The Washington Times

Last week in this space, I explained what I take to be the sources of the current Democratic Party predicament. For starters, there’s the wartime popularity of George W. Bush and its spillover on Republicans in general. Next there’s the change in the “issue environment,” the things voters say are most important to them, away from such domestic issues as health care and the environment and in the direction of national security, where the GOP does well; in addition, the GOP has made inroads in a couple of areas of Democratic strength, especially education. Third, the GOP “brand” with voters is no longer that of the congressional firebrands Democrats so effectively used as a foil. Fourth, there is no clear path to a mutually satisfactory compromise in the longstanding Democratic divide between centrist “New Democrats” and the party’s progressive wing. Finally, Republicans have effectively targeted Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who is also not getting the stand-up support he needs from within his party to be truly effective as opposition leader.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

Ordinarily, when you start running out the clock on offense and playing a “prevent” defense, you’re ahead. Democrats’ innovation in wartime Washington seems to be to adopt these tactics while behind.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

The craggy wall of rock rises 120 meters above the curving bed of a gently babbling stream in the Carpathian mountains. The face is in places so steep as to incline past the vertical. Mainly, though, it is massive and it is high. If you drove by it on the narrow, unpaved road that runs parallel to the stream, especially in the light spring snow that is falling, you might think it beautiful scenery.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

Well, we have crossed the Rubicon of campaign-finance reform at last. And now that we have reformed, are we going to be happy at last about cutting down to size the role of money in politics? No, we are not.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

The news last week that Tipper Gore contemplated a run for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee is yet another illustration of the dynastic character of American politics nowadays. Whether this situation is all that new is an open question. But it does seem safe to say that one of the most common ways people get into politics is by being born into it or marrying into it.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

It’s impossible to read the transcript of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick’s March 5 press briefing on the 30 percent tariff the Bush administration decided to slap on imported steel without coming away with the impression of a man who would rather be somewhere else.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

We are only now coming to grips, I think, with the symbolism and the substance of Hamid Karzai, the interim leader of Afghanistan, sitting in the president’s box for Mr. Bush’s State of the Union address. At one level, the easiest to grasp, Mr. Karzai’s appearance was simple triumphalism – a celebration of the prowess of American arms and the tenacity of the anti-Taliban forces. Mr. Karzai was “regime change” in flesh and blood, and wearing that cape, rather a dashing figure he was. Both he and Mr. Bush deserved the ovation they received when the American president introduced him.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

The Bush administration, and especially the president himself, is offering an interesting illustration of the political phenomenon of success feeding on itself. There is such a thing as pure luck in politics, and even a lucky streak. But there is usually a very different explanation for what is happening when things are going well politically – and it has the virtue of also explaining what is happening when things are going badly.

Continue reading →

The Washington Post

It’s going to take some time to straighten out exactly what changed in American politics after September 11 and what didn’t change. Obviously, there is unity behind the war effort, and it looks like this unity will extend well beyond the first phase of Afghanistan “regime change.” What is striking in the foreign policy salons of Washington these days is the extent to which Iraq is a subject of debate not over whether to remove Saddam Hussein but only over how.

Continue reading →

The Washington Times

Dear Automated Traffic Enforcement: Thank you for your “Notice of Infraction” dated Jan. 16 accusing the driver of the Saturn station wagon we own of going 36 mph in a 25-mph zone in the 3000 block of Cleveland Avenue NW on Jan. 3 at 12:15 p.m. The photograph of the rear end of our vehicle, and especially the enlargement of the license plate clearly showing all six characters in it, is something our family will always treasure.

Continue reading →