, They Win; But When They Lose

When they win, they win; but when they lose… It's always possible to win a battle and lose a campaign. Or to win the battle in such a way that the victor ends up so badly hurt, or so narrowly in charge, that in the long run it scarcely counts as a victory. Think of Bunker Hill. Think of …

Written by Allen Guelzo on Wednesday January 14, 2009