Before Obama’s 2004 convention speech, I remember reading a story about the black guy from Chicago who was going to run for the Senate. I can’t remember where, or even what the piece said, but I do clearly remember taking notice. He sounded different, and intriguing.
At his convention speech, he first sounded the [...]

Several months ago the Literary Review of Canada put a request for articles about the rise of Obama and what it means for politics in general and in Canada specifically. Mine and Dave’s proposal was lucky to be chosen, and is the lead essay in this month’s edition of the LRC.
The essay explores how the [...]

Just a quick note to mention brag that I called Obama-Biden online FIVE MONTHS ago, and to those that have to put up with me in person, in the FALL of 2007.
Needless to say, I’m excited about the pick. Of course, Biden is as good as it gets on foreign policy. As Arbinder [...]

…or maybe it’s just a flesh wound…

Bill Clinton in Pennsylvania yesterday.
“I think there is a big reason there’s an age difference in a lot of these polls. Because once you’ve reached a certain age, you won’t sit there and listen to somebody tell you there’s really no difference between what happened in the Bush years and the Clinton years; that there’s [...]

I haven’t read through all the commentary on Obama’s race speech yet, but I did watch it, and believe that above all else, the style he exhibited goes to the core of his candidacy. He speaks about issues, controversial issues, with a political voice that hasn’t been heard before. He transcends old ideological, [...]

Some quick answers to Adesnik’s questions regarding my post of last week on Obama’s way forward:
1. Why shouldn’t they go to the candidate who emerges with the largest popular vote?
I agree, I don’t think there is clear reason, other than the fact that the nominee is chosen by delegates, rather than a straight popular [...]

I am disappointed that Power has stepped down from the Obama campaign. She was more than a mere Obama policy adviser, she was his liberal internationalist Condi. She is also someone for whom I have a tremendous amount of respect, not to mention a fair dose of envy. It was [...]

A few thoughts from last night.
First, if you are going to read one analysis, read Josh’s. As usual, he captures the central element of this thing going forward: that no matter how either camp tries to spin it, it will be the super delegates that will decide this (since neither will gain enough [...]

Who knew Canada would come into play in the Dem primary? A couple of quick points on the Obama-NAFTA-Cnd embassy “chat”:
1. First, and most importantly, it would not be AT ALL surprising if the story that Harper’s Chief of Staff, Ian Brodie, was the source of the leak turned out to be true. [...]

In tour-de-force oped, Brooks, rightly in my mind, identifies the Jefferson-Jackson dinner as the turning point of the Dem campaign. The whole thing is well worth a read and nicely captures what is at stake tonight. Quoted, at length:
Hillary Clinton gave a rousing partisan speech. Standing on a stage in the middle of [...]

1. The rhetoric versus substance argument between Clinton and Obama is starting to wear thin. It simply isn’t the case that she has a more developed policy platform. He just choses not to talk policy as much as she does on the stump. They both play to their strengths. I do [...]

Yglesias, on the fuzzy math:
Back in October 2007, Clinton was beating Obama in Maine by a hilarious 47 to 10 margin, but it seems he’s carried the state today, once again by a large margin. My understanding, though, is that this doesn’t really count because it’s a small state, much as Utah doesn’t count because [...]

In a sense you have to sympathize with Hillary. She was supposed to be the one who inspired the enthusiasm of Bill’s initial run. She was supposed to be the one who brought in the desired change away from the Bush years. She was supposed to be the one that the left rallied [...]

via Kristof:
A tongue-in-cheek Web site called Bush-Clinton Forever is already proposing Jeb Bush in 2017, Chelsea Clinton in 2025, Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush in 2033, Chelsea Clinton’s husband in 2041 and George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush from 2049-2057.

“Giuliani has turned hurricanes into nature’s way of saying Al Qaeda.” Gail Collins, NYT

While there is no doubt that I would like to see Obama as the next US president, I grew up with a fair amount of admiration for Bill Clinton. He was the cool, eloquent American president, to our not-quite-so-well-spoken Prime Minister. In Canada we aren’t generally allowed to make our politicians into celebrities, [...]

That being said, this new ad running in Nevada hits a core element of Obama’s message. In particular, the line “I don’t want to spend the next 4 years re-fighting the fights of the 1990’s” is nicely indicative of the generational shift that Obama’s candidacy represents. More on this to come, but [...]

Huckabee: Fun, well spoken, but amateur. Doesn’t hold up well when pressed.
McCain: Experienced but old. His strength has the potential to be his weakness - its ok to be a straight talker, unless people don’t like what you are saying - ie, 100 years in Iraq.
Romney: Too smarmy by half. Uses a polled keyword in [...]

Wow. Obama’s speech was breathtaking. And what a contrast to Clinton’s. She was on stage with Bill, Albright and Clark - the old white establishment. And that is what it comes down to. A generational divide and a new politics.
While a similar dynamic can also in part explain the Huckabee [...]

Frum quotes a defense for Rudy, whom he is supporting:
Rudy is: Bush + fiscal conservatism + more brains + better communications skills + more experience + an ability to bang heads as necessary. I think Americans would vote for that in large numbers.
There is something a little precious about a Bush supporter telling Americans not [...]

1) Should/must Hamas be part of any Mideast peace talks? 2) Should the US keep permanent bases in Iraq, and should US companies get ‘first rights’ to Iraqi oil contracts? 3) Is decreasing violence in Baghdad because a) the surge is kicking ass, b) forced religious segregation/killing is almost complete, c) they just [...]

In theory, I am sympathetic to Sullivan’s thesis that Obama is a post-boomer candidate. In fact, I am sympathetic to most post-boomer theses. Including, recently, this one. Which is awesome. In practice, however, my sense is that it is at least one election too early for a successful post-boomer run. Not least of [...]

It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for Hitch. Sympathetic to his polemical struggle of the moment or not - currently I am on some things (religion), and not on others (Iraq) - there is simply no living author with his breadth of literary and historical knowledge. Particularly not one who [...]

It seems to me that what is getting lost here is that Libby was OBSTRUCTING an investigation. Not into WHO was the end point leaker, as Justice knew it was Armitage two months before it called on Fitzgerald to start the investigation. But rather on who ordered it, and whether they in so doing broke [...]

…And there have been some serious whoppers. For my money, so far, Snow has to be in the running:
Shortly thereafter, a reporter asked Tony Snow during a press briefing, “If there are more than 3,000 current petitions for commutation — not pardons, but commutation — in the federal system, under President Bush, will all [...]

The article I wrote with Ben Kiernan on the US bombing of Cambodia has been reprinted in Japan Focus.  The newer version was slightly updated and a few more maps were added. A critique of the piece sent to the Walrus is here and our reply is here. A series of zooms that [...]

Together, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have just become the second costliest in US history (as absolute dollars, not percentage of GDP). So what have other US wars cost? Below is a list from the Congressional Research Service, figs are in Billions of 2006 bucks.

The American Revolution: $1.54
War of 1812: $1.14
Mexican War: [...]

He tells two new stories. The first, I will let you read in his post, as I don’t want to paraphrase his highly personal account. As Sullivan comments, if true, it’s pretty disturbing. The second, is summed up in his concluding para:
Oh, yes, the hometown case: The ninth U.S. attorney. She is Debra Wong Yang, [...]