PostPartisan - Quick takes by The Post's opinion writers - November 1, 2009

Michael Steele's 'Heisman' moment

By Adam Ross Michael Steele’s “Heisman pose” on MSNBC’s Morning Joe this week was everything I doubt he wanted it to be: Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Steele twice celebrated the GOP’s election...

Continue ignoring the punditry

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz did a version of my look at the predictive force -- or lack thereof -- of the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections -- except his smartly took into account the general rule...

Since when are we on a first-name basis?

By Jo-Ann Armao Carly Fiorina’s campaign for a California Senate seat is less than 24 hours old, so I was wondering if I could make a suggestion to the candidate? Refrain from referring to yourself by your first name, and...

Would you give up your golden parachute?

I don't think I'd have the stomach to turn down $20 million -- especially if I was legally entitled to it. But that's apparently what Nolan D. Archibald did. The long-time CEO of toolmaker Black & Decker declined the...

Public option: less than advertised

One of the fundamental arguments for having a public option as part of future health-insurance exchanges is that the increasing consolidation in insurance markets has reduced competition among insurers, thereby driving up premiums. Having a public option, the argument...

The turning point on Obama's popularity

Do Tuesday’s Republican victories in New Jersey and Virginia reflect rising voter disaffection toward President Obama? Experts will debate that endlessly over the coming days. Over at tnr.com, John Judis answers a tentative “yes,” at least with respect to...

How Obama is aiding Ahmadinejad

The New York Times reports that opposition protesters in Iran, in between beatings and tear-gassing from riot police and the regime’s hired thugs, have started a new chant: “Obama, Obama -- either you’re with them or you’re with us.” ...

Make me pay more

By Adam Ross I’m 28, healthy and willing to pay more so that all Americans can afford health care. Call me an ignorant idealist -- Michael Gerson does in this latest column, in which he argues that paying for health-care...

GOP not ascendant in Northern Virginia

By Lee Hockstader Let’s talk about Northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia in Tuesday’s statewide election results. The rest of Virginia went strongly for the Republican slate. NoVa didn’t. Gov.-Elect Bob McDonnell trounced Creigh Deeds statewide but eked out...

Maine: Rights shouldn't be subject to a popularity contest

By Jo-Ann Armao Maine’s vote to repeal the state’s law allowing gays and lesbians to marry is sure to revive the debate in D.C. about whether to submit this issue to voters. The District is on the verge of enacting...

The third-party effect in New Jersey

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ-- Going into Tuesday’s elections, Democrats were far more confident about their chances in New Jersey than in Virginia. One reason political operatives at both the White House and the Democratic Governors Association thought that Gov. Jon...

Fed-up nation

In the races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and New York's 23rd House district seat, the message from the electorate was clear: Talk to the hand. For different reasons, voters just didn't like being told what...

Another casualty of the Virginia election

By Lee Hockstader Along with at least seven incumbents -- six of them Democrats -- there was another big casualty in Virginia’s House of Delegates from the election results Tuesday: any hope of bipartisan redistricting. Sure, Bob McDonnell, the governor-elect,...

The Democrats get lashed

The most pathetic moment of Creigh Deeds’s sad campaign came toward the end, with a gauzy commercial invoking last year’s Obama campaign, featuring the tag line, “We can do it again.” Jon Corzine ran similar ads in the Obama...

Bad night for billionaires

Republicans can claim shouting rights in Virginia and New Jersey, and the Democrats have picked up that furiously contested House seat in northern New York state (which gives the Democrats 49 House members and the Republicans two in America’s...

Corzine's middle-voter problem

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Gov. Jon Corzine tried as hard as he could to make the New Jersey election about Barack Obama. It was a good idea -- Obama’s approval rating among those who voted in New Jersey today...

Less than fired up

Creigh Deeds, who had, shall we say, a rather complex relationship with the Obama White House, tried at the end of his gubernatorial race to rekindle the president’s electoral magic. His final ad, called “Fired Up,” was designed to...

Obama, Palin and the off-off-year election

Reading too much into Tuesday's off-off-year election results would be a mistake, but reading too little into them would be wrong as well. My take is that President Obama is right to worry about keeping independents in the fold...

Nien Cheng, 1915-2009

Nien Cheng, whose searing account of the Cultural Revolution -- “Life and Death in Shanghai” -- remains a landmark in the literature of resistance and an invaluable inside account of the horrors of that murderous period in Chinese history,...

No, we can't just spend our way out of trouble

A recent Post editorial took on progressive economists and pundits who argue that the United States’ World War II experience proves massive deficit spending is the best cure for a depressed economy -- and that the same treatment should...

What will McChrystal do if he doesn't get more troops?

All eyes are on the White House, where President Obama will soon make a decision on the way forward in Afghanistan. But it pays to keep an eye on the Kabul headquarters of senior American and NATO commander Gen....

Divide and conquer

In today's New York Times, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, whistling past the Democratic graveyard that will be tomorrow's election results in his state, finds a glimmer of hope: The "divide between moderate Republicans" and the party's conservatives "is going...

In NY, no room for GOP moderates

The Republican civil war in New York’s 23rd congressional district has been resolved in favor of the right-wing: The abrupt withdrawal on Halloween of assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee and a moderate, leaves the third party Conservative, standing...

PostPartisan: November 1, 2009 - November 7, 2009