You are browsing the archives of 2010 January.

     President Obama made an empty State of the Union speech, short on new ideas,
and long on old rhetoric. He did not “pivot” on the critical issues, that is to say, he
did not draw on any lessons from President Clinton’s experiences in 1994, and
decide to go to the operative political center on healthcare, trade, domestic
legislation [...]

      An anti-Adminstration, anti-Democratic political wave, sparked by the
Obama-Pelosi.Reid legislative agenda (and marked by the upset election of
new Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts) is currently washing
ashore in the still-forming political climate of 2010.
 
But it is only the first wave of several that will become visible on the politcal
beaches in coming months, and political surfers [...]

     After the 2008 election, it seemed as if the phenomenon of “Minnewisowa” (the
mega-state of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa) acting as a bellwether on national
elections might go into prolonged hibernation. But now, as warm weather blankets
the Midwest briefly for an interval, the Minnewisowa mascot, Prairie Dog Paul,
has poked his head above ground to signal possible [...]

     While we have been preoccupied with the special Massachusetts election,
healthcare legislation, domestic unemployment, unseasonable cold weather
across the nation, and the tragic circumstances in nearby Haiti - each
legitimate concerns - the world crisis, much of it not visible in daily news
reports, continues unabated.
 
The situation in Iran, a chronic cat-and-mouse game between the aggressive
regime and the West, has not inhibited [...]

     Not all Democrats were losers last night, but the ones who have enabled
President Obama to wallow in his self-delusions, and who continue to press for
the very policies which provoked the voters of Massachusetts (and voters across
the nation) to turn away from the Democratic legislative agenda, did lose. In
fact, to use the current jargon, they [...]

     Describing Richard Nixon’s last days in office as a “long national nightmare,”
Gerald Ford took office in 1974, much to the relief of the whole nation. If you do
not belong to the Obama-ismo cult, even if you are a Democrat, you may have
thought the first days of the Obama presidency as a “short national nightmare.”
Tonight’s special U.S. [...]

     Barack Obama will be president of the United States until January 20, 2013.
But the duration of his true presidency is probably coming to an historically
rapid close, beginning with the special U.S. senate election in Massachusetts
that will fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy. A Republican upset win in that
special election removes the [...]

      Former U.S. Senator Norman Coleman, only months from a controversial recount
of his 2008 senate re-election race, a recount in which his opponent “magically”
gained enough votes from questionable sources to defeat him, is back in the center
of conversation of Minnesota politics. This time he is a putative candidate for governor
in a race that is [...]

      The Democratic Party’s panic attack over the imminent special election
in Massachusetts is a classic example of how not to react to unexpected news.
It was, of course, expected that state Attorney General Martha Coakley would
win this seat easily, and replace the late Ted Kennedy. The Party even arranged
to change the rules so that the [...]

My most recent post (yesterday) spoke in general terms about this year’s
upcoming national elections. This morning, news reports confirmed my thesis
that Republican candidates are increasingly optimistic, and that Democrats are
so demoralized that many incumbents up for election this year are choosing
to retire.
Now I’m going to be more specific. If the [...]