The topic for the day is anti-Americanism. Some liberals think it all started with Bush. Some Leftists like to pretend it did, although they may know better. And some people think it’s because America is a swaggering, aggressive, imperial power, … Continue reading →
Commenter “expat”—who is in a position to know a thing or two about Europe’s reaction to Obama—has written in regard to German opinions about Obama’s statements on Turkish EU membership: They resented specifically Obama’s public lecturing tone, which was obnoxious, … Continue reading →
…I didn’t know him, Horatio. Please note this trenchant comment from zhombre: Poor Santayana. Didn’t have a clue. Whether you remember the past or not, you will relive it, because some other SOB doesn’t. George Santayana—for those of you who … Continue reading →
Jonathan Alter of Newsweek feels the Obamalove. In Alter’s cover story about Obama entitled “America’s New Shrink,” Alter tells us don’t worry, be happy, even though Obama has utterly failed to perform what even Alter insists is the first job … Continue reading →
Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic is happy about recent political developments. Very happy. After decades of wandering in the Republican desert (and he includes the Clinton years as a craven accommodation to Republicans), the good guys (liberals) are finally … Continue reading →
For some reason I was under the impression that our abundance of lawyers as President was a somewhat recent phenomenon. But I found this list striking and surprising: the tendency goes way back. Seems like it’s lawyers all the way … Continue reading →
Orwell knew full well how important this sort of erasure of history by the Obama campaign is, although he didn’t envision the help of the internet’s wayback machine in reconstructing the vanished past. Do Obama’s scrubbers realize that such a … Continue reading →
The Obama camp says the McCain campaign is wrong to accuse him of playing the race card in the following remarks Obama made while addressing a crowd in Missouri yesterday: Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer … Continue reading →
Obama’s fast becoming nearly as famous for gaffes as Yogi Berra. But Berra’s often made sense; Obama’s never do. That said, not all of Obama’s errors are created equal. Some fall into the category of slips of the tongue—after all, … Continue reading →
Today is Mayday. As a child I was confused by the wildly differing associations the word conjures up. It’s a distress signal, for example, apparently derived from the French for “come to my aid.” That was the first meaning of … Continue reading →
Science and sport—and Speedo—(how’s that for alliteration?) march on. In the drive for human progress, the competitive swimsuit has undergone a remarkable transformation. Some of us, of course, merely hope that our swimsuits will manage to hide rather than reveal … Continue reading →
First we had the new counterinsurgency manual. Now the army has a new operations manual with an emphasis on postwar stabilization. This is referred to as a “newly minted doctrine” and “a major development that draws on the hard-learned lessons … Continue reading →