Why it is that a hostility towards indigenous Australians is a core principle for some Australian conservatives? Some light on this is shed by the history of history.
The coming Republican triumph?
Health care reform euphoria notwithstanding the Democrats are in serious political trouble because of public opinion results such as this:
One of the greatest Speakers?
As health care reform passes this afternoon it is noteworthy to consider Nancy Pelosi’s outstanding role as Speaker. Back in 2006 before the Democrats won Congress I was the first Australian observer to highlight her potential importance: The task of uniting the Democrats in opposition has been surprisingly well-handled by San Francisco liberal and Democrat […]
The South Australian Liberal revivial
The strong performance by the Liberals in the South Australian election campaign has surprised many and driven Labor to resort to a highly negative campaign as shown. One clear pattern in recent Australian politics has been the recasting of the national Liberals as a strongly conservative party. Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall was evidence of this.
American health care reform and NSW power privatization
In the US currently debate about the political impact of health care reform, public opinion is on average mildly hostile, although this partially reflects misinformation and some of the opponents of the current proposals think it does not go far enough. Can it be advantageous for a government to do unpopular things? Joshua Tucker asks:
Union-free America?
More evidence of the rightward drift of American public opinion on economic issues apparent in distrust of unions from Pew Research Center: Favorable views of labor unions have plummeted since 2007, amid growing public skepticism about unions’ purpose and power. Currently, 41% say they have a favorable opinion of labor unions while about as many […]
Republicans resurgent
Noteworthy that in the last few weeks liberal commentators, such as Mathew Yglesias and Jonathon Chait, have begun to seriously contemplate the possibility, even the likelihood of the Republicans securing a House of Representatives majority this year. Some of this commentary has been in response to the recent analysis of Harry Joe who has argued […]
Barack Obama & Jim Scullin
It is true that the Massachusetts debacle exaggerates the Democrats woes, just as NY-23 obscured them. But Barack Obama might remember the example of the Scullin government. Jim Scullin who led Australian Labor to a landslide victory in 1929 was a nice guy (who shocked senior bureaucrats by asking them to call him ‘Jim’), and […]
1934 and 2010 compared
David Greenberg was one of Hillary Clinton’s academic defenders, and he did a more effective job of this than Sean Wilentz. He has an insightful article on Obama’s first year: One year in, Obama’s approval ratings have slipped, and they’re likely to get worse. He’ll probably muddle through seven more years of partisan acrimony, […]
Hispanics in the US
Interesting report from Pew on the perceptions of young American Hispanics: it is clear that many of today’s Latino youths, be they first or second generation, are straddling two worlds as they adapt to the new homeland. According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s National Survey of Latinos, more than half (52%) of Latinos ages 16 […]