By Paolo von Schirach February 9, 2012 WASHINGTON – The confused and fractious Republicans appear terminally incapable of getting their act together, as the latest contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri won by comfortable margins by conservative Rick Santorum show. By now it is pretty obvious: a large chunk of the rank and file GOP activists really do not [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 6, 2012 WASHINGTON – Remember Yale historian Paul Kennedy and his 1987 tome “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers“? At that time there was a lot of interest in, and indeed concern about his fairly comprehensive narrative focusing on how all major Western Powers, primarily because of the huge [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 26, 2012 WASHINGTON – It is quite depressing to observe Washington total political paralysis, accompanied by cheap and openly divisive populism. Admittedly, it is difficult to govern when the two parties are so deeply divided. But the president has to try. This is what he was elected to do and what he gets paid [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 21, 2012 WASHINGTON – What is surprising about the decisive victory by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina Republican primary is the speed with which public sentiment about him among Republican voters changed so dramatically and so quickly. How can it be that all opinion polls projected a [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 12, 2012 WASHINGTON – Alright, in case you missed it, would-be US president Mitt Romney is an unprincipled, calculating slime ball who will change opinion on key issues every hour, if that suits his political calculations. He has no soul and he does not believe in anything. Except that he [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 5, 2012 WASHINGTON – Good bye Horatio Alger, and good bye to all the (mostly but not entirely) mythical “rags to riches” American stories. Farewell to an America where truly determined people could go as far as their dreams would take them. The unpleasant new reality is that opportunity and upward mobility [...]
By Paolo von Schirach December 18, 2011 WASHINGTON – The topic of the ABC News Sunday morning talk show today was the size of the US Government: “Is it too big, or not big enough?” Supposedly this is the focus of “The Great National Debate” in America, and the leading theme of the forthcoming 2012 national elections. [...]
By Paolo von Schirach November 23, 2011 WASHINGTON – Only in this dysfunctional political environment common sense policy recommendations can be described as shocking or controversial. In the latest CNN produced debate among Republicans fighting to get their party nomination for the presidency, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich advocated a process whereby law abiding illegal immigrants would [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related stories: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2011/11/04/herman-cain-still-the-gop-favorite-republican-base-craving-a-fresh-face-yet-he-is-awfully-short-on-details-do-we-want-a-conservative-amateur-in-the-white-house/#more-2723 http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2011/10/14/jon-huntsman-has-vast-experience-and-knowledge-of-world-affairs-he-speaks-perfect-chinese-but-he-did-not-connect-with-the-republican-base-too-bad-for-he-would-be-a-good-president/ November 14, 2011 WASHINGTON – A democracy is not a meritocracy and democratic politics by no means prescribe or guarantee that capable or competent people will run for high office. But now it is getting to be a bit much. The Republican nomination process has become amateur [...]
By Paolo von Schirach November 7, 2011 WASHINGTON- President Obama may not get re-elected. But, so far at least, he has managed an extremely clever political come back. Instead of defending his poor record as mediocre (at best) steward of a sick US economy, he managed to reshape the unfolding political campaign narrative as a fight between the [...]