By Paolo von Schirach February 22, 2012 WASHINGTON – Whatever happens with the Republican nomination process, the winner is unlikely to truly inspire America. For different reasons, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are all very weak candidates. (I shall not even try to assess Ron Paul, who lives all by himself in a [...]
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 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 25, 2012 WASHINGTON – Whatever his presidential credentials, let’s agree that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is not especially diplomatic in his public statements. Sometimes he is deliberately bombastic, just for effect. And so he attacks Romney for being an investor and thus a “bad” capitalist, as opposed to the “good” capitalists [...]
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 7, 2012 WASHINGTON – There was something surreal in following cable TV doggedly pursuing the final outcome of the Iowa caucuses, as if the final tally would make a real difference. Indeed, as the results were coming in, after a while it became pretty clear to all that the first place was going to [...]
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 January 3, 2012 WASHINGTON – All the Republican would be presidents promise vigorous pro-growth policies that will unleash old fashioned, time tested Yankee ingenuity. The campaign narratives are that, after having been constrained by anti-business policies pushed by closet socialist Barack Obama, with proper leadership, American enterprise will burst once more into the [...]
By Paolo von Schirach December 13, 2011 WASHINGTON- If the Republicans really want another four years of Barack Obama, they should nominate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as their candidate, as opposed to picking Mitt Romney or any other moderate centrist. Without a doubt, of all the self-described conservatives who have emerged so far from [...]