Tag: George Bush

The Ripples of 9/11

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

After the radical Islamist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the foiled effort to ram a fourth jet into the Capitol in Washington, no one envisioned that there would follow eleven years without another major attack. Since September 11, 2001, over 45 terrorist plots have been uncovered and foiled in the United States; al Qaeda, as a terrorist threat, seems regionalized and without the ability to inflict mayhem on a similarly large scale on the Western world; bin Laden is no more; and the Arab Islamic world itself is divided and torn by the conflicting currents of theocracy, democracy, and dictatorship. Continue reading “The Ripples of 9/11” →

Iraqi Irony

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Amid all the stories about the ongoing violence in Syria, the most disturbing is the possibility that President Bashar Assad could either deploy the arsenal of chemical and biological weapons that his government claims it has, or provide it to terrorists. Continue reading “Iraqi Irony” →

Selective Transparency

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

We are in a transparency mania, but a rather selective sort of one. Bill Clinton, who chose not to tell the truth while under oath and as president, says he is “perplexed” that Mitt Romney did not offer more candor by providing more than a single year’s tax returns. Continue reading “Selective Transparency” →

Tuning Out a President

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Tuned-out Presidents

Somewhere around early 2006, the nation tuned out George W. Bush for a variety of reasons, some warranted, but many not. Continue reading “Tuning Out a President” →

What Romney Needs to Do

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

About half the country disapproves of the job the president is doing. Most Americans think he has not handled the economy well. Yet a majority also believe that the tough times are still George W. Bush’s legacy, and, further, that Mitt Romney would not necessarily do any better a job than has Obama. Continue reading “What Romney Needs to Do” →

‘Austerity’ versus ‘Growth’

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Who would not prefer “growth” to “austerity”? That is the false dichotomy that insolvent Western governments, both here and abroad, are now constructing. After all, everyone prefers growing things to starving them. Yet in truth, there is no such clear-cut choice. Continue reading “‘Austerity’ versus ‘Growth’” →

Change–and Some Hope

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Rays of Sun Amid the Storm

The Rasmussen Tracking Poll recently had Romney up 50 to 42 over Obama. At this early juncture, such polls mean nothing — except as diagnostic indices of why perhaps both candidates go up and down in popularity. Continue reading “Change–and Some Hope” →

The Trayvon Martin Case and the Growing Racial Divide

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Two Racial Narratives — and the Current Hysteria

Polls show that the Trayvon Martin case has split the country apart over perceptions of race and justice, in ways that may dwarf the polarities of the O.J. Simpson trial days of 1994. Continue reading “The Trayvon Martin Case and the Growing Racial Divide” →

Campaigning on Grievances

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

In 2008, a mostly unknown Barack Obama ran for president on an inclusive agenda of “hope and change.” That upbeat message was supposed to translate into millions of green jobs, fiscal sobriety, universal healthcare, a resetting of Bush foreign policy, and racial unity. Continue reading “Campaigning on Grievances” →

Beware of the Mob

victorhanson

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Our Modern Lynch Mob

Democracies are in general prone to fits of the mob. Just read the Thucydidean account of the debate of Mytilene. Continue reading “Beware of the Mob” →