I agree with the strikes on Libya because they’ll pave the way for a no-fly zone…and that will cut down on Gaddafi’s ability to do a lot of damage quickly. And I would agree with air strikes on Sudan who are doing awful things. Let’s remember, many Dems were for hitting Afghanistan hard in 2001 [...]

I have a new book that came out a few weeks ago on presidential leadership, aptly titled “Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions that Changed the Nation.  I’m claiming that as my excuse for not blogging much on this site since the 2008 election. I mention it because the final two chapters of the book are Reagan [...]

Public Policy Polling has a couple of new polls out focusing on Virginia. So far, it’s all good news for the Dems.

It is an open question whether there is anything meaningful to be gleaned from polls 20 months out from an election. At least these polls offer a baseline set of numbers to watch when the campaigns kick off in earnest.

For me, The most interesting element of the PPP summary is the highlighted question “…could there actually be a group of independent voters that go Obama/Allen in the interest of divided government?”. Regardless of how you would answer, it is significant that the question of whether independents are consciously making divided government voting decisions is even being asked. As you might expect, I offered my answer in the comments on that post

President Obama is not going to get re-elected if he continues to treat American voters like they are complete idiots. He cannot tell us that a spending increase is really a spending cut, and that a massive new entitlement program will save money when it will actually cost money and expect to maintain any credibility.

He needs to outflank the Republicans on fiscal responsibility by supporting the bipartisan recommendations of the deficit commission he sponsored. If he puts the full weight of the Presidency behind the Simpson-Bowles Plan and pushes it to a floor debate, the American people would put their electoral weight behind him.

A vigilant reader spotted this. First, Fox News puts up a PollDaddy poll immediately after the SOTU. Given the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the speech, these numbers actually seem a little low. Still, it is FoxNews.com. Here’s the thing. It was posted on this page which now is no longer available. The reader writes, “I [...]

This was a speech that had something for everybody. He’s not backing down from health care, but concedes it could be better. And he definitely admitted that a lot of Republican ideas for deficit cutting are on the money. Well, at least Republican ideas circa 2008. Now they want to do a lot more. But [...]

It’s poignant and exactly what we needed right now to help unify and overcome. Please watch. The quote that stood out to me the most? “I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us — we should do everything we [...]

After the self-described “shellacking” Obama and the Dems got in November, the turnaround in this lame duck session has been nothing short of extraordinary. 5 major pieces of legislation were passed during a time when nothing usually gets done. And all of it was bipartisan in one form or another. Let’s run down what they [...]

Obama is baiting the trap and if the GOP candidate doesn’t take it in 2012, it could spell trouble for the Dems. Last night the President said this… I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don’t like. In fact, there are things in here that I don’t like [...]

In order to get the votes he needs to make sure unemployed Americans get the relief they need (and deserve) and employed Americans continue to enjoy payroll tax cuts, Obama is cutting a deal with the Repubs on the extension of the Bush tax cuts. As I’ve pointed out previously, this goes against the anti-spending [...]

President Obama and his political brain trust were diligently taking notes while getting schooled in the midterms. On Monday President Obama announced a federal employee pay freeze for non-military employees. On Tuesday he met with congressional leadership and assured the American people that he heard the voice of the voters.

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Barack Obama sat down for an interview on The Daily Show. I thought it was more enlightening than most “real news” interviews I’ve seen and an entertaining give and take. As is often the case these days, the harshest post-mortem criticism of the presidential performance seemed to come from the left.

NY TIMES LINK I like to consider myself a moderate and prefer voting for the best candidates regardless of their party origins. But I can’t see too many Republicans that are willing to push aside this simplistic view and try to make this government work. But when you are dealing with ignorant voters, you have [...]

As these have become a cultural phenomena, I think we need a new word for stories that get the Taiwan animation treatment. How about “twam” – as in “Jon Stewart gets twammed.” Other suggestions welcomed.

Modeled Behavior points out something I’ve talked about recently. That companies are holding trillions of dollars in profits close to their chest and losing trillions more in opportunities because they’re scared and won’t put people back to work…even those there’s plenty of work to be done because the demand is there. First, the capacity utilization… [...]

In America, in matters of religious tolerance, there should be no close calls, no qualification of primary principles, and the first amendment should not be location dependent. I hold no quarter with the distinction of “rights” vs. right which strikes me as a Clintonian parsing for those looking to rationalize making the Cordoba Project move the mosque/cultural center.

Note the big drop in the past week. Obama had been bumping along at around pretty much even approval/disapproval, but then he made a principled, correct stand on what religious freedom means to us a nation…and his approval drops? And, by the way, this isn’t even a mosque. It’s a small prayer center inside of [...]

Ready for an exercise in tortured logic? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Pay especially close attention to Roger Simon’s last paragraph: Honest to goodness, the man just does not get it. He might be forced to pull a Palin and resign before his first term is over. He could go off and write [...]