Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images
Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images
Viewpoint

Obama Bound

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Mike Gerson has a pretty smart column in the Washington Post today about the President’s political dilemma, given the current economic doldrums. Gerson starts with the coincidence of Obama’s visit to a Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, with the release of the latest dismal statistics:

Before Toledo, Obama’s main task was to take credit for a slow recovery. After Toledo, his main task is to explain and confront a stalled economy. The adjustment has not been easy.

A slow recovery requires a message of patience. A stalled economy demands an impression of action. 

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Latest News

Verbatim 9 hours ago

Akin on Liberalism

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"The heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God."

–GOP Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri

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National Security 9 hours ago

Harold Koh, ‘Hypocrite’?

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Shortly after Yale Law professor Harold Koh was named the State Department’s top lawyer, a source sent me a snickering note noting that Koh had deemed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq illegal, and that therefore by Koh’s definition his new boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had potentially supported a massive war crime. Koh had also taken other firm positions against expansive wartime presidential power in the name of national security, including his zero-tolerance position on torture, not only on humanitarian but also legal grounds, leading conservatives to mock him as a pointy-headed leftist. 

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  • Poll Data

    New Hampshire GOP voters' preferences for 2012:

    Source: CNN
China 10 hours ago

China Syndrome

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There’s been a fair amount of comment about the relatively dovish position most Republican candidates for President have taken on Afghanistan (with the exception of Tim Pawlenty). But there has been an equally surprising development with regard to China: a decisive step away from free trade by more than a few of the candidates, led — surprisingly — by Mitt Romney. This seems further evidence of the Republican field’s drift toward Tea Party protectionist, isolationist populism, as does the desire to pull back from Afghanistan.

And it raises a major question for President Obama:

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State Governments 12 hours ago

Perry (and Glenn Beck) Respond on Job Poaching Subsidies

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Texas’ Gov. Rick Perry was a guest on Fox’s Glenn Beck Show yesterday and the two began with a response to my story on Perry’s record of using hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize job creation.

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Republican Party 12 hours ago

The Cain Campaign Hits a Speedbump

By Elizabeth Dias

Just as Herman Cain was fighting his way onto the road to a credible candidacy, his campaign seems to have taken a detour. In 24 hours, two of his top staffers announced their resignations and a new effort to raise funds fell flat.

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Jon Huntsman 13 hours ago

In Utah, a Lukewarm Homecoming for Huntsman

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After a whirlwind kickoff week for his presidential campaign, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman returns to his home state Tuesday, where he will tour a medical-device facility, speak to a conference and hold a posh fund-raiser. It could have been a triumphant homecoming. Huntsman was a wildly popular governor. He won re-election in 2008 with 78% of the vote and enjoyed nearly 90% approval ratings before leaving to become Ambassador to China in 2009.

But while Huntsman served in Beijing, the ardor seems to have cooled at home in Utah.

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Tim Pawlenty 14 hours ago

Pawlenty Finds His Hawkish Voice

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Tim Pawlenty looked to turn the page on his summer slump Tuesday morning with a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations bashing Barack Obama — and elements of his own party — over the course of U.S. foreign policy.

Titled “No Retreat From Freedom’s Rise,” Pawlenty’s speech aspired to be a Reaganesque declaration of American strength and leadership, perhaps most notably criticizing the growing conservative sentiment against expansionist U.S. foreign policy. “[P]arts of the Republican Party now seem to be trying to out-bid the Democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments,” Pawlenty said. “This is no time for uncertain leadership in either party.  The stakes are simply too high, and the opportunity is simply too great.”

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campaigns 14 hours ago

Could the 2012 Election Be 2004 All Over Again?

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There’s been a lot of buzz inside the Beltway about how this year’s crop of GOP wannabes is strikingly similar to the Democratic cast of George W. Bush challengers in 2004.

You have a frontrunner who is playing it safe and betting that his credentials will give him a leg up on the key issue of the cycle: In 2004, John Kerry’s foreign policy experience and military service were supposed to give him the edge on Iraq, and in 2012, Mitt Romney’s private sector background is suited for an electorate concerned about the economy. You have an old timer shooting high on his last lap: Dick Gephardt played that role in 2004 and Newt Gingrich seems to be after something similar this time around. You have the young, telegenic challenger whose resume looks great on paper: John Edwards and Tim Pawlenty. There’s the Beltway darling with the potential to soar if he can ignite a spark – and has the energy to see it through: Wes Clark and Jon Huntsman. And you have the populist firebrand: Howard Dean in 2004 and Michele Bachmann in 2012.

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campaigns 16 hours ago

Herman Cain and the “Credible” Candidates

By Steven Gray

In the Des Moines Register’s poll released Saturday surveying Iowa Republicans’ preferences for their party’s presidential nomination, former Godfather’s pizza CEO Herman Cain came in third behind Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. If you’ve been following media odds-making, that ranking may surprise you. But it’s only the latest in a series of favorable showings for Cain, a political novice who’s still treated as a marginal presidential candidate. It’s worth asking: What makes a credible candidate?

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