Can Obama Do in Iraq What Nixon and Ford Couldn't in Vietnam?
Whether Obama will be able to keep his promise not to send American ground forces back to Iraq is very much an open question.
View ArticleDick Cheney’s David Frost Moment
“I'm more concerned with bad guys who got out and released than I am with a few that, in fact, were innocent.”--Dick Cheney on Meet the Press
View Article"There Was a Right Side and a Wrong Side": Art and Historical Memory
Why The Civil War: The Musical is both top notch -- with a great set and costumes -- and also deeply flawed.
View Article"Unconditional Surrender" in Iran
After the nuclear framework agreement was announced last Thursday, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton told CBS News that "the only acceptable deal would be Iran's nuclear disarmament." What?
View ArticleIt's Ok to Celebrate Magna Carta
It's still OK to celebrate Magna Carta. After all, we're all talking about a birthday here.
View ArticleThis Flag Needs to Go Down--So Does the Lie it Represents
Yes, it's a symbol. That doesn't mean it doesn't matter. That is WHY it matters.
View ArticleBen Carson's "Know-Nothing" Attitude Toward Islam
It's a bigoted anti-Muslim sentiment that echoes an earlier--and just as ugly--anti-Catholic bigotry.
View ArticleThe American Reaction to Refugees in the Early Republic
From the earliest days of the republic, the American attitude toward refugees has been marked by an ambivalence and tension.
View ArticleThe American Reaction to Refugees, 1848-1924
The sad demand that only Christian refugees should be admitted to the U.S. reminds this historian of an awful American tradition.
View ArticleThe American Reaction to Refugees Since 1924
The reactions we see today to the prospect of admitting refugees from Syria and elsewhere have a long history in this country.
View ArticleTed Cruz's Phony Supreme Court "Tradition"
He says presidents don't appoint people to the Supreme Court in election years. Ridiculous.
View ArticleOrrin Hatch's Embarrassing New York Times Op-Ed
Senator Orrin Hatch took to the New York Times op-ed page to try to make the case for the Senate refusing to take up President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. It didn’t go well.
View ArticleTrump Isn't a Fascist. He Has Fascist Instincts.
"I don’t think Trump is a fascist because fascism is an ideology, and I think that the only thing that Trump believes in is Trump."
View Article“We Find the Republican Party Busily Chewing on Itself”
Donald Trump’s bigoted comments on Judge Gonzalo Curiel have produced an amazingly clarifying moment for the Republican Party.
View ArticleWill Khizr Khan be Donald Trump’s Joseph Welch?
Joseph Welch asked the question that woke up the American people to Joe McCarthy’s lack of decency. Khizr and Ghazala Khan have done the same service for the American people today—if we listen.
View ArticleWhat Was 2016 About? Who We Are and What Values We Cherish.
What has disturbed so many of us about Trump's election is that the choice that 46.2 % of the voters made is so antithetical to our vision of what America can and should be.
View ArticleThe Era of Bad Feelings?
"It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt ... that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found." James Monroe
View ArticleWhy Trump's Snub of NATO Matters
NATO is not a “deal.” It is not a protection racket. The American creation of NATO was meant to serve American interests.
View ArticleThe Right Words
Trump was failing a basic obligation of leadership. He did not pay tribute to virtue.
View ArticleThe Nunes Memo, “Bias,” and the Skills of the Historian
It struck me while reading the instantly infamous Nunes memo that we'd be better off if we were all trained as historians.
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