BLANKLEY: Palin delivers sparkle, warmth

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BLANKLEY: Stand for something, Mr. Obama

Indecision is the path to failure

Monday, Feb. 1, 2010

Last week, New York Times columnist Bob Her -bert wrote: "Who is Barack Obama? Americans are still looking for the answer, and if they don't get it soon - or if they don't like the answer - the president's current political problems will look like a walk in the park. ... Mr. Obama is in danger of being perceived as someone whose rhetoric, however skillful, cannot always be trusted. He is creating a credibility gap for himself, and if it widens much more he won't be able to close it."

BLANKLEY: To re-empower our states

Repeal the 17th Amendment to shift influence out of Washington

Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010

As I was preparing to write a column on the ludi -crous maligning of the Tea Party movement by liberals, Democrats and the mainstream media (which I hope to write next week instead) I started thinking about one of the key objectives of the Tea Party people - the strict enforcement of the 10th Amendment ("The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.").

BLANKLEY: Kangaroo court for the banks

Obama prescribes treatment first, diagnosis afterward

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010

As a general rule, diagnosis should precede treat -ment, but last week, we saw in both the legislative and executive branches examples of the treatment-before-diagnosis" mentality. In Congress, the first hearing of the congressionally created Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was held under the chairmanship of Phil Angelides, former California treasurer and former chairman of the California Democratic Party. The commission was "mandated" by law to report back to Congress by December 2010 "with a series of conclusions about what occurred, and recommendations as to how to avoid future market breakdowns. (Disclosure: I provide professional advice to some financial institutions.)

BLANKLEY: Governing class: Elites or idiots?

Remember in November to vote for common sense

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010

Anti-anti-Islamic radical -ism is growing among Western elites. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood Islamist terror attack on our troops by United States Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan and the Christmas Day airline Islamist terror attack attempt, it is becoming ever more obvious that there is a widening gap between public common sense and governing class idiocy when it comes to spottingIslamist danger in our midst - and doing something about it.

Winston Churchill still instructs

Courageous dissent is a lesson for our age

Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010

Over the Christmas holiday, I read a couple of books that, at least for me, may provide some guidance in the upcoming tumultuous and probably consequential year. The first book was "Munich," 1938 by David Farber, (grandson of former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan) by far the most authoritative book on that world changing event.

The fractured U.S. policy

Confusing our forces, encouraging our foes

Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was famous for being able to give people on all sides of a policy dispute the impression that he supported each person's position. Such artfulness helped him manage domestic politics for 12 years in the presidency.

'Yet, Freedom!'

Americans return to their founding impulse

Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009

Taking stock this second Christmas after the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, as a conservative Republican (with growing tea-party tendencies) I'm filled with a thrilling, unexpected hopefulness that the president may be well on his way to losing his battle for the hearts and minds of the American people - tempered by a shocked disbelief that so much long-term damage could have been perpetrated on the American economy, national security and way of life in just 11 months of ill-judged governance.

Three taxing temptations

Backroom deals for America's future

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009

As the Democrats in Congress approach the end of a frustrating first year's legislative effort, their leaders and the White House are being tempted by three possible short cuts around the regular lawmaking process. While the Democrats have a majority of 20 seats in the Senate and 79 seats in the House, now, just two weeks before Christmas, the speaker of the House, the Senate majority leader and the White House have failed - so far - to pass into law their desired legislation in the matters of: 1) health care provision and financing; 2) public debt and deficit reduction; and 3) carbon regulation and taxation.

Too few troops, too much spin

Half measures won't work in Afghanistan

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009

A sense of unreality overshadows our debate on Afghan war policy across the spectrum of opinions. The unreality derives from the simple fact that we do not have enough troops to rationally implement an adequate defense of our national interests. So every argument for Afghanistan policy tends to seem unserious, perhaps pointless.