Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Who Failed Chicago?
On Tuesday, President Obama and the first lady used the State of the Union spotlight to pay tribute to an innocent teenage girl shot and killed by Chicago gang thugs. On Friday, Obama will travel to the Windy City to decry violence and crusade for more gun laws in the town with the strictest gun laws and bloodiest gun-related death tolls in America. Does the White House really want to open up a national conversation about the state of Chicago? OK, let's talk.
Conservatism Killing the GOP?
As President Obama enters his second term, what "mandate" does he enjoy? His liberal media enablers are boldly declaring that somehow his four-point victory was a "shellacking," and the Republican Party is in danger of "ceasing to be a national party." They're very blunt about what's killing the GOP: conservatism. It's not helping the GOP that some of its conservative leaders are acting thoroughly intimidated. On the Feb. 10 "Meet the Press," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the Republicans needed to "connect our conservative principles with helping people and making their life work again." This only invited NBC anchor David Gregory to interrupt. "But Leader, it's core beliefs. ... There are core beliefs of the Republican Party that the polls show were rejected by a national electorate that you want to try to recapture some of if you're going to get to become a national party."
A Real State of the Union
We've heard another State of the Union speech, and my president said grand things like: "Think about ... a future where we're in control of our own energy ... I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China ... I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury poisoning ..." Actually, he said that in 2012. I write before this year's speech, but he says basically the same thing every year: With more spending, government can fix everything.
The Renunciation of Pope Benedict XVI
The media, of course, is calling it a resignation. But it not so much a resignation of a political office as it is a *renunciation*. The 85-year old pontiff's decision to renounce the power and prestige of the papal office is so unexpected, almost unprecedented, as to take the world by surprise. Of course, we Americans of all people can understand what thoughts must have coursed through Pope Benedict XVI's mind as he prayed about this weighty decision. We saw this kind of renunciation with our first president, George Washington. He did not leave the presidency before his second term expired, true, but he renounced all further exercise of power on March 4, 1797. It was then he strode out of the Senate chamber in Philadelphia. He purposely prodded President John Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson, the new nation's elected leaders and Washington's own successors, to go before him. He knew the importance of symbolism. King George III had once been George Washington's bitterest enemy. He said if Washington *renounces* his power, he truly will be the greatest man in the world. He did. He was.
Cultural Deviancy, Not Guns
There's a story told about a Paris chief of police who was called to a department store to stop a burglary in progress. Upon his arrival, he reconnoitered the situation and ordered his men to surround the entrances of the building next door. When questioned about his actions, he replied that he didn't have enough men to cover the department store's many entrances but he did have enough for the building next door. Let's see whether there are similarities between his strategy and today's gun control strategy. Last year, Chicago had 512 homicides; Detroit had 411; Philadelphia had 331; and Baltimore had 215. Those cities are joined by other dangerous cities -- such as St. Louis, Memphis, Tenn., Flint, Mich., and Camden, N.J. -- and they also lead the nation in shootings, assaults, rapes and robberies. Both the populations of those cities and their crime victims are predominantly black. Each year, more than 7,000 blacks are murdered. Close to 100 percent of the time, the murderer is another black person.
A Message to Obama, Served Cold
In an earlier era, Dr. Benjamin Carson's speech before the National Prayer Breakfast last week would have been a really big deal rather than mere fodder for a brief squall on Twitter and cable news. Born in crushing poverty to an illiterate single mother dedicated to seeing her children succeed, Carson became the head of the department of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins medical institutions when he was 33. He's been a black celebrity role model ever since. Even if you didn't like the substance of what Carson had to say at the breakfast, his speech made for great political theater. President Obama was seated on the stage, just a few feet away, and he didn't look like he was having a good time.
Due Process Delivered by Drones
When President Obama approves a drone strike against someone he identifies as a terrorist, John Brennan explained at his confirmation hearing last week, the missile fired from that unmanned aircraft is delivering prevention, not punishment. "We only take such actions as a last resort to save lives when there's no other alternative," said Brennan, the counterterrorism adviser Obama has picked to run the CIA. A Justice Department white paper leaked a few days before Brennan's hearing likewise describes death by drone as an "act of national self-defense," part of an "armed conflict" with al-Qaida and its allies. Yet the white paper also speaks of due process for American citizens condemned to death by the president, a requirement it says can be met through secret discussions within the executive branch. This contradiction at the heart of Obama's "targeted killing" policy, combining the rules of the battlefield with the rules of the courtroom, makes a muddle of both.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Minority Students in Chicago: Hostages of the Democratic Party
Oppressive Democrat-union alliance leaves few options for the youth of the Windy City.
President Obama: Losing Lincoln's Legacy
If you visit the excellent new Ford's Theater Center for Education and Leadership, there is a stack of books on Abraham Lincoln that rises three or four stories. We know that of the making of many books there is no end, but does that also apply to books about our sixteenth president? Apparently so. Today we celebrate the birthday of the Great Emancipator. In that Ford's Theater exhibit, there are large panel portraits of later presidents who were influenced by, and who sought to guide their steps by, the principles and precedents of Abraham Lincoln. The first panel shows President Barack Obama. The text below the handsome portrait of our forty-fourth president informs us that he began his career -- as did his fellow Illinoisan -- in the state legislature in Springfield.
America Still Means Opportunity for All
With perseverance, every obstacle can be overcome
Support for Dorner Is Troubling
Just when you thought you've seen it all with the Sandy Hook murders of a classroom full of children, America experiences another new low: A man named Christopher Dorner murders (as of this writing) three innocent people in order to air personal grievances. And his grievances are given serious attention by the national media, not to mention left-wing websites. To better understand this, imagine the outcry if, let us say, a white student who was certain that he was denied admission to a prestigious university because of affirmative action, murdered a university official and the daughter of the dean of admissions and her fiancé. Imagine further that this man had posted a lengthy manifesto delineating how unfairly he had been treated by that university, and that he would continue to murder admissions department officials until the university admitted he was wrongfully rejected.
Let us Prey
Our politics have become so polarized and corrupted that a president of the United States cannot even attend an event devoted to drawing people closer to God and bridge partisan and cultural divides without being lectured about his policies. Last Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ben Carson, director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and a 2008 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, broke with a 61-year-old tradition and publicly disagreed with some of the president's policies, such as "Obamacare," taxation and the national debt. Disclosure: I have attended this event since 1971 and host a dinner the night before for members of the media. Several in the audience of 3,000 applauded Carson's remarks, which must have made the president feel even more uncomfortable.
The Scouts vs. the Ugly Moods of 2013
The Boy Scouts of America got front-page ink, as we say in the newspaper trade, for their currently postponed meditations on the topic of admitting avowed gays to membership. Word had leaked out that the Scouts were considering a local option solution to the vexed question of their supposed right to determine who can become a member and who can't. At a top-drawer meeting in Irving, Tex., the topic proved too vast and complex for immediate resolution. Consultation and deliberation will take place prior to May meeting of Scouts' national council. I spoke of the Scouts' "supposed" right to oversee their membership rolls. A decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that right in the Scouts' case, in response to court challenges seeking the overthrow of policies that "discriminate" against gays. That might have settled matters, but for restlessness and motion in the larger society whose present values sometimes cause the Scouts, with their old-fashioned devotion to God and country, to look more and more like outliers.
Random Thoughts
Random thoughts on the passing scene: I can't get excited by the question of whether Senator Robert Menendez had sex with a prostitute in Central America. It is her word against his -- and when it comes to a prostitute's word against a politician's word, that is too close to call. If an American citizen went off to join Hitler's army during World War II, would there have been any question that this alone would make it legal to kill him? Why then is there an uproar about killing an American citizen who has joined terrorist organizations that are at war against the United States today?
State of the Union Cheat Sheet
I haven't been able to pilfer an advance copy of the president's State of the Union address, but I hereby offer some guesses as to what he'll say tonight. The president will assert, against the evidence, that the state of our union is strong. He will boast that during his first term, we averted another great depression, achieved history-making reforms of health care and banking, saved the auto industry and began to conclude two wars. He will caution though, that we face great challenges. Obama will acknowledge that our economy is not as vibrant as it could be and will stress that the way to achieve prosperity for all, not just for the few, is to focus on the great middle class. He will say that it's time to do "nation building" here at home and that we must reduce deficits in a "responsible" way.
Dr. Carson's Refreshing Jolt of Good Societal Medicine
President Obama must have been stunned at the "audacity" of Dr. Benjamin Carson in challenging his core assumptions right to his face in front of thousands of people at the National Prayer Breakfast. Obama is not used to being challenged, especially in public, even if indirectly and without being specifically named. From the look on his face, it was obvious Obama was none too pleased with Carson's message or with his "presumptuousness" in presenting it in that forum, while he had to sit still and -- remain silent. I think we can best understand Carson's message in light of his opening statements, which laid the foundation for the thematic body of this speech.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Alchemy, Al Gore & Al Jazeera
People who have blind faith in science would do well to recall that during the Middle Ages, a time not all that different from our own, especially in the Middle East, not to mention Chicago, Detroit and Hollywood, there were those who regarded alchemy to be a science. They were convinced that base metals such as lead could be magically turned into precious metals such as gold. In modern times, we find remnants of those earlier pinheads in left-wing circles, where it is widely accepted that a community organizer, by virtue of winning an election, can be transformed into a savior. When I first heard that Obama and his stooges were demanding that gun magazines be made smaller, I naturally assumed they wanted the NRA monthly to be condensed. When I discovered they actually believed that the answer to violence in America was fewer bullets, I found myself wondering if they had put Michael Bloomberg, the idiot who thinks smaller soft drink containers is the answer to obesity, in charge of the crusade.
Does the Republican Party Have a Future?
The United States, from day one, was a project about principles and ideals. The super power that emerged and grew from the handful of colonists that began settling here was not the product of where those colonists happened to land, but the ideals and principles in their head and heart -- applied in how they lived their lives. The Republican Party was founded in 1854 to address one great blot on the nation's founding legacy -- the existence of slavery in a nation founded under the ideal of freedom under God.
State of the State of the Union
Paris, France -- I am in Paris for one afternoon and overnight because the non-stop service from Oujda, Morocco to Dulles International Airport just outside Washington, DC hasn't yet begun. We flew into Orly Airport which is the Newark Airport of Europe. If you can arrange a trip that doesn't include Orly, I recommend you do that. But, any story that ends with, "and then we had dinner in Paris" is a pretty good story. Washington, DC is awash in activity surrounding the President's State of the Union address tomorrow night at nine Eastern time. As we have discussed before every association, DC-based government affairs office, lobbying shop, law firm, union, and coalition is working like the devil to get its client's issue mentioned in the President's remarks.
Boston's Commuters Could Learn Something From Tokyo's
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is the nation's oldest subway system, with traditions so enduring that the memory of Boston commuters runneth not to the contrary. Like campaigns urging passengers not to be such thoughtless jerks. Last week the MBTA rolled out the latest such campaign -- a "Courtesy Critters" advertising blitz starring animals in the role of etiquette instructors. The 2,400 posters going up on trains and buses feature pigs reminding riders not to "hog a seat," horses telling them not to "cause a stampede," and a trio of elephants imploring: "Don't spray your germs." Another shows a flock of parrots in a subway car. "Don't squawk on the phone," it admonishes T users. "We hate to clip your wings, but not everyone wants to hear your conversation."