Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Wherever Bernie Sanders goes, thousands of people want to hear him speak. Why? Because they are tired of pretense. How can it be that the US has grown richer as a country, but almost all of this new wealth has gone to the super-rich? Sanders blames a “rigged economy” and a system of legalized bribery in which political contributions result … >>
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 next US presidential election isn’t until November 2016, but the campaigning is well under way. Because neither the sitting president nor the vice-president nor the previous opponent is a candidate, new ideas and new faces have a shot at success. The last time this happened was in 2008, and it enabled a little-known senator named Barack Obama to rise … >>
Well, they did it: they broke the government. Congress failed to agree to continue funding the federal treasury into the new fiscal year, which began October 1. So now 821,000 federal employees have some time off, while the remaining 2.4 million continue to operate essential services. “Essential services” include things like the CIA, the Internal Revenue Service, and the NSA … >>
In politics, if you want to make a point, it’s best to do it in a way that gets as much attention as possible. In the US, this is easiest to do in three places. The first is the roof of the White House. In 1979, Jimmy Carter showed America he was serious about renewable energy when he had solar … >>
Two countries. Two governments. Both unpopular. And one of them will have a test to meet in less than two weeks’ time. On Tuesday, November 2, Americans will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and one third of the 100-member Senate. It is widely believed that the Democrats will lose some or all of the substantial majority … >>
Three weeks ago, this column expressed the opinion that Barack Obama was wasting his time trying to get Republican support for his health-care reform bill. And, lo, in the historic vote held close to midnight on Sunday, not a single Republican voted for it. All Obama needed to do was concentrate on appeasing conservative Democrats — but even that was … >>
You’ve read it here first: Barack Obama is nuts. My diagnosis is based on the popular American saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.” In the past 13 months, Obama has sat down several times with the Republican opposition to try to get some agreement on matters of national importance. He’s visited Republican … >>
Well, the people have spoken. Barack Obama had wanted to wait another week to give his State of the Union speech, but they wouldn’t let him. It would have delayed the season premiere of Lost. So he gave it last night instead, while the reruns were still on. For the first half hour or so, I even thought Obama’s speech … >>
For most of August, America’s representatives in Congress were back in their home states, meeting with their constituents. Many of these voters were angry because of plans to reform the health-care system. “This is about the dismantling of this country,” one woman shouted at Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. “We don’t want this country to turn into Russia!” A woman carrying … >>