Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
The Democrats’ “New Clerisy”
Joel Kotkin has a very perceptive article in The Daily Beast on the new Democratic Party coalition formed under President Barack Obama. I’ve often struggled with coming up with a term that summarizes the variety of interest groups that comprise this coalition and their outlook, and Kotkin has come up with one that may be […]
Hurricane Sandy: a political storm
Pundits’ exploitation of Sandy to big up Barack Obama shows how desperate they have become. Read my spiked article in full here.
Never mind Big Bird. Where are the Big Ideas?
After expending all his energies demonising his opponent, Obama lost the TV debate because the truth emerged: Romney is not actually evil. Read my spiked article in full here.
Why the presidential election is volatile
Before the first Obama-Romney debate on 3 October, the consensus among pundits was that it was very unlikely to impact the election contest much. Historically, they noted, debates just do not move the needle much. And yet, it appears that the first debate indeed has shifted the momentum of this year’s race significantly. Before the […]
Obama and the end of great expectations
In 2008, Obama won by exciting and raising people’s expectations. In 2012, he hopes to win by lowering them. Read my spiked article in full here.
Obama and the end of great expectations
Four years ago the American presidential race excited people as no election in recent memory had. Not only would the election of Barack Obama mark the symbolic achievement of the first black president. Obama the candidate ran on an uplifting campaign promising “hope” and “change”. He would be a “transformative” president. His message energized many. […]
The real losers in this election are the voters
Romney’s videotaped dismissal of swathes of the electorate will hurt him, but Obama remains a lame duck, too. Read my spiked article in full here.
Romney’s troubles
Mitt Romney’s statement to donors¸ in which he complains that almost half the country is “dependent on government” and thus won’t vote for him, was badly argued and just plain dumb. It has damaged him politically. But the situation as not as dire for him, nor as positive for President Obama, as many are arguing. Romney was […]
Giving the green light to grievance
The Obama administration seems to see free speech as a bigger problem than attacks on its overseas embassies. Read my spiked article in full here.
US response to Middle East protests: validating grievances, sacrificing free speech
Once again, we see images of demonstrations and rioting in the capitals across the Middle East. But unlike the “Arab spring”, these protests are explicitly anti-American: gathering at US embassies, with placards denouncing the US and American flags in flames. In Libya, four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed following an attack on the US […]