Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Herman Cain is history. On December 3, he ended his attempt to become president. Five women brought him down. Four accused him of sexual harassment while he was head of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in the 1990s. The fifth said she had been having an affair with Cain for the past 13 years. As the accusations became public, the … >>
There was a time when politicians used to be quoted for saying wise things — things like “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts.” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan) These days, they’re usually quoted for things they shouldn’t have said. Republicans know they have a chance of beating Barack Obama in next year’s presidential election because … >>
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 … >>
As State of the Union speeches go, this one was pretty good — as was the commentary that followed it. Barack Obama resisted the temptation presidents usually have of presenting a long list of policy initiatives and acknowledging a long list of “everyday heroes”. Instead, he found a theme and more or less stuck to it. The president could have … >>
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Barack Obama is making a mistake. He has this strange tendency to get involved in fights that don’t concern him. This started when Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested (leading to Obama’s famous “beer summit”). Then Obama stepped too far into the health-care debate (leading some to believe he was dictating … >>
As the results of Tuesday’s Congressional election came in, it was clear: the Republicans had gained control of the House of Representatives, while the Democrats had lost seats but kept control of the Senate. Representative John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, expected to be named House Majority Leader, cried tears of joy. Senator Harry Reid, the Democrat from Nevada, said … >>
Some of my e-mail correspondents in the US forward me nutty chain letters from time to time. Beneath several layers of e-mail addresses is an anonymous rant that someone either made up or copied from a website somewhere without attribution. Topics range from Barack Obama’s secret Muslim origins and plans to ruin America, to how all government is unproductive and … >>
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 … >>