People make bad choices. It happens to individuals, it happens to nations. For some reason, Americans have given a failed President a second term. Those who elected him, and Mr. Obama himself, are convinced that all of his past and present troubles should rightly be laid at the feet of former ... Continue reading
Another ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Moment?
November 5, 2012 By
In the months leading up to the 1948 US presidential elections, incumbent Harry S Truman was routinely predicted as having no chance of defeating his challenger, Thomas Dewey. On the night before election day, every single one of the political reporters who had been with Truman as he campaigned back ... Continue reading
Four More Years?
September 6, 2012 By
The President's acceptance speech tonight can be summed up very simply: "I have faith in America; if Americans put their faith in me, things will get better. Cross my heart."Left unexplained is why, if Barack Obama is re-elected, the next four years should be any different from the past four ... Continue reading
Hoping for change
November 2, 2010 By
Americans disillusioned today with the president for his health-care legislation, his refusal to extend his predecessor's tax cuts, his support for cap and trade, his ties to labor unions and groups such as Acorn, and his belief in the regulatory state, can't honestly say that they were promised ... Continue reading
Fine young cannibals
March 10, 2009 By 6 Comments
"Today, with the executive order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for, and fought for, these past eight years: we will lift the ban on federal funding for promising embryonic stem cell ... Continue reading
Street dreams
November 1, 2008 By
My boyhood, and the Arab political culture I have been chronicling for well over three decades, are anchored in the Arab world. And the tragedy of Arab political culture has been the unending expectation of the crowd — the street, we call it — in the redeemer who will put an end to the decline, who ... Continue reading
Christianity and racial politics
October 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
In both 2000 and 2004, the most reliable indicator of a voter's support for one presidential candidate or the other was that voter's commitment, or lack thereof, to religious faith. Most pundits were predicting a similar result this year, which explains the massive effort by the Democratic party to ... Continue reading
Moral politics is no oxymoron
October 2, 2008 By
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody ... Continue reading
