<![CDATA[RealClearPolitics - Articles by Dan Thomasson]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/?id=15928Author <![CDATA[The President's Weak Arguments]]> Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00:00 -0500 Does being a successful businessman in this anti-Wall Street atmosphere disqualify one from being president of the United States, even when one’s experience includes the governorship of a major state?

And, if so, does a background of community organizing, two years in the U.S. Senate, and failure to fulfill a promise of massive change in four years deserve a second term in the Oval Office?

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[Obama Sounds Less and Less Convincing]]> Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0500 It's not unusual for a sitting president to blame his predecessor for the nation's ills, particularly when it comes to the economy. The Democrats ran against Herbert Hoover for decades. Franklin Roosevelt, his successor, survived three elections on the strength of that, despite the fact he had little success in turning things around until war loomed.

Barack Obama has spent his first 3-1/2 years telling Americans the economy's continued sluggishness is all George W. Bush's fault, not his. Is that going to be enough to win him another four years? Even some of his party brethren don't think so.

]]> <![CDATA[Solyndra Fiasco Exposes the White House]]> Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500 The Solyndra case that has stuck U.S. taxpayers with a half a billion dollars of bad debt, with little prospect of getting any back, isn't going away soon nor should it.

It isn't just the amount spent on this solar panel fiasco that matters the most, although that certainly is substantial when the nation's economy appears headed once again into a recession. What is also important is what this debacle says once again about White House policy: mainly that there really isn't any.

]]> <![CDATA[Did a Young President Get Bad Advice?]]> Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500 The one indispensible ingredient for a successful presidency, particularly when the holder of the job is more than a little inexperienced, is a good staff.

More and more it looks like President Barack Obama has been missing that from the start. There have been increasing reports of presidential aides divided over what to do and increasingly frustrated by the president's efforts to court Republicans on the one hand and to abandon some of his more liberal principles on the other.

]]> <![CDATA[Obama's Problem: Where's the Substance?]]> Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Here's a bit of startling news. This nation is in sad need of experienced leadership, not a cheerleader who stands along the sidelines whipping up the crowd while actually participating very little in the action on the field.

Yes, what the United States needs is someone who will take control, who will put the public’s interests ahead of his own political agenda.

]]> <![CDATA[A Relapse of Malaise]]> Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Jimmy Carter, a good and decent man, seems determined in these, his later years in life to convince us that he was also a good president, which by most assessments he wasn’t. In fact the conventional analysis of his three decades since leaving the White House is that he has been a better former president than he was in office.

Carter has let all his frustrations and bitterness boil over in a series of interviews recently based on a compilation of the diaries he assiduously kept from 1976 to 1980 when Ronald Reagan buried him in a landslide. It is by all measure, a sad exhibition of sourness that is both unprecedented in modern history and unworthy of one who has held this...]]> <![CDATA[Drug Cartels Run Wild in Mexico]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 WASHINGTON - Planning a trip to Mexico? Forget it.

In the days when my company had a newspaper in El Paso and I used to visit there on a regular basis, it always was a treat to cross the river for a few hours, have dinner and shop at the colorful markets of Juarez where haggling over prices was half the fun. There is no more haggling. Most of those caught in the crossfire while just minding their own business aren't even afforded the opportunity to barter for their lives.

 

]]> <![CDATA[Obama Skips Tradition of Free Press]]> Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500 WASHINGTON -- There is a striking resemblance to covering the White House and nourishing an infant.

You know the kind of activity parents engage in when they feed the baby by pretending the spoon full of apple sauce is a loaded airplane or helicopter and the mouth is a hanger. This is accompanied by aeronautical noises aimed at diverting the kid's attention from the true objective.

 

]]> <![CDATA[Recess Appointments Another Slap at GOP]]> Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500 WASHINGTON - The president apparently has decided that Republicans are irrelevant if not downright obsolete and it is best to ignore them, especially those in Congress. While Barack Obama may have understandable reason to feel that way given the GOP’s solid opposition to much of his agenda, is it wise for him to utterly abandon any real attempt at bipartisanship?

That appears to be what he has done by bypassing the Senate and installing during the Easter recess 15 appointees including a union lawyer who is opposed by every Republican member. All 41 of the Senate’s GOP minority had just signed a letter to the president asking him not to name the lawyer, Craig Becker, to...]]> <![CDATA[Memo to the Prez: No Free Lunches]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Euphoria for Obama Continues]]> Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 <![CDATA[McCain Buried Under Avalanche of Cash]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 <![CDATA[Welcome to the Campaign, Sen. Obama]]> Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500