Blog Book

Washington Diary: Rand weighs in on Iran

2012-05-18T23:00:00+10:00

After a 5 a.m. airport check-in, my thoughts naturally turn to: Armageddon, despair, the bleak inevitabilities of life. Though on the brighter side, the TSA operation at San Diego turns out to have a metal-detector-only line, which for once I managed to sidle towards and make my way through without… more»

View from Australia: Can the GOP turn America against Obama?

2012-05-17T23:00:00+10:00

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The Midwesterner: History comes to Chicago

2012-05-16T23:00:00+10:00

Much global history is the product of politics and diplomacy carried along on a subterranean stream of quiet talks and deals that, apart from WikiLeaks, pop into view only when they fail and bad things — crises or wars — happen. But occasionally, international leaders stick their heads above this… more»

Washington Diary: Latest nullification news

2012-05-15T23:00:00+10:00

Last week, I was on the MSNBC show Up with Chris Hayes*, discussing China, politics, and other matters. (With Catherine Rampell, David Frum, Ann Lee, and Alexis Goldstein.) China clips here and here, with Hayes's intro here.… more»

Campaign Notes: Karger's moment

2012-05-14T23:00:00+10:00

Chances are you didn’t know that Republican Fred Karger is running for President.… more»

America in Asia: Tehran finds Taliban?

2012-05-11T23:00:00+10:00

Angry at the successful conclusion of the strategic partnership agreement (SPA) between Kabul and Washington, Tehran has apparently renewed its contacts with the Taliban, which is seeking to overthrow the government in Afghanistan led by President Hamid Karzai.… more»

Washington Diary: No one asked me, but...

2012-05-10T23:00:00+10:00

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The Midwesterner: Globalisation: not dead, but doddering

2012-05-09T23:00:00+10:00

We've been here before, a century ago.… more»

America in Asia: Dawdling in Delhi

2012-05-08T23:00:00+10:00

India’s foreign interlocutors are adapting to the power vacuum at the Centre. Hillary Clinton’s itinerary shows that.… more»

Campaign Notes: Kick-off in the main game

2012-05-07T23:00:00+10:00

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, has marked the start of his re-election campaign with “kickoff” speeches in two potentially crucial states: Ohio and Virginia.… more»

Washington Diary: Chen Guangcheng and the limits of outside power

2012-05-04T23:00:00+10:00

As mentioned at The Atlantic, what I know about this case, from the other side of the world here in DC, mainly depends on the blog posts and Twitter feeds of people on scene.… more»

America in Asia: A sovereign Afghanistan

2012-05-03T23:00:00+10:00

Obama’s new strategy challenges the Taliban and the Pakistan army… more»

Washington Diary: "Even Jimmy Carter"

2012-05-02T23:00:00+10:00

Mitt Romney informs us that the raid that took out Osama bin Laden one year ago was no big deal, because "even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."… more»

Election Watch: Obamacare counterfactuals

2012-05-01T23:00:00+10:00

Democrats have consistently predicted that Obamacare would become increasingly popular as its changes took effect. So far, that hasn’t been the case, and now, facing the very real possibility that the Supreme Court will strike down the law, some on the left have taken to questioning the way President Obama… more»

The veepstakes begin

2012-04-30T23:00:00+10:00

As the Republican presidential nominating contest draws to an effective close, attention is now turning to whom Mitt Romney will choose as his vice presidential running mate. It will be the subject of much speculation over the next three months and history shows it could be a crucial decision.… more»

The Midwesterner: A frost on global markets

2012-04-27T23:00:00+10:00

Across the farmlands of the Midwest, global warming just got mixed with globalisation. The result shapes up as a strange and contentious year with a potential impact on food prices around the globe.… more»

America in Asia: Afghanistan after 2014

2012-04-26T23:00:00+10:00

The strategic partnership agreement initialled this week by Kabul and Washington marks a new phase in the political evolution of the northwestern subcontinent amidst the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.… more»

Washington Diary: The most interesting part of Huntsman's "regrets"

2012-04-24T23:00:00+10:00

Through the past year's evolution of the Huntsman 2012 campaign, my own reactions went through an altered version of the famous K‪ü‬bler-Ross cycle. I started with denial: how could a serving member of the Obama Administration possibly run for the nomination of the Tea Party-era GOP? I lurched into admiration… more»

Campaign Notes: Money matters

2012-04-23T23:00:00+10:00

If having lots of money were all you need to get elected President of the United States then the likes of Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, Donald Trump, or Jon Huntsman could have been sliding their feet under the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.… more»

Washington Diary: The unspeakable F-word, government style

2012-04-20T23:00:00+10:00

I have mentioned this theme a time or two in the past. But, seriously, if you can sit still for one more installment, this matters. We're not just talking boiled frogs here.… more»

The Midwesterner: The outsourcing of Santa Claus

2012-04-19T23:00:00+10:00

Many Midwestern cities see their post-industrial future in a combination of health care, education, and high-end manufacturing. They may be chasing an impossible dream.… more»

View from Australia: The Veepstakes circus

2012-04-18T23:00:00+10:00

Part of the fun of a primary season is the cast of political freaks, geeks, clowns, contortionists, and conjurers that leaps into the ring while their party undergoes the supposedly serious task of anointing its nominee for the highest office in the land. A neophyte might suppose that Rick Santorum's… more»

Washington Diary: Nice work on false equivalence

2012-04-17T23:00:00+10:00

Today a majority of the Senate voted in favor of the "Buffett Rule," but the 51-45 "Yes" vote was not enough to overcome the Republicans' threatened filibuster.Here is how the New York Times, to its credit, reported and billed the story:… more»

Campaign Notes: Battlelines being drawn

2012-04-16T23:00:00+10:00

For all of the Republican establishment’s hand-wringing that the negative tone of their primary was taking a toll on the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney has emerged looking strong, confident, and, according to the latest polls, leading Barack Obama in the race for the White House.… more»

The Midwesterner: A to-do list for the G8 summiteers

2012-04-13T23:00:00+10:00

Here's a modest proposal for the leaders assembling in May at the G8 summit and, a month later, at the G20 summit in Mexico: rethink and reform the global economy.… more»

Washington Diary: Five simple ideas from the Antipodes

2012-04-12T23:00:00+10:00

If I were in big-think mode, I might say something about the contrasts a superficially similar society, like Australia, offers to the modern United States. How much more egalitarian the culture feels, in a thousand detailed ways that remind me of the age-of-abundance California of the Pat Brown era. And… more»

Campaign Notes: The little engine that couldn't

2012-04-11T23:00:00+10:00

The first time I saw Senator Rick Santorum in person he was standing in the media “spin room” at Iowa State University just minutes after a Republican candidate debate.… more»

The Midwesterner: A revival in Middletown

2012-04-10T23:00:00+10:00

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View from Australia: Caught in the Rush

2012-04-05T14:30:00+10:00

For radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, April is shaping up to be far from the cruellest month. In March, Limbaugh was on the ropes, caught in a maelstrom of his own making. It began when he called a young law student a “slut” and a “prostitute” for her advocacy… more»

Campaign Notes: Romney wins three from three

2012-04-04T23:00:00+10:00

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but his main rivals are stubbornly refusing to bow out of the race.… more»

America in Asia: Sino-US rivalry in the Indian Ocean

2012-04-03T21:00:00+10:00

Reports from the United States say Washington wants to develop the Australian owned Cocos Islands southeast of the Andaman Islands into a base for military surveillance aircraft that can monitor China’s growing naval activity in the eastern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.… more»

Campaign Notes: When will Romney seal the deal?

2012-04-02T21:00:00+10:00

This week’s Republican presidential primaries in Maryland, Washington DC, and Wisconsin are shaping up to show strong results for Mitt Romney and will add more weight to calls for his rivals to drop out.… more»

Washington Diary: If the Supreme Court Says It, It Must Be True

2012-03-30T23:00:00+10:00

From a New York Times account account of a Supreme Court colloquy on what will happen when — OK, "if" — five or more Justices vote to overturn the individual-mandate provision in the Obama health care bill:… more»

Election Watch: How will Justice Kennedy vote?

2012-03-29T23:00:00+10:00

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Washington Diary: What we can "learn" from our nine years in Iraq

2012-03-28T23:00:00+10:00

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The Midwesterner: Where are the happy places?

2012-03-27T23:00:00+10:00

You can't buy happiness, we're told. The same, I suspect, holds true for optimism and satisfaction.… more»

Will Republican hearts still rule their heads?

2012-03-26T23:00:00+10:00

The weekend Republican Party presidential primary in the state of Louisiana reinforced a couple of key features of this fascinating nominating contest. Social and religious conservatives still want someone other than Mitt Romney — latterly Rick Santorum — even though they know Romney has the best chance of defeating Barack… more»

Campaign Notes: The delegate math

2012-03-23T23:00:00+10:00

There are plenty of Republicans hoping Mitt Romney can reach the 1144 delegates he needs to secure the presidential nomination before the final primaries in June.… more»

Election Watch: Voters should decide Obamacare

2012-03-22T23:00:00+10:00

Next week, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” The case centres on the central piece of the legislation known as the individual mandate, which requires citizens to buy health insurance or pay… more»

The Midwesterner: A new map for the Chicago region

2012-03-21T23:00:00+10:00

Any astronaut looking down from space at night would spot a solid band of bright light wrapped around the southern end of Lake Michigan. The lights go on somewhere north of Milwaukee, stay on as the band moves south through Kenosha and Racine and turn into the glare of Chicago… more»

America in Asia: The golden stars and stripes

2012-03-20T23:00:00+10:00

Anyone even remotely interested in Asia’s strategic future will find it rewarding to pick up A Contest for Supremacy, Princeton University professor Aaron Friedberg’s volume on the past, present and the likely future of Sino-US relations. The sub-title of the volume, “the struggle for mastery in Asia”, is a take off… more»

Washington Diary: The US will not bomb Iran

2012-03-19T23:00:00+10:00

I think this point is still worth making — even as the chaos of the Republican race comes into the domestic news, and as the compounding disaster in Afghanistan dominates the foreign-policy agenda. (On Afghanistan Fred Kaplan offers what seems to me an irrebutable argument. When Afghan soldiers are murdering… more»

The Midwesterner: What works for old industrial cities

2012-03-16T23:00:00+10:00

The Midwestern landscape is pocked with old industrial cities whose industries have mostly gone away. Some have turned the corner from their industrial past and are beginning to thrive in the global age. Others remain poor, rusted, shrinking, locked in the past.… more»

America in Asia: Murder, meltdown

2012-03-15T23:00:00+10:00

One consequence of Sunday’s killing spree in Afghanistan by an American soldier gone rogue is the rapid meltdown of political support within the United States for a prolonged military involvement in the country.… more»

Campaign Notes: The stalemate

2012-03-14T23:00:00+10:00

For a few brief hours, Mitt Romney’s campaign had high hopes of snatching a pair of upset victories in the Southern states of Alabama and Mississippi.… more»

Election Watch: The right's unhelpful Iran rhetoric

2012-03-13T23:00:00+10:00

Until recently, the Republican game plan for 2012 looked fairly straightforward: make the election a referendum on the economy. However, now that the US has added over 200 000 jobs in each of the past three months, opponents of Obama are looking to attack the President on a wider variety… more»

Campaign Notes: The underdog frontrunner

2012-03-12T23:00:00+10:00

Mitt Romney’s chirpy “Mornin’ y’all!” to potential voters at the Farmers Market in Jackson, Mississippi this weekend raised a few eyebrows, as did his claim to have eaten “a biscuit and some cheesy grits” for breakfast.… more»

The Midwesterner: So long G8, welcome NATO

2012-03-09T23:00:00+10:00

Some preliminary and random thoughts on the summit that got away:… more»

Washington Diary: Obama at AIPAC

2012-03-08T23:00:00+10:00

1) "Too much loose talk." Good for President Obama for saying this during his speech on Sunday at AIPAC:… more»

Campaign Notes: Super Tuesday has made one fact clear

2012-03-07T23:00:00+10:00

Super Tuesday may not have proven to be decisive, but it has made one fact abundantly clear: while Republicans just aren’t that in to Mitt Romney, there’s really nobody else.… more»

The Midwesterner: Good jobs, but where are the workers?

2012-03-06T23:00:00+10:00

The number of manufacturing jobs in the Midwest is going down, but factories say they can't find workers to fill manufacturing jobs. As they say, it's a puzzlement.… more»

Campaign Notes: Why Ohio matters

2012-03-05T23:00:00+10:00

Of the ten states holding Republican presidential primaries or caucuses on “Super” Tuesday, Ohio in the Midwest is likely to draw the most attention.… more»

America in Asia: Protests in Afghanistan

2012-03-02T23:00:00+10:00

Small incidents often have a big impact on the dynamics of a war. The recent burning of copies of the Quran by US soldiers, and the angry Afghan reaction to it, could well turn out to be a decisive moment in the Afghan endgame.… more»

View from Australia: The right opponent

2012-03-01T23:00:00+10:00

Mitt Romney still looks the favourite for the Republican nomination, but his strategy of taking aim primarily at Newt Gingrich might have made his quest harder than it needs to be. By attacking Gingrich and taking some of his votes, Romney may have in fact made it harder to win… more»

Campaign Notes: Romney rolls on to Super Tuesday

2012-02-29T23:00:00+10:00

For all of the concern about the lack of enthusiasm for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, the fact is he is winning states and delegates.… more»

Washington Diary: What austerity hath wrought

2012-02-28T23:00:00+10:00

Some day people will look back in puzzlement at the prevailing US mood of 2011, when in the face of the biggest job-loss collapse in two generations the prevailing rhetoric from Democrats and Republicans alike emphasised the need to cut public spending, now. (And, yes, it should have been seen… more»

Campaign Notes: Great expectations

2012-02-27T23:00:00+10:00

As this week’s Republican presidential primaries in Michigan and Arizona draw near, it seems the establishment favorite Mitt Romney has reasserted his frontrunner status in those next two contests and nationally.… more»

The Midwesterner: Sunset on a new day for news

2012-02-24T23:00:00+10:00

Back in late 2009, I posted an article called "A News Day Dawns," about a journalistic experiment in Chicago that held the potential for a brighter future for all journalism in the Midwest.… more»

Election Watch: A president on the court?

2012-02-23T23:00:00+10:00

The current lull in the campaign gives one time to step back from the day to day details of the primary and think long term. So, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to throw out a possibility still many years down the road: Barack Obama as a member of the… more»

America in Asia: Nuclear talks

2012-02-22T23:00:00+10:00

As it announced new breakthroughs in its atomic programme and threatened to cut off oil supplies to some European countries on Wednesday, Iran was offering to resume nuclear talks with the international community.… more»

Campaign Notes: Another frontrunner

2012-02-21T23:00:00+10:00

A few months ago there were no shortage of parallels between Barack Obama’s standing heading into a re-election year and that of one-term presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter: high unemployment, a listless economy, and a widespread sense of malaise.… more»

Washington Diary: Iran-drumbeat watch

2012-02-20T23:00:00+10:00

Last week I mentioned Mike Lofgren's observations on the strange media-political history of the "Iran threat." The world is full of, ummm, imperfectly governed states, at least two of which actually have nuclear weapons: North Korea and Pakistan. But discussions of a potential nuclear weapon in Iran take on a… more»

The Midwesterner: Scaling the Chicago Summits

2012-02-17T23:00:00+10:00

With Chicago and the Midwest gearing up to host the Group of 8 and NATO summits on May 19-21, it might be useful now to look at just what these organisations are, and what will go on in their twin meetings. In both cases, perception and reality are two different… more»

View from Australia: The other guy

2012-02-16T23:00:00+10:00

This past weekend, I watched a movie about an earnest and diffident Midwesterner, partial to wearing sweater vests, who left his home town for a big event in Iowa, and discovered the experience to be a life-changing one.… more»

America in Asia: Middle East moves closer

2012-02-15T23:00:00+10:00

Monday’s bombing of an Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi marks a definitive expansion of India’s western security perimeter into the Middle East. India must do all it can to quickly bring the plotters of the Delhi attack to book; failure to do so will only reinforce India’s image as a… more»

Campaign Notes: Dreams of a brokered convention

2012-02-14T23:00:00+10:00

As the candidates trade victories in the 2012 Republican presidential primary contest and the race heads towards so-called “Super Tuesday” on March 6th, when a dozen states will conduct primaries, caucuses, or conventions, an intriguing possibility is emerging: what if nobody wins?… more»

Washington Diary: "State of the WaPo" watch

2012-02-13T23:00:00+10:00

I assume it was by serendipity rather than design that both the New York Times and the Washington Post had bracing articles today on the way the way the Post is being forced to, or is deciding to, "right size" its news staff to cope with unending business pressures.… more»

Election Watch: Supremes should tread softly on social issues

2012-02-10T23:00:00+10:00

Although the economy remains at the forefront of political debates, social issues have managed to creep back onto the campaign trail and into the public dialogue. First, there was the Obama administration’s decision to mandate that religious institutions, such as Catholic hospitals, cover the cost of birth control in the… more»

The Midwesterner: Chicago and the summits

2012-02-09T23:00:00+10:00

Talk to most Chicagoans now about the twin summits of the Group of 8 and NATO, scheduled for mid-May, and they'll probably tell you that it's a "real roll of the dice." Which is just about right.… more»

America in Asia: Veto power

2012-02-08T23:00:00+10:00

Many Indian foreign policy conservatives would have preferred to see Delhi abstain from the United Nations Security Council vote this past Saturday on the crisis in Syria. In contrast, some Chinese radicals are elated at Beijing openly taking sides and exercising its veto power. Raising your hand against the other… more»

Campaign Notes: Why low turnout is good for Mitt

2012-02-07T23:00:00+10:00

The weekend caucus in Nevada has highlighted an interesting trend in the 2012 Republican presidential nominating contest.… more»

Washington Diary: Super Bowl special!

2012-02-06T17:40:00+10:00

My nominee for most revolting ad.… more»

Washington Diary: If Dickens came back to America...

2012-02-03T23:00:00+10:00

...he would note yesterday's Wall Street Journal. The front page, similar to the front page of all other papers:… more»

America in Asia: The Baloch question

2012-02-02T23:00:00+10:00

After the US State Department expressed concern about the human rights situation in Balochistan a few days ago, there has been much speculation about the implications of Washington’s political empathy to an avowedly separatist movement in Pakistan.… more»

Campaign Notes: Florida leaves many questions unanswered

2012-02-01T23:30:00+10:00

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s victory in the Florida Republican presidential primary was no more and no less than he had to do to cement his place as the frontrunner.… more»

View from Australia: The six things Mitt Romney should never have said

2012-01-31T23:30:00+10:00

If, as he is expected to, Mitt Romney wins today's primary contest in Florida, he'll have all but wrapped up the Republican nomination. His three opponents might keep him fighting until March 6, when ten states vote on Super Tuesday, but, for all intents and purposes, the GOP contest should… more»

View from Australia: Obama chooses senseless gestures over energy security

2012-01-30T23:00:00+10:00

In the State of the Union address this past Tuesday, President Barack Obama declared that we "don’t have to choose between our environment and our economy." His statement echoes the post-partisan "audacity of hope" formulation we have heard many times before — "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our… more»

Washington Diary: If logic mattered in these debates...

2012-01-27T23:00:00+10:00

...Rick Santorum would have been declared the knockout winner over Mitt Romney tonight, for backing him into making a plainer, simpler case for the "individual mandate" in health coverage than Barack Obama himself has ever made. (In fairness, Obama was against the individual mandate during the 2008 primaries, which may… more»

The Midwesterner: Icarus on the farm

2012-01-26T23:00:00+10:00

All farmers keep a constant eye on the horizon, watching for the cloud that might bring rain to nourish the crops or hail to destroy them. As the new year dawned, the most ominous financial cloud in a generation appeared on the horizon of the rural Midwest. Even farmers too… more»

View from Australia: The Union in an election year

2012-01-25T23:00:00+10:00

Barack Obama began the fourth year of his presidency this past Friday, and he used what may be his final State of the Union address to remind Americans how much he's accomplished while in office.… more»

The Midwesterner: The higher cost of higher education

2012-01-24T23:00:00+10:00

In a global economy that demands at least some post-secondary education for all its workers, the same economy may be pricing these workers out of a chance for an education.… more»

Campaign Notes: Florida or bust

2012-01-23T23:00:00+10:00

What is it they say about a week being a long time in politics?… more»

Washington Diary: False equivalence, the ur-document

2012-01-20T22:00:00+10:00

Over the months, and indeed through the decades, I've mentioned how the mainstream press can be buffaloed if one party to a dispute says things that just aren't true. Every reflex teaches journalists that the only "fair" approach is to neutrally report "both sides" — and to resist ever saying,… more»

The Midwesterner: Where is the Midwest?

2012-01-19T22:00:00+10:00

Writing about the Midwest presents a problem unknown to those who write about, say, the South, or New England. The problem is that no one can define, with any precision, just what the Midwest is.… more»

America in Asia: Eyeing the US "return to Asia"

2012-01-18T19:00:00+10:00

At talks between India and China this week, there is an elephant in the room: the United States of America. The one significant international change since Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo met last, in July 2010, has been the much touted US “pivot”… more»

Campaign Notes: Following Huntsman's lead

2012-01-17T17:00:00+10:00

Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman's one-state presidential campaign is over. His third place in last week's New Hampshire primary was not enough to give him a bounce into contention in South Carolina and Florida. So, despite the availability of limitless contributions from his billionaire father's SuperPAC, Huntsman has called it… more»

Washington Diary: RIP Jon Huntsman's 2012 campaign

2012-01-16T18:30:00+10:00

I am sorry to hear the news that Jon Huntsman is dropping out of the 2012 campaign. Sorry for him, sorry for his family and for everyone who has put time, heart, and money into his cause.… more»

View from Australia: In the Veepstakes, could Romney tap Rubio?

2012-01-13T23:00:00+10:00

The US political commentariat has seldom had it as good as it did four years ago, during the knockdown, drag-out fight between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, followed by the electrifying emergence of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.… more»

Religion in America: The year of the Mormon

2012-01-12T23:00:00+10:00

The surprise hit play on Broadway this past summer was The Book of Mormon, while out in the hinterland the Republican presidential candidate to beat — the candidate President Barack Obama is reportedly preparing to campaign against — has been Mitt Romney, a Mormon and, indeed, the great-grandson of Mormon polygamists… more»

Campaign Notes: Mitt's mission accomplished

2012-01-11T22:00:00+10:00

Concord, NH: For Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, New Hampshire’s presidential primary presented plenty of downsides and not a lot to gain.… more»

View from Australia: Romney rolls on to New Hampshire

2012-01-10T23:30:00+10:00

Mitt Romney's margin of victory in the Iowa caucuses last week may have been an impossibly slim eight votes, but the former Massachusetts governor is in a deceptively strong position. It's not just that he will almost certainly win today's New Hampshire primary or that he's looking strong in early… more»

Washington Diary: A farewell to debates

2012-01-09T23:00:00+10:00

Oops! After two debates in 15 hours I thought we'd reached a climax and finale, like the blow-it-all-out ending of a fireworks show. But it turns out that the respite is brief. A week from tomorrow, the fun starts again in South Carolina.… more»

America in Asia: A difficult conversation

2012-01-06T23:00:00+10:00

Once the terms and conditions for the Taliban acquiring an address in Qatar are sorted out in the coming days, the stage will be set for a complex set of negotiations that could reorder the power structure within Kabul and reorganise its external relations. The impending talks with the Taliban… more»

Washington Diary: At last Obama strikes back

2012-01-05T23:00:00+10:00

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Campaign Notes: Iowa's split decision

2012-01-04T22:30:00+10:00

Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday January 3rd: As tens of thousands of Iowans headed out to their local school gyms, community centres, and fire stations to caucus for their preferred Republican presidential nominee, there was as much a sense of “let get this thing done” as actual enthusiasm.… more»

View from Australia: The Santorum shall inherit the earth

2012-01-03T23:00:00+10:00

And so in Iowa, as in heaven, the last shall be first. The Santorum will inherit the Republican Party.… more»

The Midwesterner: The real Iowa

2012-01-02T23:00:00+10:00

The Republican caucuses in Iowa will soon be history: not a moment too soon for most of us, but especially for Iowans themselves. For months, they have been bombarded with TV ads and swarmed by plagues of politicians. Even worse, they have been diced, sliced, anatomised, psychoanalysed and socially parsed… more»

2011 in Review: The global war on...

2011-12-31T20:00:00+10:00

Too much happened this year, like most years, to fit into any manageable end-of-year list, but as I thought about the developments with the greatest chance of seeming significant five or ten years from now, I was struck by a similar set of groupings. The “Global War on…” leitmotif is,… more»

View from Australia: 11 stories that mattered in 2011

2011-12-30T23:00:00+10:00

January 3: The 112th Congress convenes, with a Republican majority in the House… more»

The Midwesterner: 'Tis the season to be blackmailed

2011-12-29T23:00:00+10:00

If it truly is more blessed to give than receive, the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago have just booked their reservations in heaven.… more»

America in Asia: The new North Korean landscape

2011-12-28T23:00:00+10:00

As North Korea’s most important external partner, China was quick to extend its support to Kim Jong-il's youngest song, Kim Jong-un, who was declared in Pyongyang as the “Great Successor” to the departed leader.… more»

Washington Diary: A step away from false equivalence?

2011-12-27T23:00:00+10:00

The Washington Post's online report of the payroll-tax denouement avoided calling it "dysfunction" or "logjam" and instead reported it as an all-out Republican gamble on obstruction, which failed.… more»

Campaign Notes: All eyes on the Hawkeye State

2011-12-23T23:00:00+10:00

As the rest of America prepares for the holidays, ordering in the hams and turkey and picking up the tree, about one hundred and fifty thousand Iowans are about to decide who they want to be the Republican challenger to Barack Obama next November.… more»

Washington Diary: The new nullification crisis

2011-12-22T23:00:00+10:00

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View from Australia: Whither the Ron Paul party?

2011-12-21T23:00:00+10:00

So December is to be the month of Ron Paul...… more»

America in Asia: US-Pakistan jousting

2011-12-20T23:00:00+10:00

The decision by a US Congressional panel to freeze $700 million of assistance to Pakistan highlights the current troubled bilateral relationship but should not be over-interpreted. As a spokeswoman of the State Department clarified, the cut won’t take effect until both houses of the Congress approve and President Obama signs… more»

The Midwesterner: The Midwest commands American politics

2011-12-19T23:30:00+10:00

The Midwest has become the political fulcrum of America. Some Midwesterners, especially the over-politicked citizens of Iowa, might be willing to forego this honor, but the fact remains that Midwestern politics is setting the agenda for the election year to come.… more»

Book Review: Christopher Hitchens, "Hitch-22"

2011-12-16T23:00:00+10:00

The rare and fortunate individual reading Christopher Hitchens for  the first time could be forgiven for thinking that the English-born American citizen comes from a privileged background. Published at the beginning of his seventh decade, the writer's memoir corrects this impression by recording an ordinary childhood as the elder son… more»

View from Australia: Campaign sweetly and carry a big stick

2011-12-15T23:00:00+10:00

Yesterday in Blogbook, we looked at previous presidents through whom the current one has been analysed over the course of his first three years in office. Last week in Osawatomie, Kansas, Barack Obama himself added a name to that list, and he did so specifically to frame his upcoming re-election… more»

View from Australia: Barack Obama and the ghosts of presidents past

2011-12-14T23:30:00+10:00

Just 43 men have held the office of President of the United States, and everyone from the press, to the public, to the presidents themselves seeks to understand the current Commander in Chief through the lens of his predecessors. Barack Obama is no different; ever since he first hit the… more»

Washington Diary: The Gingrich-Huntsman debate

2011-12-13T23:00:00+10:00

I put "debate" in quotes because this was more like a well-mannered talk show with two guests. Archived video on this site. Here's the significant point:… more»

The National Interest: Letters from an ally

2011-12-12T19:30:00+10:00

My favourite political book of the year is Letters to my Daughter, a collection of previously unpublished letters from former Australian prime minister Robert Menzies to his daughter Heather Henderson. America-philes who have only a passing interest in Australian history or politics will still enjoy many of the letters compiled… more»

America in Asia: Towards Af-Pak anarchy

2011-12-09T23:00:00+10:00

An international conference in Bonn this week, attended by nearly 100 nations and international organisations, sought to create the conditions for an orderly Western military retreat from Afghanistan and ensure the international community’s continued support to the government in Kabul after 2014.… more»

Washington Diary: It's the Administration's turn to be anti-science

2011-12-08T18:00:00+10:00

Jon Huntsman has been taking flak for apparent wavering from the "I'll listen to scientists about science" stance involving climate change. (Understanding whether climate change is happening, as the overwhelming preponderance of world science says it is, is of course different from agreeing on what can and should be done… more»

The Midwesterner: Drifting in the Driftless Area

2011-12-07T18:30:00+10:00

I spent the last week in Galena, a gem of an old Victorian town in northeast Illinois near the Mississippi River Valley, nestled in the hills and forests of the so-called Driftless Area. I came away thinking how this area could be more than the beautiful, but generally depressed, region it is… more»

Campaign Notes: Wargaming 2012

2011-12-06T21:30:00+10:00

Less than four weeks out from the first vote for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee in the Iowa caucuses, and the race still appears wide open.… more»

American Politics: The case for Newt

2011-12-05T17:50:05+10:00

We all know the Republican primary contest has been marked by a search for a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. At various stages this year, that candidate has been Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, Texas governor Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain, and, most recently, the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.… more»

View from Australia: Land of immigrants

2011-12-02T20:56:55+10:00

The New Republic has a great article up by Sahil Mahtani, an Indonesian who studied in the United States and was unable to stay there. It's a lucid and wide-ranging take on the problems with the American immigration system, and it's well worth your time. A sample:… more»

America in Asia: Great game in the East

2011-12-01T18:30:00+10:00

When Hillary Clinton travels to Myanmar this week, she will be the first American Secretary of State to visit the country in nearly half a century. Clinton’s very presence in Myanmar marks a big shift from the American policy of isolating the country during the last two decades and more.… more»

View from Australia: The unpredictable primary voter

2011-11-30T19:30:00+10:00

With Mitt Romney largely static in polling, and in the wake of a significant surge in support for Newt Gingrich, much is being said and written about the Republican base, and what it wants and doesn’t want. This analysis, often augmented by predictions about what certain voters will do based… more»

Campaign Notes: The Hillary option

2011-11-29T19:30:00+10:00

… more»

View from Australia: The ghost of 2008

2011-11-28T21:30:00+10:00

Any Democrats feeling too glum about Barack Obama's re-election prospects — or any Republicans looking to ward off the jinx of overconfidence — might like to look at this tale from Sunday's New York Times:… more»

America in Asia: Afghanistan after 2014

2011-11-25T23:00:00+10:00

Before the next round of international conference diplomacy on Afghanistan in Berlin next month, Washington hopes to complete its bilateral negotiations with Kabul on drafting a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA). The talks have been going on for months, but are increasingly being complicated by domestic politics. The original objective of… more»

View from Australia: Giving thanks

2011-11-24T23:00:00+10:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!… more»

The Midwesterner: Thinking about the future

2011-11-23T23:00:00+10:00

It's easy to get that neglected feeling, sitting here in the Midwest, surveying the industrial collapse in our own back yard and wondering if anybody out there really cares. The pre-dawn dustup in Zuccotti Park gets more national air time and ink than the destruction of Midwestern towns and cities,… more»

Washington Diary: Pepper spray brutality at UC Davis

2011-11-22T23:00:00+10:00

In case you haven't yet seen the YouTube footage of what happened this past Friday at UC Davis, here it is. The first minute has the main drama:… more»

American Politics: Riding two horses simultaneously

2011-11-21T23:00:00+10:00

During last week’s presidential visit to Australia, I was frequently asked whether Australia is faced with a hard, stark choice between the US and China. After all, the rapid rise of the People’s Republic over the past decade means different things for Canberra and Washington.… more»

View from Australia: The false populist choice

2011-11-18T23:00:00+10:00

Earlier this month, I cautioned against conflating centrism with policies that genuinely appeal to swing voters. An article by experienced congressional observers Thomas Mann and Norman Orenstein explained the fallacy:… more»

America in Asia: Tournament of shadows

2011-11-17T22:30:00+10:00

The East Asian Summit in Bali, Indonesia occurs at a moment when the old continent’s tectonic plates are moving. After decades of relative political stability and growing economic prosperity, Asia’s international relations have acquired a new dynamism.… more»

The Midwesterner: Jobs, pay, and policy

2011-11-16T23:00:00+10:00

In this third year of the Great Recession, jobs — how to get them, how to keep them, how much they pay — are the key issue in the Midwest and across the nation. Two recent newspaper articles focused on this issue and, in the process, revealed what's being done,… more»

Campaign Notes: Three reasons it's Mitt

2011-11-15T23:00:00+10:00

There are three reasons why Mitt Romney is looking like the surest of sure bets to become the Republican Party’s Presidential nominee: first, he’s the establishment’s next-in-line, second, he has run an almost flawless campaign, and third... and third... oops.… more»

Washington Diary: Bombing Iran is still a bad idea

2011-11-14T23:00:00+10:00

Jeffrey Goldberg has been giving extensive coverage to the various possible Israeli, British, and American plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities in a preventive strike. Of course these follow his widely discussed cover story for The Atlantic last year on Israel's likelihood of taking such a step, and the recent IAEA… more»

View from Australia: The next administration

2011-11-11T20:46:40+10:00

For some, the dusk, is always the last moment before a new morning in America. In the latest Weekly Standard, William Kristol channels Faulkner and offers a vision of eternal conservative optimism:… more»

The Midwesterner: Higher education faces reality

2011-11-10T23:00:00+10:00

Apparently it's no fun being a plain old garden-variety university, doing nothing except what universities are supposed to do, which is to teach students. Every self-respecting university, it seems, wants to be a research university, churning out research that changes the world, and, one hopes, bags a Nobel Prize or… more»

View from Australia: Did Iran sponsor a terror attack on the US?

2011-11-09T23:00:00+10:00

In October, two Iranians were charged with plotting to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States by bombing a restaurant in Washington D.C., along with the Saudi and Israeli embassies. Manssor Arbabsiar allegedly approached a member of the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas to carry out the attacks. The… more»

Campaign Notes: Hopey-changey Stuff

2011-11-08T23:00:00+10:00

In one year we will know whether Barack Obama has been given a second four-year term or whether the restless appetite for change that has dominated every US election since the 2006 mid-terms and blighted incumbents will ultimately consume him as well.… more»

America in Asia: A faster Afghanistan withdrawal?

2011-11-07T23:00:00+10:00

The Obama Administration is debating the option of ending the American combat role in Afghanistan much earlier than the previous deadline of 2014, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal this week.… more»

Washington Diary: False equivalence watch, continued

2011-11-04T23:30:00+10:00

Sorry to seem to be picking on one publication, but it is supposed to be a leading political journal. Here is how this morning's Washington Post played the latest setback for the Obama "pass this bill now" jobs plan.… more»

View from Australia: Return of the Supercommittee

2011-11-03T23:30:00+10:00

Remember the supercommittee?… more»

View from Australia: The elusive centre

2011-11-02T23:30:00+10:00

It's a strange thing, being a political journalist.… more»

American Politics: This is no way to conduct a war

2011-11-01T22:00:00+10:00

This weekend marked Australia’s worst war-time episode since the Vietnam War. A rogue member of the Afghanistan National Army shot dead three diggers, an Afghan interpreter and wounded seven other Australians — an act of betrayal that brings Australia's troop deaths up to thirty two.… more»

Campaign Notes: Remember Kerry

2011-10-31T22:00:00+10:00

Two months out from the Iowa caucuses — the first vote in the eleven month electoral process to elect the President of the United States one year from now — it’s time to size up the field.… more»

View from Australia: Top Ten Songs for #OccupyWallStreet

2011-10-28T22:00:00+10:00

The New York Times recently published a curious piece by James C. McKinley Jr. titled "At the Protests, the Message Lacks a Melody." Curious, because to anyone paying attention, its central thesis is entirely incorrect. American music, says McKinley, has lacked for songs expressing the frustration at inequality that has fueled the… more»

Washington Diary: Like TSA? You'll love VIPR!

2011-10-28T00:04:43+10:00

We know how air travel has changed in the era of the Transportation Security Administration. We know about terrorist groups' not-quite-rational obsession with targeting airplanes — not rational because they could create more fear, more easily, by blowing up shopping malls or recreating the (genuinely terrifying) Beltway Sniper episode. And we… more»

The Midwesterner: What's changed in Chicago?

2011-10-26T22:00:00+10:00

A few years ago, the Chicago Council published a book called Global Chicago, with two goals in mind. The first was a wake-up call to Chicagoans that their old industrial City of the Big Shoulders was gone, replaced by a global city with new strengths and challenges. The second was… more»

Campaign Notes: Nixon and Romney

2011-10-25T22:00:00+10:00

The way former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney keeps plugging away to win over Republican voters brings to mind a story about the love life of a young Richard Nixon. The story was told by Nixon and others as an example of his persistence and (unintentionally, in Nixon’s case) his strangeness.… more»

American Politics: Wanted: A Republican realist

2011-10-24T22:00:00+10:00

“All of the Kissinger-era realists have gone away, like Robert Zoellick, James Baker, and Brent Scowcroft. Today, the [Republican] party is just a wasteland. They are total amateurs on foreign policy.”… more»

View from Australia: The map is still redrawn

2011-10-21T23:30:00+10:00

We're currently at a stage in the presidential contest in which, unless you're a Republican candidate, geography doesn't matter a whole lot. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry can worry about Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, but if the rest of us want to get a sense of President Barack… more»

View from Australia: Things done changed

2011-10-20T21:26:59+10:00

I'm not in the business of making predictions. Crystal ball-gazing is for clairvoyants. Anyone who tells you they know who will win next year's presidential election is making a shot in the dark and hoping you won't notice if they turn out to be wrong.… more»

Washington Diary: False equivalence reaches Onionesque heights

2011-10-19T22:00:00+10:00

I've heard angrily from a number of reporters in the last few days. They are objecting to my claims at The Atlantic that mainstream journalism is "enabling" Senate dysfunction by describing it as dysfunction plain and simple, rather than as the result of deliberate and extremely effective Republican strategy. That strategy,… more»

Campaign Notes: The Herman Cain Show

2011-10-18T23:00:00+10:00

… more»

American Politics: Mitt's American century

2011-10-17T23:30:00+10:00

Until now, foreign policy has not figured much in the Republican presidential contest. But with Mitt Romney setting the pace and tone, it is certain that it will do so before long.… more»

View from Australia: The No Taxes Ever Party

2011-10-15T00:48:02+10:00

One of the oddities of American politics is that, at the moment, Republican politicians are more conservative than Republican voters. Polls consistently show that a lot of ideas proudly trumpeted by GOP members in the House and Senate, such as cutting Social Security or Medicare, actually have lukewarm support at… more»

Washington Diary: Romney's Swiss Cheese Foreign Policy

2011-10-13T22:00:00+10:00

As I've mentioned after each of the debates and showdowns of the past few months, Mitt Romney plows steadily forward. He doesn't make (many) mistakes. He's well-prepared and briefed. He knows how to answer any question that comes up — all these are the advantages of having been on the national… more»

The Midwesterner: Reshoring, and its discontents

2011-10-12T23:00:00+10:00

Manufacturing may be coming back to the Midwest. Whether that's good news or bad news depends on the reasons why.… more»

View from Australia: Incommunicado

2011-10-11T21:00:00+10:00

There was a bit of a tiff in the Senate last week, and like most Senate tiffs, it played out in a series of squabbles over arcane rules and complicated votes. Sarah Binder explains what happened:… more»

Washington Diary: Anti-Mormonism is bigotry too

2011-10-10T21:00:00+10:00

The front page of the Washington Post today says "Romney pushes aside Mormonism question." (The web version of the story has a different headline.) There is coverage all over the place about this weekend's Values Voters Summit, at which the Texas preacher Robert Jeffress, who introduced and endorsed Rick Perry,… more»

View from Australia: America's homegrown energy security

2011-10-07T22:30:00+10:00

… more»

View from Australia: Occupied New York

2011-10-06T21:00:00+10:00

When James Fallows wrote last week about a disgraceful act of police brutality against Wall Street protesters in New York, I was appalled. I had little sympathy for the movement, which calls itself Occupy Wall Street, but Americans have the right to peaceably assemble without being subject to assault by law… more»

Washington Diary: The greatness of Chris Christie

2011-10-05T21:00:00+10:00

... for having decided, as my National Journal colleagues are reporting, not to plunge into the 2012 GOP presidential race. If he entered now he would be late, way behind on organisation-building and money-raising, and exposed all at once, with no build-up or practice time, to non-stop press and oppo scrutiny… more»

View from Australia: America v. A Word

2011-10-05T03:21:30+10:00

I've never heard America say "nigger" as much as I have in the past couple days.… more»

Washington Diary: Two more climate wedges

2011-10-03T22:00:00+10:00

Late last year, in my "Dirty Coal, Clean Future" story for The Atlantic, I discussed the famous "wedge" concept of what it would take to reduce global carbon emissions and thus stabilise the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. (That story was mainly about US-China efforts to use coal in… more»

View from Australia: Can Chris Christie save the GOP?

2011-09-30T16:34:26+10:00

Around the beginning of August, Republicans were in a fix. With President Barack Obama's poll figures scraping new lows and the economy remaining sluggish, their chances of winning the 2012 election had never looked better. Could they really be so lucky as to regain the White House four years after… more»

The Midwesterner: Bad news and a silver lining

2011-09-29T21:00:00+10:00

The US Census Bureau is out with its latest figures on income and poverty in the United States. The report makes glum reading for the country as a whole and for the Midwest in particular.… more»

Washington Diary: NYC cop's pepper spray cruelty

2011-09-28T23:00:00+10:00

Unless there is something faked about this video, which is on the New York Times' City Room site and is based on annotation and slow-mo apparently from USLaw.com, a uniformed New York City police officer abused power in a way that was cruel and cowardly during this past weekend's Wall… more»

View from Australia: The end of the urban ghetto

2011-09-27T22:02:43+10:00

Perhaps it's too premature to read inner city slums their last rites, but the geography of urban poverty in America has been changing over the past few decades, and that change has become particularly prevalent over the past ten years. Where the story of urban American was once "white flight"… more»

American Politics: Adapting to Nixon's America

2011-09-26T22:30:00+10:00

Forty years ago, Richard Nixon acknowledged what no American president since has been willing to recognise: that US global hegemony was coming to an end.… more»

The Midwesterner: States on the ropes

2011-09-23T21:00:00+10:00

I've written in past postings about the inability of Midwestern state governments to meet the challenges of a globalizing economy. For years, these state governments have been too small, too parochial, too dominated by rural interests to respond to the real needs of a global and urbanising society.… more»

View from Australia: The death and life of Troy Davis

2011-09-22T19:40:00+10:00

In January of 2003, two days before leaving office, the then Governor of Illinois George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 prisoners on the state's death row. Instead of facing execution, the convicts would all serve the remainder of their lives in prison. Governor Ryan had announced a moratorium on… more»

Washington Diary: Dear Ralph Nader...

2011-09-21T18:00:00+10:00

...I hope you will quash this latest rumor about seeking the presidency — and if not running yourself then recruiting and energising challengers to Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries.… more»

Campaign Notes: The Gadfly

2011-09-20T21:00:00+10:00

Supporters of the cranky Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul can’t understand why nobody thinks the Texas Congressman can be elected President. It drives ‘em nuts. (Although some might argue that’s quite a short journey.)… more»

American Politics: US decline, from Palestine to Seoul

2011-09-19T20:19:22+10:00

Distinguished Australian journalist Paul McGeough penned a perceptive analysis of the decline of US influence in the Middle East for today's Sydney Morning Herald. He argues:… more»

The Midwesterner: How not to build an economy

2011-09-16T21:00:00+10:00

You can bet on it.… more»

View from Australia: Making up for lost time

2011-09-15T21:00:00+10:00

Not that we needed further evidence of how rough things economically are in the United States at the moment, but here we go: the Census Bureau reported that the US poverty rate is at its highest since 1993. 46.2 million Americans were living below the poverty line last year — nearly… more»

Washington Diary: Flying while brown

2011-09-14T21:00:00+10:00

… more»

Campaign Notes: The Reagan Factor

2011-09-13T21:00:00+10:00

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American Politics: Beyond the 9/11 Decade

2011-09-12T22:00:00+10:00

During the September 11 anniversary commemorations, it’s occurred to me that the past two decades of the post-Cold War era have represented dramatically different epochs for US foreign policy. The period from 1991 to 2001 was an unqualified success, whereas the era from 2001 to 2011 has been disastrous.… more»

Washington Diary: The Obama jobs refrain

2011-09-09T22:30:00+10:00

1) In his appraisal, the Atlantic's Chris Good said that the speech's refrain — pass this jobs bill; you should pass it right away — amounted to a kind of begging to Congress. That may be the President's real situation. But I thought that as a specimen of rhetoric,… more»

View from Australia: Welcome to NYC

2011-09-08T22:30:00+10:00

How pop culture helped America survive 9/11… more»

Washington Diary: "People don't realise how fragile democracy really is"

2011-09-07T21:00:00+10:00

Recently at The Atlantic I mentioned the "Goodbye to All That" essay by Mike Lofgren, a respected (including by me) veteran Congressional staffer who had worked for Republican legislators on defense and budget issues for nearly 30 years.… more»

Campaign Notes: Lame duck season

2011-09-06T21:00:00+10:00

Fourteen months out from the next Presidential election and America’s 44th President Barack Obama is a lame duck, according to those at Fox News. And if you watch Fox, as many conservatives do, you would be convinced of Obama’s unpopularity, incompetence, and the inevitability of his defeat next year.… more»

American Politics: Sarah Palin won't run

2011-09-05T22:00:00+10:00

She’s back! Sarah Palin is running — in a half-marathon, that is. But the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate is still contemplating a bid for the White House, and she says she will make a formal announcement on whether she will run in the GOP primaries by the end of… more»

The Midwesterner: The Midwest is going regional

2011-09-02T21:30:00+10:00

Everyone who's studied the Midwestern economy agrees that strictly local solutions don't work, and it's time to work regionally. Everyone also agrees that Midwesterners are just too ornery by nature to accept the cooperation that regionalism requires. … more»

View from Australia: Life in August

2011-09-01T20:42:50+10:00

I tend to think most stereotypes people hold about Americans are wildly unfair. The idea that the nation of the Ivy League is uneducated, or that the country of William Faulkner and Frank Lloyd Wright is uncultured is clearly absurd. But there's one stereotype of the United States that I've… more»

Religion in America: The year of the Mormon

2011-08-31T21:30:00+10:00

The surprise hit play on Broadway this summer has been The Book of Mormon, while out in the hinterland the Republican presidential candidate to beat — the candidate President Barack Obama is reportedly preparing to campaign against — has been Mitt Romney, a Mormon and, indeed, the great-grandson of Mormon… more»

Campaign Notes: The Opening

2011-08-30T18:00:00+10:00

The entry of Texas Governor Rick Perry into the race for the Republican Presidential nomination less than three weeks ago has certainly shaken things up. The fragility of the more moderate Mitt Romney’s frontrunner status has been revealed to all, as has the thinness of conservative support for Michele Bachmann.… more»

American Politics: ANZUS at 60

2011-08-29T21:00:00+10:00

This week marks the 60th anniversary of the security alliance between Australia and the United States.… more»

The Midwesterner: A farmer's tale: Political folly and the Fed

2011-08-26T21:00:00+10:00

I once spent a long, agonizing evening in a decaying farmhouse in eastern Iowa, watching a young farmer's life fall apart.… more»

View From Australia: Moving out!

2011-08-25T21:00:00+10:00

I don't quite remember how I first developed my interest in the United States. Somewhere between my last year in high school, when I vaguely thought that New York seemed a pretty happening sort of town, and my first year of university, when a pretty American girl persuaded me that… more»

Washington Diary: The GOP position on taxes gets worse

2011-08-24T21:00:00+10:00

Please focus on the boundless cynicism here.… more»

Campaign Notes: Unsettling the field

2011-08-23T21:00:00+10:00

… more»

American Politics: The new kid in town

2011-08-22T21:00:00+10:00

“The conservative boogeyman is back,” says Commentary editor John Podhoretz.… more»

Weekend Update

2011-08-22T02:27:41+10:00

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The Midwesterner: Can British-style rioting happen in America?

2011-08-19T21:00:00+10:00

In this tumultuous year, the whole world seems to have taken to the streets, most recently in the seemingly mindless rioting that seized London and other British cities this month. This outpouring of wrath raises the obvious question: can it happen here, in America, or more specifically, in the stricken… more»

View From Australia: What happened to the Religious Right?

2011-08-18T22:30:00+10:00

It seems strange to think now in these days of tax-cutting, service-slashing Tea Party Republicans, but in the early years of this century, the most visible face of American conservatism was the Religious Right. That's how it seemed to liberals and Democrats, anyway: the Republican Party had chained itself to… more»

View From Australia: In God We Trust

2011-08-17T21:00:00+10:00

In their 2010 book American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell argue that the United States of America is an inherently religiously tolerant society. They invoke the "My Friend Al" and "Aunt Susan" principle, whereby Americans who have a positive experience meeting… more»

Campaign Notes: The Battle Begins

2011-08-16T21:00:00+10:00

Springfield, Missouri: The Republican Party is at a crossroads.… more»

View From Australia: Pawlenty, Perry, Bachmann, and the new GOP field

2011-08-15T21:03:33+10:00

Tim Pawlenty's announcement yesterday that he is dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination is not particularly earth-shaking. Jonathan Bernstein has got it right:… more»

Campaign Notes: Perry's Promise

2011-08-02T16:44:16+10:00

November 6th, 2012. Paint Cr. Texas. President-elect James Richard Perry of Texas has promised to end the partisan gridlock in Washington DC and bring the nation together after one of the most divisive periods in recent American political history.… more»

Campaign Notes: It's tea time, seriously

2011-08-02T04:43:00+10:00

It seems Democrats, Republicans, most pundits, and Washington insiders have all proclaimed the Tea Party the winner of the recent debt ceiling standoff — just about everyone, that is, other than the Tea Partiers themselves.… more»

Campaign Notes: The Summer of Bachmann

2011-08-01T16:40:42+10:00

As the temperature soars in July and August, the ears of corn and fields of soy grow so fast in the fertile soil of Iowa you'd swear you could see them getting taller right before your eyes.… more»

Campaign Notes: The Frontrunner

2011-07-25T14:01:45+10:00

Four years ago, in a crowded field of around twenty Republicans and Democrats seeking to take over from President George W. Bush, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton were the national frontrunners.… more»