Recent Posts

Progressives: here’s what happens when you steal GOP talking points

by Peter Henne | Dec 10, 2018 | US Foreign Policy

Progressives and liberals were quick to praise President George H.W. Bush when he passed away. Some of this was basic human decency. Some of this was honest admiration for a masterful foreign policy practitioner and a decent man. But some of it felt strategic, a way...

Friday Nerd Blogging: Presidential Edition

by Steve Saideman | Mar 1, 2013 | Featured

Twitter went nuts when President Obama said he could not get the Republicans to do what is right because of his finite powers, that he could not do some sort of Jedi mind-meld! He mixed his space...

The Difference Parties Don’t Make?

by Phil Arena | Oct 21, 2012 | Featured

To the best of my knowledge, no prominent peer-reviewed article in political science has reported a difference in the frequency with which the United States enters into conflict under Democratic...

Slow boring…

by Dan Nexon | Sep 27, 2012 | Featured

Shorter LGM response(s) to Connor Freidersdorf: "Weber."Of course, that doesn't resolve the debate. It merely puts it on the correct footing.

More Barack Obama Posts

Top Secret America: The Garrison State has arrived

by Jon Western | Jul 20, 2010 |

A couple of thoughts on Dana Priest and William Arkin's series that began in the Washington Post yesterday. First, this is the type of story that is all but non-existent in our non-stop 24-hour news cycles -- a two-year investigative report that pulls together thousands of bits and pieces of...

After the Surge

by Vikash Yadav | Apr 2, 2010 | Featured

Washington and its "partner" in Kabul are simultaneously pursuing different strategies to try to bring the war in Afghanistan to a conclusion. While the US has opted to pursue a "whack-a-mole" military strategy across Southern Afghanistan that drives the Taliban from one district only to have them...

Further Thoughts on Obama’s Oslo Speech

by Charli Carpenter | Dec 11, 2009 |

My previous remarks about the relative lack of attention to climate change in Obama's speech were written after having read the text of Obama's speech. I stand by those comments - he spent 160 words on nuclear proliferation, 663 on human rights, and 128 on poverty reduction; but only 79 on climate...

Obama’s Oslo Speech and Climate Change

by Charli Carpenter | Dec 11, 2009 |

Dan Drezner encourages us to analyze what he said for references to policy prescriptions from IR theories. Steve Walt tells us let's focus not on what he said but on what he does. I'm with those who would focus on what he didn't say as an indicator of what he might or might not do. (Not to be...

Obama’s Afghan Plan

by Charli Carpenter | Dec 2, 2009 |

Foreign Policy covers "the world's reaction" to Obama's West Point speech last night on his troop increase in Afghanistan, but their sole representation of the Afghani reaction is a menacing quote from a Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahamdi. Al-Jazeera has a better look at the varied response...

Peace Prize

by Rodger Payne | Oct 9, 2009 |

According to the Nobel website, the Peace Prize is supposed to be awarded annually to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".In 2009, the...

“Oslo Beats Copenhagen”: President Obama Awarded Peace Prize

by Charli Carpenter | Oct 9, 2009 |

President Obama couldn't convince the Inernational Olympic Committee to let Chicago hold the next summer Olympics, but Nobel Committee decided he's a skilled enough diplomat to receive a Nobel Peace Prize - only months into his Presidency. This is not lost on commentators and twitterers, some of...

Obama Addresses Islamic World in Cairo, Egypt

by Charli Carpenter | Jun 5, 2009 |

Wordle version of President Barack Obama's Cairo speech, June 4, 2009.

Seizing the Middle Ground?

by Charli Carpenter | May 19, 2009 |

This is an open thread about President Obama's remarks about abortion at Notre Dame's Commencement Speech. Comment away.

YouTube Politics Part 2

by Charli Carpenter | Apr 18, 2009 |

Max Harper, who piloted the concept of the Blueprint for Change videos for President Obama's 2008 campaign, provided a point-by-point playbook today for how the Obama campaign used Web 2.0 to win the election.At first, I found myself wondering how he could speak so candidly about it. But then...

Who will buy the movie rights?

by Peter | Apr 13, 2009 |

The dramatic conclusion of the Maersk Alabama Pirate encounter is now a wrap, and this screams for a movie. My only question is who will buy the rights to Capt. Phillip's story? NBC? Lifetime? I happen to think its bigger than a made-for-tv production, worthy of like Michael Bay or John Woo....

Tortured Rhetoric

by Charli Carpenter | Feb 25, 2009 |

President Obama said a lot of important things tonight, but he also regurgitated a disturbing Bushism or two.* One of these is the term "America does not torture." Stated in this particular way, an indisputible statement of principle is conflated with and therefore masquerades as an empirical...

The Duck of Minerva

Barack Obama

The Duck Quacks at Twilight