“Smart” People

At Foreign Policy’s new Shadow Government blog, Philip Zelikow takes issue with Hillary Clinton’s use of the term “smart power”:
There was also a conceit embodied in the phrase, “smart power.” The conceit is interesting because it is so characteristic of contemporary American political life and scholarship in its preoccupation with process. Process shaping substance (this [...]

On McCain

I have plenty of quibbles with McCain’s ideological preferences. His substance-free presidential run left a lot to be desired. But I’m annoyed at the assumption among certain quarters of the Left that his campaign was uniquely dishonorable. Most of McCain’s attacks against Obama – from Joe the Plumber’s “spread the wealth” line to the various [...]

The Case for Chilling Out

I’m probably not going to vote tomorrow. I’m also pretty sanguine about my decision. Over the past several months, I’ve had my share of harsh words for both candidates. But despite incessant media hype and the elevation of every minor dispute to world-historical importance, I’m fairly confident our country will continue to stumble forward no [...]

Great News! Now let’s get the hell out of there . . .

I’m sure the McCain camp will interpret this as further vindication of their “occupation ’til Doomsday” strategy, but declining US casualties in Iraq is heartening news nonetheless.

A Last Gasp for McCain

If anyone could convince me to pull the trigger for a Republican presidential candidate, it would have to be Reihan Salam. It’s odd, then, that his case for John McCain is one of the least persuasive things I’ve read in recent weeks. The substantive points he recites in favor of McCain are remarkably thin – [...]

Well Said

I thought this was generous of Ed Whelan:
If Barack Obama is elected next Tuesday, his election will be seen as a striking symbol of yet further progress towards respecting the American ideal that “all Men are created equal.” Insofar as our fellow citizens who have endured, and continue to endure, discrimination and other indignities because [...]

In which I attempt to analyze polling data

In comments, John Schwenkler argues that Republicans’ generic advantage on national security has declined significantly in recent years. I’d certainly like to believe him. It would be downright perverse for the party most responsible for Iraq to retain any credibility on issues relating to homeland defense or terrorism.
And yet McCain is still perceived as more [...]

Recklessly Invading Iraq Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

Having read John Schwenkler and Daniel Larison on how the Iraq War has undermined Republican advantages on national security, I confess I had some hope that conservatives would repudiate Iraq and embrace a more thoughtful approach to foreign policy. Then I clicked over to this McClatchy poll on the presidential race and found that McCain [...]

Backlash

Having already written the best “federalism good” impact turns known to man (if you’re a policy debater, throw your hands up!), Steven Calabresi now turns his attention to the coming Obama Administration apocalypse:
A whole generation of Americans has come of age since the nation experienced the bad judicial appointments and foolish economic and regulatory policy [...]

Catholics for Obama?

I liked William Gould’s thoughtful take on politics and Catholicism. He echoes a sentiment I’ve expressed on several different occasions – namely, that a holistic assessment of the candidates’ positions is the best way to vote for the sanctity of human life. Here’s Gould:
The second reason I find Kmiec’s position helpful is that, while clearly [...]

I want what they’re smoking

According to Professor Bainbridge, a majority of prominent conservative bloggers still think McCain will win the election:
1) Who do you think is going to win the election?
A) John McCain: 53% (39)
B) Barack Obama: 47% (34)

Ummm, guys?

Required Reading

Everyone should check out this excellent Ben Smith post on the road not taken by Republican operatives in 2008. I’ve expressed my frustration with this phenomenon before, but Smith does a fantastic job of explaining why the naked cultural appeals of McCain’s media enablers are so politically ineffective.
It’s also worth noting that it didn’t have [...]

Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves

Andrew Sullivan prematurely congratulates Obama for ending identity politics. It’s a weird column, because Sullivan basically concedes that Obama owes his overwhelming support within the black community to racial solidarity. He also admits that the most effective attacks leveled against Obama are rooted in conservative identity politics. To this list, I’d add a third factor [...]

Ken Adelman is Making Sense

Granted, Ken Adelman’s track record is pretty mixed (and I’m putting this charitably), but his indictment of McCain’s decision-making is spot-on:
So I’ve considered myself less of a partisan than an ideologue. I cared about conservative principles, and still do, instead of caring about the GOP.
Granted, McCain’s views are closer to mine than Obama’s. But I’ve [...]

George Weigel’s Most Catholic Decision-Making Calculus

After thoroughly demolishing the pro-life case for Obama, George Weigel goes on to explain why abortion is an a priori issue for Catholic voters:
As Cardinal George’s letter indicated, the Catholic Church’s teaching on the intrinsic evil of abortion involves a first principle of justice that can be known by reason, that’s one of the building [...]

I am not a Catholic

But I find Catholic political thought simultaneously interesting and infuriating. Take this op-ed from Robert P. George, a member of the President’s Bioethics Council and a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University:
Barack Obama and John McCain differ on many important issues about which reasonable people of goodwill, including pro-life Americans of every faith, disagree: how [...]

The Debate, Take Three

Didn’t watch it. My gal on the street says Obama won. The focus groups say Obama won. So I guess Obama won.
UPDATE: The Next Right says McCain crushed. I think this proves Isaac Chotiner’s point – if you’re stuck inside the GOP bubble, you have no way of measuring the salience of partisan attacks. [...]

The Canary in the Coal Mine

Making fun of Andy McCarthy’s crazed rants has become a bit of a habit of late, but his newest post on Obama must be read to be believed:
On the economy, Ayers is a socialist who was and is dedicated to an anti-capitalist agenda and a collectivist model.  He regards Chavez’s Venezuela — a despotic, confiscatory state in [...]

“Judgement”

National Review’s Katherine Jean Lopez on the relevance of Ayers:
McCain probably just isn’t the messenger for it — but I think Obama’s radicalism needs to be part of the narrative of why McCain and not Obama — but it’s a message that needs to be heard and I think people are increasingly receiving it. Ayers [...]

No Cigar

David Brooks is getting at something he can’t quite articulate:
What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. The liberals had coastal condescension, so the conservatives developed their own anti-elitism, with mirror-image categories and mirror-image resentments, but with the same corrosive effect.
Republicans developed their own [...]