By THE WASHINGTON TIMES and Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
The media tend to be filled with many items that are either untrue or obvious. Last week - from Politico to cable television, from Karl Rove to Mike Huckabee - was a moment for the obvious to be stated and restated: "The GOP should not underestimate how hard it will be to defeat President Obama next November; indeed, he has to be considered the favorite to win the next presidential election." True. Published March 7, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In the same weeks that are seeing the Middle East with all its oil and geopolitical significance begin to transform itself into we know not what, important economists are predicting that - if current trends continue - not only China, but India will have an economy larger than ours within a generation. Of course, with strong economies almost inevitably come equivalently strong military capacities. Published February 28, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
At the risk of giddy overoptimism, I have the hunch that the American voting public is beginning to demand legislating that actually deals with the nation's problems. There is creeping - still ambiguous - evidence of this, starting with the national polling data. Published February 21, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
After the riots in Athens, the Greek authorities decided to enact laws to deal with their obvious prob- lems. The laws, which treat rich and poor alike for the first time, have been seen as harsh. The name of the legislator who wrote the laws is a man called Draco. The date is believed to be 621 B.C. And more than 2,600 years later, the adjectival form of his name - draconian - is still tossed around here in Washington anytime someone proposes real budget cuts. Published February 14, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Last Sunday, as the media were reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood was sitting down with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, the BBC reported in an unrelated story that British Prime Minister David Cameron had announced that "state multiculturalism has failed": Published February 7, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Whatever may happen in the hours after I write this column, two things are certain: The next chapter in the magnificent and ancient civilization of the Nile is yet to be known. The role that America plays in Egypt's great, unfolding story also remains in doubt. Published January 31, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Last week, President Obama wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal head- lined "Striking the Right Balance on Regulations," in which he announced that he had issued an executive order to review all government regulations on a cost-benefit ratio basis. In itself, this is a good idea, although the president makes it explicit that the cost-benefit analysis must take account of intangible "benefits" such as "equity, human dignity, fairness and distributive impacts." Plenty of leeway there for career regulators and liberal political appointees to justify almost any oppressive regulation they may stumble over. Published January 24, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
What should congressional Republicans' policy objectives be for the next two years regarding federal deficits and prosperity? Two very different strategies are being considered by authentic conservatives: 1) Attempt to govern from their majority in the House and try to start the process of reducing the costs of entitlements - most conspicuously, Social Security and Medicare - as a path back to prosperity and good jobs or 2) recognize that the GOP cannot govern without holding the White House and that therefore they should not touch entitlements but merely tinker with discretionary spending and frame the issues for 2012, when they may win the presidency and Senate as well as hold the majority in the House. Published January 17, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In the aftermath of the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, it is predictable that some self-centered politicians and political commentators quickly assumed the killer must have been provoked by political comments. Following on that conclusion, they naturally argue (notwithstanding their exposure last week in the House to the reading of the Constitution, including the First Amendment) that whatever political words may have provoked him to his irrational violence should be silenced. Published January 10, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
As we begin a new year, it may be useful to look back to one particular piece of advice that George Washington gave us in his Farewell Address: Published January 3, 2011
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In the spirit of the Christmas season, let me highlight from last week's confusing Washington rhetoric a statement by President Obama that was shrewd - even wise. In the spirit of compromise, he pointed out that even though under the Constitution's original compromise, he (implicitly, as a black man) "could not have walked through the front door" - the compromise was worth it because otherwise, we would not have gained a union. Published December 13, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In the last week or two, an eccentric debate has been dividing Democratic Party polls and commentators in Washington: In 2011, should President Obama strive to be more like Harry Truman in 1947 or Bill Clinton in 1995? Published December 6, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
I suppose it is to be expected that the Great Recession should be accompanied by a sweeping national pessimism in which our purported leaders and commentators express historic despair, while the people and corporations mope about, convinced that the sun will not come up tomorrow. Published November 29, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
The administration's Afghanistan war policy seems to be settling into a dismal combination of confusion and cynicism. Before the November elections, the administration was adamant that the troops would start coming home by July 2011. That, it is presumed, was to keep the president's liberals calm. Published November 23, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
"If only we had sold our stocks a few weeks ago." "If only I'd had the brakes checked before she drove up to the mountains." There are few sadder words than those of regret at letting time pass until the catastrophe hits. Neither individuals nor armies nor nations are exempt from the human tendency to wait too long before acting - and paying a terrible price for the delay. Published November 16, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Last weekend, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tried his hand at dissecting Republican foreign policy attitudes. I commend the senator for trying to come to grips with this vital question, which is getting so little, if any, national discussion. As foreign events grow ever more threatening, the view of the now both culturally and congressionally dominant party - the GOP - becomes central to the range of political options President Obama has available to him. Published November 9, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Removing the snake from the garden with a stick was a rejection of the snake but should not be seen as an endorsement of the stick - except as the closest available tool with which to eject the snake. The stick should not be seen as a substitute snake. Published November 3, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
It's largely going to be gridlock. President Obama will veto what he doesn't like. The Republican Congress will not have votes to override the vetoes. The GOP will not destroy itself "shutting down government as the Gingrich Congress did in 1995." Republican congressional leaders will try tactfully to instruct the Tea Party members on political reality: If unemployment is still above 8.0 percent in 2012, either party might be in a position to take the White House. Below 8 percent, Mr. Obama probably gets re-elected. Published October 25, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
In 2011, the two major legislative initiatives of the Tea Party Congress (pray the voters deliver such a Congress) will be to get a grip on the deficit and to begin to reverse the intrusion of the federal government in American lives and business. Published October 18, 2010
By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times
Based on the recent appointments of the two most powerful staff positions in the White House, it appears that the White House is descending deeper into the bunker in anticipation of the expected shift in congressional majorities next year. The selection of Pete Rouse for chief of staff and Tom Donilon for national security adviser are both in-house promotions. Moving deputies up to principal rank is more typically seen in the seventh and eighth years of a White House administration - when an administration often has lost its instinct for innovation and creative responses to changing events. Moreover, in each case, a senior figure is being replaced with a staffer. Rahm Emanuel was a congressman who was in the senior leadership of the Democratic House when he became chief of staff. Gen. James L. Jones had been supreme allied commander in Europe and four-star commandant of the Marine Corps before he became national security adviser last year. Published October 12, 2010
Illustration by Dana Summers of the Tribune Media Services
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