Obama Hits A Milestone
[ Posted Thursday, January 13th, 2011 – 18:15 UTC ]
Obama's mojo has apparently returned, to some extent or another.
Archive of Articles in the "Economics" Category
Friday Talking Points [150] -- A Fortean Week
[ Posted Friday, January 7th, 2011 – 18:18 UTC ]
Sometimes it is hard to come up with a metaphor to describe the week that was. This was not one of those weeks.
The Media And The Tea Partiers
[ Posted Thursday, January 6th, 2011 – 16:36 UTC ]
In taking in the news of the 112th Congress' first new steps (especially those taken by the Republican House of Representatives), I had to wonder -- how will the Tea Party and the Tea Partiers be treated by the mainstream media, going forward? Will they still have a voice in the media's political coverage of the next two years, and what will that voice say? To put the point I'm trying to make more succinctly: will the Tea Partiers become "old news" to the media?
Obama Poll Watch -- December, 2010
[ Posted Monday, January 3rd, 2011 – 04:58 UTC ]
President Barack Obama had a mildly good month in the polls during December. Not a fantastic month, mind you; maybe not even a great month... but a mildly good month, nonetheless.
My 2010 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 2]
[ Posted Friday, December 24th, 2010 – 19:34 UTC ]
Welcome back to our annual year-end awards column!
111th Congress Ends With Bang, Not Whimper
[ Posted Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 – 18:08 UTC ]
President Barack Obama gave an afternoon press conference today, and he sounded a lot more confident than he has sounded for quite a while. The reason for this is that the 111th Congress is ending with a bang, and not the expected whimper. After the Democrats' "shellacking" (to use Obama's preferred term) in the midterm elections, few inside-the-Beltway prognosticators figured much of anything would get done in the lame duck session of Congress before the newly-elected Congress is seated in January. As it turned out, this conventional wisdom was wrong. The lame duck Congress produced more weighty legislation than most lame ducks manage -- a fitting end to two years with more significant legislative victories than any Congress since Lyndon B. Johnson (or even Franklin D. Roosevelt, depending on how you score these things). Which is why President Obama had good reason to sound as confident as he did today.
My 2010 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]
[ Posted Friday, December 17th, 2010 – 17:45 UTC ]
My apologies to anyone tuning in who was expecting to see the 150th "Friday Talking Points" column, since it will be pre-empted for two weeks here. But the good news is we're doing so to bring you our annual "McLaughlin Awards," which are even more fun!
From The Archives: Dump The Individual Mandate
[ Posted Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 – 17:21 UTC ]
But, as Howard Dean points out, healthcare reform can succeed without it. Which means there shouldn't be anything standing in the way of throwing the whole idea of the mandate under the political bus, so to speak. Or, since the Tea Partiers hate it too, perhaps "throw it overboard" would be a better metaphor.
Friday Talking Points [149] -- Making Holiday Sausage
[ Posted Friday, December 10th, 2010 – 17:46 UTC ]
The holidays are just around the corner, and the preparatory legislative sausage-making on Capitol Hill is in full swing. What a happy, happy time of year!
The Barnstorming Era Of Spaceflight Begins
[ Posted Thursday, December 9th, 2010 – 18:59 UTC ]
Well, that's one of those headlines that's a lot better poetically than literally, I'll admit up front. But yesterday's news in spaceflight deserves some sort of mention, because it could be the start of a new era. A private company launched a capsule into orbit, and then recovered it by splashing it down in the Pacific Ocean. This was a test flight, but eventually the company will use this arrangement to ferry astronauts up to the International Space Station for the United States, after N.A.S.A.'s space shuttle is retired forever.