Michael Barone

Michael Barone

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Obama Pursues Higher Tax Rates, Growth Be Damned

By Michael Barone (May 21, 2012)

In the run-up to this weekend's G-8 summit at Camp David, journalists have unfavorably compared European "austerity" with Barack Obama's economic policies. ... more

Recent News Could Cause Panic for Obama Campaign

By Michael Barone (May 17, 2012)

Is it panic time at Obama headquarters in Chicago? You might get that impression from watching events -- and the polls -- over the past few weeks.In matchups against Mitt... more

Three Different Ways to Look at the 2012 Campaign

By Michael Barone (May 14, 2012)

Last week, I wrote about the standings in the presidential race and said it looked like a long, hard slog through about a dozen clearly identified target states, much like... more

Long, Hard Slog Ahead in Presidential Race

By Michael Barone (May 10, 2012)

Just as the political air is filled with talk of the inevitability of Barack Obama's re-election -- we are told that the kids at his Chicago headquarters are brimming with... more

Racial Preferences: Unfair and Ridiculous

By Michael Barone (May 07, 2012)

Washington Post editorial writer and liberal blogger Jonathan Capehart is puzzled. Why does the "non-issue" of Harvard Law professor and Democratic Senate... more

Obama's Chicago Politics: Thuggery Not Civility

By Michael Barone (May 03, 2012)

It has been reported that the Obama campaign this year, as in 2008, has disabled or chosen not to use AVS in screening contributions made by credit card.That doesn't sound... more

Obama Losing Rock-star Status Among Young Voters

By Michael Barone (Apr 30, 2012)

Last week, Barack Obama delivered speeches at universities in Chapel Hill, N.C., Iowa City, Iowa, and Boulder, Colo. The trip was, press secretary Jay Carney assured us,... more

Shrinking Problem: Illegal Immigration From Mexico

By Michael Barone (Apr 26, 2012)

The illegal immigration problem is going away. That's the conclusion I draw from the latest report of the Pew Hispanic Center on Mexican immigration to the United States.... more

Liberal Nostalgiacs Don't Understand Jobs of the Future

By Michael Barone (Apr 23, 2012)

I don't know how many times I've seen liberal commentators look back with nostalgia to the days when a young man fresh out of high school or military service could... more

To Win Burbs, Romney May Pick 'Double-Vanilla' Veep

By Michael Barone (Apr 19, 2012)

Some 20 million Americans in primaries and caucuses will take part in selecting the Republican presidential nominee. One person will choose the vice presidential... more

Ouch! Decade of Obamacare Will Cost $1,160 billion

By Michael Barone (Apr 16, 2012)

How much will Obamacare -- call it the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if you like -- cost over the next 10 years? More than you've been led to believe,... more

Romney Trails Obama, but Key Numbers Break His Way

By Michael Barone (Apr 12, 2012)

Now that Rick Santorum has "suspended" his campaign, we can stop pretending and can say what has been clear for weeks: Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for... more

Can Romney Show Voters That Obama Is Out of Date?

By Michael Barone (Apr 09, 2012)

Time for a postmortem on the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Yes, I know Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich are still out there saying interesting things. And that... more

Colleges Skimp on Science, Spend Big on Diversity

By Michael Barone (Apr 05, 2012)

How many times have you heard Barack Obama talk about "investing" in education? Quite a few, if you've been listening to the president at all. In fact, Americans have been... more

Americans Are Worrying About the Constitution Again

By Michael Barone (Apr 02, 2012)

"I don't worry about the Constitution," said Rep. Phil Hare, Democrat of Illinois, at a town hall meeting where voters questioned his support of the... more

Obama's Gaffe Hints at Hidden Agenda in Second Term

By Michael Barone (Mar 29, 2012)

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." So said John Kerry, in Huntington, W.V., on Tuesday, March 16, 2004, two weeks after he had clinched... more

In Obama Campaign Video, It's Not Morning in America

By Michael Barone (Mar 26, 2012)

President Barack Obama's 17-minute video, "The Road We've Traveled," gives us an idea of how he wants to frame the issues in the fall election. The... more

Ryan's Budget Kicks the Can at Timorous Democrats

By Michael Barone (Mar 22, 2012)

As I listened to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan describe his latest budget plan in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute this week, I couldn't help... more

Redistricting Not a Big Story in 2012

By Michael Barone (Mar 19, 2012)

The 2012 congressional redistricting cycle following the 2010 Census is just about over and done with. And it seems likely to make much less difference than many of us... more

Pundits Gasp as Economy Dents Obama's Poll Numbers

By Michael Barone (Mar 15, 2012)

You can almost hear the note of surprise in their voices when you read the Washington Post and New York Times reporters' stories on their papers' latest political... more

Romney May Recapture Upscale Whites for the GOP

By Michael Barone (Mar 10, 2012)

In the cold, gray numbers of election returns and exit poll percentages, a reader with some imagination can find clues to people's deep feelings, their hopes and... more

On Iran and Entitlements, Obama Kicks the Can Down the Road

By Michael Barone (Mar 08, 2012)

Kicking the can down the road. That's been the Obama administration's response on issues from Iran's nuclear weapons program to America's entitlement systems. Start with... more

James Q Wilson: A Happy American Life

By Michael Barone (Mar 05, 2012)

Few social scientists, and even fewer political scientists, have done as much to improve American life as James Q. Wilson, who died last week at age 80. His name is... more

Why Liberals Like Taxing the Wealthy

By Michael Barone (Mar 01, 2012)

I have long been puzzled by the enthusiasm with which many young liberal bloggers cheer on proposals to raise tax rates on high earners. I can understand why they might favor... more

Romney, Santorum Represent Different White Americas

By Michael Barone (Feb 27, 2012)

  If you were listening reasonably carefully to last Wednesday's Republican presidential candidate debate, you heard Rick Santorum say, "Charles Murray... more

Santorum's Loose Lips Can Turn Convictions to Controversy

By Michael Barone (Feb 23, 2012)

A candidate's strengths can also be his weaknesses. Take the case of Rick Santorum. One of his strengths is perseverance. For more than a year, he made hundreds of... more

Prudence Is Key to Reversing Obama's 'Soft Despotism'

By Michael Barone (Feb 20, 2012)

Many Republican House members, and the bloggers and tea partiers who cheered their victory in gaining a majority in November 2010, seem to be seething with discontent and... more

A Failure of Imagination Put Metro on Wrong Track

By Michael Barone (Feb 16, 2012)

Believers in central planning should take a look at Washington's Metro rail transit system. While they will find many things to like, they will also see examples of how... more

Romney Appeals to White Collars, Santorum to Blue

By Michael Barone (Feb 13, 2012)

Rick Santorum won big victories in three small contests in the Republican presidential race last Tuesday. In doing so, he reshaped the oft-reshaped nomination battle once... more

GOP Must Convince Young People It's the Party of Options

By Michael Barone (Feb 09, 2012)

The Republican presidential candidates, except for Ron Paul, haven't been paying much attention to young voters in the primaries and caucuses so far. But any Republican... more

Box-checking Obama in a Liberal Cocoon

By Michael Barone (Feb 06, 2012)

It's unusual when a reporter sympathetic to a politician writes a story that makes his subject look bad. But Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker has now done this... more

After Big Win, Romney Faces Tough Opponents in a Long War

By Michael Barone (Feb 02, 2012)

Mitt Romney's impressive victory Tuesday makes it very likely that we will look back on the Florida primary as the contest that determined the 2012 Republican... more

The 2012 Race Takes Shape

By Michael Barone (Jan 30, 2012)

We got mixed signals from a turbulent political week. Barack Obama seems to be enjoying an uptick in polls -- up toward, but not quite at, 50 percent approval.... more

Unlike Obama, GOP Candidates Talk Seriously About Governing

By Michael Barone (Jan 26, 2012)

You know politicians are serious when they move from campaigning to governing. Something like that may be happening on the Republican campaign trail -- but, unfortunately,... more

A Few Words in Defense of Negative Campaigning

By Michael Barone (Jan 23, 2012)

Those who take a certain pleasure in denouncing the evils negative political advertising should have spent the last week in South Carolina. They could have plunked down in... more

South Carolina Hoping to Pick Next President

By Michael Barone (Jan 19, 2012)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- The crowd at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate in Myrtle Beach was feisty, with whoops and cheers for Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum... more

Obama Thumbs His Nose at the Founders with One-Man Rule

By Michael Barone (Jan 16, 2012)

Of course President Obama is not concentrating on campaigning, White House press spokesmen assured us -- as the president headed off to Chicago for three fundraisers and a... more

'Tactical Voters' went to Romney in New Hampshire

By Michael Barone (Jan 12, 2012)

To win just under 40 percent of the vote in a primary with five active candidates is pretty impressive, even for a candidate like Mitt Romney, who started off with... more

The Weakness That Saps the Strength of GOP Candidates

By Michael Barone (Jan 09, 2012)

A presidential campaign exposes candidates' strengths and weaknesses. The strengths they're eager to tell you about. So let's look at the weaknesses. Start... more

Romney's watchwords in Iowa: Divide and Conquer

By Michael Barone (Jan 05, 2012)

Elections are contests held during a moment in time between candidates who have records stretching back, often far back, into the past. So there is always a tension between... more

Steady in Iowa, Romney Counts on New Hampshire, Florida

By Michael Barone (Jan 02, 2012)

Election year has finally arrived, well after the beginning of a turbulent and unpredictable elections season, and voting begins on Tuesday in the Iowa Republicans... more