PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - September 20, 2009

Klein Drowns in the Ethical Shallows

On Friday, Post blogger Ezra Klein took a short break from Barack Obama’s unpaid policy staff to respond to my last column and dismiss the importance of bigotry and hatred on the Internet. “That doesn’t describe the Internet I...

All About Obama

I’ve refrained from commenting on President Obama’s address to the United Nations General Assembly because the speech made me angry. And most postings -- or letters, or e-mails -- written while angry are better discarded or deleted. But this...

Israel's Final Warning to the World?

By Lee Hockstader It was hard, listening to Binyamin Netanyahu excoriating the United Nations on Thursday, to avoid the impression that this speech -- in all its righteous, angry, victimized fury -- could one day be seen as a milestone...

Those Socialist Americans

A quarter of the American people (26 percent, to be exact), according to Friday morning’s New York Times/CBS News poll, believe that the health-care reform bills floating around Congress will create governmental death panels, while just 23 percent say...

With Iran, 'The Cuban Missile Crisis in Slow Motion'

Graham Allison, a Harvard professor who is one of America’s leading security strategists, likes to speak of the U.S.-Iranian nuclear confrontation as “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion.” Well, on Friday morning, that slow-mo process started moving a...

How a Democrat Loses in Virginia

Former Democratic Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder’s resounding non-endorsement of Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate this year, is an important moment in an important campaign. Democrats have recently won statewide office in Virginia with a distinctive blend of political approaches....

Israel's War Crimes?

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not much of a public speaker, at least not in English, but what he had to say at the United Nations on Thursday was both sad and provocative. It was sad that any...

The Logic of Paul Kirk

In naming Paul Kirk, the former Democratic National Committee chair, to fill Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) of Massachusetts followed the cardinal rule of Hippocratic politics: First, do no harm. Patrick clearly learned from the experience...

ACORN Confirms Its Nuttiness

By Jo-Ann Armao Any doubt about the nuttiness of ACORN is dispelled by its decision to sue the makers of the videos that proved so embarrassing -- and ultimately costly -- to the community-organizing group. Don’t they know that when...

Obama Addresses the World

From President Obama’s speech this morning to the U.N. general assembly: In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero sum game….No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional division between nations...

Obama's 'Man-Cession'

Much has been made of this fascinating Labor Department report, which USA Today put on its front page. It shows that women now hold almost half of all jobs in the US (49.83 percent, to be precise), up from...

Obama the Formulaic

Part of President Obama’s great promise was always in his (still essentially unproven) ability to translate his charisma into major policy achievements. But, at this point, his rhetoric isn’t only formulaic -- it’s becoming obviously so. Consider the president’s...

Barack Obama Everywhere

"Stick out your tongue." I did so, and the dentist wrapped some gauze around it and said, "I need to explain myself about the public option." Stunned, I raised myself up in the chair and looked. It was Barack...

A Reasoned Response to Glenn Beck

It is sometimes alleged, with varying degrees of accuracy, that conservatives refuse to police the excesses of their own. Those persuaded by this argument should read Pete Wehner on Glenn Beck. It is a model of reasoned response to...

PostPartisan: September 20, 2009 - September 26, 2009