Chasing Votes by Promising to Do Impossible Things By Michael Barone
"Leading from behind." That's what an unnamed White House aide told the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza that Barack Obama was doing on Libya.
Commentary by Michael Barone
Most Recent Releases
August 4, 2011
August 1, 2011
Republicans Win When the Fight Is Over Cuts Not More Taxes By Michael Barone
Everyone seems pretty cross at this juncture in the fight over raising the debt limit. As this is written, the House has just passed the bill that Speaker John Boehner yanked from the floor Thursday night and then revised with a balanced-budget amendment on Friday. The Senate has yet to pass Majority Leader Harry Reid's measure that in many but not all respects is not that much different.
July 28, 2011
Under Obama, Millennials Move Into the Republican Fold By Michael Barone
Most presidents affect the standing of their political parties. Ronald Reagan advanced his party's standing among young voters. So did Bill Clinton.
July 25, 2011
To Get a Mandate, GOP Must Win Another Election By Michael Barone
Those who consider themselves constitutional conservatives should take care to consider not only the powers that the Constitution confers on the different branches of government and reserves to the states and the people, but also the schedule that the Constitution sets up for sharp changes and reversals of public policy.
July 21, 2011
Will College Bubble Burst From Public Subsidies? By Michael Barone
When governments want to encourage what they believe is beneficial behavior, they subsidize it. Sounds like good public policy.
July 18, 2011
What the Debt Limit Battle Is All About By Michael Barone
It's hard to keep up with all the arguments and proposals in the debt limit struggle. But what's at stake is fundamental.
July 14, 2011
New Reality Emerging on Illegal Immigration By Michael Barone
The United States is a country that has been peopled largely by vast surges of migration -- from the British Isles in the 18th century, from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century, from Eastern and Southern Europe in the early 20th century, and from Latin America and Asia in the last three decades.
July 11, 2011
'Man-cession' Ends as Males Learn New Job Skills By Michael Barone
Some of us called it the man-cession. In the deep recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, many more men than women lost their jobs.
July 7, 2011
Racial Quotas, Speech Codes and the Thought Police By Michael Barone
It's racially discriminatory to prohibit racial discrimination. That's the bottom line of a decision issued last Friday, just before the Fourth of July weekend, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
July 4, 2011
Replacing Property as a Source of Wealth Creation By Michael Barone
One of the interesting things about our country, the independence of which the Founders declared 235 years ago today, is that we have been a property-holders' democracy.
June 30, 2011
Why the Civil Service Is No Way to Run a Business By Michael Barone
What's the fair way to run a large organization? That's a question that is squarely, and interestingly, raised by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a Supreme Court case decided last week.
June 27, 2011
Like Chauncey Gardiner, Obama Is Profoundly Aloof By Michael Barone
Which past leader does Barack Obama most closely resemble? His admirers, not all of them liberals, used to compare him to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.
June 24, 2011
Feds Crack Down on Campus Flirting and Sex Jokes By Michael Barone
When I was growing up, it was widely believed that colleges and universities were the part of our society with the widest scope for free expression and free speech. In the conformist America of the 1950s, the thinking ran, few people dared to say anything that went beyond a broad consensus. But on campus, anyone could say anything he liked.
June 22, 2011
GOP Not Isolationist By Tony Blankley
Sen. John McCain, whose life is a continuing exemplar of the American heroic ideal, regrettably has got it quite wrong when he says that growing GOP opposition to the Libyan and Afghan wars is evidence of isolationism. In his words on weekend television:
June 20, 2011
Government Looks to Past, Free Enterprise to Future By Michael Barone
Two years ago, in June 2009, the American economy emerged from recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But as this week's Economist noted, with typical British understatement, "The recovery has been a disappointment."
June 16, 2011
Romney in Front as Feisty Bachmann Gains on Pawlenty By Michael Barone
Barack Obama did not watch the Republican presidential candidates' debate in Manchester, N.H., on Monday night, we are told. He was busy addressing a campaign fundraising event in Miami.
June 13, 2011
The End of a Surprisingly Good Political Career By Michael Barone
Exit Newt Gingrich. Well, not quite yet, officially. On his Facebook page, Gingrich says he will endure "the rigors of campaigning for public office" and "will carry the message of American renewal to every part of this great land, whatever it takes."
June 9, 2011
Free Market, Not Government Policy, Drives Energy Boom By Michael Barone
There's an awful lot that's stale in the debate on government energy policy.
June 6, 2011
Obama Tunes Out, and Business Goes on Hiring Strike By Michael Barone
Last week, I noted that various forms of the word "unexpected" almost inevitably appeared in news stories about unfavorable economic developments. You can find them again in stories about Friday's shocking news, that only 54,000 net new jobs were created in the month of May and that unemployment rose to 9.1 percent.
June 2, 2011
Gates' Verdict: Pentagon's Biggest Enemy Is Itself By Michael Barone
Defense Secretary Robert Gates leaves office this month as widely respected as any public figure in America today, appreciated for his willingness to return to public service at a moment of high danger in Iraq and to faithfully serve presidents of both parties.
