President Obama and Mrs. Obama have done it again — demonstrating, that is, that personal appeal only goes only so far when it comes to public diplomacy and international relations. The couple just about blew the Danish media away with their emotional and personal appeals for the 2016 Olympics to come to Chicago. “Top Grades for Obama” read the headline in the daily paper Berlingske Tidende, whose reporter had interviewed a communication expert who commended the duo for a synchronized performance of extraordinary elegance and eloquence.”They get a 10 on …
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the same Sen. Durbin who put the language in last February’s Omnibus spending bill to eliminate the D.C.Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP), now says he might be open to reauthorizing the program. The Wall Street Journal Reports: I have to work with my colleagues if this is going to be reauthorized, which it might be,” said Mr. Durbin at an appropriations hearing Tuesday morning. He also said that he had visited one of the participating private schools and understood
This email is making the rounds on .mil addresses: There have been many arguments in the past four weeks to withdraw. We have compiled a short review of other social network debates to summarize the basic arguments for staying in the Afghanistan. The 19th reason has been added at the bottom. 1. Afghanistan and Pakistan – This Region is Ground Zero for Anti-U.S. Radical Islamic Violence. As the host nations for the primary terrorist organization that successfully conducted multiple attacks against the U.S. personnel and facilities, this region, by definition, …
On page A27 of today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman is at it again. Spending trillions of dollars we don’t actually have is what saved us from disaster, but we need to spend more! More! More! Krugman has written the same thing so many times, he apparently doesn’t need to bother with facts, just assertions. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Robert Barro and Charles Redlick did bother with facts, which happens to lead them to the exact opposite conclusion. But that isn’t the ugly part. The ugly part is that, …
Michelle Obama flew to Denmark on Wednesday to pitch Chicago as the host city for the 2016 Olympics. President Obama arrived in Copenhagen this morning to make his own pitch, saying that it could repair the American image. Chicago was knocked out in the first round of votes, but that’s beside the point. Two people. Two planes. Three days. Not very green. Just last week President Obama told the United Nations General Assembly: “That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is …
One of the larger mistakes in the Obama financial regulatory reform package was its attempt to give the Federal Reserve additional powers so that it could in theory protect the economy from risks such as the housing bubble that could endanger the entire financial system. As we have argued in the past, the entire concept of minimizing systemic risk is a thankless task that is probably impossible. A key question is how much power such a regulator would have. As we said in June, “Congress could grant it such wide …
During the debate on the Senate health care reform bill this week, Senator Hatch (R-UT) offered an amendment to reinstate funding for Title V Abstinence Education. Funding for this program ended in June. The Hatch amendment would restore the $50 million program. A similar amendment by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE), however, suffered defeat during the House Committee mark up, and House Democrats inserted an amendment that would transfer the Title V money to state block grants to further promote comprehensive sexuality education. Policymakers should continue to fund abstinence education and …
After watching the Senate Finance Committee work its will on health care reform, it is clear that the final stretch will have little to do with good policy and lots to do with cutting special deals with drug companies, favorite states, and the like. The debate is a jarring reminder that the current Congress views health care as a giant pie (indeed 16-17 percent of our entire economy). Of course, government does not make the pie, it merely cuts the pieces. The folks back home still want an answer to …
President Barack Obama’s push for a sweeping health care overhaul edged closer to a major victory in the Senate Finance Committee. Early next week, the Senate Finance Committee will vote on final passage on the “Vapor Bill” being debated and marked up in Committee. The term “Vapor Bill” is used to describe the legislation, because the Senate Finance Committee has been debating the outline of a bill and not actual bill text in Committee. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) offered an amendment to allow a reading of the bill for 72 …
Another month, another 263,000 jobs lost under the Obama administration. According to Bureau of Labor and Statistics data released this morning, the United States economy has lost 3.6 million net jobs since President Barack Obama was sworn into office and the unemployment rate has risen from 7.6 % to 9.8%. It was not supposed to be this way. The experts in the Obama administration promised the American people that the President’s $787 billion stimulus package would create 4 million jobs by the end of 2010. According to the Obama administration’s …
