Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Robert Gates' Blunt Reality
Last Friday, in a tough-minded speech delivered in Brussels, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told NATO that money talks, and unless European members cover their fair share of alliance defense costs, America may walk. Over the last five decades, numerous American leaders have faulted our European allies for failing to meet agreed-upon alliance defense commitments. Gates' critique, however, was extraordinarily direct. "The blunt reality," Gates told the audience of NATO ambassadors, "is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress -- and in the American body politic writ large -- to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense."
'Brother, Can You Spare a Regulation?'
Last week, in a much-discussed, open, live, televised forum, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke the $64 trillion question. While most commentators focused on the apt question, it was Bernanke's answer that shocked me when I heard it -- and ought to shock the nation much more than it so far has. Question: "Now we're told there are going to be even higher capital requirements, and we know there are 300 (financial regulatory) rules coming, has anyone bothered to study the cumulative effect of these things? And do you have a fear -- like I do -- that when we look back and look at them all that they will be the reason that it took so long for our banks, our credit, our businesses and most importantly, our job creation, to start going again? Is this holding us back at this point?"
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
California's Choice: Clarity or Gridlock
When he ran for governor, Democrat Jerry Brown made a promise to voters -- "no new taxes without voter approval." That pledge was what you would call a gimmick. Brown knew he would have to woo or squeeze a few Republicans in order to get a the two-thirds vote necessary to qualify a tax hike for the ballot. On taking office, Brown promptly proposed a June special election to put an extension of temporary increases in state income tax, sales tax and car fees before voters. Many pundits applauded the wily Democrat's tactic of proposing a tax vote, but only so that he could keep his campaign pledge.
Media Hit Bottom With Palin Emails
If the big media in 2008 had dedicated the resources they are now squandering on Sarah Palin's emails from when she was governor of Alaska and probed Barack Obama's background and associations, she might now be vice president of the United States and Obama might still be a junior Illinois senator. Regardless of what you think of Palin, the vultures attacking her 24,000 pages of emails may represent the most flagrant example of bias since, well, since their attacks on any other Republican. "It could be fun," said Ken Schwenke of the Los Angeles Times about the email probe.
The Green Jobs Fantasy
Joblessness haunts the Obama administration. The stimulus was the most spectacular flop of recent history. Yet the president, as he demonstrated in North Carolina Monday, knows no other way. Democrats are often scornful of Republicans for being "agenda driven" or "ideological." If they are in a particularly scornful mood, they'll throw in something about conservatives being "anti-science" or failing to pursue "fact-based" policies.
Will the Buck Ever Stop on Obama's Desk?
If I'd heard the following words, instead of reading them, I might have assumed they were being delivered by a President Obama impressionist on "Saturday Night Live." But the words were from Obama himself in his latest weekly radio address. "I wish I could tell you there was a quick fix to our economic problems," he said. "But the truth is we didn't get into this mess overnight, and we won't get out of it overnight. It's going to take time."
Is Pawlenty Plenty?
The Republicans' confused assortment of announced presidential candidates-- as well as unannounced candidates and distant possibilities of candidates-- seems to be clarifying somewhat. The withdrawal of Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee, as well as the withdrawal of much of Newt Gingrich's staff, seems like a much-needed weeding-out process. Although Mitt Romney has been leading in the polls, his lead over other potential rivals has been slim. Being a "front-runner" this far ahead of next year's nominating convention would not mean much, even if Governor Romney's lead and his support were much bigger than they are.
What Weiner Did Was Worse Than an Affair
To their credit, most Democratic Party leaders have (finally) called for New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's resignation. But among liberal commentators and millions of other Americans, there is a great deal of flawed thinking about whether Weiner should resign. The two most common arguments offered against his resigning have been that (1) what Weiner did was not illegal and (2) it was not even as bad as an extramarital affair because he never met, let alone had physical contact with, any of the women to whom he sent naked and semi-naked photos of himself.
The Last Domino: Syria
If the news from Syria isn't about another massacre, it's about preparations for one. Bashar al-Assad's once iron rule of that country is being challenged, and the result is almost daily bloodshed, especially on Fridays, the Muslim sabbath, when the crowds go directly from mosque to demonstrations. Or to the funerals of those slain the day before, which have a way of turning into more protests and attracting more gunfire. The deadly cycle continues, and nobody knows where it will end. Especially the dictator, who grows more than usually desperate and therefore more than usually dangerous. Maybe he'll survive, maybe he won't. The only thing for sure is that a lot of Syrians won't. Not that its ruler cares about their fate, but only about how all the death and destruction might affect his own.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Why Obama Will Lose in 2012
As my more faithful readers know, I would never be confused with Pollyanna, even if I donned a pinafore and carried a parasol. But, just as confident as I was that John McCain, thanks to his own pathetic campaign and the economy's coming down with a severe case of the vapors a month before the election, would lose to Barack Obama, that's how confident I am that Obama is moving back to Chicago in January, 2013. Unlike Dick Morris, who told Bill O'Reilly that Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina would easily defeat Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer here in California, I knew no Republican had a chance in a statewide election. Come to think of it, I often wish I had the same opportunities to win steak dinners from Morris that O'Reilly has. I'd never have to pay for another meal. In fact, sometimes, I wonder if Morris is reading tealeaves or smoking them.
The End of a Surprisingly Good Political Career
Exit Newt Gingrich. Well, not quite yet, officially. On his Facebook page, Gingrich says he will endure "the rigors of campaigning for public office" and "will carry the message of American renewal to every part of this great land, whatever it takes." Without, however, the assistance of his 16 top campaign aides, some of whom had been with him for years, who resigned en masse last Thursday. They wanted him to spend more time on personal campaigning. He and his wife, Callista, figured they could do a lot of their campaigning and fundraising over the Internet.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
At Least 4 Good Reasons to End the War on Drugs
"If we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely in time destroy us," President Richard Nixon told Congress in a special message on June 17, 1971, which generally is credited as the day the "war on drugs" began. Actually, Nixon didn't use the term "war on drugs" in the address. He used it later. And while Nixon talked tough about going after drug traffickers, he emphasized that rehabilitation would be a priority as he dedicated the lion's share -- $105 million of $155 million in new anti-drug funding -- "solely for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug-addicted individuals."
Travesty of Lawmaking
WASHINGTON -- Here, however, is a paradox of sovereignty: The sovereign people, possessing the right to be governed as they choose, might find the exercise of that right tiresome, and so might choose to be governed in perpetuity by a despot they cannot subsequently remove. Congress did something like that in passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. The point of PPACA is cost containment. This supposedly depends on the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB, which is a perfect expression of the progressive mind, is to be composed of 15 presidential appointees empowered to reduce Medicare spending -- which is 13 percent of federal spending -- to certain stipulated targets. IPAB is to do this by making "proposals" or "recommendations" to limit costs by limiting reimbursements to doctors. This, inevitably, will limit available treatments -- and access to care when physicians leave the Medicare system.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
From The Comedy Store
President Obama dismissed talk of a double-dip recession Tuesday, saying he's optimistic about home construction numbers. He's understandably grasping for any good news. No one has the heart to tell him that home construction is always up in the month after tornado season.
Democrats Should Come With Warning Labels
No doubt a great number of people were confused when just a few days after he suggested that Israel should return to its 1967 borders and then treated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in as many visits as if he were a plague carrier, the Jews at the AIPAC conference gave Obama a series of standing ovations. Apparently it was enough for these buffoons that Obama had mentioned those indefensible borders in the same sentence as "swaps." Although Obama has never suggested what it is that the Palestinians are supposed to swap in exchange for Israel's committing geographical suicide -- a skate key, a couple of falafels, a Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card? -- it was enough that Obama pretended to be even-handed.
Pawlenty's 5 Percent Growth Vision
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty turned out a blockbuster economic-growth plan this past week, including deep cuts in taxes, spending and regulations. It's really the first Reaganesque supply-side growth plan from any of the GOP presidential contenders. And he caps it all off with a defense of optimism as he charges ahead with a national economic growth goal of 5 percent. That's right: 5 percent. Pawlenty calls this target aspirational. OK, fine. But deeper down, he's basically saying no to the declinists and pessimists who seem to populate the economic landscape these days. Big government doesn't work. Let's try something different.
We Do This Every Day
stet -- verb (Latin, let it stand): to annotate with the word stet to nullify a previous order to delete or omit (a word or passage in a manuscript or printer's proof). First known use: 1875 -- From Webster's Some things an editor does every weekday, and often enough on nights and weekends. It goes with the territory, which is that of a daily newspaper. This ain't no quarterly.
Friday, June 10, 2011
The Government Job-Training Juggernaut
President Obama campaigned this week for "new and innovative approaches" to America's economic crisis. So naturally, the futurist-in-chief filched his fresh, bold ideas straight from ... the 1930s. The grand new solution to the jobs deficit, according to the White House, is more FDR-style federal job-training spending. Sounding every bit like the whiteboard eggheads who keep spinning around the Ivy League-Washington revolving door, Obama announced breathlessly: "If we could match up schools and businesses, we could create pipelines right from the classroom to the office or the factory floor. This would help workers find better jobs, and it would help companies find the highly educated and highly trained people that they need in order to prosper and to remain competitive."
Is It Incompetence? Or Ideology?
WASHINGTON -- The Republicans swept November's midterm election by making it highly ideological, a referendum on two years of hyper-liberalism -- of arrogant, overreaching, intrusive government drowning in debt and running deficits of $1.5 trillion annually. It's not complicated. To govern left in a center-right country where four out of five citizens are non-liberal is a prescription for electoral defeat. Which suggested an obvious Republican strategy for 2012: Recapitulate 2010. Keep it ideological. Choose a presidential nominee who can best make the case.
The End of the Clinton Era
Rep. Anthony Weiner has achieved something by behaving so spectacularly shamefully. Unless I miss my guess, he has revived the concept of sexual morality. Even for a jaded nation, this is one sex scandal too far. We've had it. Our capacity to remain non-judgmental on sexual matters -- as we've been tirelessly instructed to do for 40 years -- seems to have reached its end point. The national reaction to Weiner's conduct, in contrast to previous sex scandals (and there have been too many to count in the past two decades), has been not amusement (though jokes made the rounds) but disgust. When even the ultra-liberal New York Times reaches for terms like "profoundly squalid," it's safe to say we've arrived at a new cultural moment: "Judgmentalism" is back.