From the category archives:

Barack Obama

Going,Going,Rahm

October 1, 2010

Finally, President Obama has decided to change the tone of the West Wing.  Rahm Emanuel, whom we predicted last December would leave before the end of the year, has been sent packing back to Chicago.  His leadership for the White House saw a bewildering loss of political capital, an alienation of the party base and [...]

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Return of the Pharaohs of Misjudgment

September 7, 2010

Conrad Black is back at his (temporary) winter home in Palm Beach after being freed on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.  His conservative friends in their College of Cardinals-type media conclaves appear to seek his beatification for what he has gone through. If he is found to have been wrongly convicted, as countless [...]

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It’s Morning in a Healthier America

March 23, 2010

The day health care reform and universal coverage moved from a noble dream to the law of the land. Every few decades, America takes a momentous turn in reaffirming what it stands for and how it treats its citizens.  This happened with the enactment of Social Security in the 1930s and with Medicare and the [...]

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The Dodge Rahm

March 8, 2010

The recent flap involving the White House chief of staff is another sign that President Obama needs a Paul Volcker of the bipartisan world – – someone whose stature will command instant respect, who can act as a trusted counselor to the President.   It may be one of his last chances to avoid an even [...]

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Turbo Populism Arrives in Washington, and Anywhere Else it Wants

January 20, 2010

Wise leaders know that it is never sensible to underestimate either the forces of nature or the power of public outrage. Washington and Wall Street are about to receive an important lesson in history. The winds of change can blow in both directions.  One year ago, they propelled Barack Obama into the White House on [...]

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Conrad Black’s Race to the Bottom

December 26, 2009

By attacking American presidential leadership under Barack Obama and invoking a racial slur in the process, Mr. Black continues to show who and what he is. Conrad M. Black, famous for vituperative excess, renouncing his Canadian citizenship to become a British Lord, disdain for shareholders whom he viewed as a cheap source of capital and, [...]

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Mr. Obama and the Oslo Problem

December 10, 2009

The Nobel Committee’s choice of a wartime president for its Peace Prize produced uncertainty and controversy at precisely the time when these are the last things the world really needs. The traditional impression of Nobel Peace Prize winners is that of a Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who led a sea change in civil [...]

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Obama Peace Prize Puts Spotlight on Nobel’s Ex-Politicians Who Decide

October 9, 2009

In the long history of this honor, no head of state has ever received the Peace Prize while he has been in the midst of prosecuting, much less preparing to escalate, an active war.  This year’s choice raises many questions, starting with: Who is behind the award? The first point to be made about the [...]

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An Unbecoming Ben Bernanke

August 25, 2009

When the President of the United States, especially this President, and Wall Street, are of the same mind on an important matter like who the Fed chair should be, ordinary citizens need to hold on to their pocketbooks. Having misjudged the gathering financial storm that would engulf much of the world (and in many ways [...]

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