I couldn’t help but notice a pretty odd parallel (or, properly, inversion) between the abortive auto bailout killed by Senate Republicans and the TARP bank bailout of October. The first one, killed by House Republicans. Gosh, the Republicans do not like bailouts. Sidebar: While yes, large government bailouts do go against the Republicans’ stated ideals … Read more
Area of the country most likely to suffer from an auto industry failure: The Great Lakes region, a Democratic stronghold with large investments in manufacturing. Area of the country most likely to benefit from an auto industry failure: The South, a Republican stronghold with large investments in auto assembly plants owned by foreign firms. … Read more
What’s so funny about the 44th president? No, seriously. Since November 4th, aspiring comedians, satirists, and pundits have all faced the same intractable dilemma: There are no good Barack Obama jokes. To be sure, there are jokes featuring the president-elect. Take Jay Leno: Barack Obama’s mother-in-law might be moving into the White House with him. … Read more
I wrote in the most recent issue of the HPR that the Supreme Court would be unlikely to dramatically alter its abortion jurisprudence, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election. My piece was meant to quiet hyperventilating liberals who feared that a McCain presidency automatically spelled doom for abortion rights. Of course, my prediction … Read more
Ah, the transition period. Yes, these might just be the longest eleven weeks in our nation’s history, as our economy teeters on the brink and we fight two costly wars, and all anybody can talk about is who will be Obama’s deputy assistant chief of staff and what Todd Palin needed with $40,000 worth of … Read more
Briefly: It’s a load of bull. Less briefly: “Bipartisanship” is a feel-good election-y term that should not, and cannot, be the way President Obama gets things done in Washington. Let me offer some thoughts on the matter. First off, there’s now no incentive for most of the Republican Party to cooperate with Obama, especially in … Read more
On a politically active and overwhelmingly liberal college campus such as Harvard, Barack Obama’s victory looks like a triumph for the youth vote. The impressive turnout to campus returns-watching events seemed the logical culmination of months of informal debate among students about the impending election and excitement surrounding absentee voting. The chants of “Yes, we … Read more
Barack Obama’s election to the presidency should not come as a shock. His political operation was more disciplined, more organized, and more effective than that of his opponents. The wisdom of his policy objectives compared to those of his rivals can be debated ad nauseam, but, it is not my intention to do so; I … Read more
After Barack Obama’s victory on Tuesday Paul Krugman wrote that the election wasn’t “just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.” Krugman seemed to suggest that people like Karl Rove are monsters because they contributed offensive ideas to the … Read more
It’s November 4, 2008. I’m currently sitting in a history seminar on the Yalta Conference of 1945, discussing how the Allied leaders decided to divvy up the Balkans. It’s striking to read the statements of Stalin and Churchill, because they read like ancient history. Churchill was driven by a single animating desire: the preservation of … Read more