You may enjoy my Easter post at:

http://thegodparticle.townhall.com

Best,

Phil Mella

Mr. Obama's Harvard Law intellect was no match for its collision with the mainstream American, and his 14 months thus far only prove, once again, that this is a center-right nation.

What's curious is that millions of Democrats and a smattering of Independents voted for a man whose electoral record belied that he would govern as a moderate, trans-partisan.

He is what he is: a hard-edged liberal whose Chicago-style politics make most Americans cringe.

And so moderate Democrats, Republicans, and centrist Independents must continue to fight for common sense governance that expands individual rights, restrained taxation, and a strong national security policy.

Then, we lobby for the best opponent we can find for...

Since Obama's warm embrace of the despots in Iran worked so well it makes sense to encourage Muslim participation in NASA. Their scientific renown is legendary...just look at all the life-saving pharmaceuticals they've produced, all the innovative software and hardware the bring to market. In truth it pains Obama that America is the pre-eminent nation on earth and he works tirelessly to chastise it and level the playing field by invoking international law which, in his view, can trump our nation's laws. As a blinkered champion of larger government, Obama's dream is a centralized power and supply chain where confiscatory taxation and brutal regulation control the nation's wealth and redistribute it to the less productive. It's a...

Although the mainstream media won't wake itself from its self-imposed slumber long enough to take note, most of use recognize that no one in the Obama administration, beginning with the king himself, uses the word 'victory.' That's why his exquisitely nuanced Afghanistan policy, which includes a Lilliputian surge and a concurrent withdrawal timeline, is doomed to fail. Counterinsurgency strategy is predicated on a nominally susciptible host---i.e., Iraq in its latest incarnation---which is categorically absent in Afghanistan. Regardless of whether or not Obama recognizes at this time that this is, in fact, his war, history will deem it so, just as every other president, who has been credited or criticized by the wars or conflicts...

The two most durable articles of liberal faith are that an excess of government is oxymoronic and that history is a poor teacher. In our post-modern age where values are instantaneously imputed to events and thereby elevated to a status in service to a political end, and where spending tax payers' money is an exercise in self-aggrandizement, President Obama is the quintessential practitioner. He and his liberal administration are intellectual mayflies whose knowledge of history is best measured in angstrom units and whose understanding of and respect for our founding principles are conspicuous by their absence. Ironically, just as Western Europe has begun moving to dismantle the statist--read unsustainable--policies that have...

In the past several decades the left transformed from the Kennedy paradigm--which was tough on crime, defended the virtues of low taxes, knew the difference between good and evil, and, yes, understood that not every American is a racist--to the one we're obliged to suffer today: criminals are the victims, the higher the taxes the better, one man's dictator is another man's 'freedom fighter,' and we're all racists now.

It's an upside down world, one where real racism--which is what Gates is clearly guilty of--is ignored.

See my post from today on this subject, at:

http://clearcommentary.townhall.com

Mr. Barone makes the credible case that, as JFK said, "to govern is to decide," and warns that Obama may end up alienating his left wing in the process.

If you're among that broad swath of mainstream Americans who are growing tired of the global warming crowd, the folks who have deleted 'evil' from their national dictionary, who are convinced guns--not criminals--are responsible for crime, and who want a government run health insurance system, then watching as the left wing of the Democratic Party is alienated will be a national pleasure.

The Congressional over-reach we're witnessing is another joy to behold because it demonstrates, once again, that ours is a right-of-center nation, one grounded in common sense, liberty,...

"In short, LBJ's Great Society had two major short-term unintended consequences: First, the Great Society weakened us on the home front by foisting tax hikes and unsustainable debts on the American people; second, the Great Society weakened us abroad by sucking up cash needed to win the Vietnam War."

There's another consequence of the Great Society, as the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan noted back in the late 60s: it led to the insidious cultural decimation of the inner city minority and created the damning inter-generational transfer of poverty, a pandemic of single-parents, and, as former President Bush correctly noted, the soft bigotry of low expectations.

Obama is clearly more sophisticated and is desperate to chastise...

The only hope President Obama has to bring stability--not "victory"--to Afghanistan, is an initial surge of 40 plus thousand troops, with a narrowly defined mission of decimating Taliban cells.

That would have to last two years to make any measureable improvement and our involvement would lead to a five year commitment.

All of that is to say Obama's problem is political not strategic, because if he viewed it through the lens of the latter we could, in fact, prevail, using the very limited objectives defined above--i.e., forget about nation-building.

Other comments here make the credible point that he's confronting a Hobson's Choice, which is no choice at all: the Islamic extremists are at our Western gate and...

As always, Mr. Barone makes a solid case for his argument, this time that President Obama instinctively looks to America as the problem for the world's ills.

His speech at the UN yesterday is the perfect example. I've analyzed some of the more astonishing parts on my blog post today; it's at:

http://clearcommentary.townhall.com

Phil Mella