Mike Edwards's Blog, page 6

A Reasonable Third Way

The conservatives at the Times are having a good week. Today’s entry comes from Ross Douthat, who has an excellent analysis of the basic problem of the attempts to kick-start a moderate third party in the United States. To summarize: “From the (inarguable) premise that the public is wearied by the failures of the political and economic establishment, it leaped to the (preposterous) conclusion that the country is crying out for a presidential candidate who mostly represents the interests and v...

It’s Not the Style. It’s the Smile.

David Brooks is so close to getting it right, he can almost taste it. Brooks notes that by a traditional economic analysis, Obama should be losing. The economy is bad. Public perception of the economy is bad. Public perception is that the economy is worse than it was four years ago. And people blame the president for that, at least to some extent.

Brooks credits Obama’s resilience on his “leadership style”. He invents a clever sounding narrative about the “ESPN Man”, as “postfeminist … hyperco...

How the Middle’s Bias Gave Obama Political Cover to Support Gay Marriage

A conventional political view of President Obama’s statement of support in favor of gay marriage would suggest that it was a very risky political maneuver. After all, polling has demonstrated repeatedly that most Americans are opposed to gay marriage–and it is always risky for the president to take a minority position in an election year, right?

But in this case, the conventional viewpoint is wrong.

This November, we can basically divide the electorate up into three groups; roughly a third of l...

Who Are You?

Self-identity is complicated–even for a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) like me. I generally list myself as white orCaucasian. And I am–mostly. That is certainly how the rest of the world interacts with me–because that’s what the rest of the world assumes me to be, based on my appearance. And the majority of my ancestors came to this country from the English Isles or France. The majority… but not all.

So why do I bring this up now? Because of a controversy here in Massachusetts involving D...

I Don’t Think That Word Means What You Think It Means…

Can we please stop using the word “embolden” to describe American policies with respect to our enemies?

“Embolden” has become a buzz word to attack the foreign policy maneuvers of political enemies here in the United States. President Bush used to say that withdrawing from Iraq would “embolden” the terrorists–and many Democrats pushed back by arguing that in fact the Iraq War itself had “emboldened” the terrorists. Just today Mitt Romney attacked Obama for “emboldening” North Korea by trying t...

Meaningfully Meaningless Words

One of Rick Santorum's favorite lines on the campaign trail lately has been a claim that every time the GOP nominates a moderate, they lose, whereas every time the GOP nominates a conservative, they win. Is that statement true? Well, it depends on what you mean by "moderate" and "conservative". Here are the GOP nominees for president since 1976 (the election Santorum seems to believe started this trend):

1976, Gerald Ford, incumbent, lost
1980, Ronald Reagan, challenger, won
1984, Ronald...

Likely Voters vs. Americans

In any given presidential election, about half of adult American citizens will vote. In a Gubernatorial, Congressional or Senatorial election, as few as 1/3 of eligible adult American citizens might vote.

Most often, you see those statistics used to decry the state of American democracy. And certainly, I believe that Democracy is stronger when more people participate (although there are many ways to participate in a democracy without voting–letter writing, protesting, etc.). But what you...

How to Chose a Running Mate

As the media increasingly coalesces around the idea that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for president this year, they have also increased their attention on the question of who Romney might choose as his running mate. I won't get into the horse race–there are simply too many possibilities. But I thought it might be useful to discuss why a VP choice is important–and therefore, what Romney might be looking for in a potential nominee. Notice that many nominees fall in multiple...

Don’t Punish The Messengers

One of the things I’m most proud of about the book is that it is non-partisan. After all, the issues we discuss (including voter irrationality, voter ignorance, procedural justice, etc.) are not limited to Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives. As we note in the book “voters often are ignorant pawns of a system they don’t understand”, and that applies to all voters. And so, when discussing the book, I try both Danny and I try our best not to wade into partisan political debates....

Don't Punish The Messengers

One of the things I'm most proud of about the book is that it is non-partisan. After all, the issues we discuss (including voter irrationality, voter ignorance, procedural justice, etc.) are not limited to Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives. As we note in the book "voters often are ignorant pawns of a system they don't understand", and that applies to all voters. And so, when discussing the book, I try both Danny and I try our best not to wade into partisan political...