In the New Republic, William Galston compares Barack Obama’s “too-long wish list” with FDR’s way of doing things and comes up with a bleak conclusion: The key analogy between today and 1933 is the centrality of the financial crisis, which makes it hard to understand why the administration has not yet moved as decisively to [...]
Archive for the ‘Election 08’ Category
Obama and FDR: Why ’09 Isn’t ’33
Posted in Election 08, U.S. on March 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
‘There Was Blood All Over’: The True Face of Rendition
Posted in Election 08, Human rights, U.S. on February 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I realise these are early days, and we don’t yet have all the information, but this business of the Obama administration invoking the state-secrets privilege is not good. A guy is kidnapped, tortured and detained for years without charge, and when he tries to take his case to court, he is promptly told to go [...]
Obama: Hope Wanes
Posted in Election 08, U.S. on February 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Like millions of others around the world, I was elated when Barack Obama beat John McCain in last November’s presidential election. I had been an early fan of McCain’s, but by election day I had come to regard him as a volatile and cantankerous old bastard. By contrast, Obama seemed a genuine centrist liberal who [...]
My Fellow Citizens…
Posted in Election 08 on January 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The speech, courtesy of FP:
It Starts
Posted in Election 08 on January 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
What I would give to be there: A pre-dawn crush of people in the Washington DC Metro, eager to be part of history. The train passes one stop because the platform is overstuffed. At the Capital South Station, packed cars open. There’s little room to take actual steps; everyone shuffles. It’s a claustrophobic procession, clogging [...]
Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Our Lives
Posted in Election 08 on January 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
No more clichés. I’ll just say it like it is: I’m so fucking relieved.
The Wacky World of Markku Ruotsila, Finnish Neocon
Posted in Election 08 on January 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The Bush years may be all but over, but the lunacy lives on — even in Finland. For reasons beyond me, my hometown newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has repeatedly chosen to allow its op-ed space be abused by Markku Ruotsila, a Finnish scholar whose views on the Bush presidency and its global consequences represent what can [...]
No More Torture Memos: ‘Anti-Yoo’ to Head OLC
Posted in Election 08, Human rights on January 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Of Obama’s many smart picks, one of the most significant, yet the one least likely to attract public attention, is the nomination of Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel. You may recall that during the Bush years, the OLC, which is supposed to advise the president on how [...]
Eschewing Ideology, Obama Draws Liberal Ire
Posted in Election 08 on December 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »
“Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices”, reports Politico. I don’t quite get this. I consider myself something of a liberal, and I’ve supported Obama exactly because he’s pragmatic, lawyerly, and centrist. If anything, his [...]
Is Obama’s Presidency Clinton III, and Should We Care?
Posted in Election 08 on November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“While Mr. Obama has yet to name any of his cabinet secretaries,” The New York Times reports today, “his early choices for White House staff positions and the names currently at the top of the list for staff and cabinet jobs suggest that his administration could be heavily stocked with Democrats who served under Mr. [...]
