President Barack Obama has a penchant for declaring peace. For example, his second inaugural, delivered in Jan. 2013: “A decade of war is now ending,” he said. “An economic recovery has begun.” That speech echoed remarks he made on Jan. 5, 2012. Prepping for the presidential election, the president asserted, “Even as our troops continue […]
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Fighting ignorance with a quiet call for peace
As a general rule, I loathe both Holocaust and slavery comparisons. Sadly, such comparisons have become more common in recent years even though, almost by definition, they trivialize two of the greatest crimes in human history. When GOP senatorial candidate John Raese declared that having to place “smoke-free environment” stickers on buildings he owned was […]
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Republicans offer solutions to poverty
In sports, if a game plan is not working, the coach changes it. In medicine, if a course of treatment does not cure a disease, doctors try a different approach. In government, failure means nothing. Government keeps cash flowing with little regard for results. In government, failure endures. In an attempt to change our approach […]
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Democrats must address illegal immigration
As respectable Republicans panic over Donald Trump’s storm of insults against Hispanics, Democrats may be tempted to sit back and watch the other party estrange millions of potential voters. But they do so at their own peril. Democrats already have the luxury of being far less offensive, whatever position they take on immigration. But they […]
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Marco Rubio’s strategically gloomy detour
BEDFORD, N.H. — This year’s Republican presidential campaign is where hope and optimism go to die. Don’t pretend that Donald Trump is an exotic outlier. His spirit haunts a party that can’t get enough of gloom and fear. Among the GOP candidates, no one started out more optimistic about the United States than Marco Rubio. […]
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Troubles in emerging markets could bring recession
WASHINGTON — It’s hard not to wonder: Is the stock market telling us something? True, the market’s record in forecasting recessions is horrendous. Stocks often move according to whim or fad. But just because the market is wrong much of the time doesn’t mean it’s wrong all the time. Could last week’s turbulent trading be […]
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Cruz will do whatever it takes to win
The lazy conventional wisdom is that Ted Cruz is the new Barry Goldwater, doomed to suffer an electoral landslide defeat should he win the Republican nomination. Not only is this wrong about Cruz’s general-election chances, it may compare Cruz to the wrong 20th-century Republican forebear. The better analogue for Cruz might be Richard Nixon, not […]
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The reality is something to cry about
He didn’t bawl. His voice only roughened for a moment and he dabbed at a couple tears that straggled down his cheek. As displays of emotion go, it wasn’t all that much. But it was, of course, more than enough. Inevitably, President Obama’s tears became the takeaway from last week’s White House speech on gun […]
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Countries defy America but pay no price
WASHINGTON — If you’re going to engage in a foreign policy capitulation, might as well do it when everyone is getting tanked and otherwise occupied. Say, New Year’s Eve. Here’s the story. In October, Iran test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in brazen violation of Security Council resolutions. President Obama does nothing. One month later, Iran […]
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America can’t stop sectarian conflicts raging in Middle East
NEW YORK — During the past two decades, the United States has approached the Middle East though its own conceptual frameworks — dictatorships versus democracy, secularism versus religion, order versus chaos. But the most significant trend shaping the region today is something different — Sunnis versus Shiites. That sectarian struggle now infects almost every aspect […]