COMMENTARY

Commentary: Flunking on public education reform

SAN DIEGO — President Obama had been getting high marks in his first year in office for what seemed to be an insightful approach to education reform. Too bad he flunked the final.

By Ruben Navarrette , February 08, 2010

Commentary: Charting our way back to the solvency of our country

WASHINGTON — In 2013, when President Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor, is counting his blessings, at the top of his list will be the name of his vice president: Paul Ryan. The former congressman from Wisconsin will have come to office with ideas for steering the federal government to solvency.

By George Will , February 08, 2010

Obama: The man who fell to earth

WASHINGTON — Chastened is not an adjective normally associated with Barack Obama. But that was the underlying theme of his State of the Union address: that a rocky first year in office had left Americans unsure about whether he can produce the soaring change he once promised.

February 01, 2010

A lobe divided will not stand

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama tiptoed Wednesday night along the seam that bifurcates the Democratic Party’s brain. The seam separates that brain’s John Quincy Adams lobe from its Sigmund Freud lobe.

February 01, 2010

Commentary: A missed opportunity on profiling

SAN DIEGO — I, for one, would have liked to have seen President Obama condemn racial and ethnic profiling in his lengthy and otherwise far-reaching State of the Union address.

By Ruben Navarrette , January 30, 2010

Commentary: A ‘reform’ wisely struck down

WASHINGTON — Last week’s Supreme Court decision that substantially deregulates political speech has provoked an edifying torrent of hyperbole. Critics’ dismay reveals their conviction: Speech about the elections that determine the government’s composition is not a constitutional right but a mere privilege that exists at the sufferance of government.

By George Will , January 29, 2010

Commentary: Tebow ad distorts the argument

CBS will air an ad during the Super Bowl in which college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam Tebow, discuss her decision not to have an abortion despite doctors’ advice to do so. The news is creating precisely the stir that its sponsor, the Christian conservative group Focus on the Family, was almost certainly hoping for. Women’s groups have called on CBS not to air the ad, arguing that the Super Bowl is no place for one of the most divisive issues in politics. CBS reportedly has approved the script and plans to run the ad.

By Susan Estrich , January 29, 2010

Commentary: Obama’s fight club

WASHINGTON — In the run-up to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the so-called narrative question was whether the president would be — pick a curtain — party leader, president, conciliator or fighter.

January 28, 2010

Commentary: Personhood may help the unborn

Among the interesting arguments in last week’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision granting corporations First Amendment protections when making campaign contributions was the majority’s decision to effectively treat corporations as persons.

January 28, 2010

Commentary: The Mass. real miracle happened four year ago

The miracle in Massachusetts was made possible through a bigger miracle four years ago. That’s when the commonwealth became the first and so far only state to guarantee near-universal coverage. The Republican winner of the Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy, Scott Brown, voted for the legislation as a state senator. In vowing to be the key 41st vote against the Democrats’ health care reforms, Brown carefully added that Massachusetts voters should not worry about their own health care security: They already have it through the state program.

By Froma Harrop , January 23, 2010

Sen. Dille outlines his legislative record

Twenty-four years ago, in 1986, I began my campaign for the Minnesota House of Representatives.

By Steve Dille , January 22, 2010

Commentary: Scott Brown’s body politic

WASHINGTON — There will be much harrumphing and punditry in the next few days about the meaning of Scott Brown and his phenomenal campaign for Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat.

By Kathleen Parker , January 22, 2010

Commentary: The contradictions that remain of Obamaism

WASHINGTON — It turns out there were core contradictions in the promises Barack Obama made to the country in 2008. They caught up with his party on Tuesday in Massachusetts.

By E.j. Dionneopinion@wctrib.com , January 21, 2010

Commentary: We the people have stood

In his first comment following Scott Brown’s stunning victory in the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, President Obama told the losing candidate, Martha Coakley, “you can’t win them all.” No, but President Obama hasn’t won any since his own election more than 15 months ago (not counting the Nobel Peace Prize, which was an unearned gift). Three candidates he campaigned for in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts lost, and his personal appeal for Chicago to host the Olympics in 2016 was rejected. That’s 0-4. If he were a quarterback, the coach would be eyeing the backup right about now.

By Cal Thomas , January 21, 2010

Commentary: The joke is on Leno

SAN DIEGO — Never mind pictures. Sometimes, a joke is worth a thousand words.

By Ruben Navarrette , January 20, 2010