Commentary by Michael Barone

Thatcher Insisted on Facing Hard, Uncomfortable Truths By Michael Barone

"Divisive." That's a word that appeared, often prominently, in many news stories reporting the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

One senses the writers' disapproval. You're not likely to find "divisive" in stories reporting the deaths of liberal leaders, although every electoral politician divides voters.

"Divisive" here refers to something specific. It was Margaret Thatcher's special genius that she systematically rejected the conventional wisdom, almost always well-intentioned, of the political establishment.

Instead, she insisted on hard, uncomfortable truths.

British Conservatives like Harold Macmillan accepted the tyranny of trade unionism because they had guilty memories of the slaughter of the working-class men who served under them in the trenches in World War I.

Thatcher, who as an adolescent before World War II saved money to pay for a Jewish girl to escape from Austria to England, felt no such guilt.

Mexico Becomes a Stable, Politically Diverse Neighbor By Michael Barone

We Americans are lucky, though we seldom reflect on it, that we have good neighbors.

In East Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines face challenges from China over islands they have long claimed in the East China Sea.

In Europe, Germany and other prosperous nations face demands for subsidies from debt-ridden nations to avoid the collapse of the Euro.

When Southern Europeans look across the Mediterranean, they see Muslim nations facing post-Arab spring upheaval and disorder.

Why Freight Rail Pays and Passenger Trains Flunk By Michael Barone

Forty years ago, American railroads were in trouble. The Penn Central, the largest railroad, had recently gone bankrupt.

Republicans Grow Less Hawkish in Wake of Iraq War By Michael Barone

Are Republicans no longer the party more inclined to military interventions and an assertive foreign policy?

New Census Data Show People Go Where the Money Is By Michael Barone

What parts of America have been growing during these years of sluggish economic growth?    

Republicans Must Show Support for Hispanic Dreams By Michael Barone

Rarely does a political party issue a document so scathingly critical of itself and its most recent presidential nominee as the report of the five-member Growth and Opportunity Project of the Republican National Committee.   

Support for Same-sex Marriage Crosses Party Lines By Michael Barone

In an opinion article in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced that he has changed his mind and now supports same-sex marriage.    

Cardinals Would Be Wise to Ignore Journalists' Advice By Michael Barone

The College of Cardinals met in conclave on Tuesday to begin the process of electing a new pope. The cardinals have been getting plenty of advice from American journalists.    

Obama Flails as Republicans Stand Firm on Sequester By Michael Barone

They're flailing. That's the impression I get from watching Barack Obama and his White House over the past week.

Things haven't gone as they expected. The House Republicans were supposed to cave in on the sequester, as they did on the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the year.

They would be so desperate to avoid the sequester's mandatory defense cuts, the theory went, that they would agree to higher taxes (through closing loopholes) on high earners.

Spending Cuts May Be Answer to Slow Economic Growth By Michael Barone

The Dow set a new high on Tuesday, but the larger economy is a different story. What if today's sluggish economic growth turns out to be the new normal? That's the unsettling question asked by some of our most creative economic thinkers.

And the people asking it are not necessarily partisan opponents of the Obama administration. They argue that economic growth rates were disappointing even before the financial collapse and recession of 2007-09.

Take Tyler Cowen, author of the e-book (belatedly published in print) "The Great Stagnation." Economic growth is the product of increases in the labor supply and productivity, he argues uncontroversially.b

For Obama, Politics Always Trumps Governing By Michael Barone

Do we have a president or a perpetual candidate? It's not an entirely unfair question.

Even as Barack Obama was warning of the dreadful consequences of the budget sequester looming on March 1, he spent days away from Washington, apparently out of touch with Democratic as well as Republican congressional leaders.

In the meantime, Obama fans were lobbing verbal grenades at none other than The Washington Post's Bob Woodward.

Discord and Disarray Won't Help Obama Legacy By Michael Barone

Barack Obama is said to believe that he can win the political fight over the sequester. That's certainly the conventional wisdom. 

Calvin Coolidge Gets New Deal in Revisionist History By Michael Barone

For years, most Americans' vision of history has been shaped by the New Deal historians. Writing soon after Franklin Roosevelt's death, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and others celebrated his accomplishments and denigrated his opponents.

They were gifted writers, and many of their books were bestsellers. And they have persuaded many Americans -- Barack Obama definitely included -- that progress means an ever bigger government

GOP Has Trouble Settling on Candidates Who Can Win By Michael Barone

One of the interesting things about recent elections is that Republicans have tended to do better the farther you go down the ballot.

They've lost the presidency twice in a row, and in four of the last six contests. They've failed to win a majority in the U.S. Senate, something they accomplished in five election cycles between 1994 and 2006.

But they have won control of the House of Representatives in the last two elections, and in eight of the last 10 cycles.

And they've been doing better in elections to state legislatures than at any time since the 1920s.

For Dems to Win House, Obama Must Rise in Polls By Michael Barone

Barack Obama has said that he wants to help Democrats win back a majority in the House of Representatives. He says he looks forward to Nancy Pelosi being speaker again.

If he does work hard to elect House Democrats, it will be a change from 2010 and 2012, when he didn't do much at all for them.

But let's say he does. What are the chances of success?

Certainly not zero. Democrats need to gain 17 seats to win a House majority of 218. That's fewer than the number of seats that changed party in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Obama's Gangster Government Operates Above the Law By Michael Barone

Presidents' State of the Union addresses are delivered in the chamber of the House of Representatives in the Capitol. The classical majesty of this building where laws are made symbolizes the idea that we live under the rule of law.

Unfortunately, the 44th president is running an administration that too often seems to ignore the rule of law.

"We can't wait," Barack Obama took to saying after the Republicans captured a majority in the House and refused to pass laws he wanted. He would act to get what he wanted regardless of law.

One example: his recess appointments in January 2012 of three members of the National Labor Relations Board and the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Congressional Hearings Show Obama Treading Dangerous Global Path By Michael Barone

There were two extraordinary disclosures in Thursday's testimony of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

One is that there was no communication between them and Barack Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the seven hours of Sept. 11, 2012, when Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were attacked and murdered in Benghazi.

At last, Republicans Make Their Case to Main Street By Michael Barone

The House Republicans, in serious trouble with public opinion as they blinked facing the "fiscal cliff" over New Year's, seem suddenly to be playing a more successful game -- or rather, games -- an inside game and an outside game.

The inside game can be described by the Washington phrase "regular order." What that means in ordinary American English is that you proceed according to the rules.

Fewer Dollars and Babies Threaten Social Programs By Michael Barone

Our major public policies are based on the assumption that America will continue to enjoy growth. Economic growth and population growth.

Through most of our history, this assumption has proved to be correct. These days, not so much.

Last week, the Commerce Department announced that the gross domestic product shrunk by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. And the Census Bureau reported that the U.S. birth rate in 2011 was 63.2 per 1,000 women age 15 to 44, the lowest ever recorded.

Better Tools for Immigration Reform Than in 1986 By Michael Barone

Yesterday, as Barack Obama called for a bipartisan immigration bill in Las Vegas and Sen. Marco Rubio called for one on Rush Limbaugh's program, the chances for passage look surprisingly good.