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 February 4, 2012 WASHINGTON – What a mess in Afghanistan. Given the high cost of what very charitably could be called an expensive and inconclusive stalemate, it is really surprising that president Obama has not been damaged politically by a war effort with no focus and no end game, except for [...]
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 17, 2012 WASHINGTON – The only mildly reassuring thing about Texas Governor Rick Perry running for the Republican Party nomination is that his chances are slim. How this misinformed man managed to become the Governor of a large state is a mystery. His latest really, really stupid statement is about [...]
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 8, 2012 WASHINGTON – The AP reports that Newt Gingrich indulged in selling to his New Hampshire audiences the old and worn lie that you can fix a big chunk of Washington’s spending problems by finally addressing fraud. He said that in Medicare and Medicaid alone it is possible to [...]
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 [...]