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NEWS ABOUT: David Brooks

Right, Left Are Blind to Obama's Centrism

Prez is neither a pushover nor a big-government liberal

(Newser) - If you believe President Obama is either a ruthless big-government liberal or an ineffective, overly intellectual leader, it probably says more about your politics than his, argues David Brooks. Obama is, and always has been "a center-left pragmatic reformer" who believes in "a moderately activist government restrained by... More »

Tea Partiers Are the New Hippies

Anti-establishment activists using '60s tactics: David Brooks

(Newser) - The anti-establishment types in the Tea Party movement remind David Brooks of another group of protesters who wanted to bring power back to the people and stick it to The Man. The Tea Partiers have adopted many of the tactics the New Left used in the 1960s, from street theater... More »

Bayh: Third Party Could Win White House

Soon-to-be-ex-senator sees a 'Ross Perot moment' in 2012

(Newser) - Evan Bayh thinks the time is ripe for a third-party president. “There’s a high level of frustration with the two-party system out there,” Bayh told Charlie Rose, when asked about David Brooks’ theory that a third party candidate could at last be viable. “This is, in... More »

We Need to Fend Off the Recession's Social Blows

Men have been hit hardest by high unemployment, writes David Brooks

(Newser) - America is facing a period of prolonged high unemployment that will require a strong response to stop the bonds of society from breaking, writes David Brooks. The recession's biggest impact has been on men, Brooks writes, noting that the gap between male and female unemployment is at its highest since... More »

Obama Should Be the 'Saner Ross Perot'

Become the permanent outsider and fix the deficit, Mr. President

(Newser) - Somewhere out there lurks a “saner, updated version of Ross Perot,” ready to swoop in and ride the public’s growing dissatisfaction with all things Washington. He’ll rail against the mounting deficits, and the Republicans and Democrats who let them mount. Well, Barack Obama, “you can... More »

Populism's a Losing Strategy

Voters too smart to buy into class struggle, writes David Brooks

(Newser) - Populism is back in vogue but politicians scrambling to bash the elite forget that it's almost always been a losing strategy, warns David Brooks. Politicians—whether they're Democrats taking potshots at Wall Street or Sarah Palin blasting the cultural elite—should remember that America was built by people like Alexander... More »

Haiti Is a Cultural Disaster, Not a Natural One

Progress-resistant country needs 'intrusive paternalism'

(Newser) - The tragedy in Haiti is more a man-made than a natural disaster, caused by shoddy construction and terrible infrastructure, writes David Brooks, noting the 1989 Bay Area earthquake of the same magnitude only killed 63 people. The kind of poverty that caused this catastrophe needs to be tackled, but to... More »

Welcome to the Tea Party Decade

Dissatisfied public will make movement a major player

(Newser) - America's beginning this decade in a bad mood, and the tea party movement is poised to conquer it the way hippies dominated the '60s and Christian conservatives the '80s, writes David Brooks. Public opinion is shifting not just to the right, but away from the interests of big business and... More »

Health Bill Fiendishly Hard to Call

Lack of fundamental reform makes it a narrow no for Brooks

(Newser) - David Brooks would vote no if he were a senator deciding on the health care bill today. But he admits that the pros and cons are so finely balanced that he flip-flops from week to week. The bill should be supported because it takes the deficit seriously, will provide insurance... More »

Obama Revives Cold War Liberalism

In Nobel speech, a 'Christian realist' Obama Doctrine

(Newser) - President Obama's Oslo speech showed a spirit of Christian realism that most liberals abandoned after Vietnam but that would have been very familiar to Harry Truman, writes David Brooks. Obama, by acknowledging that evil exists and stressing that power needs to be constrained within institutions like NATO, is applying the... More »

How to Revive American Innovation

Bipartisan agenda can defeat post-recession pessimism

(Newser) - Pessimism about America's future role in the world economy is spreading even as the economy stabilizes, but there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful, writes David Brooks in the New York Times . America's economy still has incredible potential, Brooks writes, and the government can revive innovation and stay competitive... More »

The Obama Campaign Is Over: Get Used to It

The analytical balancing act is what the country needs

(Newser) - Many Democrats are complaining that the passion of the Obama campaign is missing from the White House but they should realize that upbeat rallies aren't what it takes to run a country, writes David Brooks. It requires endless amounts of prodding and compromise to get anything done in Washington and... More »

Obama's Afghan Plan Won't Please Anybody

Which means that the president may have gotten it right

(Newser) - President Obama has assembled parts of different Afghanistan strategies into a whole that looks certain to displease just about everybody when it is unveiled tonight, writes David Brooks. The administration appears to have pulled back from its earlier enthusiasm for a comprehensive counterinsurgency—COIN—plan in favor of COIN-lite, Brooks... More »

US Needs to Regain Faith in the Future

China shouldn't have monopoly on dynamism

(Newser) - America needs to overcome its "crisis of faith" caused by China's phenomenal growth, writes David Brooks. Today's China is optimistic, forward-looking, and dynamic in the way America once was and should hope to be again, he points out in the New York Times . Surveys show that 86% of Chinese... More »

Unassuming Thune Could Be GOP's Future

Nice-guy populist eyed as 2012 contender

(Newser) - The junior senator from South Dakota is starting to get a lot of attention from the less hysterical sections of the GOP as the party seeks to build on recent successes, writes David Brooks . John Thune never sounds like he's auditioning for a spot on talk radio, but instead puts... More »

Stop Making Excuses for Hasan

Murderous Islamic extremism was his motive, not PTSD

(Newser) - Commentators are working overtime to explain away the Fort Hood shootings as a personal breakdown rather than what it obviously was, three conservative columnists argue today: a terrorist assault by an Islamic extremist.
  • The explanation for Major Hasan's actions should be crystal clear to anybody not afraid of offending Muslim
... More »

Get a Clue, Washington: You Can't Do Everything

Effort to restructure exec pay smacks of arrogance

(Newser) - Clamping down on arrogant, risk-taking execs with an overconfident attempt to overhaul private sector pay structures shows that the arrogance has migrated to the Obama administration, writes David Brooks. The government is trying to micro-manage compensation packages at a wide variety of firms when pay regulation should be done, humbly,... More »

Leveling With Voters Could Revive GOP

Look at Britain: a tough austerity program has emboldened the right

(Newser) - The economy might be in shambles, but Republicans are offering no alternative plan to ward off mounting American debt—insisting on yet more tax cuts and refusing to cut into bloated Medicare. David Brooks suggests they take a lesson from their British cousins, the Tories, who are poised to win... More »

Maybe Baucus Bill Is Better Than Nothing

David Brooks wishes Congress had listened to Ron Wyden

(Newser) - Even David Brooks has become convinced that the health care system needs a fundamental overhaul—and unfortunately, it’s not going to get one. The best option, Democrat Ron Wyden’s proposal to let employees take their employer’s contribution and spend it on an open health care exchange, was... More »

Beck and Co.: Just Little Men With Big Voices

(Newser) - Once again the right-wing radio guys have managed to convince everyone that they are a great and powerful force to be reckoned with. David Brooks revisits the 2007 Republican primaries, when Rush, Hannity, Beck and company were all weak-kneed over Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney, but bashed “unreliable deviationists”... More »

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