Verus Politics: Truth and Reason

• How Navy SEALs Fight Smarter
  Navy SEALs have had some great accomplishments and well-deserved publicity lately. Last year, SEAL Team Six was cheered for tracking down bin Laden. A few days ago, a SEAL team rescued two hostages, including an American, from Somalia. In a few weeks, the Act of Valor movie will premiere and be a hit. How are [...]
  
  
• “The Obama Way of War”
  Thomas Donnelly of  AEI and the Center for Defense studies has a very interesting look in The Weekly Standard at the way that the Obama administration has conducted war. It is well-known by now that President Obama has continued many key Bush administration policies and processes for prosecuting the war on terror, and the description [...]
  
  
• Top Museums and Exhibits in Chicago in 2011
  Time Out Chicago has a ranking of the top five museums and exhibits in the Chicago area for 2011, and number one on the list is the non-partisan Pritzker Military Library, for which both Shil and I serve as members of the Young Professionals Association (which Shil co-founded). I half apologize for the shameless plug, [...]
  
  
• Iraq’s Post-American Future
  While probably every American wants to be able to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home as soon as it is reasonable to do so, the President’s announcement that we would remove all but a residual force of 3,000 troops next year is a huge mistake. Undoubtedly the President was guided heavily [...]
  
  
• An Entitlement or Opportunity Society
  Mitt Romney’s op-ed last week made waves among people who read it during the holiday rush. Romney used a clever and accurate framing of the choice the country faces, asking whether we want to be an entitlement or an opportunity society. He defines the choices this way: In an Entitlement Society, government provides every citizen [...]
  
  
• The Income Inequality Red Herring
  President Obama and many in his party seem to have adopted the misguided Occupy Wall Street effort of blaming income inequality for our economic woes. Like Obamacare was misguided in attacking a symptom – lack of health insurance access – instead of the root causes of healthcare problems, the President and his party seem to [...]
  
  
• Framing a Mitt vs. Newt Race
  While a lot can still happen in the GOP primary, it is starting to look more and more like a contest between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. As my friend Guy Benson discussed as guest host of the Hugh Hewitt radio show Friday, Newt has risen from almost nowhere after his campaign seemed to have [...]
  
  
• Obama Administration Fights for Strong Executive Authority in Defense Authorization
  It’s ironic that the Obama administration has attempted to maintain such strong executive branch authority during its first term. Lately, the administration has been stonewalling attempts to uncover what happened with Solyndra and Operation Fast and Furious. The administration has also hypocritically fought to protect executive authority on national security matters, and the latest battle [...]
  
  
• Hold the Champagne for Libya and Iraq
  The President and his administration seem jubilant that Qaddafi is dead, and that all troops will leave Iraq by 2011. To them, it seems the President’s strategy of “leading from behind” has been vindicated in Libya, and that the President will fulfill a campaign promise in Iraq. Media cheerleaders of President Obama are now suggesting [...]
  
  
• Can Rick Perry Overcome Early Stumbles?
  As someone who was calling for Rick Perry to run for president, I’ll admit that he had some very poor debate moments in his first few weeks. It’s one thing to not be the most fluent debater, and one who has heard him speak several times can give him leniency for a few rough debate [...]
  
  

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