The American Spectator

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The Nation
Decades after the unhappy ending of the Cold War, and for that matter World War II, a Nation sage makes bold to take issue with America's greatest president since Millard Fillmore, who at least kept us out of war:

President Obama displayed his usual rhetorical brilliance in Oslo and acknowledged important principles of peace and nonviolence. But his speech gave a distorted view of America's role in the world and reflected a shallow understanding of the concept of just war.

The president asserted that US military power has helped to "underwrite global security." I almost choked on that line. I thought I heard him say "undermine," which would have been more accurate. Many of Washington's misadventures have eroded global security -- Vietnam, the wars in Central America, the invasion of Iraq, to name just a few. Millions of people have died and many continue to suffer because of unjust and illegal American military interventions.
(January 4, 2010)ng>

American Prospect
At the end of the least successful first-year presidency in modern times, a donkey at AmPro still sees stars: No doubt the president is one of the most compelling figures in American political history, perhaps more interesting as a person than any occupant of the White House since his moral opposite, Richard Nixon. His combination of political skill, intellect, discipline, confidence, and command of language is unprecedented, and his theory of politics, which brought with it the first actual Democratic electoral majority since 1976, may have changed the parameters of political possibility. It's hard to take your eyes off that phenomenon.
(January/February 2010) Associated Press
And here with his "unprecedented" "command of language" is the Prophet Obama orating in the sixth-grade classroom of Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, ably assisted by his TelePrompTers. Will history remember him as Great TelePrompTed? (January 19, 2010) New Republic
(Online)
Thus does the commonplace introduce the banal to the glassy-eyed readers at TNR: Jonathan Chait, our venerable TRB from Washington, is launching a blog version of his print column. You know him as a recreational pugilist, a master logician, a comic genius, and the worthy heir to the space once occupied by Michael Kinsley. He is a natural blogger and I sure [sic] you will find yourself unable to resist compulsively clicking his url. [Don't you dare touch a young man there!] I apologize in advance for Jon sucking away so much of your time. Bookmark this page! http://www.tnr.com/blogs/jonathan -chait
Best, Frank Foer
(January 6, 2010)
Time
In an interview with the eminent journalistic chiropractor, Joe Klein, the Prophet Obama suffers a reality lapse: I'll be honest with you. A) This is just really hard. Even for a guy like George Mitchell, who helped bring about the peace in Northern Ireland. This is as intractable a problem as you get. B) Both sides -- the Israelis and the Palestinians -- have found that the political environment, the nature of their coalitions or the divisions within their societies, were such that it was very hard for them to start engaging in a meaningful conversation. I think that we overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so when their politics ran contrary to that. From [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas' perspective, he's got Hamas looking over his shoulder and, I think, an environment generally within the Arab world that feels impatient with any process. And on the Israeli front -- although the Israelis, I think, after a lot of time showed a willingness to make some modifications in their policies, they still found it very hard to move with any bold gestures. And so what we're going to have to do -- I think it is absolutely true that what we did this year didn't produce the kind of break -- through that we wanted, and if we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.
(January 21, 2010) New York Times
Garbagespiel to the utmost-suicidal Times columnist Frank Rich strings together three consecutive erroneous statements introducing his weekly omnium gatherum of political misconceptions, this time on the shocking election of Scott Brown to the Kennedy family Senate seat in the Bay State: It was not a referendum on Barack Obama, who in every poll remains one of the most popular politicians in America. It was not a rejection of universal health care, which Massachusetts mandated (with Scott Brown's State Senate vote) in 2006. It was not a harbinger of a resurgent G.O.P., whose numbers remain in the toilet.
(January 24, 2010) The Cavalier Daily
In the Health Column of the University of Virginia's daily gazette, a promise of salvation for profs and students alike: You're giving a speech and you notice your armpits feel warm and moist. You're on a first date and your palms are drenched. You frequently have to bring two T-shirts to the gym. Sweating can be embarrassing, especially when it happens at times when you want to convey an image of cool confidence. Those who sweat excessively are often anxious about their condition, which may lead to social withdrawal. But fear not loyal sweaters. Excessive sweating isn't always a cause for alarm, and there are things you can do to weaken its adverse effects.
(November 18, 2009) Boston Globe
On the Howl Page of the venerable Boston Globe, more evidence of the Liberal Death Wish: I am a math teacher at Brockton High School, the site of a school shooting earlier this month.
Current school security procedures lock down school populations in the event of armed assault. Some advocate abandoning this practice as it holds everyone in place, allowing a shooter easily to find victims. An alternative to lockdown is immediate exodus via announcement. Although this removes potential hostages and makes it nearly impossible for the shooter to acquire preselected targets, it unfairly rewards resourceful children who move to safety off-site more shrewdly and efficiently than others. Schools should level playing fields, not intrinsically reward those more resourceful. A level barrel is fair to all fish. Some propose overturning laws that made schools gun-free zones even for teachers who may be licensed to securely carry concealed firearms elsewhere. They argue that barring licensed-carry only ensures a defenseless, target-rich environment. But as a progressive, I would sooner lay my child to rest than succumb to the belief that the use of a gun for self-defense is somehow not in itself a gun crime.
Doug Van Gorder
Quincy
(December 28, 2009)