The latest installment of conventional wisdom to emerge from liberal writers who support the current health care bill argues that the best entitlement programs come from bad bills. This caterpillars-into-butterflies narrative boasts Medicare and Social Security as the templates for how this flawed bill could form the cornerstone for single-payer,...

Liberals' disappointment with Obama's abandonment of progressive policies has brought two responses: Put pressure on Obama in effort to push him to the left, or defend his rightward shift as a 'pragmatic' necessity. Both came into sharp relief this weekend as many in the liberal blogosphere sharply condemned Matt Taibbi's...

The leadership struggle for civil equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans is in crisis. A glut of organizations, with competing interests and shifting priorities, of professional lobbyists pitted against grassroots activists, splintered over race and religion, jostling for influence whilst shirking responsibility, has created an unprecedented leadership...

The John Ensign scandal, like all those that have come before it, has been framed by the perpetrator and their defenders, as personal matters requiring respect for privacy from public scrutiny. They talk of their personal misgivings, the task ahead of rebuilding their relationship with their wife, children, constituents, staff,...

Over the last week, pundits and journalists alike have declared that the showdown between Obama and The Left has begun. As the FT's Edward Luce announces: "The liberal backlash against President Barack Obama has begun with many prominent left-leaning economists in the US attacking the administration's plans to bail...

The progressive movement has had it easy. There's been a lot to mobilize for and unite against. Now what?

History doesn't offer much comfort. The conservative movement grew most when it was exile from the Republican Party. National Review was born under moderate Eisenhower. The grassroots conservative movement flourished...

The predictions of the conservative crack-up anticipating John McCain's defeat appear to have come to fruition. We hear of the post-election GOP power grab among the Governors in Florida, contenders for the chairmanship of the RNC, or the future presidential nominees racing to Iowa. Conservative politicians, pundits and intellectuals are...

"Obama should be running away with this," so said the conventional wisdom. Economic crisis, an unpopular president, two on-going wars, "should" have placed the Democratic nominee 10 or 20 points ahead in the national polls. Instead, so the story went, Obama's race, his pastor, his inexperience were dragging the Democrats...