The Washington Times

There are two kinds of presidential candidates: those who actually aspire to the nation’s highest office and those who are running to elevate their profile or push an ideological agenda. As examples of the latter on the Republican side, we have televangelist Pat Robertson in 1988 and America-first conservative commentator Pat Buchanan in 1992 (when he demonstrated incumbent president George H.W. Bush’s vulnerability with a surprisingly strong showing in New Hampshire before fading). On the Democratic side, for example, there was civil rights activist Al Sharpton in 2004.     

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The Washington Times

The 2008 presidential election is a wide-open contest, and Democrats, as we saw here last week, have responded with a broad field. What could have been an early consensus in favor of Hillary Rodham Clinton is so far anything but, as Democrats fight over how they want to position themselves. The Republican field, by contrast, seems surprisingly underpopulated, again given the givens.     

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The Washington Times

The 2008 presidential election will be a wide-open contest. Democrats are responding to this fact with gusto, as a gaggle of serious candidates has already come forward. The Republican field seems, by contrast, thin — or at least thinner than one would expect. How come? Actually, the reasons are straightforward in both cases. On the Democratic side, Hillary Rodham Clinton has long been front-runner. But a funny thing happened on the way to her coronation in 2008: Democrats have decided that they are not in the mood to declare a consensus candidate early.     

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The Washington Times

Apparently, Israel didn’t get the memo about the inefficacy of military force as revealed by the difficulties of the United States in Iraq. With luck, the military campaign Israel is waging to expunge the threat of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon will serve as a counter-reminder: In dealing with a determined enemy which aspires to pose an existential threat to your country, power is a good thing to have, and the judicious application of military force is sometimes the only way — and at other times, simply the preferable way — to achieve your security objectives.

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The Washington Times

The bottom line is this: Are we going to finish the job in Europe, or are we going to turn our backs on those who haven’t yet made their way in from the cold? At a summit meeting in Croatia, that is the question as much on the minds of the representatives of the major Euro-Atlantic institutions, namely the European Union and NATO, as on the minds of those knocking on their doors in hope of joining fully in the modern Western world.

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The Washington Times

When I was a kid, on the Fourth of July, Dad and I used to drag the stereo speakers out onto the back porch in the morning and treat the neighborhood to a rousing full-blast rendition of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” Fortunately for the composure of the neighborhood, stereos were a lot less powerful in those days than they are now. Nevertheless, it made an impression.

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The Washington Times

During the closing years of Bill Clinton’s presidency, from the time the story of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky broke, the presidential job-approval rating in the polls became, seemingly, all-important. Although Americans were inclined to disapprove of Mr. Clinton personally, they kept support levels for his performance in office fairly high. This is turn served as the principal bulwark against those who thought he ought to pay the price of the presidency for lying under oath about his relations with Miss Lewinsky.

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The Washington Times

When you see your opportunity, you take it. The death of Abu Musab Zarqawi was such a moment, and the Bush administration made the most of it, putting together the best three weeks politically the president has had since his reelection.

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The Washington Times

Every so often appears a piece of writing that just takes your breath away for the way in which it encapsulates the vacuous self-centeredness and resentment into which our world of unprecedented convenience and comfort invites the human personality to dissipate. Such was The Post’s “Outlook” piece Sunday, “What Happens When There is No Plan B?”  

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The Washington Times

Engage or confront? It’s the eternal divide in foreign affairs when dealing with a dangerous state on a troublesome course. The question has been asked variously of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Pakistan and now Iran over its nuclear program.

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