Category: essays

formulations of my political thought

Afghanistan: Time to Leave

“If you are the 4th-poorest country in the world, you have a long way to go. When you try to train an army, they have an 80% illiteracy rate… It’s gonna take a long time.” Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, on Afghanistan. We’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for seven years, five months, and… Continue reading Afghanistan: Time to Leave

Back into the Light

At an alumni function last year, I spoke with a friend I had not seen in over a decade. He had spent many of the intervening years in Afghanistan with the US Army, in an intelligence unit. I asked him his opinion of “Matthew Alexander” – the anonym of the military interrogator who had just… Continue reading Back into the Light

Vote Obama, But Don’t Stop There

Sarah Palin has been traveling around what she calls the Real America – the “pro-America” parts of the country, where they “grow good people” who “fight our wars.” These are the Real Americans, Sarah tells us. Real Americans know that Barry Hussein Obama is a Muslim, and therefore by definition a terrorist – and not… Continue reading Vote Obama, But Don’t Stop There

Agitating for War

If you haven’t yet read Seymour Hersch’s new article, you need to do that now. Hersch wrote about US military incursions into Iran last year, and this is the latest update. He is a seriously connected, established journalist who consistently breaks very important stories. This is no exception: A Democratic senator told me that, late… Continue reading Agitating for War

The Backslide Begins

Barack Obama is already letting us down. No sooner than I could get it out into words, he’s already settling into the disturbing patterns that ruined the McGovern campaign. Bad decisions – or worse, indecisiveness – followed by poor message control, are making it easy for Obama’s adversaries to say, “Look! Here he is! Exposed as… Continue reading The Backslide Begins

Fear and Loathing in ’08

Reading Hunter S. Thompson’s fine book on the 1972 presidential campaign today will trigger a case of reverse déjà vu: there is no lack of Fear and Loathing in the 2008 Presidential Election. Like Obama today, George McGovern offered the Democratic Party, and the American people, a fundamental change of direction. Both candidates claimed the… Continue reading Fear and Loathing in ’08

She Just Won’t Quit

Two weeks ago, I predicted on Sascha’s blog that Hillary Clinton would do the right thing and quit after the races that are taking place tomorrow. Now I’m not so sure. At first I thought Clinton’s continuing swagger was just bluster, that she was just putting on her game face for her people – all… Continue reading She Just Won’t Quit