| Editorial Board: Rosneft deal casts a cloud over Russia's economy Oct 29th 2012, 23:48 THE MEGA-BUYOUT in Russian oil announced last week will transform state-dominated Rosneft into the largest oil company in the world in terms of production, bigger than ExxonMobil. Rosneft is acquiring another profitable Russian oil major, TNK-BP, from three oligarchs and BP. Once the $56 billion deal is done, Rosneft will control 40 percent of Russia's oil output, a significant consolidation of economic clout for the Kremlin. Rosneft is headed by Igor Sechin, a longtime pal of President Vladimir Putin. Read full article >>   |  | Editorial Board: Ethanol suit hints at climate split between states Oct 29th 2012, 23:44 SINCE THE SENATE failed to pass a climate bill in 2010, environmentalists have looked to the states to cut the country's greenhouse-gas emissions, and their gaze has been fixed most firmly on California. Continuing its tradition of pioneering green policies that others copy, the Golden State is implementing a landmark greenhouse-gas law that would do what Congress didn't — put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade program, at least in California. Read full article >>   | | Romney would pass the buck on disasters Oct 29th 2012, 23:43 Back when he was being "severely conservative," Mitt Romney suggested that responsibility for disaster relief should be taken from the big, bad federal government and given to the states, or perhaps even privatized. Hurricane Sandy would like to know if he'd care to reconsider. Read full article >> | | Obama's discrediting victory Oct 29th 2012, 23:43 If Barack Obama loses his bid for reelection, the main reason can be traced to one period of time and one choice. In late 2009, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate had both passed health-reform legislation and were proceeding with reconciliation talks. But in January 2010, Democrats lost Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts Senate seat — as well as their filibuster-proof Senate majority — in a protest against Obamacare. It was a remarkable revolt, in the bluest of states. Read full article >> | | The president who seems not to care Oct 29th 2012, 23:42 One of the more melancholy moments of the presidential campaign occurred for me in a screening room. The film was Rory Kennedy's documentary about her mother, Ethel — the widow of Robert F. Kennedy. Much of it consisted of Kennedy-family home movies, but also film of RFK in Appalachia and in Mississippi among the pitifully emaciated poor. Kennedy brimmed with shock and indignation, with sorrow and sympathy, and was determined — you could see it on his face — to do something about it. I've never seen that look on Barack Obama's face. Read full article >> | | Dana Milbank: A perfect political storm Oct 29th 2012, 23:39 New Jersey piled sandbags. Delaware fortified its dunes. New York evacuated parts of Lower Manhattan. And Washington prepared for Hurricane Sandy with its own brand of emergency response: gaming out which candidate would benefit. Read full article >> | | Romney has a lot of nerve Oct 29th 2012, 22:26 Mitt Romney has a lot of nerve. I am usually forgiving of politicians who embellish or exaggerate in search of victory. Presidential campaigns used to be a little like water polo; it was just assumed there would always be a lot of fouling and dirty play below the surface. But Mitt Romney is in another category. He reminds me of Madonna in his ability to reinvent himself. Read full article >>   | | Jonathan Bernstein: Hurricane Sandy unlikely to have much impact on election Oct 29th 2012, 21:25 Yes, it turns out that there is a body of research from political scientists about the electoral effects of extreme weather events. John Sides summarizes it over at The Monkey Cage. Basically, it comes down to two major effects: on the one hand, people tend to penalize incumbent politicians for bad weather, irrational as that might seem; on the other hand, they tend to reward politicians who are perceived to have responded well to major storms. Read full article >>   | | Trust common sense and our checks and balances Oct 29th 2012, 21:17 The most fervent Obama boosters and the most fervent Romney boosters have to take a step back. This is not the end of the world or the end of the United States. Rampant pluatocracy is not in the offing if Mitt Romney wins. We will not fall over dead with a huge debt and pure socialism if President Obama wins. The ads, no matter who is sponsoring them, are distorted, exaggerated and, sometimes, rather puerile and paranoid. Read full article >> | | Obama's view of the people Oct 29th 2012, 21:16 Regarding Charles Krauthammer's Oct. 26 column "He stoops, doesn't conquer": Mr. Krauthammer conflates King Louis XIV's "L'etat, c'est moi," with President Obama's "This nation. Me." The fact is they are vastly different, even opposites. "L'etat" means the state or government, i.e, "I rule the nation." "The nation" is the people. Mr. Obama is saying "I am the people," or "I represent all the American people." Get the difference? Read full article >> | | Obama has failed as a leader Oct 29th 2012, 21:13 Leadership is commonly defined as helping a group to agree on and commit to an objective. Barack Obama, now endorsed by The Post, has been a failure as a leader. Rather than hope and change, he has given us partisanship and failure to reach agreement on plans to solve the many pressing problems of the country, as epitomized by the coming fiscal cliff. In Massachusetts, Mitt Romney worked across the aisle and achieved consensus and action. Read full article >> | | Oct 29th 2012, 21:13 I applaud your editorial board's well-reasoned decision to endorse the reelection of President Obama. Mr. Obama may not have achieved all of the promises and goals envisaged in his historic first campaign, but he has shown a depth of knowledge and a commitment to the American people to level the playing field in an economic and social climate that threatens to set this country back back dozens of years in a Romney administration. Read full article >> | | The Post's endorsement of President Obama Oct 29th 2012, 21:13 The Oct. 26 editorial "Four more years" made a persuasive case for President Obama's reelection. But several points warrant clarification or amplification. First, it was not "a balky Congress" that approved the Troubled Assets Relief Program; it was a Congress, led by Democrats, that was coping with a balky House Republican caucus. This Congress, working in hand with a Republican administration when the nation's economic future was on the line, is an example of the bipartisanship that has been sorely lacking the past four years. Read full article >> | | Read all about it: Obama to create a 'Department of Business' Oct 29th 2012, 20:11 Isn't this rich? Saturday Night Live couldn't have thought of anything better. When I read this headline, I had to make sure it wasn't coming from The Onion. President Obama actually said that in his second term, there could be a "Secretary of Business." That's right, he knows he has a problem with American business and naturally, he thinks there is a government solution. This shows how tone-deaf he is, how ignorant he must be of how business works in America and what American businesses want from Washington. Read full article >>   | | Hurricane Sandy and the tides of change Oct 29th 2012, 20:08 In the last week of August, in the fading hours of a brilliant day, I sat on the sand at Bethany Beach, full of regret that I had to leave the next morning. My family calls this time of day "the golden hours," when the setting sun has lost its intensity and its remaining light, now at our backs, puts the ocean and the beach in an amber glow, and everything seems right with the world. A cocktail helps, too. Read full article >> | |
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