After Obama

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

We can imagine what lies ahead in 2017 — no matter the result of either the 2014 midterm elections or the 2016 presidential outcome. Continue reading “After Obama”

Obama’s Non-Triangulation

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

After the election, dozens of op-eds — I wrote one myself — cautioned the president about second-term overreach, focusing on how either hubris or simple fate has seemed to do in most modern second presidential terms. Continue reading “Obama’s Non-Triangulation”

Second Term Reckonings

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

A rule of the modern age: all confident, reelected presidents trip up in the second term. LBJ was sunk by Vietnam. Reagan faced Iran-Contra. Bill Clinton had his comeuppance with Monica. George W. Bush was overwhelmed with the Iraqi insurgency and Katrina. And Obama will have his as well, obsequious media or not.
Continue reading “Second Term Reckonings”

Let Obama Be Obama

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

After his party’s devastating setback in the 2010 midterm elections, Barack Obama was re-elected earlier this month by painting his Republican opponents as heartless in favoring lower taxes for the rich. They were portrayed as nativists for opposing the Dream Act amnesty for illegal immigrants, and as callous in battling the federal takeover of healthcare. Continue reading “Let Obama Be Obama”

Groundhog Day in America

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Barack Obama won a moderately close victory over Mitt Romney on Tuesday. But oddly, nothing much has changed. The country is still split nearly 50/50. There is still a Democratic president, and an almost identically Democratic Senate at war with an identically Republican House, in a Groundhog Day America. Continue reading “Groundhog Day in America”

Why Liberals Think What They Do

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Note that Barack Obama is running not on his liberal record, but as a challenger against incumbent Mitt Romney who has done all sorts of terrible things like causing the 2008 meltdown and outsourcing jobs to China. In Obama’s view, given the supposedly tranquil world abroad, we must try nation building at home, and thus concentrate on bold new initiatives like stimulus, infrastructure, green jobs, and federalized healthcare — none of which have been envisioned before, much less funded. And to the extent Obama has a concrete example, he points to efforts of the private oil sector to find more gas and oil despite, rather than because of, his own efforts. Conclusion? Continue reading “Why Liberals Think What They Do”

The Abortion Question: Vice Presidential Responses Fall Short

by Craig Bernthal

Private Papers

Martha Raddatz: “This debate is, indeed, historic. We have two Catholic candidates, first time, on a stage such as this. And I would like to ask you both to tell me what role religion has played in your own personal views on abortion.” Continue reading “The Abortion Question: Vice Presidential Responses Fall Short”

The Fantasy House

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

It All Failed?

By Fantasy House I do not mean — or rather only mean — Barack Obama’s La-La land in which Austrians speak Austrian, Hawaii is in Asia, Afghans speak Arabic, the Maldives lie off Argentina, there are seven additional states, servicemen are zombie corpse-men, and Kansas twisters kill 10,000 at a time. Continue reading “The Fantasy House”

Obama the Hare, Romney the Tortoise

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

The 2012 race has turned into one of Aesop’s classic fables. After each new media blitz against the no-frills Mitt Romney, a far cooler President Obama races ahead three or four points in the polls — only to fall back to about even as the attention fades. Continue reading “Obama the Hare, Romney the Tortoise”

Obama in Never-Never Land

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The chief tenet of postmodernism is that truth and facts are arbitrary constructs, set up by the privileged to manipulate others less fortunate. In the case of our first postmodernist president, Barack Obama, there cannot be facts, past or present, only a set of shifting assertions that gain credence to the degree that they prove transitorily useful for progressive causes. Continue reading “Obama in Never-Never Land”