Eugene Robinson's Blog, page 108

America’s stake in the Ebola fight

Ebola is a nightmare disease that travel restrictions cannot keep out. The correct response should be urgent concern — not panic — and an all-out crusade to extinguish the West Africa outbreak of the deadly virus at its source.

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We’ve reached the inevitable tipping point on gay marriage

By deciding not to decide, the Supreme Court may have decided: If history is a guide, same-sex marriage will soon be the law of the land.

The court’s refusal to take up cases brought by five states seeking to overturn appellate court rulings in favor of gay marriage — Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin — was a surprise. It does not mean that Chief Justice John Roberts and the conservative majority have gone all “Kumbaya.” But it can be seen as a surrender to the inevitable.

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Secure the people’s house, but don’t obscure it

Put a taller fence around the White House complex and lock the doors.

Then get rid of the dry rot in the Secret Service bureaucracy, restore staffing to reasonable levels, adopt the latest technology and develop new protocols to replace the ones that didn’t work. But don’t use the recent shocking lapses in presidential security as an excuse to further separate Americans from the symbols of their government.

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Call back Congress. Get the authorization.

President Obama should call Congress back to Washington for a special session to vote on authorizing war against the Islamic State. If he does not, Congress should return on its own to conduct this vital debate.

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Bookend speeches of Obama’s presidency

President Obama began his presidency with a call for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” He will end it as a reluctant but unapologetic warrior, using U.S. military force to smash Islamic extremists and the “network of death” they have planted at the heart of the Middle East.

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A climate summit with a worthy purpose

We are taking a huge gamble with the world’s future. Individual nations — and citizens — must choose to do the right thing to reduce carbon emissions and limit climate change, even if it means paying an economic cost. Counting on altruism is risky.

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Will Obama’s Islamic State plan creep into ground war?

President Obama is adamant that the war against the Islamic State will not escalate to the use of U.S. ground troops. But the more I see and hear of his strategy, the more I fear that “mission creep” — even if the president resists it — is baked in from the start.

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Hillary Clinton, tell us your vision

Judging by her weekend appearance in Iowa, it looks as if Hillary Clinton is indeed running for president. Now she has to answer one simple question: Why?

“It is true, I am thinking about it,” she said Sunday at the final Harkin Steak Fry, an annual cholesterol-boosting fundraiser that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who is retiring, has hosted for 37 years. Given the context, this was pretty close to an announcement of the Clinton 2016 campaign.

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What if this doesn’t work against the Islamic State?

President Obama has committed the United States to another open-ended Middle East war in which the potential for doing harm rivals the possibility of doing good.

That’s the bottom line from Obama’s sober address to the nation. The president made his decision cautiously, reluctantly, even painfully. But make no mistake: The pledge to “destroy” the Islamic State is a long-term commitment, and success will depend on a host of partners who may be unreliable.

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Obama keeps his options open on dealing with Islamic State

President Obama’s strategy against the Islamic State may be hard to pin down — maddeningly so, some complain — but it is likely to work far better than anything his bellicose critics advocate.

Perhaps the president will eliminate any confusion when he addresses the nation Wednesday, but I doubt it. Based on what he told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” there may be no way to reduce Obama’s fluid and perhaps deliberately ambiguous thinking to a black-or-white, all-or-nothing dichotomy.

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