National Politics
Jim Taricani invited me and RIFuture.org owner/editor Bob Plain to sit in for 10 News Conference, this morning. The topics leaned more toward politics than policy, but we bloggers did manage to pull the conversation toward political philosophy a bit. Specifically, we discussed economic development, the RI economy, the Congressional district 1 race, and the…
Earlier today, Glenn Reynolds linked to an American Enterprise Institute post by James Pethokoukis, drawing on charts from economist John Taylor showing that the United States economy hasn’t been returning toward where it would have been without the crash, and that this is unusual for prior downturns. The reasons, I think, can be inferred…
Michael Barone: I ascribe much of the partisan tone of today’s politics to two changes urged by the political scientists I studied in college nearly half a century ago. One was the idea that we should have one clearly liberal and one clearly conservative party. This was a popular enough argument in the 1940s and…
Take a look at the Real Clear Politics’ 2012 Presidential poll averages and you’ll see, for the most part, Obama and Romney are within 2-4 pts of each other with Obama leading most of them. Then Pew released a poll showing Obama with a 10 point lead. How’d that happen? Well, several experienced and astute…
I’m tired of playing the same old Democrat versus Republican game. It’s like watching professional sports, only it will seriously impact your life. Our modern political culture has been shaped in such a way that we debate our politics like we root for our favorite football team. Doesn’t matter that the candidate may not share…
President Obama’s teleprompter style has been the subject of substantial (often mocking) critical commentary, and with some justification, as this nearly parodic 2010 video from a Virginia classroom proves: Given recent political events, one can sympathize with the desire of public officials to avoid extemporaneous speech. In a world in which one’s every public utterance…
The Ocean State Current encourages readers to spend some time today reading the Declaration of Independence and considering its continuing significance in our times. Some of the particulars resonate as if addressing present issues: He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors…
Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion. Upholds Individual Mandate as a tax under Congress’ taxing powers. Apparently a complicated opinion. Others are more equipped (and have the time) to analyze, but feel free to comment! ADDENDUM (snarky version): Roberts joined with the courts liberals, so it was 5-4. Not quite the 5-4 decision anyone anticipated,…
NB: Probably the quickest notice of the Supreme Court ruling will be posted at the SCOTUS Blog. Hope their servers can handle it! Writing about the anticipatory condemnations of the soon-to-come Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, Yuval Levin makes an observation about what liberal commentators and politicians–who are expecting at least the individual mandate to…
The Pew Center on the States is out with an “update” (PDF) on public employee retiree pension and health care benefit debt owed by the states (h/t ProJo). They provide three ratings for the two categories: Solid Performer, Needs Improvement and Serious Concerns. Despite giving Rhode Island (report here) positive marks for addressing it’s pension…