Victor Davis Hanson's Townhall.com Column

Jeremy Lin: Achievement Trumps Identity Politics

2012-02-23T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Jeremy Lin is the New York Knicks basketball sensation whose so far brief but amazing performance on the court has set the world on fire in a mere month.

Please, A Little Honesty About Illegal Immigration

2012-02-16T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
President Barack Obama recently assured El Salvador that the United States would not deport more 200,000 Salvadorans residing illegally in the United States. As the election nears, and the president looks to court Hispanic voters, he also created a new position of "public advocate" for illegal immigrants. His duties would appear to be to advocate that millions circumvent, rather than follow, current federal law.

Iran 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0

2012-02-09T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
On the campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama once called for a "reset" policy with Iran.

The un-Obama

2012-02-02T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Barack Obama's favorability in the polls falls when he is himself -- overexposed, hard left in his press conferences, and boastful about legislative achievements like Obamacare and a stimulus of more than $1 trillion.

Fidelity and the Presidency

2012-01-26T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
The news media seem obsessed with the serial affairs of a younger Newt Gingrich back in the last century.

Civilization in Reverse

2012-01-19T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
In Greek mythology, the prophetess Cassandra was doomed both to tell the truth and to be ignored. Our modern version is a bankrupt Greece that we seem to discount.

Defense Spending Is a Shovel Ready Investment

2012-01-12T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
President Obama just ordered massive cutbacks in defense spending, eventually to total some $500 billion. There is plenty of fat in a Pentagon budget that grew after 9/11, but such slashing goes way too far.

2011: Out With a Whimper, Not a Bang

2012-01-05T11:16:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
It proved as hard to break up the bankrupt European Union as it was to create it. For all the hundreds of stories predicting the imminent end of the union, insolvent Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain still hung in.

The New Old Europe

2011-12-29T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Yet the more things change in Europe, the more they stay the same.

Two Bad September Days

2011-12-22T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Two terrible September days sum up the first decade of the new American millennium.

The Hundred Years' German War

2011-12-15T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
The rise of a German Europe began in 1914, failed twice, and has now ended in the victory of German power almost a century later. The Europe that Kaiser Wilhelm lost in 1918, and that Adolf Hitler destroyed in 1945, has at last been won by German Chancellor Angela Merkel without firing a shot.

Oil-Rich America?

2011-12-08T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
There is a revolution going on America. But it is not part of the Tea Party or the loud Occupy Wall Street protests.

A Tale of Two Surges

2011-12-01T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
From 2007 to 2009, a surge of 20,000 troops under the generalship of David Petraeus saved a mostly lost war in Iraq. Petraeus' counterinsurgency doctrine helped win over the population, as the surge in troops gave greater security to Iraq's government and military.

The Castor-Oil Candidate

2011-11-24T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Nominating Mitt Romney is sort of like taking grandma's castor oil. Republicans are dreading the thought of downing their unpleasant-tasting medicine but worry that sooner or later they will have to.

Why Does America Defend the Weak and Small

2011-11-17T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Recently, an open mic caught French President Nicolas Sarkozy and American President Barack Obama jointly trashing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sarkozy scoffed, "I cannot stand him. He's a liar." Obama trumped that with, "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day."

Obama Unbound

2011-11-10T00:01:00-05:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Richard Nixon went to Red China with political impunity. Had a Democrat tried that, he would have been branded a commie appeaser.

Who Are These Fat-Cat Few at the Top?

2011-11-03T00:01:00-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
First lady Michelle Obama the other day railed at "the few at the top," who do all sorts of bad things. A few months ago, we began hearing of the "1 percent" who are responsible for the current economic mess. "They" apparently make all their money at the expense of the other 99 percent. Are they the same as last year's villains, who had not paid "their fair share" in making over $200,000 in annual income?

Global Warming -- RIP

2011-10-27T00:01:00-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Not long ago, candidate Obama promised to cool the planet and lower the rising seas. Indeed, he campaigned on passing "cap-and-trade" legislation, a radical, costly effort to reduce America's traditional carbon energy use.

Railing Against Reality

2011-10-20T00:01:00-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Last week, protests broke out again in Europe, from Rome to London. The monthlong Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York have spread. The current unrest follows this summer's riots in London and flash mob incidents in U.S. cities. In 2009 and 2010, Tea Parties turned out hundreds of thousands in protests against the Obama administration's policies and eventually gave him the largest midterm rebuke since 1938.

Predator in Chief

2011-10-13T00:01:00-04:00

Victor Davis Hanson Column
Once the most prominent critic of the war on terror, Obama has now become its greatest adherent .