Nothing recedes like success. That's the oldest and most unforgiving rule of politics, and Barack Obama is living proof.
The mutating "Petraeus affair" has conveniently filled the media vacuum left after the presidential election ended, providing press, pundits and assorted officials a veritable gold mine of material.
Planned Parenthood: Abortion conglomerate or benign guardian of women's health?
Even the most connected Democrats are not above handicapping the potential Republican ticket and the likeliest team to seriously challenge President Obama come November.
As the 2012 election approaches, the stakes could not be higher. By most accounts, the Republicans hold that rare opportunity to un- seat an incumbent president. Whom they nominate will determine the outcome of the election and, if their nominee is elected, the success of the next four - or eight - years. While history can never precisely predict the future, it can - and should - be a guide.
Brace for it. Julian Assange has stepped back in the news.
"The spectacularly overrated writer Malcolm Gladwells meandering article in the New Yorker … [arguing] that 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is insufficiently hateful toward white Southerners and is unsophisticated in failing to embrace radical politics is a truly breathtaking instance of ignorant bigotry," writes S.T. Karnick at the New Ledger.
The other day in the Wall Street Journal, my friend Fred Barnes deposited a few thoughts on journalism provoked by the discovery of a mother lode of left-wing bigotry, screeds and semiliterate gibbering. He hastened to tell his readers that there was no conspiracy behind the journalists' "tilt" to the left, but rather, "The media disproportionately attracts people from the liberal arts background who tend, quite innocently, to be politically liberal." Then he filed a caveat, noting that "hundreds of journalists have gotten together, on an online listserv called JournoList, to promote liberalism and liberal politicians at the expense of traditional journalism."
If walls could talk
Divided party
An ugly scene
Fred Barnes is now best-known as co-host with Morton Kondracke of "The Beltway Boys" on the Fox News Channel, but he's spent more than three decades as a reporter and editor. A University of Virginia graduate, Mr. Barnes began his career at the Charleston (S.C.) News and Courier before joining the staff of the Washington Star in 1979. He was later a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and was an editor and White House correspondent for the New Republic until 1995, when he became a founding editor of Weekly Standard magazine.
Hillary vs. Barack
No litmus test
Prince's party
Mr. Barnes adds, "Third, Bush could play a kingmaker role in the Republican presidential race. He would have the credibility to promote an agreement among leading Republicans about choosing the best nominee. Again, this would occur only if neither Romney nor Gingrich had won a majority of the delegates at the end of the primaries and caucuses."
"First, having not endorsed a candidate, Bush could emerge as an acceptable compromise nominee in the unlikely event there's a deadlock between Romney and Gingrich at the GOP convention in August. In other words, a brokered convention might turn to him, thus unifying the party," Mr. Barnes says.
