The President Game
The historians participating in C-Span’s survey for ranking the presidents revealed one thing: even the pros are a little shaky about what to make of some of our nation’s leaders.…
Read MoreLambdin Milligan's Precedent
The case of Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri will provide an early test of the extent to which President Obama is prepared to stand by the rule of law in the…
Read MoreImpeachment: So We Don't Have To Kill Him
Having been removed from office on a unanimous vote of the Illinois State Senate, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich shows an unsurprising failure to understand the principal virtue of the constitutional impeachment…
Read MoreBack to the Seventeenth Amendment
I generally don’t read newspaper editorials, because they are so often namby-pamby or poorly-informed. For once, though, I thoroughly commend the Washington Post’s objection to the recent appointment of successor…
Read MoreObama — Good on History; Ellis — Less so
This new president not only went to good schools, he seems to have remembered some of what he was taught, and has kept on learning. His Inaugural Address had some admirable historical touches. …
Read MoreHow NOT To Be Inaugurated
As Barack Obama and Joe Biden prepare for Inauguration Day, they can allay pre-ceremony jitters with the calming thought that it will be difficult to perform worse than Andrew Johnson…
Read MoreBurris v. The Senate: Folding a Winning Hand
Some events reveal character. So it is with the Senate Democratic leadership’s response to the appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate by politically radioactive Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. …
Read MoreSidelined by Spammers
If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t posted anything since the holidays, my website was sidelined by a security breach suffered by the server that hosts the site. Between the…
Read MoreLincoln Bicentennial Madness
While most Americans are focused on the holidays and then the Inauguration, the book business is braced for Lincoln Bicentennial Madness on February 12, 2009, the 200th anniversary of Abraham…
Read MoreBack into the cesspool!
Some of my favorite stories feature craven pols betraying the public interest. Just give me a steady diet of corruption porn. It’s been a good week, with Illinois Governor Blagojevich…
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