State of the Union
Obama's Pivot to Europe
Forget China. An EU trade deal would be the real game-changer.
At a time when everyone in Washington wants to talk about making a “pivot” to Asia, both economically and politically, it would be tempting to dismiss President Obama's decision, announced in his State of the Union address, to pursue a United States-European Union free trade area. It would also be a big mistake. The fact is, the U.S. READ MORE >>
President Barack Obama visited Georgia on Thursday to tout his ambitious new proposal for universal preschool. READ MORE >>
Good Speech, Bad Strategy
Obama's State of the Union doesn't bode well for his coalition
President Obama’s strong re-election victory last November—he is only the third Democrat, along with Andrew Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt, to surpass 51 percent of the vote in two presidential campaigns—marked the indisputable arrival of a new and vibrant coalition in American politics. READ MORE >>
1 True or false? Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Tex.) invited "patriot" Ted Nugent to be his guest at the State of the Union address because he was a fan of his music.a) True. "Cat Scratch Fever" was the first single he ever bought.b) False. It was his way of sticking it to the anti-gun crowd after Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI), paralyzed by a stray bullet as a teenager, urged lawmakers to invite survivors of gun violence as their guests. READ MORE >>
The most important proposal in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address may be one that gets the least attention and, quite possibly, has the least chance of becoming law in the near future: his proposal to create a universal pre-kindergarten program. The idea is pretty simple. American children are guaranteed an education when they turn five and enter kindergarten. Before that, they may or may not have access to what we now call "pre-school," which typically depends on the resources (and sometimes the resourcefulness) of their parents. READ MORE >>
President Obama said two words in the 2013 State of the Union speech that can’t be found in any of his previous four State of the Union speeches: “minimum wage.”Here is what Obama said: READ MORE >>
The Spending Problem We Don't Have—and the One We Do
Joe Scarborough is right about the deficit, but wrong about the solution
Spoiler alert: Tonight President Barack Obama will call for a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction. Republicans, their allies, and quite a few pundits will respond by saying the real problem is government spending—and that the president is ignoring it. It's what they always say. READ MORE >>
Persian Gulf
So far America's war on terrorism has converged nicely with the regional interests of the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism: Iran. After September 11, 2001, the United States worked with Tehran's mullahs to help oust their Sunni rivals to the east in Afghanistan, the Taliban. And now, nearly 13 months after Osama bin Laden's hijackers toppled the World Trade Center, President Bush has made it clear he intends to repeat the favor by toppling Iran's rival to the west: Saddam Hussein. READ MORE >>
