The Washington Times

The spectacular collapse of campaign-finance reform in the House this month, with the speaker actually losing control of the floor, obscured something important, namely, that some form of the legislation continues to get closer to passage.

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The Washington Times

To judge by the street demonstrations that greeted the surprise decision of the government of Serbia to extradite former Yugoslavia leader Slobodan Milosevic to an international tribunal at the Hague to face war crimes charges, the politics of post-Milosevic Yugoslavia remain an edgy and unsettled affair.

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The Washington Times

George W. Bush had a superb trip to Europe earlier this month, simultaneously winning professions of admiration from European leaders, convincingly restating the U.S. commitment to remain engaged, advancing his case for missile defense, moving NATO enlargement forward in fulfillment of the vision of “Europe whole and free” and successfully engaging with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The Washington Times

One of the things that has vexed many Democrats since January is how easy a time the new Bush administration was having with the press. Indeed, some members of the press themselves were vexed about the generally favorable coverage they perceived they were giving the new administration. In one memorable Outlook piece, a reporter for the Washington Post contrasted Mr. Bush’s first 100 days with his recollection of Bill Clinton’s in 1993, reaching the conclusion that the problem Mr. Clinton faced that Mr. Bush did not was a determined and well-organized political opposition || the precursor, as it were, of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” Hillary Clinton would denounce six years later.

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The Washington Times

President Bush is in Europe this week, and much of the attention will focus first on the atmospherics of his meetings with our European friends and allies, second on the case he makes for missile defense and the response to it. Just as important, though, will be the impression Mr. Bush leaves about the commitment of the United States to remain fully engaged with Europe.

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The Washington Times

I find myself among the puzzled on the question of the Bush administration’s approach to the defense budget. Surely, the expectation created by the campaign was that a Bush administration would act rapidly to find more money for the military. The slogan was simple and effective: “Help is on the way.”

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The Washington Times

It was, in point of fact, odd that national elections ending essentially in a tie should yield a White House, Senate and House of Representatives all under the control of the same party. That outward appearance of one-party dominance masked, it’s now clear, a substantial amount of instability underneath. Al Gore’s challenge to George W. Bush’s victory in Florida was probably a product of, more than anything else, the instability produced by the evenly divided electorate. Mr. Gore failed. But so, too, was GOP control of the Senate highly unstable, and Tom Daschle succeeded.

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The Washington Times

Democrats have been taking a lot of heat from “friendly” critics for the supposed ineffectiveness of the opposition they are mounting to the Bush administration and the (narrowly) GOP-controlled Congress. This is fair in some areas but unfair in others, and the combination is illuminating.

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The Washington Times

A grand total of six Republicans voted “no” in the House Education Committee on the school reform legislation the White House wants and has been working with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to get through in bipartisan fashion. The vote tells us a thing or two about the state of the organized conservative movement and about the relationship of conservatives and the Republican Party.

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The Washington Times

The Bush administration is getting a massive break from political divisions among Democrats. The conflicts in thinking within the party, which were reconcilable when a Democratic president was doing battle with a Republican Congress, have so far turned out to be debilitating in opposition. The center-left is not holding, and Republicans haven’t had so much wind at their back since the heady days of 1995 (when, to be sure, that wind was actually blowing them into Bill Clinton’s perfect storm).

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