We'll get to that "WWRRD?" question at the end, I promise. But instead, I'd like to start off way out in space, if you don't mind. Just a little personal rant, to open with today. I invite you all to join me as I "space out" (so to speak).

To begin with, in space news, the fourth moon of Pluto was discovered this week. That's pretty exciting, right?

The bigger space news this week, sadly, was not that exciting. The final space shuttle mission just ended. Although I didn't see it specifically, a newspaper headline-writer with a sense of irony would have set the story under: "The Shuttle Has Landed." Because this week also saw an anniversary of import to the discussion -- 42 years ago this Wednesday, Neil Armstrong radioed back to Houston the immortal phrase: "The Eagle has landed," marking the first safe landing on Earth's natural satellite by the human species.

Continue Reading »

Every so often, I like to dig into raw poll numbers rather than merely examining the presidential job approval number on its own, or just looking at the presidential-nomination horserace. Today I'd like to peer into a recent joint poll done by the Washington Post and ABC. To save time, I'm going to avoid talking about either Obama's approval ratings (we do that once a month here, anyway, at ObamaPollWatch.com) or the Republican horserace (which I've done as recently as Monday, if you're interested), and instead focus on all the other questions, most of which are on the debt ceiling debate in Washington.

The full results of the poll -- or, at least, what has been publicly released (some answers have been "held," meaning ABC and the Post are waiting to do a specific story on them, usually) -- can be found on the WashingtonPost.com site, if you'd like to see all the raw data yourselves.

Continue Reading »

A battle is currently being fought in Libya over the town of Brega, which could turn out to have strategic importance for the rebel forces. This battle has been underway for days now, and may continue for days to come. The American media has so far been ignoring this development in the Libyan revolution, perhaps due to lack of solid information from the frontlines. But it deserves a bit more attention than it has so far been getting.

Brega is a coastal town, but more importantly it is an oil depot which ships the oil out from central Libyan oil fields. Control of the town during the whole Libyan conflict has switched hands from Libyan government forces to the rebels, and then back to the loyalist forces once again -- but most of this happened in the early lightning push by the rebels, and the forceful response by the government troops, in the first weeks of the fighting. Since then, it has remained in the loyalists' hands as the easternmost city they hold. Which puts Brega on the frontlines of the fight.

Continue Reading »

[Program Note: Because I was busy doing my civic (jury) duty today, I am going to write the shortest column I've ever written. Hey, it's better than nothing, right?]

I find it interesting in the media circus surrounding Rupert Murdoch that nobody has yet started making references to the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies -- since the villain in it was nothing short of a thinly-veiled caricature of Murdoch himself.

Make of it what you will.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Since it's been over a month since we last took a look at how the 2012 Republican presidential field is shaping up, we're overdue for an update. Or, quite possibly, I am just tired of writing about the Kabuki theater nature of the debt ceiling debate, which looks to continue for at least another week... sigh. In any case, let's cast an eye over the Republican nomination landscape and see what there is to be seen, shall we?

In the past few weeks, one rising star has appeared in the Republican firmament (or two, depending on how you count them), and more than a few have begun fading -- perhaps permanently -- from center stage. But the field itself is not yet set (in terms of who is actually running and who will sit this one out), as the Republican Party continues to search for the perfect candidate to defeat President Obama. In fact, two of our four frontrunners this time around have not even announced their candidacy yet -- showing how volatile the entire race still remains.

Continue Reading »

Are we seeing the new model of Barack Obama's presidency? Is this (in the parlance of Silicon Valley) "Obama 2.0"?

This seems to be a large point that all the overanalysis of rumors in the past few weeks has largely missed. Partisans on both sides have been kept busy having fits of the vapors over unconfirmed (and, for the most part, unsourced or anonymous) rumor leaks about what is "on the table" in the debt ceiling negotiations, while the media is content to sit back and fan the flames. In the midst of this frenzy, nobody seems to have noticed that President Obama is negotiating in a markedly different way than what we've seen from him in the past. Obama is at the absolute center of the showdown, he is using the bully pulpit for all its worth, and he has not (so far, unless you choose to believe this rumor or that) backed down on a few key "lines in the sand." All of this is nothing short of a sea change from how Obama handled (for example) the healthcare reform battle.

Since there is no agreement yet -- no grand "deal" has emerged from the talks between the White House and congressional leaders -- I'm going to wait to discuss the particulars of such a deal until it actually... you know... exists. I realize I am jeopardizing my standing among my peers by doing so, because apparently I'm supposed to be fulminating about whatever is the current rumor du jour right about now, along with the rest of the pack. Instead, I'd like to focus on the process, and the way President Obama has conducted himself in the negotiating process.

Continue Reading »

Yesterday, I wrote an article which attempted to goad mainstream "journalists" into doing some basic research on the historic parallels between the all-consuming debt ceiling negotiations and what happened back in 1995 and 1996 between then-President Bill Clinton and then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. At the bottom of the article, I appended a note which apologized for the lack of links to the source articles I had used in my own research. Because I obtained these articles through a pay site (LexisNexis), I could not easily link to them for my readers.

Today, I'd like to excerpt some of those articles, as "footnotes" to yesterday's column. While copyright laws prevent me from just pasting whole articles in here, I am allowed fair usage excerpts, which is what you'll find below. The promise of the internet was supposed to be easy access to this sort of thing, but in recent years many media sites have locked off their archives behind paywalls, making it impossible to freely access this historical material.

Continue Reading »

I've always been astounded at the near-complete lack of historical memory regularly exhibited by both Washington politicians and the "journalists" who purport to cover them. Nothing I've seen in the past few weeks has caused me to change this opinion, either, as the fight over raising the federal debt ceiling has played itself out.

While it's certainly understandable that subjects such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff or the Greenback Party would be considered so obscure and so removed from living memory as to be ignored, there is simply no excuse for ignoring a direct parallel to today's political news which happened only two presidents ago. Because we've been here before with the debt ceiling. Well, not precisely where we find ourselves at in 2011, but close enough to the government shutdown in 1995-96 that multiple parallels can easily be drawn.

Back at the end of 1995 and the beginning of 1996, we had a Democratic president in the White House, and a Republican House of Representatives. Then, as now, we had a huge political showdown over not only the issue of the federal budget, but also over raising the debt ceiling. Then, as now, the two separate issues had been locked together legislatively, at the demand of the Republicans. Then, as now, the president would have much preferred a "clean" debt ceiling bill. Then, as now, the biggest threat was the United States defaulting on its debts. Then, as now, one of the biggest bones of contention was proposed Republican cuts to Medicare. Then, as now, we had a bunch of radical Republican freshmen in the House. Then, as now, a presidential election was right around the corner, and both sides were jockeying for political position.

Continue Reading »

A "light bulb moment" is, of course, when a new idea strikes. The name comes from the cartoon image of a person (often blurting out "Aha!" or even "Eureka!") at the very moment the idea strikes -- pictured with a glowing light bulb over their head. However, while this serves as a clever headline for today's column, this is not your typical light bulb moment, for a number of reasons. The most ironic of which is that the light bulb, in today's debate, is now the old idea that is under attack. Or, perhaps, "was" under attack, as now the Republicans have turned the tables and are defending the traditional light bulb and attacking the new idea. If this sounds confusing, I promise we'll get to the politics in a moment. First, a short synopsis of where we stand today.

I should begin by saying that if you have no idea what I'm talking about at all, you are in good company. Most Americans don't even know there's a light bulb debate happening right now in Congress. If you live in California, however, you likely have already realized what is going on: standard light bulbs are being effectively banned.

Continue Reading »

The entire political world right now is holding its collective breath over whether a deal will be struck between President Obama and the leadership of Congress to raise America's debt ceiling. The more honest observers of this process have noted the "Kabuki theater" nature of the proceedings, as they wisely discount the possibility that the deadline will be reached with no agreement in place. "This is all for show," the jaded pundits assure us, "there will be a deal." But this reasoning can be taken one step further: not only will there be a last-minute deal, but the deal will not happen until that last minute -- and this is by design. While duelling press conferences amuse the public, behind the scenes the name of the game Obama and the Republicans are playing could rightly be called "The Big Stall."

Continue Reading »