Obama speech
Obama's speech was awesome. He actually said everything I wanted to hear, and more. When he said "Not Red America, not Blue Americ...
Things I think Obama should say in his speech
If I were Obama's speechwriter, I would make sure to include some variant of these themes: * "Republican foreign policy has wrecked...
The role of government
I've often joined the mainstream chorus calling for Obama to put forth his philosophy (not that they noticed me joining, of course). Her...
What voters want from Obama
Matt Yglesias writes : Joe Klein visited a focus group : “Change” as a theme is over. Too vague. And Obama’s rhetoric has begun to seriousl...
At last, an econ post
Some people have been complaining that U.S. corporate taxes are too high , and are driving investment to other developed countries that have...
Holbrooke holds forth
During my freshman year of college, I had the opportunity to go to dinner with Richard Holbrooke, one of the Clinton Administration's fo...
Identity vs. actions
Ezra Klein on the Biden pick : If vice-presidential picks are a reflection of a campaign's conclusion midway through the general electio...
Confuciuyama
In the 1990s, political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed "the end of history," meaning that capitalism and liberal d...
Hanging separately
Jamie Metzl of the Miami Herald writes what a lot of us have been thinking: A ug. 8, 2008, may someday be remembered as the first day of t...
So much for us being a Christian nation
I just found out about the Treaty of Tripoli , unanimously approved and ratified by the Senate in 1797, which ended the war between the U.S....
Geronimo!
Wow. I was all geared up to write a post called "The Real China Threat," in which I explained that the threat from China wasn'...
Liberal tolerance
Since the Clinton years, moderates in the Democratic party have coalesced around the idea of "fiscal conservatism with social liberalis...
Swing state report
Just to follow up on my last post, here are the trends in the swing state polls, courtesy of RealClearPolitics : Ohio : Obama's modest ...
Butternuts
Nicholas Beaudrot has a map that shows which states have shifted Republican and which have shifted Democratic since 2004. This is computed ...
Bill Clinton = tough. George W. Bush = not tough.
I've been asked to defend my assertion that Bill Clinton "built up American power." Since Clinton shrank the military substant...
Sex and Nerds
Matt Yglesias flags this ridiculous ad campaign: Via the Poor Man Institute, the latest in abstinence advocacy: If anything, characterizi...
Teddy Roosevelt he ain't
For a long time now, I've been wanting to say something like this: Back in the days of Teddy Roosevelt, American toughness means speakin...
Biodegradable balloons
Affirmative action, again
Matt Yglesias writes : In his Washington Post column, Peter Beinart urges Barack Obama to urge the country why he thinks it will pay divid...
Decline blogging
In a somewhat poorly-written column in the Financial Times, Byron Wien argues that the U.S. is in an irreversible decline : In 1945, the US ...
If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin
The faking of the Olympic opening ceremony fireworks and China's use of underage gymnasts both give me a nice opportunity to poke fun ...
Lifestyle issues
Big Oil is dying
When Exxon announced record profits last month, it seemed o many that Big Oil had gained unprecedented power and wealth. Maybe that's t...
The Russo-Georgia War
Affirmative action and "white resentment"
Publius at Obsidian Wings writes : [W]e need to address our more complex world where the structural legacies of racism are arguably a bigger...
Oh. My. God.
The reporters report : With four days left before the start of the 2008 Summer Games, Chinese officials have not lived up to key promises th...
What kind of government?
Greg Anrig has a long, fairly good column in the Washington Post today, offering a pretty solid explanation of why McCain's campaign ha...
Domestic drilling - appease the base, or grab the center?
GM and the unions, again
