http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ en Copyright 2008 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:47:40 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:32:19 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/a_gold_standard_on_debt_99126.html 224493 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:04:33 -0600 COMMENT Breadcrumb trail navigation:By John PlenderPublished: November 11 2009 19:55 | Last updated: November 11 2009 19:55As US president Barack Obama begins a tour of Asian capitals, the standard assumption in the west is that his meetings will be with leaders of nations that rank as America's junior partners. Yet the reality is more complex. Amid the rubble of the financial crisis, the US position as singular superpower and global economic top dog looks increasingly under threat.You have viewed your allowance of free articles. If you wish to view more, click the button below.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/america039s_singular_superpower_status_under_threat_224508.html 224508 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:30:02 -0600 As an officer in the United States Army, I'm angry for so many reasons over what happened at Ft Hood. I'm angry that twelve of my fellow soldiers and a contractor were murdered. I'm angry that over thirty people have suffered life altering injuries from which they will never fully recover. I'm angry that the lives of so many families have been forever ruined. I'm angry that this happened on an Army post on American soil where soldiers should be safe. And I'm angry that the murderer was a terrorist who masqueraded as an Army officer for half a dozen...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/why_i_am_angry.html 224523 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:47:32 -0600 What a surprise it must have been when Major Nidal Malik Hasan woke up from his coma to find himself not in paradise but in Brooke Army Medical Center, deep in the heart of Texas, under security so tight that there were armed guards patrolling both the intensive-care unit and checkpoints at the nearest freeway off-ramp. This was not the finalé he had scripted when he gave away all his earthly goods "” his desk lamp and air mattress, his frozen broccoli and spinach, his copies of the Koran. He had told his imam he was planning to visit his parents before deploying to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/is_nidal_malik_hasan_a_terrorist_224503.html 224503 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:31:54 -0600 Discuss the latest from Mother Jones with other readers in Comments Central.First nameLast nameAddressCityStateZipPresident Barack Obama is still working on his big decision: what to do about the Afghanistan war? On Wednesday, he held another Situation Room strategy session with his national security team. The day before, press secretary Robert Gibbs, said that Obama was pondering four options, without describing these alternatives. Media reports had suggested that each one involved deploying more troops. But hours following this latest AfPak gathering, AP reported that Obama had rejected all...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/obama_amp_afghanistan_a_credibility_gap_224501.html 224501 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:32:36 -0600 WASHINGTON "” The United States ambassador to Afghanistan, who once served as the top American military commander there, has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country, three senior American officials said Wednesday.President Obama on Wednesday at a section of Arlington National Cemetery for troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. Go to the Blog »The latest on President Obama, his administration and other news from Washington and around the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/us_envoy_urges_caution_on_troops_224510.html 224510 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:47:00 -0600 On Nov. 7, in the dead of night, the House of Representatives voted 220-215 to pass the ObamaCare health bill. It's a staggering 1,994 pages long--almost twice the size of versions tabled this summer. Buried in this encyclopedia is everything from a "Office of Indian Men's Health" to a new, voluntary government insurance plan for assisted living. If passed by the Senate, it will change everything about American health care.Or will it?emailprintreprintnewslettercommentssharedel.icio.usDigg It!yahooFacebookTwitterRedditrssHere's what it will change. First, there will be...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/your_health_care_may_change_please_stand_by_224518.html 224518 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:44:38 -0600 WASHINGTON -- For some years, Democrats have denounced parodies casting their party as utterly closed to the views of those who oppose abortion. Last weekend, Democrats proved conclusively that they are, indeed, a big tent -- and many in the ranks are furious.From the outraged comments of the abortion rights movement, you'd think that Rep. Bart Stupak's amendment to the House version of the health care bill would all but overturn Roe v. Wade. Receive news alertsNo, it wouldn't. The Michigan Democrat's measure -- passed 240-194, with 64 Democrats voting "yes" --...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/dont_let_abortion_destroy_health_care_reform_99123.html 224492 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:52:32 -0600 NationalHOLMES: Miscalculating engagementNationalNORRIS: The Senate and the START treatyNationalObama: U.S. 'forever grateful' to veteransBusinessEmployers offer pet health care as perkWorldJordanian sees Jerusalem as a powder kegWorldReport finds dirty money, water in ChinaPoliticsSilicon Valley produces laptops and politiciansThursday, November 12, 2009Rate this storyAverage 0.00after 0 votes Login or register to rate this storyBy Donald LambroIn all the sanitized TV news reports about the House-passed health care plan, no one mentions the shocking tax penalties and maybe jail...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/dems039_plan_buy_health_care_-_or_else_224504.html 224504 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:48:26 -0600 Win 100 iconic DVDsWilliam Rees-MoggWhere am I?A funny thing happened in Ida Grove, Iowa, last Saturday. Funny and a bit sad. Steve King missed his son's wedding. The weather was perfect. The traffic was light. Steve really loves his son, Mick, and has no problem with his new wife, Stephanie. He wanted to be there and could have been, but instead he was in Washington voting against a healthcare reform Bill in the House of Representatives. Despite his vote, the Bill passed.What was Mr King thinking? Did he miss the most important day in his son's life because he believes the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/it039s_not_about_health_but_who_runs_it_224495.html 224495 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:07:24 -0600 Much of the political chatter about healthcare reform in the past weekhas been of the glass-half-empty variety. Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D-Calif.) had to make too many deals. Blue Dog Democrats who were corralled into supporting the legislation are now vulnerable. The calendar allows Republicans to organize dozens of high-profile town hall meetings to rally constituents in opposition. Yes, there is a rocky road ahead. But I don't think that is what most Americans are focused on. Even after all the August town halls, the marches in Washington and the campaigns being waged against the Obama...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/health_care_triumph_ahead_for_obama_dems_224516.html 224516 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:05:17 -0600 Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia governors' races last week"”despite eight campaign appearances in the two states by President Barack Obama"”have unnerved Democrats. Over the weekend, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod tried to calm jittery Democrats who might go wobbly on the president's ambitious agenda by telling NBC's Chuck Todd that next year's congressional elections will be "nationalized." Because they "will be a referendum on this White House," he said, voters will turn out for Mr....]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/obama039s_plan_to_nationalize_midterms_could_backfire_224494.html 224494 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:51:34 -0600 For right-wing Republicans, the presidency of George W. Bush began as a dream come true. People calling themselves "conservatives" ran everything in Washington. Even before the GOP won both houses in 2002, Congress gave Bush everything he asked for. Republican apparatchiks controlled every agency from the Pentagon to the Treasury Department. Fox News savants expressed intermittent outrage that dissent was permitted. Rush Limbaugh's interviews of Dick Cheney sounded like a high-school girl gushing over the Jonas Brothers.To rational minds, the resultant disaster could hardly...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/instead_of_rethinking_republicans_chose_to_go_crazy_224513.html 224513 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:07:08 -0600 To listen to some pundits, Barack Obama's public image began taking a serious beating when the off-year election returns came in a week ago. Or maybe it was the undeserved Nobel Prize, his approach to the war in Afghanistan, or when he revved up his pursuit of national health-care reform.But the pundits, as usual, are wrong. In reality, Obama peaked the night he was elected. Receive news alertsThat astonishing evening was both a blessing and a curse for our 44th president. As the first African-American elected to the Oval Office, Obama made the history books in indelible fashion,...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/has_obama_peaked_yes_he_has_99124.html 224509 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:16:36 -0600 Anniversaries are opportunities to reflect on the past and on what it might mean for the future. Monday saw the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, even if Barack Obama could not find time to travel once again to Berlin to attend the commemoration there. And Wednesday is the 91st anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.The two events being remembered can be seen as bookends: the beginning and end of the history of a Short Twentieth Century. Until 1914, the world had seemed to be on a march toward democracy, liberty, economic growth and globalization, under the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/history_is_calling_--_will_obama_answer_99120.html 224497 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:29:10 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/how_the_us_funds_the_taliban_224500.html 224500 AM Update Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:15:24 -0600 Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of murdering last week 13 people (12 of whom were soldiers) and wounding another 30 at Fort Hood, Texas. It was not the first, nor will it be the last, domestic terrorist incident since Sept. 11, 2001.We now see that authorities had, or should have had, reason to be suspicious of Hasan -- including his contact with a radical cleric and a bizarre "medical" presentation he once gave to Army doctors that focused on Islam and the military. Receive news alertsNow, we're also learning that someone going by the name Nidal Hasan posted extremist views...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/12/same_old_same_old_at_fort_hood_99125.html 224490 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:17:51 -0600 For anyone who thinks that big Wall Street and Big Government aren't joined at the hip, promoting policies and laws that keep each other fat and happy often at the expense of the American taxpayer, consider the career of Robert Rubin.Rubin, of course, is largely gone from the public scene after spending 10 disastrous years as a board member and senior executive at Citigroup, the banking giant that epitomizes all that is wrong with American finance, and before that, a largely successful run as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton Administration, which he joined after running another...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/the_nexus_of_big_gov039t_amp_wall_street_224466.html 224466 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:40:52 -0600 As officials continue to investigate the alleged Fort Hood killer, it is looking increasingly likely that the Army missed several red flags in Major Nidal Malik Hasan's behavior. Many observers say it wouldn't be surprising if such signals had been missed, given that Hasan was a psychiatrist whom the Army desperately needed to help tend to the mental wounds of two wars. But at the same time, some members of the military are quietly discussing the more troubling possibility that the Army looked the other way precisely because Hasan was Muslim. (See pictures of the Fort...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/did_army_give_hasan_a_pass_because_of_religion_224474.html 224474 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:10:57 -0600 A weekly series explores the issues of faith that are shaping our world.In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model.An at-a-glance look at online conversations selected for the newspaper.Readers discuss their personal experiences.Readers share the impact Hurricane Katrina has had on their lives.What people are saying about the news of the week. Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters Editorials,...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/fort_hood_looks_like_typical_workplace_violence_224479.html 224479 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:06:30 -0600 The Latest Politics, News & Election VideosThe media drives the PC insanity. When an American Muslim sympathizes with Jihad, it can't be ignored.To comment on this video or click the "Comments" link below.Posted by RCP Staff | Send to a Friend | Email Author | | Permalink Political Videos O'Reilly On Media Reaction To Fort Hood ...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/11/11/oreilly_on_media_reaction_to_fort_hood.html 224489 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:56:38 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/the_pitfalls_of_political_correctness_224477.html 224477 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:43:57 -0600 For years Dr. Linda Halderman operated a general surgery practice in California's San Joaquin Valley, where she treated patients ranging from those with serious, life-threatening conditions to those seeking elective, cosmetic treatments. In a recent piece in Investors Business Daily, Halderman recounted the story of a woman patient who had not had a mammogram in several years even though her family had a long history of breast cancer. "But I don't have insurance," the woman told Halderman when the doctor asked why she had neglected to get a test that costs $90. Yet the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/health_reform039s_moral_hazard_224443.html 224443 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:22:37 -0600 The House health care bill took all of ten days to pass, from the day Nancy Pelosi formally introduced the legislation to its historic passage on Saturday. The Senate is slated to take up the bill as early as next Monday, but it’s likely to be a much longer slog. Due to differences between House and Senate rules, there’s plenty on the Senate side that could delay the bill for weeks, or even months, prompting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to announce that the final bill won’t pass until Christmas, at the earliest. Here’s a rundown of what needs to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/why_is_the_senate_going_to_take_so_long_224473.html 224473 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:24:43 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/why_is_seiu_boss_the_wh039s_most_frequent_visitor_224469.html 224469 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:51:45 -0600 Can Democrats hold their own in the 2010 elections? ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/democrats_can_do_well_in_2010_224408.html 224408 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:44:04 -0600 @media print { body:before {content: url(http://cleanprint.net/pt/t?&d=2021&p=0&s=NF,NF); } } var addthis_options = 'facebook, myspace, google, delicious, digg, favorites, live, buzz, twitter, fark, friendfeed'; addthis_pub = 'mngi'; Print   Email   Font ResizeopinionHyping a phantom "backlash"E-mail Vincent Carroll at vcarroll@denverpost.com.Posted: 11/11/2009 01:00:00 AM MST var requestedWidth = 0; ...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/media_hypes_039backlash039_against_muslims_224453.html 224453 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:24:55 -0600 In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings, some commentaries have examined the damage to the U.S. Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A few have spoken about the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, as an extreme version of what can happen with an overstressed force.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/a_salute_to_our_military_99109.html 224435 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:24 -0600 As an American, I am embarrassed that the U.S. House of Representatives has 220 members who actually believe the government can successfully centrally plan the medical and insurance industries.I'm embarrassed that my representatives think that government can subsidize the consumption of medical care without increasing the budget deficit or interfering with free choice. Receive news alertsIt's a triumph of mindless wishful thinking over logic and experience.The 1,990-page bill is breathtaking in its bone-headed audacity. The notion that a small group of politicians can know enough to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/the_us_house_of_presumptuous_meddlers_99099.html 224433 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:55:03 -0600 Anyone who has followed closely the debate over national health insurance has probably noticed some peculiar inconsistencies in Americans' attitudes toward the legislation. A Pew Poll released on October 8 found "steady support" for specific elements of the health care plan, including the public alternative to private insurance, the employer mandate, and the requirement that everyone have insurance. Nonetheless, popular support for the plan itself was declining, with 34 percent "generally [in] favor" and 47 percent "generally...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/anti-statism_in_america_224439.html 224439 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:07:12 -0600 Of all the simplistic, self-serving interpretations that have been proffered about last week's off-year election results, the one getting the most common purchase is that old Clintonian saw, "It's the economy, stupid." Voters are extra angry and anxious about this painful recession, according to many analysts and more than a few rationalizing Democrats, and they are lashing out indiscriminately at incumbents of both parties.Sounds pretty reasonable on the surface, but a deep look at the polls and long listen to voters will show it's largely backward: It's the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/it039s_the_stupidity_about_the_economy_stupid_224440.html 224440 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:25:36 -0600 Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan demonstrated many things when he allegedly committed treason in the war on terror. For starters, he showed -- gratuitously alas -- that evil is still thriving.]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/sometimes_an_extremist_really_is_an_extremist_99091.html 224442 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:04:00 -0600 PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats by 48% to 44% among registered voters in the latest update on Gallup's generic congressional ballot for the 2010 House elections, after trailing by six points in July and two points last month.The Nov. 5-8 update comes just after Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections, which saw Republicans replace Democrats as governors of those states.As was the case in last Tuesday's gubernatorial elections, independents are helping the Republicans' cause. In the latest poll, independent...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/republicans_edge_ahead_of_democrats_in_2010_vote_224451.html 224451 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:18:40 -0600 If liberals are so disturbed by Congress' dictating whether abortion is a legitimate health care issue or not, it only makes sense that they should be equally troubled by government management of other health care decisions.Undoubtedly, this is zealously naive thinking on my part. Reaching such a conclusion demands a modicum of consistency. And as we've seen, health care "reform" is an ideological crusade immune from logic. Receive news alertsTake the torrent of hypocrisy that spilled from the jilted pro-choice wing of the Democratic Party after a House amendment to the...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/freedom_to_confuse_99102.html 224434 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:44 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/department_of_health_care_misinformation_99108.html 224438 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:58 -0600 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi scored a giant gain for feminism last weekend. In shoving her controversy-plagued healthcare reform bill to victory by a paper-thin margin, she conclusively demonstrated that a woman can be just as gritty, ruthless and arm-twisting in pursuing her agenda as anyone in the long line of fabled male speakers before her. Even a basic feminist shibboleth like abortion rights became just another card for Pelosi to deal and swap.It was a stunningly impressive recovery for someone who seemed to be coming apart at the seams last summer, when a sputtering, rattled...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/pelosi_shows_her_mettle_but_healthcare_bill_a_mess_224441.html 224441 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:29:32 -0600 Last spring Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn asked Al Gore during a House hearing if his investments in green energy meant he would benefit personally from cap and trade."If you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don't know me," Mr. Gore responded (and, yes, according to two reporters present, he sighed).Mr. Gore is quite right that his arguments should be judged on their merits, not on his investments. He's wrong to think his investments are irrelevant, and, even more, that sincerity is dispositive of...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/the_economic_uses_of_al_gore_224448.html 224448 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:11:45 -0600 The solution to climate change includes windmills, along with solar and geothermal energy, Gore told The Chronicle in an interview. He also defended himself against attacks by critics who accuse him of pushing the green agenda so that he can personally benefit from investments he has made in green technology. "I have made some investments in the last few years that are in keeping with my beliefs and values. Were I not to do so, these same people would call me a hypocrite," Gore said. "I have delivered the same message for more than 30 years and now I'm in a position to put...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/al_gore_crusades_against_global_warming_224446.html 224446 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:01:41 -0600 Tapajós National Forest, Brazil Thomas L. Friedman No matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/trucks_trains_and_trees_224444.html 224444 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:16:49 -0600 Damn the pesky models! Full speed ahead.Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.Separate multiple addresses with commasIn last week's NEWSWEEK, the cover story was a hymn to "The Thinking Man's Thinking Man." Beneath the story's headline ("The Evolution of an Eco-Prophet") was this subhead: "Al Gore's views on climate change are advancing as rapidly as the phenomenon itself." Which was rather rude because, if true, his views have not advanced for 11 years. (Click here to follow George F. Will)There is much...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/the_truth_about_global_warming_224413.html 224413 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:47:40 -0600 This is remembrance week, when we are supposed to wear a poppy or stand in silence and remember those who have fallen. And yet we seem to have a problem with memory "“ especially when it comes to peace and war. We tell ourselves we will never forget and yet, when we debate the war in which British troops are fighting and dying, we are saddled with a national amnesia.Part of the problem is distraction. In the last day or so we have been diverted by a row over the prime minister's handwriting, the Sun reading into Gordon Brown's scratchy scrawl "“...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/our_amnesia_on_afghanistan_224449.html 224449 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:20:19 -0600 The U.S. Army and President Barack Obama are understandably seeking desperately to prevent U.S. public opinion from reaching any conclusion with respect to the motive of Major Nidal Malik Hasan who killed 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded 28 soldiers and one civilian last week at Fort Hood in Texas. In the court of public opinion, subject to change based on hearings to be conducted on the subject by U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Major Hasan has been found guilty of engaging in a terrorist act. Many factors have brought the public to that conclusion.According to The Wall Street Journal...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/common_sense_says_major_hasan_was_a_terrorist_99110.html 224436 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:17:02 -0600 I write this week from New Orleans, where I am participating in the Bipartisan Policy Center's Inaugural Political Summit, organized by Tom Daschle, Howard Baker and Bob Dole and hosted by Mary Matalin and James Carville.The conference has assembled about 20 top Democratic and Republican political strategists and operatives and has asked us to assess how we might take the poison out of partisanship (which is, admittedly, rather like asking a convention of foxes how to advance the interests of chickens). In the process, we have been asked to consider how the next presidential campaign is...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/11/hillary_in_2012_99101.html 224437 AM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:06:26 -0600 WASHINGTON Maureen Dowd The Great Vampire Squid has gotten religion. In an interview with The Sunday Times of London, the cocky chief of Goldman Sachs said he understands that a lot of people are “mad and bent out of shape” at blood-sucking banks. “I know I could slit my wrists and people would cheer,” Lloyd Blankfein, the C.E.O., told the reporter John Arlidge. But the little people who are boiling simply don’t understand. And Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, who unforgettably labeled Goldman “a great vampire squid wrapped...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/whatever_happens_the_bankers_win_224445.html 224445 AM Update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:45:26 -0600 We're all born late. We're born into history that is well under way. We're born into cultures, nations and languages that we didn't choose. On top of that, we're born with certain brain chemicals and genetic predispositions that we can't control. We're thrust into social conditions that we detest. Often, we react in ways we regret even while we're doing them.David Brooks David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns. But unlike the other animals, people do have a drive to seek coherence and meaning. We have a need to tell ourselves stories that...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/10/ft_hood_reaction_patronizing_unserious_224416.html 224416 PM Update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:02:17 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/10/how_long_before_health_care_bill_is_too_big_to_pass_224420.html 224420 PM Update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:06:15 -0600 It is the duty of every pundit to be all-knowing on what the recent elections mean for the future of American politics. They may have only three dots to connect -- and two dots may have been state-level contests mostly about local issues -- but the confident ones plot detailed maps of political change.The "story" out of the recent gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey is that independents are angry at Democrats and voting for Republicans (though the opposite happened in upstate New York's congressional race). True, independents crucial to Obama's win in both...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/10/two_dots_dont_make_a_political_map_99079.html 224372 PM Update Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:27:08 -0600 Last year's financial meltdown rightfully destroyed former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's reputation as an infallible "wise man," but he said something wise in his 2007 memoirs, describing a constitutional amendment he'd been "pushing for years."Wrote Greenspan: "Anyone willing to do what is required to become president of the United States is thereby barred from taking that office. I'm only half joking."It's no laughing matter. After all, what sort of person wants the job badly enough to spend years living out of a...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/10/obama039s_arrogance_of_power_224412.html 224412 PM Update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:21:20 -0600 ]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/10/the_filibuster_is_blocking_needed_change_224417.html 224417 PM Update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:31:42 -0600 A good friend of mine, a Democratic mayor here in California, describes the Obama administration as "Moveon.org run by the Chicago machine." This combination may have been good enough to beat John McCain in 2008, but it is proving a damned poor way to run a country or build a strong, effective political majority. And while the president's charismatic talent -- and the lack of such among his opposition -- may keep him in office, it will be largely as a kind of permanent lame duck unable to make any of the transformative changes he promised as a candidate. If Obama wants to...]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/10/to_succeed_obama_must_hit_the_reset_button_224407.html 224407 PM Update http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/the_largest_capital_gains_tax_in_half_a_century_224512.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/the_largest_capital_gains_tax_in_half_a_century_224512.html Editorials Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:23:33 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/more_foreclosures_to_come_224511.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/more_foreclosures_to_come_224511.html Editorials Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:21:00 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/obama039s_asia_trip_224506.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/12/obama039s_asia_trip_224506.html Editorials Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:54:34 -0600 http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/stimulus_dishonesty_224450.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2009/11/11/stimulus_dishonesty_224450.html Editorials Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:52:11 -0600