October 9, 2024

How Donald Trump is Channeling Machiavelli

This past weekend, Donald Trump and JD Vance accused their Democratic opponents of plotting to kill Trump, implicitly threatening to prosecute them should they win.  As shocking as it sounds, it was unremarkable since personal threats are a common and menacing feature of their campaign.  Since Trump announced his bid for a second term, he has threatened to investigate and… Continue reading

July 9, 2009

The Lessons of LBJ and Robert McNamara for Barack Obama

Robert McNamara died this week, but his life holds lessons for Barack Obama’s presidency. Arguably the leading light of JFK’s stable of the best and the brightest, McNamara’s work as an architect and prime executor of LBJ’s Vietnam debacle is well remembered by tens of millions of boomers who came of age during Vietnam, as well as the President. The…Continue reading

July 1, 2009

Will Higher Savings Help or Hurt the Economy?

What happens if Americans come out of the current downturn with a serious commitment to save more? There are many sound and obvious reasons for people to save — to build up a cushion should they lose their jobs, for example, accumulate the down payment for a house, cover their children’s college tuition, and be able to retire on more…Continue reading

June 24, 2009

Sensory Overload Produces Sloppy Policy

Washington policymaking is caught in its own version of sensory overload. All at once, there are too many problems that seem — and actually are — urgent, mind-bogglingly complex, and politically ultra-sensitive to handle well. The result now emerging could be waves of ill-considered decisions. Exhibit A is climate change. Taking serious measures to protect the planet’s climate and ecosystems…Continue reading

June 17, 2009

Choices in Universal Health Care

Beijing, China — As the health care debate in Washington begins in earnest, a quick trip around the world over the last week has given me a fresh perspective. My first stop was Sweden, to deliver a talk on America’s economic prospects, post-financial crisis. But, first, I found I had to see a doctor for a mild, recurrent eye infection,…Continue reading

June 10, 2009

Getting Serious about Our Financial Mess

The best way to clear your head of the political chatter that passes for policy debate in Washington is to get out of town. I’m writing today from Stockholm, a grand old city on a picturesque harbor and archipelago, where it’s harder to care much about Larry Summers’ squabbles with White House colleagues, the cynical fulminations from Newt Gingrich or…Continue reading

June 2, 2009

The Downfall of the Waxman-Markey Bill: Politics-as-Usual Meets Climate Change

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s recent approval of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill presents a crucial test for serious advocates of measures to control climate change. It won committee approval with backing from some environmental groups that have promoted cap-and-trade for 15 years, as well as industry groups representing companies that produce most of our greenhouse gases. The disappointing fact…Continue reading

May 28, 2009

In the Debates over Economic Policy — and the Sotomayor…

President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court hasn’t triggered a conservative firestorm; and like the dog that didn’t bark in the Sherlock Holmes story, that’s part of a larger pattern affecting policy well beyond the Supreme Court. Granted, partisan conservatives find themselves facing an engaging, activist, Democratic president with very broad public support at his back. So…Continue reading

May 13, 2009

The Courage and Cunning of the Administration’s Health Care Plans…

The administration’s new health care initiative has the distinctive “yes, but” quality of the Obama banking and housing plans: The focus is correct — here, address sharply-rising health care costs before moving on to guarantee universal coverage — even as the details fall and the proposed execution remains up-in-the-air. Let’s start by recognizing the political courage and cunning involved in…Continue reading