Archive for the ‘American Politics’ Category

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 7:18pm

Why Obama Wants Democrats to Lose in November

One word:  re-election.  I know it sounds ridiculous and unbelievable to some, but President Obama does not want the Democrats to retain the House or Senate this November.  It all comes down to his bid for re-election in 2012. Quite simply:  Obama wants to run against a Republican Congress in 2012.  He needs to be able to point at someone else and blame them for his shortcomings as a leader.  Right now, he can’t do that.  If he points across the street to Capitol Hill he’s pointing directly at his Democratic brethren in the House and Senate.  Think about Bill Clinton in 1996, he had Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to demonize.  Obama needs an enemy–although he’s still trying…

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 12:15am

For the Obama Administration, the Rule of Law is Malleable (Very Malleable)

Posted by Tom Skypek in American Politics, Current Events

The Obama administration is going to sue Arizona for enforcing federal immigration law but they won’t prosecute these guys for voter intimidation? Really? It’s decisions like these that tell you everything you need to know about this administration and how they view the rule of law.

Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 10:18am

Steele’s Failed Critique Highlights Division Among Conservatives on War Strategy

In 2006, I was really pulling for Michael Steele in his battle to win a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland. Unfortunately, Ben Cardin won and Steele wound up running the Republican National Committee. Steele’s odd remarks about the war in Afghanistan have led to a growing number of calls for his resignation among prominent conservatives. The war in Afghanistan was definitely not a war of President Barack Obama’s choosing, as Steele suggested in his remarks at a Connecticut fundraiser. This factual inaccuracy made the rest of Steele’s comments seem off-the-wall, but it appears as though he was trying to challenge the president’s strategy for prosecuting the war. He just failed miserably:

Well if he’s such a…

Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9:29pm

Focus Group with Frank Luntz in Old Town Alexandria

I’ve seen Frank Luntz on TV a bunch of times and I’ve always found him to be a pretty interesting guy.  He’s definitely passionate about what he does.  Last week, I participated in a focus group with Frank at his office in Old Town Alexandria.  I was one of about 30 participants who showed up for the 3-hour session.  The subject of the evening was Israel.  It was a pretty interesting experience.  Before we started, they gave us sandwiches from Panera.  I had the smoked turkey, which was pretty solid.  Then we filled out a pretty lengthy questionnaire, watched a series of informational videos, news clips, and speeches.  We got to use those cool dials, or “Perception Analyzers,” Frank uses on TV…

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 7:23pm

National Review Institute (NRI) Washington Fellows

Recently, I found out that I was accepted into the National Review Institute’s Washington Fellows Program–a year-long program dedicated to the study of the history of the modern conservative movement.  It is truly humbling to be affiliated with the Institute that William F. Buckley, Jr. founded in 1991 to advance conservatism in the United States. For a conservative such as myself, it’s tantamount to being knighted (or at least that’s how I view it).  There are a total of 25 Fellows in the 2010 class and it’s an honor to be listed among such a talented and distinguished group of conservative thinkers.  You can learn about the 2010 Washington Fellows here.

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 1:45pm

Breaking News: Obama Accepts McChrystal’s Resignation, Petraeus Named as Replacement

It’s not too surprising that this is how it ended up.  Obama, who is already perceived as a weak and indecisive leader by many, would have lost pretty much all credibility as a serious leader had he not relieved McChrystal.  Gen. David Petraeus is currently the Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and oversees the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.  So this is a bit of a peculiar arrangement.

A friend just e-mailed me with the following comment, “one 2012 rival out of the way…”

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 11:54am

Eliot Cohen on Why McChrystal Needs to Go

A great piece by Eliot Cohen on the McChrystal-Rolling Stone episode.

The president has not spoken publicly about Afghanistan in any serious way since December, and one wonders whether he has the nerve to act, in respect to Gen. McChrystal, like a serious commander in chief. If he leaves a wounded—and therefore more malleable—commander in place, he will have shown a calamitous weakness masquerading as political cleverness.

For the rest of us, there is a lesson about re-establishing fundamental norms of civilian-military relations. For years both political parties have used generals as props. Democrats cheered when disgruntled generals snarled at Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Republicans, to their equal discredit, played up military disquiet with President Bill Clinton and may do…

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 2:11pm

McChrystal Tests Civil-Military Relations

From Politico:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates publicly rebuked Gen. Stanley McChrystal Tuesday, saying in a statement that the top commander in Afghanistan had “made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment” in the biting remarks he and his aides made in a Rolling Stone article about President Barack Obama and others in the administration.

The statement from Gates followed news that McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, has been summoned to the White House to explain the comments published in a Rolling Stone article.

President Barack Obama has to relieve Gen. McChrystal of his command.  I don’t really see how this ends any other way.  I guess McChrystal could tender his resignation, but even that would be a slap in the face to the…

Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 4:25pm

Foreign Policy Amateur

The Obama administration’s inept management of U.S. foreign policy is finally becoming apparent, even to Democrats like Mort Zuckerman.  Zuckerman writes,

The reviews of Obama’s performance have been disappointing. He has seemed uncomfortable in the role of leading other nations, and often seems to suggest there is nothing special about America’s role in the world. The global community was puzzled over the pictures of Obama bowing to some of the world’s leaders and surprised by his gratuitous criticisms of and apologies for America’s foreign policy under the previous administration of George W. Bush. One Middle East authority, Fouad Ajami, pointed out that Obama seems unaware that it is bad form and even a great moral lapse to speak ill of…

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 7:28am

National Energy Tax Bill

Posted by Tom Skypek in American Politics, Current Events, Economy

From Politico:

Senate authors of a controversial climate change bill heralded EPA modeling results unveiled Tuesday as proof that their plan would have a limited pinch on Americans’ pocketbooks.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) found many reasons to gloat after getting the 74-page study that showed the overall costs from their legislation’s major global warming provisions would cost an average household between $80 to $150 per year.

“There’ll be some people who will want to demagogue that politically, but that’s less than $1 a day,” Lieberman told reporters. “Is the American household willing to pay less than $1 so we don’t have to buy oil from foreign countries, so we can create millions of new jobs, so we…

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