Pete Spiliakos

In this thread, Peter Lawler wonders if maybe Obama’s “progressivism isn’t rhetorical (like Wilson wanted) but stealthy.” Now any attempt to abstract a person is going to be of limited utility, but I let’s try this point of view: maybe Obama is, on domestic policy, a . . . . Continue Reading »

1. Rubio’s speech was fine. It had the correct populist working-class and middle-class focus. Rubio’s speech compares favorably with Romney’s Republican convention speech despite Rubio having a tougher environment. 2. This isn’t a criticism of the speech, but Rubio’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Yuval Levin argues that Obama’s lack of major proposals represents (in part) the “exhaustion of liberalism in our time.” I agree with Levin that Obama’s SOTU was mostly defensive,  but I take that as more scary than anything else. I think Obama is betting that, in the . . . . Continue Reading »

1. Obama’s speech yesterday was almost unbearably boring. It is tough to imagine anybody keeping focused on the whole speech who wasn’t being paid to do so. But boring doesn’t mean ineffective. Pete Hegseth got it about right. The purpose of last night’s speech was to make . . . . Continue Reading »

Jamelle Bouie has a (gleefully) pessimistic take on the ability of Republicans to win over Latino voters. He also rightly points out that Republicans are doing even worse among Asian-American voters. I am a little more optimistic about Republican chances to make gains among nonwhites. Or at least I . . . . Continue Reading »

This line from Sam Tanenhaus’s article on the “original sin” of conservatism jumped out at me: Calhoun’s innovation was to develop a radical theory of minority-interest democracy based on his mastery of the Constitution’s quirky arithmetic, which often subordinated the . . . . Continue Reading »

Karl Rove is starting a new fundraising organization to support “electable” Republican candidates, while Tea Party groups are crying foul. This fight is good for Karl Rove and for groups with Tea Party branding, but bad for the rest of us. The Tea Party groups and Karl Rove can . . . . Continue Reading »

Super commenter CJ Wolfe brought this news about the rising costs of Obamacare to my attention.  Get ready for a lot more such bad news.  Romneycare is already eating the Massachusetts state budget and MA had guaranteed issue, community rating, and relatively high premiums and relatively . . . . Continue Reading »

It looks like the Republican National Committee might be planning to “limit the number of debates and taking steps so that the forum is friendlier.” I think making the presidential debate forum “friendlier” is a mistake. A “friendly” debate allows snake oil . . . . Continue Reading »

Carl and Peter are right to focus on the combination of statism, lawlessness and raw injustice that characterized Jim Crow. The consciousness of Jim Crow influences how people hear contemporary debate. Lots of well meaning Tea Party folks talk about taking the country back, worry about losing . . . . Continue Reading »