L.A. Times - Commentary

Obama's ambitions outpace his effectiveness

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

By historical standards, the president's first year wasn't bad. But graded against his own lofty goals, he fell short.

Barack Obama arrived at the White House with a daunting to-do list.

Looking back at California, 2009: Bah, humbug!

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Problems that have been piling up for a decade finally caught up with us -- but at least we're not in New York.

Maybe the saddest thing about California in 2009 is that the bad news was so predictable.

Wall Street bailout -- the great sideshow of 2009

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The problem is and was Main Street, in the real economy. Why? Because nearly all the gains of economic growth have for years been going to a relatively small number of people at the top.

In September 2008, as the worst of the financial crisis engulfed Wall Street, George W. Bush issued a warning: "This sucker could go down." Around the same time, as Congress hashed out a bailout bill, New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the leading Republican negotiator of the bill, warned that "if we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans' lives will be overwhelming, and that's a price we can't afford to risk paying."

A transitional year for same-sex marriage

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

2009 marked a time when the politics of the issue changed, entering what is likely to be a long era of incremental progress as public opinion slowly changes.

For the gay marriage debate, 2009 was transitional instead of transformative, but the year was historic nonetheless. To mangle Churchill, it was not the end, nor even the beginning of the end, but it was at least the beginning of the middle.

A year of war -- and progress

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Despite ongoing troubles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2009 was a moderately successful year for the U.S. in all three theaters of battle.

The United States spent 2009 at war again -- with its own troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and as a major, indirect supporter of Pakistan in its internal counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism campaign as well. On balance, I would judge it a moderately successful year in all three places to varying degrees. But that is admittedly a subjective judgment and also obviously requires a great deal more discussion.

The year in food: changing tastes

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

When it comes to restaurants, there's something new on the menu. Think rock 'n' roll, not rock-star chefs.

If you are to believe the glossy food magazines, the American restaurant of the year is Bazaar, an overdecorated Beverly Hills hotel restaurant that blends avant-garde Spanish cooking, gaudy French design and old-fashioned American showmanship into a kind-of Cirque du Soleil of food -- a place where it is nearly impossible to figure out where the dining room ends and the gift shop begins.

Meet the 'meh' generation

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Not much makes Angelenos happy, and maybe even, not much gets us really mad.

What was the biggest thing to happen in L.A. this year?

Artists' dearly departed

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

This year saw the last acts of showbiz notables Army Archerd, Bea Arthur, David Carradine, Dom DeLuise, Farrah Fawcett, John Hughes, Michael Jackson, Ricardo Montalban, Brittany Murphy, Soupy Sales, Patrick Swayze, Ed McMahon, Koko Taylor, Mary Travers and many others. Journalism wrote obits for Paul Harvey, Don Hewitt, Irving Kristol, Robert Novak and William Safire. Politics lost Corazon C. Aquino, Jack Kemp, Edward M. Kennedy, Robert S. McNamara, Claiborne Pell and Cornelia Wallace. We noted the passing of writers, artists, activists, athletes, scientists, scholars and the final survivor of the Titanic. When the ones doing the memorializing are cartoonists, the departed have really arrived.

Pete Carroll: Coach's lament

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

USC plays in the Emerald Bowl today, a week earlier than the Trojans' usual date in the Rose Bowl.

It isn't supposed to be this way. The sun comes up in the east, and USC goes to a big, big bowl game.

Promises to make debt go away are not good enough

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

In California, hundreds of so-called debt settlement outfits get paid by desperate consumers for simply claiming they will reduce or eliminate the consumers' debts. A proposed bill isn't the answer.

Can you imagine getting a job at which your boss tells you that you'll get your paycheck every two weeks whether or not you show up? And performance doesn't matter. Everything's fine as long as you merely say say you'll do the work.