2012 Campaign Very Different Than Kerry vs. Bush by Michael Barone
Does the 2012 campaign look a lot like the 2004 campaign? Many Democrats think so.
Commentary by Michael Barone
Most Recent Releases
July 30, 2012
July 26, 2012
Conservatives Backtrack on Long Prison Sentences By Michael Barone
Only a few lonely media outlets responded to the Aurora Mall murders by calling for stricter gun control measures. President Barack Obama and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper made eloquent statements, as did Mitt Romney, but neither the two Democrats nor the Republican called for changes in gun laws.
July 23, 2012
Booming North Dakota City Shows Wisdom of Markets By Michael Barone
This is a tale of two cities. No, not Dickens' phlegmatic London and passionate Paris. Nor the two neighborhoods Charles Murray contrasted in his recent bestseller "Coming Apart" -- prosperous but isolated Belmont (actually, Mitt Romney's home for decades) and needy and disorganized Fishtown.
July 19, 2012
Obama Believes Success Is a Gift From Government by Michael Barone
Perhaps the rain made the teleprompter unreadable. That's one thought I had on pondering Barack Obama's comments to a rain-soaked rally in Roanoke, Va., last Friday.
July 16, 2012
Like Charter Schools, Britain's Academies Aim High by Michael Barone
1776 is a number with great resonance for Americans, but not one you expect to be featured on a British government website.
July 12, 2012
A Muddled Outlook for Olympics-ready London by Michael Barone
The best view of London's Olympic Park is from the picture windows at the top floor of the John Lewis department store in the vast Westfield Stratford mall five miles east of the Tower of London.
July 9, 2012
With Little to Say, Obama Eats Grits in Rust Belt by Michael Barone
"A step in the right direction." That's what Barack Obama said in Poland, Ohio, about Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment report, which showed only 80,000 net new jobs and unemployment remaining at 8.2 percent.
July 5, 2012
What If They Held an Election and Nobody Came? by Michael Barone
That's more or less what happened last Sunday in Mexico, at least as far as most American journalists (including me) are concerned.
July 3, 2012
Obamacare Survives, but Political Playing Field Has Changed by Michael Barone
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision upholding the Obama administration's health care legislation was a victory for the president, his administration and his party. Their most ambitious legislative achievement has not been nullified, and they are not left in obvious disarray.
July 2, 2012
Obamacare Survives, but Political Playing Field Has Changed by Michael Barone
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision upholding the Obama administration's health care legislation was a victory for the president, his administration and his party. Their most ambitious legislative achievement has not been nullified, and they are not left in obvious disarray.
June 28, 2012
Supreme Court Sets Stage for Immigration Reform by Michael Barone
The Supreme Court's decision announced Monday in the Arizona v. United States case opens the way for sensible reform of our immigration laws.
June 25, 2012
Obama Backers Use Race as Alibi for Ebbing Support By Michael Barone
As Barack Obama's lead over Mitt Romney in the polls narrows, and his presumed fundraising advantage seems about to become a disadvantage, it's alibi time for some of his backers.
His problem, they say, is that some voters don't like him because he's black. Or they don't like his policies because they don't like having a black president.
June 21, 2012
Romney Needs Big Share of White Working-class Vote By Michael Barone
What's up with the white working class vote? For years, the horny-handed blue-collar worker was the star of the New Deal Democratic coalition. It was for him, and his wife and family, that Democrats taxed the rich, invented Social Security and supported militant labor unions.
June 18, 2012
'Angry' Money Gives Funding Edge to GOP and Romney By Michael Barone
There has been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth as, in the spring, it appeared that forces supporting Mitt Romney would be able to raise about as much money as those supporting Barack Obama. There's even more now that it seems likely that the pro-Romney side will raise and spend more money than the pro-Obama side.
June 14, 2012
Obama Listens to Rich Liberals, at His Own Peril By Michael Barone
Who does Barack Obama listen to?
Not Republican politicians. Evidently weeks go by between his conversations with Speaker John Boehner, who determines what legislation comes to the House floor.
Not Democratic politicians. We have it on good authority that he seldom talks to Democratic members of Congress. Lyndon Johnson used to be on the phone constantly, cajoling and inveigling but also on the alert for shifts in opinion.
June 11, 2012
A Good Day for the GOP in Wisconsin and California By Michael Barone
We pundits have been busy crunching the results in last Tuesday's Wisconsin recall election and have noted that the public-employee unions sustained a huge defeat.
June 7, 2012
Walker Changes Attitudes on Public Employee Unions By Michael Barone
The results are in, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has beaten Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the recall election. That's in line with pre-election polling, though not the Election Day exit poll. Even before the results came in, we knew one thing, and that is that the Democrats and the public employee unions had already lost the battle of ideas over the issue that sparked the recall, Walker's legislation to restrict the bargaining powers of public employee unions.
June 4, 2012
Are We at a Demographic Inflection Point? By Michael Barone
Demographic forecasts generally take the form of predicting more of the same. Old people have been moving to Florida for the past several years, and old people will move there for the next few years. Immigrants have been streaming in from Mexico, and they will continue to do so. You get the idea.
May 31, 2012
Obama Campaign May Be Fooling Itself By Michael Barone
"Axelrod is endeavoring not to panic." So reads a sentence in John Heilemann's exhaustive article on Barack Obama's campaign in this week's New York magazine.
May 28, 2012
Obama's Bain Attacks Could Backfire By Michael Barone
The ham-handed Barack Obama campaign attack ads on Mitt Romney's former firm Bain Capital have drawn a lot of ire from other Democrats.
