America's Unhappiest Millionaire
Michelle Obama's gospel of misery.
Posted: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Barack Obama's wife Michelle has been traveling the country delivering a stump speech that lays out a deeply and relentlessly negative vision of American life, in which everyone is treated unfairly, and especially her husband. The Senator himself, of course, manages a peppier and more upbeat message, but in fact, especially when seen in light of her speeches, the same dismal view seems to underlie his rhetoric too. Both Obamas think America is bitter and deeply depressed.  [Full Story]

Unknown Quantity
Are the Democrats gambling on a mystery man?
Posted: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
In the past few weeks, Barack Obama's links with two controversial figures -- Tony Rezko and Jeremiah Wright -- have come back to haunt him. For Democrats, the greatest worry must involve not the substance of either scandal, but the fact that Obama's connections to them are only now really emerging. As both parties have learned the hard way in the past, nominating a relatively unknown figure for the presidency can carry very serious risks.  [Full Story]

Obama Fatigue
The dangers of an elite celebrity candidacy.
Posted: Saturday, March 8, 2008
Barack Obama's campaign has benefited immensely from his rock star status revivalist message. But might this strength turn out to be a weakness? Will the youth and celebrity culture that now embraces Obama turn on him? And is the great production turning off blue collar voters?  [Full Story]

Honor Politics
McCain's is a peculiar conservatism
Posted: Thursday, February 7, 2008
Conservatives fear John McCain because they assume he approaches politics the way most people do, and so take his substantive views to express an underlying liberalism. That is certainly mistaken. McCain is neither a liberal nor quite a conservative. He is an honor politician. This is not wonderful, but it is not terrible, and it could well be a winning formula for November. Conservatives should view McCain not as a hostile force, but as a foreign and unfamiliar presence, bearing real potential as well as real risk.  [Full Story]

Conservative Populism

Posted: Sunday, January 27, 2008
To win in November and beyond, conservatives will need to address the anxieties of middle class families. The policies to do so in a principled way are already out there, but the language and the attitude are sorely lacking.  [Full Story]

An Impressive Foundation, an Unimpressive Book

Posted: Friday, January 11, 2008
The innovative practices of Bill Clinton's philanthropic foundation would have made a great subject for a book about giving. Unfortunately, Clinton's recent book by that title focuses instead on a mix of liberal political activism and petty boasting.   [Full Story]

Works and Days

Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2008
In his new book Godly Republic, John DiIulio ably makes the case for government support for faith based charities within clear constitutional boundaries. But he also shows, by the example of his own travails in Washington, why such commonsense cooperation will continue to be hostage to a larger struggle for the soul of America.  [Full Story]

Crime, Drugs, Welfare -- and Other Good News

Posted: Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Fifteen years ago, a deep pessimism seemed to be stalking the American landscape.  But improvements are visible since then in the vast majority of social indicators; in some areas, like crime and welfare, the progress has the dimensions of a sea-change. That this has happened should be a source of great encouragement; why it happened, and what we can learn from it, is a subject of no less importance.  [Full Story]

On Heroic Conservatism

Posted: Thursday, November 29, 2007
A transcript of Yuval Levin's remarks at EPPC's November 15, 2007 discussion of Michael Gerson's book Heroic Conservatism.  [Full Story]

A Triumph of Moral and Political Leadership

Posted: Saturday, November 24, 2007
The president deserves enormous credit for standing firm on the ethical principle here, against massive political pressure. That was important and right in itself, and it also did help to nudge stem cell research in the right direction. But as a matter of moral and political leadership, the first part was much more important than the second, and was also what made the second possible. Science can be flexible, ethics must be firm, and the combination can help avert a collision.  [Full Story]