Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Hillary Clinton is married to America’s most popular living president, who from 1993 to 2001 oversaw an era of peace and prosperity. As first lady, Clinton proposed a sweeping reform of the US health-care system and spoke prominently to world leaders about improving the rights and status of women and children. Bill Clinton was famous for “triangulation” — determining the … >>
The Pentagon announced yesterday that its special forces had killed Abu Sayyaf, a top Islamic State commander in Syria. There’d been a firefight at his compound. The special forces seized a substantial amount of useful information. Four years and two weeks ago, we were told the same things about Osama bin Laden. There were some serious holes in that story, … >>
For years, American politicians from all parties have talked about a “threat” from Iran’s uranium-enrichment program. So now that Iran has reached a provisional agreement with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to keep it at non-threatening levels, who’s not happy? To Iran, the deal will mean a (conditional) end to the international sanctions imposed in … >>
It’s taken me a while to figure this out, but I think I’ve got it. I’ve tried hard not to believe it, but really, there’s no other explanation I can think of. It’s a simple one: there are two Barack Obamas. Most of the time, we see President Obama, who lacks a workable strategy and allows himself to be pushed … >>
The party of Barack Obama had everything going for it: unemployment down to 2008 levels, GDP growing at 3.5 percent, the stock market doubled in value, and more Americans with health insurance than ever before. Jobs and the economy are the issues US voters care about most, with health care in second place, so mission accomplished. Why, then, on Tuesday, … >>
You’ve no doubt heard by now of the latest threat to international stability. A radical group called ISIS has rapidly taken over one third of Iraq and one third of Syria. ISIS is a coalition of known Sunni insurgent groups, including the Mujahideen Shura Council and Al Qaeda in Iraq. Saying they have a “take no prisoners” attitude is an … >>
You can see this in any war movie: When it’s raining bullets, one of the heroes falls to the ground on the middle of the battlefield. His buddy tries to save him. The wounded man objects. “Just leave me here! Don’t jeopardize the mission!” he says. His buddy won’t listen. Risking his own life, he drags or carries his injured … >>
If you watched Barack Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) speech Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Europe), you learned some surprising things. According to Obama: Lots of people are getting jobs in America. Millions of Americans have signed up to get health care. The United States no longer depends significantly on foreign oil. The US government is doing something about … >>
You can probably imagine which story has been dominating the news in the United States for the past week. That’s right: the one about the problems with the new health-insurance program popularly known as Obamacare. The story that’s been dominating the news in Germany is also being reported in America, though not always as front-page news. That story, however, is … >>
This past Monday, October 14, was Columbus Day — the federal holiday in the US that commemorates the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Notice I did not say “the discovery by Christopher Columbus of the New World”. Political correctness has put an end to that phrasing. I would, however, take the unpopular position that … >>