Barack Obama Archive for Ezra Klein - Economic and Domestic Policy, and Lots of It

How fast should Obama be moving?

In today's column, David Brooks echoes the conservative conventional wisdom that President Obama "is moving too fast," though he attributes the sentiment to independent voters as opposed to himself. As Tim Fernholz notes, however, it's not clear that Obama's...

Obama: 'Sometimes Democrats can be their own worst enemies'

Christina Bellantoni has the details: "There are going to be some disagreements and details to work out ... but I want to say to you Democrats, let's make sure that we keep our eye on the prize," Obama said...

Obama's Nobel Prize

I had a good time making fun of Barack Obama's Nobel prize this morning. It is undeserved. It is a bit ridiculous. But it's a laugh in the way that finding a $900 antique chair in the attic is a...

Quantifying Obama's Narcisissm

In his column today, George Will accuses the Obamas of taking an "Olympic Ego Trip." He does this largely by a word count: "In the 41 sentences of her remarks," Will writes, "Michelle Obama used some form of the...

Do Speeches Work?

Nate Silver looks at the polls to see whether Obama's speech had any measurable impact. Rasmussen gave Obama a seven-point bump, The Washington Post-ABC poll saw a one point improvement, and CBS saw Obama's approval ratings jump 12 points. Nate...

Deficits and Democrats

What did Bush's first set of tax cuts, Bush's second set of tax cuts, Medicare Part D, the Iraq War, the Afghanistan war, and No Child Left Behind have in common? Two answers: First, they all passed atop Republican votes....

Ezra Klein Archive: Barack Obama