Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Why Obama Is Right About India
WASHINGTON -- Much grousing about the expense of President Obama's India trip. This is silly and vindictive. The one thing this country owes its leader is to spare no expense in protecting him. Especially when his first stop is Mumbai, scene of one of the most savage and sustained terror attacks in modern times.
Backtrack
SAN ANTONIO -- The world's most famous teleprompter reader has lost his audience. For two years, President Barack Obama had the American electorate and world leaders eating out of the palm of his hand. At virtually every U.S. and overseas venue, he was welcomed by huge cheering throngs. His oratory was described as "magnetic," "eloquent" and "spellbinding." Just nine months into his term, his "accomplishments" were deemed worthy of a Nobel Prize. Not anymore.
Closing the Doors to Opportunity
The Obama administration thinks it knows best how to run health care, the banks, and the auto industry, so why not post-secondary education? And the best way to do so in Obamaland is to limit choice, which is exactly what the Department of Education has proposed in new rules affecting student loans.
Throw Carol Browner Under the Bus
Energy czar Carol Browner needs to go the way of disgraced green jobs czar Van Jones: under the bus and stripped of her unbridled power to destroy jobs and lives in the name of saving the planet. ASAP. One of the Beltway's most influential, entrenched and unaccountable left-wing radicals, Browner has now been called out twice by President Obama's own federal BP oil spill commission and Interior Department inspector general. How many strikes should a woman who circumvented the Senate confirmation process and boasts a sordid history of abusing public office get?
Don't Be Taken in by the Deficit Commission
If preliminary rumblings from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's upcoming report are accurate, I'm afraid the conservative agenda -- though overwhelmingly victorious in last week's elections -- might be against the ropes again, especially with GOP congressmen praising the report.
Barack Obama: The MOST Anti-Israel President
With his remarks in Jakarta, Indonesia, President Obama made history once again. Sadly, it's a most unenviable title. I believe he is the most anti-Israel President in U.S. history. In going to Jakarta, Indonesia, to launch his latest attack, he literally went to the ends of the earth to give voice to his displeasure. He emphasized his opposition to the policies of the elected government of Israel.
Obamanomics Combines With Fed to Guarantee More Economic Misery
I'll give President Obama a bit of credit for signaling that he will abandon temporarily one aspect of his crazy economic philosophy, best termed "Obamanomics. " It appears the president will at least allow the George W. Bush tax cuts to remain in place for some additional period of time. That's a smart move for him because everything else both the administration and the Federal Reserve are doing or considering appear to be setting us up for another economic disaster.
The Vast Child-Fattening Conspiracy
When it comes to the increasing sex, violence and profanity in entertainment media, the social libertines are indifferent. They insist that children will hardly be warped or ruined by the media they consume. They chortle at the paranoia of Hollywood critics. Their mantra: If you don't like it, just turn the channel.
Reviving Three Little Words
Happy politicians are all alike; every unhappy politician is unhappy in his (and her) own way. (Apologies to Tolstoy.) Nancy Pelosi, who in her heart of hearts must be unhappy about Nov. 2, insists publicly that disaster was an occasion for the losers to celebrate.
Obamacare Hits the Most Vulnerable
Everyone agrees that the burden of dealing with escalating health care costs should not fall on the most vulnerable, right? Democrats in particular are always at pains to convince us that they are sensitive to the needs of the less fortunate. Yet among the many new taxes Obamacare will impose is one that hits wounded veterans and sick children especially hard -- the 2.3 percent annual tax on medical device manufacturers set to begin in 2013.
Post-Mortem: Random Notes on an Election
You knew it was going to be an exhilarating election night when among the early victors in Florida was a retired lieutenant colonel by the name of Allen West. He was declared the winner in his race for Congress against one of the best-funded Democrats in the House. What his critics used against him -- an incident in his long and proud military career that caused him to be disciplined -- only endeared him to some of us. And explained why a lot of folks outside Florida were rooting for him.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Of Course Sarah Palin's 'Unfit'; She's a Republican
How much of the "Sarah Palin is not ready for prime time" criticism is sincere? When the harping comes from the left, it's difficult to take it seriously. Try to follow the bouncing standards. Barbara Walters gushed over John F. Kennedy Jr. and foresaw a political future for him. Never mind that the young man had flunked the New York bar exam -- twice.
GOP Freshmen Will Hold Boehner to His Big Promises
For political junkies of a certain age, it was a given that the House of Representatives would always be controlled by Democrats. They won the chamber in 1954 and held on for 40 years -- more than twice as long as any party in American history had before. When Sam Rayburn died at 79, more than 20 years after first becoming speaker, he was succeeded by John McCormack, 70, who was followed by Carl Albert, 68, and Tip O'Neill, an energetic 64. Every House elected from 1958 to 1992 had at least 242 Democrats, well above the 218 votes needed for a majority.
The Transformative Election
WASHINGTON -- As he promised it would be, Barack Obama's presidency has been transformative, but not as he intended. Whether it lasts two or six more years, it is an exhausted volcano because its biggest consequence may already have happened: It has resuscitated the right, making 2010 conservatism's best year in 30 years -- since the election of Ronald Reagan.
The World Against Bernanke
The great Bernanke QE2 debate continues to heat up. In the run-up to the G-20 meetings, China, Russia, Germany and others have all come out against the Federal Reserve's quantitative-easing agenda. They don't want hot-money excess dollars to flow into their higher-yielding currencies. The assault against Bernanke's easy money has reached such fever that President Obama felt it necessary to defend the $600 billion in new-money printing in a news conference in India.
Repeal the 26th Amendment!
Jimmy Carter was such an abominable president we got Ronald Reagan, tax cuts, a booming economy and the destruction of the Soviet Union. Two years of Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress got us the first Republican Congress in half a century, followed by tax cuts, welfare reform and a booming economy –- all of which Clinton now claims credit for.
The Olbermann Factor
If MSNBC were consistent, Keith Olbermann would not have been the only on-air personality disciplined for making political contributions. For those who don't watch his "Countdown" program (which would be most of the country), Olbermann was suspended "indefinitely" after it was learned he donated money without approval from management to three Democratic congressional candidates. The problem for MSNBC was not only Olbermann's failure to get permission, but that he anchored part of the network's Election Night coverage. Apparently at MSNBC, the chair you sit in matters more than the content of your journalistic character.
The GOP Gets a Second Chance
The most encouraging thing about the Republican triumph in last week's midterm elections is that so many Republicans acknowledge that it wasn't a Republican triumph. "We make a great mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican Party," Florida's impressive senator-elect, Marco Rubio, said in his victory speech Tuesday night. "What they are is a second chance, a second chance for Republicans to be what they said they were going to be not so long ago."
Saving the Golden State
The late psychic Edgar Cayce was famed for predicting that in the not-too-distant future the entire state of California would collapse into the Pacific Ocean and disappear beneath the sea. That may be a questionable forecast, but the collapse of the Golden State into a sea of debt is already upon us, and if we don't act now to begin to reclaim California it will soon be too late to save it from disappearing under a mountain of IOUs that cannot be repaid.
Hand-Wringing
WASHINGTON -- The other day, I sat down to breakfast. It was a normal day. Five daily newspapers were laid out before me. As I went over the front pages, I downed orange juice and a bowl of oatmeal powdered with brown sugar and flaxseed. Then I went off to my library with the newspapers and a cup of coffee. By then, incidentally, I was revolted.