Ruth Levine of the Center for Global Development (a fabulous organization, for anyone who cares about development issues) offers her take on President Obama’s recent speech in Ghana, and the reasoning he offers for U.S. support for public health in Africa and beyond: America will support these efforts through a comprehensive, global health strategy, because […]
A shout out to my friend and former Clinton foreign policy speechwriting colleague Daniel Benjamin, who had his formal swearing-in ceremony last week as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department. Dan came to the White House in 1994 after serving as a foreign correspondent for TIME magazine and the Wall Street Journal, […]
A guest post today from my colleague David Litt: The era of bipartisanship seems to have ended before it began. Republicans want Democrats to own any potential failures. Democrats think that when push comes to shove, Republicans simply don’t believe in compromise. That’s why it was refreshing to see a recent report on immigration reform […]
Before she met and married her wonderful husband, Dave, my partner Vinca LaFleur was known as Vinca Showalter. I write because it is a big month in the Showalter family. Vinca’s mom, Elaine Showalter, is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in United States academia, a leading writer on social and cultural issues, […]
By this point, America is probably about Sarah-Palined out, at least for this round. Everyone has an opinion on her announcement, and her future. I find the most interesting pieces over the past few days have come from women — like Ruth Marcus and Amanda Fortini — while wishing Peggy Noonan had weighed in, as […]
I recently remarked on Sarah Palin’s use of a basketball analogy, since I can’t think of many female politicians who regularly drop sports references into their speeches (though as Wash Post columnist Ruth Marcus has aptly pointed out, after the point guard passes, does she typically walk off the court?). But speaking of sports analogies […]
Word lovers, check out the results of the Washington Post’s Style Invitational from Week 820, with guest judge Dave Barry. The contest invited readers to submit Q and A to and from Mister Language Person, “the great grammarian who appeared in numerous Dave Barry columns back in the day when newspapers had ads and subscriptions […]
Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska initially was hard to comprehend. Why would a woman who has huge (if not fully understood) potential within the Republican Party, but whose biggest liability is her lack of experience, leave her executive office? Her statement Friday wasn’t so much rambling as unorthodox. I thought it […]
Much chatter today about Governor Palin’s surprise announcement to step down. Is this a move to further her presidential aspirations, or does it reflect a desire to step out of the national limelight? Was she trying to protect her kids, whom she invoked repeatedly — and if so, if it was a purely personal decision, […]
I’m having a hard time deciding whether Todd Purdum’s exhaustive profile of Sarah Palin in the new issue of Vanity Fair just isn’t that interesting, or if she’s just not that interesting. I think it’s the latter. Every revelation here, aside from the news that Mark McKinnon helped prepare the Governor for her debate against […]
Check out the latest World Public Opinion poll on the popularity of various global leaders among their own publics and abroad. President Obama is the hands-down “winner” — though Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Palestinian Territories rate him significantly lower than does much of the rest of the world. Also of note: […]
What comes to mind when you hear the words, “manufacturing economy?” If you said, “China today” or “the United States, 30 years ago,” you’d be in the mainstream. Conventional wisdom long ago abandoned the idea of America as a manufacturing economy. We’re a consumption-led, services-based economy now. Right? In this speech before the Detroit Economic […]
Ed Walsh has quickly become one of my favorite conservatives. Of course, I disagree with him about 94 percent of the time, too, but he’s always thoughtful, and he’s always entertaining. Ed makes good points about a public health plan option, but I guess I have more faith in the private sector than he does. […]
Robert Reich is my favorite liberal. I don’t know him from Adam, and I disagree with his take on policy roughly 94 percent of the time. But I generally find him to be congenial on television and well thought-out in print. When I saw that he had written an op-ed about health care reform in […]
A guest post today from another new addition to the West Wing Writers team, David Litt: As a 22 year-old, I’ve always associated the phrase “Evil Empire,” with the New York Yankees, not the USSR. I’m embarrassed to say that I had never even read President Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech. I’d meant to, but, like […]
