August 26th, 2010
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The truth gets lost in the ups and downs of the daily headlines. Not as much changes in politics as observers often assert.
If you doubt this, take a look at the chart (below) comparing President Obama’s showing among various subgroups (gender, race, age, etc.) on election day 2008 with the average Obama job approval ratings [...]
July 29th, 2010
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The political scene is not a pretty one: A new president facing his first midterm election with declining approval ratings as his party struggles to keep the upper hand in Congress – all in the midst of a darkened political environment where the unemployment rate hovers around 10%.
It is a description, however, of both past [...]
June 3rd, 2010
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With millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, 11 oil rig workers dead, thousands of jobs in the fishing and tourist industries in jeopardy, and untold damage to beaches, wetlands, and wildlife, the Gulf oil spill is already a massive human, economic, and environmental catastrophe. There is growing public frustration with [...]
April 1st, 2010
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In his first year in the White House, Barack Obama’s job approval fell about fifteen points. (The source for all poll data analyzed in this article is the Roper Center.) This steep decline was unusual but not unprecedented for a new president. Two others, one from each party, stand out: Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. [...]
March 11th, 2010
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Less than 16 months after an election in which Republicans lost the presidency along with 8 Senate seats and 21 House seats, giving Democrats full control of the federal government for the first time since 1995, the GOP appears poised to make substantial gains in the 2010 midterm elections. In the aftermath of Republican [...]
February 18th, 2010
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Did you see the newly released color film clip of President and Mrs. Kennedy’s arrival at Love Field in Dallas on November 22, 1963? If you haven’t yet, you can see it here: http://jfk.org/go/collections/ward-warren-film
Ward Warren, a 15-year old high school student, took his 8 millimeter camera to the airport that awful day, and captured stunning [...]
February 11th, 2010
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This week, the Crystal Ball publishes another installment in our intermittent series of observations on the politics of the day. Jefferson aficionados will find the title familiar, as they know he penned just one book in his lifetime, Notes on the State of Virginia. As a salute to the man from Monticello, we bring you [...]
February 4th, 2010
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The truth has triumphed, at least for those attending this week’s Tea Party convention in Nashville: Obama is a socialist fascist communist statist Muslim whose healthcare “reform” would destroy the world’s greatest healthcare system and force Americans to wait in long lines so that their medical requests could be reviewed by death panels. This is [...]
January 29th, 2010
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The famous 2008 campaign poster of Barack Obama—a saintly visage of the candidate above one word, “Hope”—still hangs in many a Democratic home. But a year into his presidency, there is a good deal less hope than before.
As Mr. Obama gave his first State of the Union address, it seemed at times more like a [...]
January 28th, 2010
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I’ll admit it. I love populism. In my youth I was always drawn to populist candidates. For over eight months I’ve been predicting that 2010 would be the Year of the Populist, and this prediction has come true. Populism is the only approach that makes sense in this angry, miserable time full of resentful voters. [...]
January 21st, 2010
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As we look back on a tumultuous first year for President Barack Obama, three questions matter. What have we learned about him? What has he learned about his job? And how much does the first year foretell about the Obama presidency?
In many ways Obama in office has acted much as advertised on the campaign trail. [...]
January 7th, 2010
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Surprise Retirements
What a difference a day makes. Two Democratic senators, both likely reelection losers, throw in the towel. The incumbent Democratic governor of key swing state Colorado shocks everyone by declining to run for a second term. And the all-but-certain Democratic nominee for governor of Michigan, Lt. Gov. John Cherry, drops out because he can’t [...]
December 10th, 2009
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Not far removed from the shouting, sniping, and long elbows the two parties regularly display on Capitol Hill, the Democrats and Republicans are actually working together on something important–an overhaul of the presidential nominating process for 2012.
Just down the hill, at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees, the two [...]
December 10th, 2009
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Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech gets an A, no questions asked. It’s an incisive, practical take on just war theory that serves President Obama and, more importantly, America well. Good for him, and good for the speechwriters, too. But I would still argue that, maybe for the first time ever, the receipt of the [...]
October 22nd, 2009
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On many of the great issues of the day, President Barack Obama has drawn some criticism for a lack of decisive leadership. But he has shown little hesitation in taking sides in some high-profile Democratic primaries that could just as readily divide the party in 2010 as unite it.
In Colorado, Obama is [...]
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