Articles filed under Commentary

• People who help make America strong May 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: American character. We need people of good character — regardless of politics or profession. I'm proud of Charles Ramsey. Even with his flaws and troubled past, he makes me proud to be an American. Amanda Berry, 6-year-old Jocelyn, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Charles Ramsey — these are the people America is made of.
  

   

• Benghazi redacted May 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: We are supposed to accept the conclusions about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, despite congressional testimony last week suggesting that significant efforts were made to camouflage those mistakes. As Democrats and Republicans alike know all too well: It's always the cover-up.
  

   
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  Nekritz: Time to do the right thing over the easy thing May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest Columnist Elaine Nekritz: We cannot stay on this path, and that is why SB 1 is so important. It will save us more than $1 billion in our immediate pension payment, cut about $30 billion off our massive unfunded debt of nearly $100 billion and, over the next 30 years, reduce more than $150 billion off what we pay for pensions.
  

   
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  Morrison: We must rethink old ideas about retirement May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest columnist Tom Morrison: With state Rep. Jeanne Ives, I've introduced House Bill 3303 that provides a clear path to modernize our pension systems by moving to a defined contribution plan. Private and public entities have embraced these plans because they are sustainable and better guarantee retirement security for all.
  

   
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  Klickna: Coalition plan is fair, effective, constitutional May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest columnist Cinda Klickna: Even SB 1's backers don't claim it will survive a court challenge. Their reaction is, "Let's find out." That irresponsible approach to public policy caused the mess that Illinois is dealing with now. We have to be smart and pass constitutional bills.
  

   
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  Maybe Americans agree about more than they know May 11, 2013 12:00 AM
  Democrat Barack Obama is on track to become the most polarizing president in nearly seven decades of Gallup records. His predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, held the distinction previously, signaling a trend.
  

   

• The fog on Benghazi May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  
  

   

• The perils of self-publishing May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnists Steve and Cokie Roberts: Every journalist in the world has made mistakes, including us. Many of them. It goes with the territory. But we still have an obligation to minimize those mistakes, to aim toward accuracy, to follow strict standards of professionalism.
  

   

• Are you (fill in the blank) enough? May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: Rather than insist that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz fall in line, shouldn't we be celebrating a clear victory for true diversity? That is, diversity of thought. Here we have two conservative Republicans of Hispanic origin who have different views on an important issue. Wasn't this always the point of our grand American experiment?
  

   

• Shooting the rapids of dual playoff runs May 9, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: In the constantly undulating rhythms of the news cycle — now elections take center stage, now a flooding crisis; now, a sensational kidnap story is all the rage, now a controversy over the state budget — there is something especially gratifying about the swell we're mounting right now. Not one but two playoff runs simultaneously
  

   

• At a loss for words on Syria May 8, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Richard Cohen: It turns out that President Obama did not mean to say "red line" after all.
  

   
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  Indicting the agents of intolerance May 7, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnists Steve and Cokie Roberts: A group of rich Republicans is raising money to support same-sex marriage. By doing so, they reveal a fundamental split in conservative ranks between two very different philosophies.
  

   
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  Loopholes mean a faster track to citizenship May 7, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Byron York: Members of the Senate's bipartisan Gang of Eight stress that under their new immigration plan, currently illegal immigrants will have to wait more than a decade before achieving citizenship. Unless they don't.
  

   

• ‘Common good’ can revive common decency May 6, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: It is not surprising that I should find some of the policy views expressed in his new book, "On God's Side," badly mistaken. But this does not prevent Wallis from being resoundingly right in his central premise: that American politics would be elevated by a renewed commitment to the common good.
  

   

• Prude or prudent? May 6, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: In the past several days, we've heard the argument that any interference with the over-the-counter sale of Plan B to any female of any age is blocking a woman's right to self-determination. Fifteen-year-olds, where the limit is currently set, are girls, not women.
  

   

• Obama sails a dangerous strait May 6, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: Syrian President Bashar Assad's air force has bombed citizens waiting for bread outside bakeries. His army's snipers have picked off children. And Syria may be a portend of things to come: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres recently told a Washington, D.C., audience: "We are unprepared for what is to come. ... The international community has lost its ability to stop conflict. ... The very nature of human conflict is changing."
  

   

• The stakes of being too late May 5, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: On Syria, President Obama has sometimes seemed isolated within his own administration. As the atrocities have escalated — from the shelling of neighborhoods, to airstrikes on bread lines, to the use of Scud missiles against civilians, to the likely incremental introduction of chemical weapons — the Assad regime's strategy has become alarmingly clear. Unable to retake rebel-held areas, it seeks to depopulate them, producing mass casualties, refugee flows and sectarian conflict. During the last two years, it has been reported that many of Obama's top foreign policy advisers, including David Petraeus, Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta and Ben Rhodes, have urged more robust action to arrest Syria's downward spiral.
  

   

• How politics has changed May 3, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Lee Hamilton: It's not just the sheer proliferation and aggressiveness of the media that have ratcheted up the intensity of political life. Almost every facet of politics is more complicated and hard-edged. Voters want instant results. Consultants are everywhere. Lobbyists have multiplied and become immeasurably sophisticated at finding ways to get what they want.
  

   

• Nate Bell doesn’t know Boston May 2, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Gene Lyons: For President Obama, black's an ethnicity people make it hard to resign from. Even so, all demands for racial and ethnic groupthink are inherently crippling. All racial arguments are reactionary — signs not of strength, but weakness. It's not merely possible to honor one's heritage without denigrating anybody else's; to me, it's the essence of Americanism.
  

   

• As pension debate heats up more, forum was timely start May 2, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher:The panelists and the audience at our recent forum on pensions proved it is possible to have a civil and engaging conversation about the topic. In any well-functioning democracy, that's a start.