Commentary by Michael Barone

June 29, 2009

No Excuse for Dems' Sticker Shock on Health Care By Michael Barone

Democrats' plans to pass major health care legislation have been stymied, at least for the moment, by the Congressional Budget Office's cost estimates. To the consternation and apparent surprise of leading Democrats, the CBO scored Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus' latest offering at $1.6 trillion over 10 years, while it scored the completed sections of Sen. Christopher Dodd's bill at $1 trillion. Presumably, the incomplete sections would cost more.

June 25, 2009

The Adolescent Angst of Barack Obama By Michael Barone

There is a tendency for newly installed presidents, like adolescents suddenly liberated from adult supervision, to do the exact opposite of what their predecessors did. Presidents of both parties indulge in this behavior, though Democrats who campaign as candidates of hope and change are more likely to do so.

June 18, 2009

All Politics Is Turnout -- and Enthusiasm Is Key By Michael Barone

Many psephologists -- derived from the word for pebbles, which the ancient Greeks used as ballots -- study who wins and loses elections. Lately, I've been looking more closely at turnout. For we live, though most psephologists haven't stopped to notice it lately, in a decade of vastly increased voter turnout.

June 16, 2009

When Detainees Get Rights They Don't Deserve By Michael Barone

It shouldn't come as a complete surprise that, as Stephen Hayes reported in The Weekly Standard, detainees in Afghanistan are now being advised of their Miranda rights by American interrogators -- that they have a right to be silent, a right to a lawyer, a right to have that lawyer paid for, etc.

June 11, 2009

Qualms and Questions About Obama's Health Plan By Michael Barone

Barack Obama has said he wants to pass a national health care bill this year, with a government insurance policy option. Democratic congressional leaders have called for passage of such a bill before the beginning of the August congressional recess.

June 8, 2009

Obama Needs to Brush up on Middle East History By Michael Barone

For a man of his impressive educational credentials, Barack Obama has sometimes shown a surprising ignorance of history.

June 5, 2009

Advancing Civil Rights By Overturning Old Laws By Michael Barone

Two cases likely to be decided this month by the Supreme Court -- one of them an appeal in a Connecticut case decided by a panel including Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor -- could result in significant changes in our civil rights laws.

June 1, 2009

GOP Should Run Against the Power of the Center By Michael Barone

Move to the center. That's the advice Republicans are getting from quarters friendly and otherwise. It seems to make a certain amount of sense. If opinion is arrayed along a single-dimension, left-to-right spectrum and clustered in the middle in a bell-curve pattern, then a party on the right needs only to move a few steps toward the center or just beyond to convert itself from minority to majority status.

May 29, 2009

Will Sotomayor's Style Blunt Her Liberal Views? By Michael Barone

Barack Obama has named his nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. What's the likely fallout, politically and judicially?

May 27, 2009

No Time for Tea-and-Crumpet Interrogations By Michael Barone

When former Vice President Dan Quayle scheduled a big speech, President Bill Clinton didn't hop in and schedule one for the hour before.

May 21, 2009

Why the U.S. Should Listen to India's Voters By Michael Barone

Last November, 131 million Americans voted, and the whole world took notice. Over the last month, about 700 million Indians voted, and most Americans, like most of the world, didn't much notice.

May 18, 2009

Obama Changes Course on Antiterrorism By Michael Barone

Step by step, Barack Obama has been reversing himself on antiterrorist policy. Last month, he announced he would not appeal a federal court decision ordering the government to release photographs of terrorist interrogations. This was in line with his decision to release on April 16 four memoranda prepared by the Bush administration Justice Department on that subject.

May 14, 2009

Obama Offers Security at the Expense of Liberty By Michael Barone

Republicans and conservatives are trying to grapple with the Obama administration's $3,600,000,000,000 federal budget -- let's include the zeroes rather than use the trivializing abbreviation $3.6 trillion -- and the larger-than-previously-projected $1,841,000,000,000 budget deficit.

May 11, 2009

On Guns and Climate, the Elites Are Out of Touch By Michael Barone

Many years ago, political scientists came up with a theory that elites lead public opinion. And on some issues, they clearly do. But on some issues, they don't.

May 7, 2009

White House Puts UAW Ahead of Property Rights By Michael Barone

Last Friday, the day after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, I drove past the company's headquarters on I-75 in Auburn Hills, Mich. As I glanced at the pentagram logo, I felt myself tearing up a little bit. Anyone who grew up in the Detroit area, as I did, can't help but be sad to see a once great company fail.

May 4, 2009

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