Spot the Radical

Who’s the Radical, Trump or Obama?, Newsday, January 14, 2018. "In assessments of President Donald Trump’s first year in office, a common theme among commentators has been that he falls outside the American political mainstream. In some ways, that’s true. But in most ways, he’s been traditional. It was his predecessor, Barack Obama, who was the radical."

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Iran Deal Was Not About Iran, Newsday, October 22, 2017. "President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new strategy for confronting Iran offers a modicum of hope that the United States will stop kicking the can down the road in the Persian Gulf. But to do that, we have to recognize the point of the Iran nuclear deal wasn’t to restrain Iran. It was to restrain the United States."

All We Have to Fear

"Fear Isn’t All We Have to Fear," Newsday, September 24, 2016, "After last weekend’s Islamist-inspired terror attacks in New York City, New Jersey, and Minnesota, President Barack Obama declared: “As Americans, we will not give into fear." That statement places him in one wing of the liberal tradition. Unfortunately, he doesn’t share all of the tradition."

Unmoored from Reality

Obama’s Hiroshima Trip Just More of the Same, Newsday, May 22, 2016, "On Friday, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. His spokesmen have promised that he won’t apologize for the U.S. use of atomic bombs to end the Second World War. But Hiroshima’s meaning is more powerful than any words he may utter."

Who Else Calls The Allies Free-Loaders?

Are America’s Allies A Bunch Of Free-Riders?, Forbes, April 21, 2016. "Is the United States being cheated by its allies around the world? Are the European members of NATO free-riders on the United States? That’s what President Obama says. And he’s been saying it for years. But it’s not true."

A Wistful View from the White House

President Obama’s Bad Bromances, Breakups, Newsday, April 10, 2016. "The president gazed out an Oval Office window and sighed. This was a hard job. It was even harder because everyone kept letting him down. He used to have so many buddies. What had happened to them?"

Following in Tonga's Noble Lead . . .

Freedom Is In Retreat Under Obama Presidency, Newsday, March 27, 2016. "President Barack Obama’s speech in Cuba last week is one of the best he’s made in his seven years in office. Unfortunately, he’s got a terrible record of following through on his words."

Another Obama Straw Man

A False Foreign Policy Alternative, part of "What Obama Got Wrong in the State of the Union," Daily Signal, January 12, 2016. "President Obama offered his usual false alternative between occupying and rebuilding “every country that falls into crisis” (an option that literally no one is proposing), or agreeing with his foreign policy. Putting it that way is a cheat, not a choice. But let’s take the president at his word, which is that he wants the U.S. to “help remake” the international system that the U.S. built after 1945. Even he doesn’t seem sure about this, because a few lines later, he suggests instead that we should be seeking to strengthen that order, not remake it. And a president more grounded in history might wonder if it’s wise to want to remake the order: from 1815 to 1918 to 1945 to 1991, the system has been at its most flexible after the world has been exhausted by a major war, which isn’t what any of us want. Nor did the president suggest a single measure that would genuinely re-make the world order: from fighting terrorism to complaining about ungoverned spaces to lecturing Russia to talking about trade deals, his proposals (or rather, his applause lines) were all old hat. But yet, if his goal really is to remake the order, he’s actually doing a good job of it. That order was grounded on U.S. pre-eminence – but from Ukraine, to Syria, to Iran, it’s American weakness, not its strength or its leadership, that’s on display. A world order without American leadership would indeed be a new one. But it’s not one that most Americans, or most people around the world, would like."

The Do-Nothing President

Whose Values Is Barack Obama Promoting in Syria?, Newsday, November 27, 2015. "The most serious problem with the Syrian refugees isn't that they'll bring terrorists with them. It's the war in Syria that made them refugees in the first place. President Barack Obama claims we have to admit refugees if we are to live up to our values. But he's the one who's sat on his hands as Syria burned."

In Praise of Partisanship

Barack Obama Finally Offers a Clear Choice, Newsday, January 23, 2015. "Let's be grateful to President Barack Obama. In his State of the Union address, he dropped the pretense of bipartisanship and, by siding with the progressives, gave the nation what it needs: a clear choice. That's the true American way."

On Obama and Blair

Quest for Legacy Leads Obama to Castro’s Door, Yorkshire Post, January 6, 2015. "In time, Obama will get the ridiculous mausoleum of a presidential library. But that’s not enough. He’s in trouble now, and by using the power of the Oval Office to extend the hand of friendship to yet another tyranny – this time in Cuba – he’s just doing what got him elected: blaming his predecessors and believing his own magic will make things right."