Why Is the Huntsman Campaign a Failure?
Governor Jon Huntsman is a great candidate on paper, but he hasn't gained traction because of flawed campaign strategy.
On the Newsstand:Moderate
Will Wealth Bring Democracy to Hong Kong?
As long as Hong Kong’s economy is booming, calls for democracy will remain on the backburner
Disgrace. Charlie Crist’s Ungainly Political Manueverings
Disgrace is the only word apt to describe Governor Charlie Crist these days. After being passed up as John McCain’s VP choice, perhaps the apex of his political success, Crist decided to abandon running for reelection for the governorship of Florida, a position he would likely have won easily. Instead, Crist continued a lifelong power-grab, running for the US Senate ... Read More
Three Weeks of HPRgument
We began The HPRgument with the goal of creating a new space on campus for lively discussion of the things that matter — political, cultural, or Harvardian Since we began three weeks ago, debate on this site has been spirited and engaged: we’ve taken on the racial politics of Avatar, praised Obama’s “shrewd” bank tax, discussed the “ Sociology of ... Read More
Ross Douthat’s Phony Moderateness
Ross Douthat says “Let’s Make a Deal” on health care reform. Analyzing some choice quotes will illustrate his faux-centrism and tendency towards false equivalence. “The Republicans are convinced they’re inches away from killing off a fundamentally misguided piece of legislation.” No, they’re convinced they’re about to kill Barack Obama’s presidency. Stopping health care reform is a secondary benefit at best. ... Read More
The Bipartisan Health Care Summit
Today President Obama announced “that he would convene a half-day bipartisan health care session at the White House to be televised live this month, a high-profile gambit that will allow Americans to watch as Democrats and Republicans try to break their political impasse.” The announcement, which came during a Super Bowl pre-game show, is noteworthy for a number of reasons. ... Read More
The Dim Prospects for Meaningful Financial Reform
Well, the Senate just spent a year trying and failing to pass a moderate, compromised-to-hell health reform plan. Which, incidentally, if that is comprehensive reform I’m not really sure I’d like to see their “tinkering around the edges”. However, the important thing is that they managed to defuse special interest anger by buying them off with legislative goodies. Wait, that’s ... Read More
No, Seriously, Get Rid of the Filibuster
Jay Cost has a passionate response to recent liberal criticisms of the filibuster. In his view, it’s a good thing to pass legislation that has broad (and perhaps bipartisan) support, rather than to pass legislation with increasingly partisan “simple majorities.” But there are several little problems with Cost’s argument that need to be pointed out, and I think they add ... Read More
Conditional Solidarity
Trouble Ahead If Democrats Cannot Deliver to Labor In a speech to the AFL-CIO convention on Sept. 15, President Obama reminded his labor allies that any public insurance option “would just be an option.” Two days later, the AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed single-payer Medicare for all. Clearly a mere option is not the union’s preference when it comes to health care ... Read More
Sotomayor on Criminal Justice: Causes for Concern?
It now appears that the Obama administration, which once seemed so eager to explicitly press the case for liberal constitutional jurisprudence, is trying to characterize Sonia Sotomayor as a bona fide judicial moderate, if not an outright conservative. Take a look at the administration’s talking points: no more talk of “empathy” is to be found. Rather, they highlight her frequent ... Read More
Big Aspirations, Smaller Results
How much have Texan oilmen shaped America? Reporter Brian Burrough follows his last corporate epic, Barbarians at the Gate, with a new book, The Big Rich, replacing skyscrapers and three piece suits with oil wells and Stetson hats. It is a sprawling story set across several continents, chronicling gumption, love, betrayal, politics, family squabbles, and Muammar al-Gaddafi. But if the ... Read More
Thoughts on David Souter
One of the constant refrains in articles about David Souter’s retirement is that replacing him with another “liberal” will not change the “basic makeup of the Court.” There are quite a few things wrong with this analysis. As the media often do, they grossly oversimplify and mischaracterize a Supreme Court justice’s philosophy. David Souter is many things, but certainly one ... Read More
Republican on the Inside
Every time I read a strategy memo for the next Republican party, I panic a little. It’s a sudden fear – oh no, what if they figure it out this time? – that quickly subsides, because usually the argument is poor enough that the party to which I happen to be illogically loyal has little to fear. But when intelligent ... Read More
At Home and Abroad
Today was a good day. The Democrat-dominated House of our wonderful northern neighbor Vermont overrode GOP Governor Jim Douglas’s veto on a law to legalize same-sex marriage (picking up three votes from moderates that had opposed the legislation the first time). The liberal grassroots – text message, Facebook, Twitter, email lists, you name it – erupted in jubilation. “Four down, ... Read More
Not in Kansas Any More
New role, new tactics for Kathleen Sebelius In December 1999, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sebelius expressed concern that new privacy rules imposed by the federal department of Health and Human Services would undercut state jurisdiction over health information. Federal bureaucracy, she argued, could not handle enforcement as nimbly as the states. A decade later, Sebelius will have the opportunity to ... Read More
