Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Obama vs Romney: who do you hate least?
Both Obama and Romney are now tossed between public enthusiasm and public disdain, showing just how volatile this campaign has become. Read my spiked article in full here.
Obama is down in the polls, and only has himself to blame
It’s easy to be confused about this year’s presidential election. Throughout the latter part of 2011, President Obama was faring badly in opinion polls. Unemployment remained stubbornly high and a majority did not approve of his job performance. The talk was that almost any Republican could beat Obama. But then, as we headed into a new year, Obama’s fortunes appeared to change. Unemployment […]
Is America committing “superpower suicide”?
Yes, claims that America is rotting like the Roman Empire are over the top, but two new books swing too far in the other direction. Read my review of The World America Made by Robert Kagan, and Strategic Vision by Zbigniew Brzezinski, in spiked here.
Greece: no rescue
The eurozone finance ministers’ €130 billion bailout package for Greece announced on Tuesday, the second in two years, will not “rescue” Greece. It makes the economic situation worse, and represents a further tightening of the European Union’s stranglehold on national sovereignty and democracy in Greece. Euro bureaucrats claimed the deal was a success. “The new […]
Republicans taking the bait on the contraception issue?
In the cover story for Newsweek, Andrew Sullivan argues Obama’s compromise offer on the birth control and religious freedom controversy has “set a trap for the right”: The more Machiavellian observer might even suspect this is actually an improved bait and switch by Obama to more firmly identify the religious right with opposition to contraception, its weakest issue […]
With focus on lame Republicans, Obama’s prospects have improved
The latest New York Times/CBS News pollconfirms a recent trend since the end of last year: President Obama’s political standing is improving. Obama’s job approval rating is now 50 percent, an “important baseline in presidential politics” according to the Times. The president’s approval rating has not been around 50 percent since the end of 2009, which was just […]
Why the contraception controversy matters
American liberals are wrong: Obama’s contraception rule is a violation of important religious liberties. Read my spiked article in full here.
Contraception and religious liberty: a debate liberals don’t want to have
Liberals who support the Obama administration’s rule that requires insurance plans operated by Catholic-affiliated institutions, such as universities and hospitals, to offer contraception generally think that the criticisms raised by Catholic bishops, Republican politicians and other are driven by narrow political concerns, rather than the principle of religious freedom. They are right in one sense: […]
The corruption of American politics
From Occupy to the Tea Party, the obsession with corruption is far more damaging to democracy than politicians’ alleged shady dealings. Read my review of Throw Them All Out, by Peter Schweizer, and Republic, Lost, by Lawrence Lessig, published in spiked, here.
A political fiasco of historic proportions
Obama is ailing, yet the bunch of political misfits posing as Republican presidential candidates can’t make any mileage from that. Read my spiked article in full here.