President Obama and the 2nd Amendment – Just Be Honest, We Can Handle It

Doesn't it figure that President Obama shoots left-handed?! I'm really just kidding as I also shoot rifles and shotguns lefty (though pistols right-handed) and few serious people would accuse me of being a man of the left.  Moreover, I think the traditional left-right scale is fairly unhelpful (see here). But I do find the release of this photo by the White …

Obamacare Upheld: Thank Goodness!

The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (don't call it "Obamacare"!) gives me a great sigh of relief. Although I was one of those who thought it well-nigh impossible to be overturned when the lawsuits were initially filed, over the last several months I began to think that there was actually a …

Rare Sunday Evening Presidential Statement (UPDATE: Bin Laden Dead)

Supposedly on national security according to the HuffPost.  Ground war in Libya?  Qaddafi killed?  Bin Laden?  Or something far less dramatic? UPDATE, 10:48 PM EDT: New York Times reporting that Bin Laden has been killed.  If true, great news (though it won't end the war)! UPDATE, 11.11 PM EDT: Al Jazeera reports that US has …

Shocking News: Government Beat By Jet Blue

President Obama recently complained about the technological backwardness of the White House.  According to news reports, he said: "The Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff.  I'm like, c'mon guys, I'm the president of the United States.  Where's the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen …

A College Degree in Every Pot

As one plank in his "winning the future" program, President Obama called recently for more Americans to get college degrees. People with college degrees, the President reminded us, make more money over their lifetimes than people who do not. That is true, but of course by itself it does not mean that the college degree …

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and Presidential Management of Complex Issues

There is an interesting piece by Josh Gerstein (on Politico) regarding the Obama administration’s difficulties with DADT. According to Gerstein: Obama’s current predicament is a result of a collision between a go-slow White House strategy that deferred to Pentagon and military leaders on the pace of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the progress of …

The Learning Curve

There is an excellent piece by Peter Baker on President Obama for this Sunday’s NYT Magazine (advance copy here).   This tasty excerpt should be enough to whet your appetite: While proud of his record, Obama has already begun thinking about what went wrong — and what he needs to do to change course for the …

Making Sense of the Strategy

The past few days have brought several expressions of the Dem’s new strategy: focus on the GOP as a party that takes special interest money (including funds from foreigners) and moves to the right as puppet masters Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie pull on the strings. David Axelrod’s case is a subtle one and the logic …

Hope and Change meets Reality

There is an excellent and quite revealing interview with President Obama (conducted by Jann Wenner) in the October 15 edition of Rolling Stone. Several things are clear. First, President Obama views his accomplishments in the first two years quite positively: When I talk to Democrats around the country, I tell them, "Guys, wake up here. We …

Jumping the Carp

At what point does the appointing of federal government "czars" become just one too many? Perhaps when President Obama appoints an Asian carp czar? I know it's getting bad with these lovable fish (see, for example, the discussion and pictures here), but must every problem get its own czar now? That last question makes me wonder what …

Obamanomics 2.0: What is to be gained?

The Obama administration’s new wave of economic proposals is a curious mixture of revenue-neutral spending and modest tax cuts. On Labor Day, President Obama mounted the stage in Milwaukee to offer a $50 billion in new infrastructure spending (combined with the creation of an infrastructure bank and renewal of the surface transportation infrastructure bill).  (see WSJ …

The Dog Days of Recovery Summer

The new jobless figures are out. The US lost another 54,000 jobs, pushing unemployment from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent. There should be no real surprises here. (See the WSJ coverage). Following the release of the job numbers, the President remarked the economy is moving in “the right direction; we just have to speed it up” …

Overhaul: A Must Read

Marcus Baram at Huffington Post has an extensive discussion of the forthcoming book by Obama's former auto industry czar Steven Rattner, Overhaul.  The book, due to be released in October, should be quite interesting insofar as it provides some accounts of the administration's internal dynamics. President Obama does not come off to well, asking insightful …

Is Obama Anti-Business?

Albert R. Hunt defends the administration against the charge made by Verizon chairman Ivan Seidenberg. (Part of the reason for Seidenberg's charge is the FCC's aggressive push to regulate the Internet without apparent statutory authority.) Hunt's defenses of Obama are as follows: President Barack Obama rejected calls last year to nationalize the big banks, opting …

“Vladimir Obama”

The Economist, which supported Barack Obama enthusiastically in his election campaign, has issued a shot across his bow. Frankly, I think the whole politics of the BP fiasco reflects the tendency of humans to think that everything that goes wrong requires someone to blame. Is BP really worse than all the other oil companies? And …

“I Heart You Mr. President!”

David Brooks is so smitten with President Obama I'm starting to wonder what color roses he'll send the White House on Valentine's Day.  So, is Brooks becoming the Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. of our age?

Authority and Opinion

In his essay, "Of the First Principles of Government," David Hume wrote: Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their …

Obama as Cleveland?

It is quite clear by now that President Obama has a very, very expansive view of what the U.S. government can and should do.  Indeed, he thinks that the Constitution authorizes the government to force people to engage in economic activity (see law professor Randy Barnett on why the president is wrong).  But according to NBC, the administration has denied …