Guest post by Michael Lieberman Michael M. Lieberman, a Truman National Security Project fellow, is an associate at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington D.C., where he works on international regulatory and compliance issues. (The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.) This post was originally published at The Hill‘s Congress Blog. ********** While few...

A Summer of Discontent by Michael Reagan President Obama has had a rather challenging start to the Summer of 2010: Gen. McChrystal’s remarks to Rolling Stone magazine and the resulting shift of NATO control in Afghanistan to Gen. Petraeus; the continuation of the high-profile and painful BP oil spill; the Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination hearings; and the move by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to enact strict...

It is an article of faith among most conservatives that the growth of government under the presidency of Barack Obama has resulted in a loss of individual liberty. This is an extremely serious criticism of any president and the manner in which the charge is so casually tossed about by my friends on the right makes me uneasy. A deeper examination of the subject is necessary in order to ascertain the truth of...

I would like to think that the continuing drama being played out between pragmatists and ideologues in the conservative sphere might be optioned to NBC and made into a daytime drama. Two problems arise immediately; soap operas are a dying TV genre and it would be no contest with regards to sex appeal between Sarah Palin and David Frum. That said, a fascinating incident made public by John Hawkins, who denied...

Guest post by Peter Henne Peter S. Henne is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. ********** With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan looming, concrete steps that would facilitate stabilization of the country are in high demand. Two possibilities that have gained some traction are power-sharing with the Taliban and a strategy that breaks...

The Hypocrisy of the Left — A General Crisis by Michael Reagan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who until recently was the leader of U.S, and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has resigned in the wake of derogatory comments made by the general and his staff during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. One can only guess at this point why the general chose to publicly disclose his feelings on an array of topics...

Exploit This Tragedy by Tina Dupuy Before the tar balls had a chance to touch down on the white sands of the Gulf Coast – the message from the oil-soaked Republican Party was clear: “Don’t exploit the disaster…if you’re a Democrat.” But if you’re a member of the GOP, feel free to exploit this endless spill for political gain. Use it as a battering ram against the president. “Obama’s Katrina.”...

Watch this ABC News report and weep: ABC calls this segment, “Who’s in Charge?” They may as well have named it “Bureaucrats behaving badly.” To summarize, the Coast Guard ordered 16 barges vacuuming up more than 1.5 million gallons of crude every day (each barge can suck up around 94,000 gallons a day) to shore because of monumental bureaucratic shortsightedness and incompetence....

I was doing my radio show during the president’s speech last night so I had to play catch-up this morning and read it online. I’m not sure that’s such a bad idea anyway with these set-piece speeches. Speaking from the Oval Office is dramatic, but much less so than if given in front of a joint session of Congress, or some other milieu like Point du Hoc, or Oklahoma City where Reagan and Clinton...

Hello, Dr. E. here. Follows a candid essay by jdledell asking a question that more often arises in masters Ethics classrooms than in media, a question that goes something like this: Does who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter, depend on the politic of the ones who are looking? Or is there some more productive way to understand time-bracketed agressions? I recall the same issue being raised about Golda...

I am open to alternative explanations, but this story from Jake Tapper about Admiral Allen and the White House not knowing about the manufacturer in Maine who could manufacture 3 million feet of absorbent boom a month is a consequence of an almost total lack of private sector experience in Obama’s cabinet. TAPPER: I talked to a guy who runs a company in Maine that offers boom, and he has – he says –...

EM Forster and Facebook by Tina Dupuy “Big Brother” is watching you in a very “Orwellian” way. Has been for years. People who have never heard of George Orwell know of the term “Big Brother.” In many ways his dark vision of what the year 1984 would look like is prophetic. For example, his novel 1984 takes place during a never-ending war while technology is aiding an over-reaching government. I read...

So Who IS the White House Commission on Remembrance? by Hart Williams Good question. In the June 1 post ["WH Commission on Remembrance Forgets Civil War on Memorial Day"], you will recall, the ‘White House Commission on Remembrance’ carried out its mission of the national “Moment of Remembrance” by putting a link to its Facebook page, which managed to forget the Civil War (and the Mexican...

SPOILER ALERT: if you have not seen the last episode of Lost, do not read further. It’s been just over a week since the two and a half hour series finale of Lost aired, but the blogosphere continues to dissect every nuance of the show’s final big reveal. I’ll readily admit I’ve been a Lost fan from the beginning – although “fan” would be a gross understatement. I’ve been positively possessed....

Jacob Weisberg writing in Slate: One way to understand the divisions in the Republican Party is as a clash of regional philosophies. Northeastern conservatism is moderate, accepts the modern welfare state, and dislikes mixing religion with politics. Western conservatism is hawkish, hates government, and embraces individual freedom. Southern conservatism is populist, draws on evangelical Christianity, and plays...

Not One of the Ten Commandments Are in the Constitution by Tina Dupuy There are no democratically elected leaders in the Christian bible. I know – it’s shocking. But, if you catch the rhetoric pertaining to the US Constitution, you’d think the Ten Commandments are its bullet points. They’re not. The whole idea of a representative democracy (a Greek word) comes from Ancient (think then-solvent) Greece....

I would like to think that I have something meaningful and profound to say about the end of the series 24. But that would presuppose there is something meaningful and profound that I haven’t said already. I tire of repeating myself, as you no doubt are weary of the themes I have hammered home about the show over these last 5 years – years I have spent watching, writing, thinking, and and immersing...

This may be a seminal moment in the history of the internet. As government authorities and British Petroleum continue to describe the BP oil spill in limited terms. one blogger has had his eyes glued to the “Spillcam” which is giving real time images of the oil gushing from the uncapped hole in the ground and has caught what appears to be a massive increase in the amount of oil coming out of the...

Something remarkable has been happening in America since even before President Obama took office. There has been a dedicated effort on both sides of the political divide to reconnect with our founding document and its principles in an effort to understand, and counteract what they see as dangerous unconstitutional actions by our government. It is more widespread today than it was in the Bush years, but even...

Guest post by Nancy Brune Dr. Nancy E. Brune is currently the director of Research and Policy at UNLV’s Institute for Security Studies, where she works on energy security and national security issues. She is a Truman National Security fellow, as well as a member of Women in International Security and the Pacific Council on International Policy. ********** There’s a reason why the Senate’s new...

Guest post by Peter Henne Peter S. Henne is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. As the investigation into the failed car bomb in Times Square continues, one of the key points of uncertainty involves the suspect’s — Faisal Shahzad — international connections. Specifically, was he supported by militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan...

The hour is late. Jack Bauer will be on in less than an hour. I haven’t eaten dinner. The cats need feeding too, and their litterbox needs cleaning. But in this, a break from my usual practice of not using profanity, I am wondering what the **** is wrong with so many on the right who have exploded in anger and cries of “dhimmitude” because a Muslim woman was named Miss USA. Are you people...

Kagan Will Move Supreme Court to the Right by Marjorie Cohn President Barack Obama has chosen Elena Kagan to fill the vacancy left by Justice John Paul Stevens’ retirement. Sadly, Kagan cannot fill Justice Stevens’ mighty shoes. Obama took the cautious route in nominating Kagan, who, like Harriet Miers, has no record of judicial opinions and no formidable legal writings. Since Kagan was handily confirmed...

How can you claim that a senator who has a lifetime score of 85 from the American Conservative Union to be “not conservative enough” for any state? You can if you are a member of the modern Republican party. You can if the senator in question – Bob Bennett of Utah – made the horrible mistake of taking his responsibilities as a senator seriously. Senator Bennett was unaware that the modern...

What do you get when tea party activists team up with Ron Paulbots? A nightmare: The official platform for the Republican Party of Maine is now a mix of right-wing fringe policies, libertarian buzzwords and outright conspiracy theories. The document calls for the elimination of the Department of Education and the Federal Reserve, demands an investigation of “collusion between government and industry in...