http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/ en-us Copyright 2010 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:01 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Recently, some analysts have suggested that the lack of major policy breakthroughs in the last year is due to the fact that America has become ungovernable. Ezra Klein argued that it was time to reform the filibuster because the government... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/02/america_is_not_ungovernable.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/02/america_is_not_ungovernable.html Presidency Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:01 -0600 As I wrote last week, a political party is an extra-governmental conspiracy to control the government. Partisans coordinate their efforts across branches to centralize power in a system that otherwise disperses it far and wide. Partisanship is simply partiality to... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/02/understanding_president_obamas.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/02/understanding_president_obamas.html Presidency Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:12:31 -0600 What to make of the mini-controversy arising over Justice Alito's apparent "not true" retort to Obama's comment about the Court during the State of the Union address? I have a few thoughts. The political context is important. The Supreme Court... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/obama_versus_alito.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/obama_versus_alito.html Presidency Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:19:40 -0600 Was last night's State of the Union address the sort we'd expect to be delivered by a President: -whose job approval is under 50%, -whose party is historically overexposed in the upcoming congressional elections, -whose party was unable to hold... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/quick_reaction_to_the_state_of.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/quick_reaction_to_the_state_of.html Presidency Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:14:23 -0600 At its essential level, a political party is an extra-governmental conspiracy to control the government. Our constitutional system disperses power across three branches, two chambers of Congress, and federal, state, and local levels. The parties are centralizing forces, trying to... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/could_nancy_pelosi_lose_contro.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/could_nancy_pelosi_lose_contro.html Congress Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:14 -0600 Presidents make political mistakes. Every last one of them. This is an inevitability. It is a rule of political life in the United States of America. Barack Obama has made some mistakes in the last year. He misjudged the mood... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/what_does_obama_do_now_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/what_does_obama_do_now_1.html Presidency Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:33:49 -0600 If Scott Brown should defeat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts special election tomorrow, it will be a fitting metaphor for the political trajectory of President Obama's first year in office. A year ago Democrats were talking about Obama as the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/the_political_blunders_of_the_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/the_political_blunders_of_the_1.html Presidency Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:58:14 -0600 Last year around this time, as the liberal world was flush with excitement over the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama, I dedicated much of the space on this blog to arguing that the new Democratic majority would not be permanent.... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/no_seriously_there_are_no_perm.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/no_seriously_there_are_no_perm.html Party System Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:29:41 -0600 David Dayen over at FireDogLake has a clip of Emanuel Cleaver giving a less-than-bullish account of the prospects of health care reform in the House: As Dayen notes, the math is not a slam dunk for House leadership. Consider the... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/is_health_care_reform_a_sure_t_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/is_health_care_reform_a_sure_t_1.html Congress Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:02:31 -0600 When President Obama indicated that he had no problem with secretive House-Senate negotiations on health care - there was outrage from several quarters. Rich Lowry wrote that it's a sign that Obama is "insincere to the point of cynicism." Peter... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/the_real_barack_obama_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/the_real_barack_obama_1.html Presidency Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:00:44 -0600 Matt Bai recently penned a somewhat confused essay that attempts to argue that Obama is a bona fide progressive, but not really a populist (which apparently for Bai comes down to little more than differences in tone). Yet in this... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/could_howard_dean_primary_bara.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2010/01/could_howard_dean_primary_bara.html Presidency Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:46:02 -0600 Ezra Klein had a provocative column in Sunday's Washington Post, arguing that it's time to eliminate or substantially weaken the filibuster in the United States Senate. He writes: The modern Senate is a radically different institution than the Senate of... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/why_the_filibuster_is_more_ess_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/why_the_filibuster_is_more_ess_1.html Congress Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:29 -0600 Parker Griffith (D-AL) will announce today that he is switching to the Republican Party. For a President who thrives on "keeping the ball rolling," this is an unfortunate loss of momentum as Senate Democrats get set to pass their health... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/on_the_griffith_switch.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/on_the_griffith_switch.html Congress Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:46:32 -0600 Several years ago, I traveled to Washington, D.C. for the first time as an adult. My most vivid memory from that journey was walking away from Union Station - looking to my left at the United States Capitol, then looking... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/democrats_risk_another_jackson_1.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/democrats_risk_another_jackson_1.html Party System Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:00:15 -0600 Ben Nelson's reticence to vote for a bill that does not satisfy Nebraska Right to Life is a perfect example of American pluralism - the idea that our system grants a seat at the table to a wide array of... http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/on_health_care_democrats_face.html http://www.realclearpolitics.com/horseraceblog/2009/12/on_health_care_democrats_face.html Congress Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:00:01 -0600