Tag Archives: New York Times

Can Democrats Govern?

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Murders in Chicago and the bankruptcy of Detroit raise uncomfortable questions for Democrats who have held power in these cities for decades. [Credit: Progress Illinois]

Mur­ders in Chica­go and the bank­rupt­cy of Detroit raise uncom­fort­able ques­tions for Democ­rats who have held pow­er in these cities for decades. [Cred­it: Progress Illinois]

Rahm Emanuel pre­sides over a shoot­ing gallery. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Why It’s a Bad Time to Hold on to Holder

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AG Eric Holder may have to help POTUS dig out from under mounting scandals. Credit: theatlantic.com

AG Eric Hold­er may have to go to help POTUS dig out from under mount­ing scan­dals.
Cred­it: theatlantic.com

May 10 was sup­posed to be about health care and moms.  The White House mes­sage of the day was that the health care law is pro-moth­er­hood. The law’s detrac­tors, with their “polit­i­cal bick­er­ing,” “tall tales,” and “polit­i­cal games,” are, by impli­ca­tion, against motherhood.

The Pres­i­dent deliv­ered this mes­sage two days before Moth­ers Day at a White House event. But his mes­sage nev­er did get out. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

ObamaCare and the Arc of Conservative Wishful Thinking

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HHS simplified the application form, but is the health law still too complicated? [Credit: TakePart.com]

HHS sim­pli­fied the appli­ca­tion form, but is the health law still too com­pli­cat­ed? [Cred­it: TakePart.com]

“The Oba­maCare Blame Game” is the title of a piece by my friend and Hud­son Insti­tute fel­low Tevi Troy that will soon be pub­lished in the June 2013 Com­men­tary [no link avail­able]. Pars­ing the state­ments of Pres­i­dent Oba­ma and oth­er Demo­c­ra­t­ic lead­ers, Troy observes a curi­ous turn in how they talk about their new health care law: they have begun to admit that it might not work out as well as planned. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Benghazi, the IRS and the Perils of Power

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Pho­to cred­it: Huff­in­g­ton Post

What is it that makes sec­ond terms so polit­i­cal­ly treach­er­ous? Received wis­dom tells us that scan­dal is root­ed in hubris – a new­ly re-elect­ed Pres­i­dent, hav­ing stared down the threat of polit­i­cal extinc­tion, now thinks him­self invul­ner­a­ble, and soon enough is caught up in scandal.

But I think some­thing more fun­da­men­tal is at work. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

David Stockman sez we’re all gonna die! He’s wrong. Right?

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Showtime's Savanarola from The Borgias

Show­time’s Sava­naro­la from The Borgias

Sea­son 3 of The Bor­gias pre­mieres on Show­time this Sun­day . For those not yet ensnared in this addic­tion, the series tells the sto­ry of Renais­sance Pope Alexan­der VI, one of the papacy’s most dev­il­ish­ly inter­est­ing char­ac­ters. Show­time takes the usu­al Hol­ly­wood lib­er­ties with his­to­ry, though Alexan­der, born in Spain as Rodri­go de Bor­gia, led a life that needs no embell­ish­ing. Con­tin­ue read­ing →