The Week: Most Recent from Jeb Golinkin

Why Obama won't close Guantanamo

The Week — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:55:00 -0400

On Thursday, President Obama gave a speech that, in the greatest detail to date, laid out the legal rationale for the continued use of lethal force in theaters in which we are not overtly engaged in hostilities. This is a welcome and long overdue development. By refusing to elaborate on the legal justification for a drone program that is frequently employed and highly controversial, the administration has undercut the legitimacy of a perfectly legal and exceptionally important national security program. In that regard, today's speech was of vital importance.

But in another regard, the speech was...

The GOP should listen to Newt Gingrich

The Week — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:51:00 -0400

Listen to Newt. He knows that of which he speaks.

Over the weekend, the former House speaker took to the airwaves of, well, NPR (a station most GOP leaders were probably not listening to at the time) to caution his congressional successors against "appearing too eager as they dig into the scandals now dogging the Obama administration." The former speaker added a tidbit for good measure to remind the audience that he has firsthand experience in this particular area: "I think we overreached in '98. How's that for a quote you can use?"

The quote is pretty solid indeed, Mr. Speaker. And most political...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, abortion, and the future of gay marriage

The Week — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:35:00 -0400

Anyone holding out hope that the Supreme Court is going to issue a sweeping decision to legalize gay marriage inroughout all 50 states has a new reason to temper their expectations. Not even the court's most liberal member appears to be all that eager to thrust the institution into another cultural fight. It's not so much because she does not believe in advancing rights, but rather because she appears to have concluded that judicial modesty is, in some circumstances, the best way to advance those rights.

The justice I am talking about is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a talk at the University of...

Why we don't really know if Ted Cruz is allowed to be president

The Week — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:21:00 -0400

Over at The New Republic, Noam Scheiber uses a remarkably interesting topic as a vehicle to mock constitutional conservatives and Ted Cruz.

The issue is this: Ted Cruz was born an American citizen in Canada. Because one of this nation's founding documents stats that "[n]o person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President," there is some question as to whether Ted Cruz can in fact be president of the United States. Unfortunately, Scheiber's analysis of this intriguing issue...

The extraordinary bravery and attitude-revolutionizing power of Jason Collins

The Week — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:58:00 -0400

If you talked to any American with any appreciation of sports yesterday, he or she would probably have conceded to you that Jason Collins is a badass. Collins is bright. He is handsome. He is strong. He is tall. Oh, and he plays in the NBA, which pretty much makes you a badass by default.

Today, we found out that this American badass professional athlete also happens to be gay. This is a watershed moment: Collins' bravery and candor will do more to obliterate the still culturally prevalent (and grossly inaccurate) stereotypes relating to homosexuality's relationship to masculinity than 100 years...

Senate Democrats are still clueless on gun control

The Week — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:40:00 -0400

Apparently, a group of senators is "quietly seeking a new path on gun control." Or at least, they were quietly doing so until The New York Times wrote about the once-covert effort. Now, of course, the efforts are less quiet.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is reportedly back talking to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) about how they might attract more support for a bill expanding the current background check system. The two senators, it seems, are focused on background checks and background checks alone, a move I think wise given the widespread view that such a measure is entirely appropriate.

Unfortunately...

How Obama could have avoided gun-control failure

The Week — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:40:00 -0400

90 percent.

That's a figure you've surely heard repeatedly over the past few weeks. After the background checks amendment failed, President Obama cited the figure five times. The figure was similarly seized on by Gabby Giffords, Jay Carney, former White House Chief of Staff Richard Daly, and Joe Scarborough. Oozing righteous indignation, proponents of gun control heaped shame on the members of the United States Senate who ignored the will of 90 percent of Americans and voted against an amendment calling for expanded background checks on the purchase of firearms. These pro-gun-control individuals...

John Kerry's illogical and irrelevant gun-control argument

The Week — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:25:00 -0400

In this latest installment of "gun debate hyperbole," we will be discussing Secretary of State John Kerry, who tells us that foreign exchange students will not come to America because they are afraid of guns. Really? No seriously, Secretary Kerry, I mean really?

As you all know, the secretary of state spends quite a bit of time on the road, and Kerry is no exception. And it turns out that he has been conducting a rigorous scientific experiment on why foreign exchange students are not coming to the United States. He revealed his findings during an on-air interview with CNN's Japan correspondent...

Boston is more than a marathon. It embodies the American spirit.

The Week — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:30:00 -0400

For every person who runs marathons, the word "Boston" has a special meaning.

The Boston Marathon is not just the Super Bowl of running. It is also the green light in the distance towards which thousands upon thousands of American runners dash. And it's that aspirational quality that makes the event unique in American sport.

The Boston Marathon doesn't simply showcase the excellence of a few professionals. Look at me: I'm 5'11", 168 pounds. I never had much of a future as an NFL player. But regardless of my size, age, or gender, I can aspire to run the greatest road race in the world. Anyone...

The left's demonization of gun owners has gotten out of hand

The Week — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:35:00 -0400

Every once in awhile, someone I admire says or writes something so outrageous that I am compelled to come to the defense of a person of whom I am not fond, or a position which I do not share.

David Rothkopf runs Foreign Policy — far and away the best foreign affairs website on the internet, as well as a very solid magazine. On Tuesday, however, Rothkopf opted to demonize Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as more dangerous than Kim Jong Un, who — despite looking like a sketch-comedy dictator — is a ruthless leader who presides over a starving, terrified...

Why does Congress act like email, FedEx, and UPS don't exist?

The Week — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:50:00 -0400

There is only one word to describe yesterday's announcement that the United States Congress will not permit the Post Office to stop delivering mail on Saturdays: Insanity. Complete and utter insanity, if you prefer four words.

This is just one more sad example of how unwilling our elected officials are to make any potentially unpopular decision, even if it's critically necessary to address the nation's rapidly expanding addiction to spending cash that we don't have.

The United States Postal Service may well be the world's worst business. Compare the USPS to Amtrak, which loses money...

Conservatives and liberals are mad at Obama -- and that's a good thing

The Week — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:40:00 -0400

President Obama will not release his full budget proposal until Wednesday. Nevertheless, lawmakers and interest groups on both sides of the political spectrum are already pissed.

For those of us who were hoping to see the president make a good faith effort at fostering compromise, this is promising news. We should all cheer any budget proposal that raises the hackles of all the following groups: the Senate's only self-described socialist (Bernie Sanders), House Republicans, Moveon.org, and the AARP. The moans of pain audible from Washington's political poles is a reminder of just how...

'Stephen Colbert's sister' represents the worst of American politics

The Week — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:54:00 -0400

Yesterday, a person asked me what I thought of "Stephen Colbert's sister's" chances of winning "that congressional seat she is running for." I responded that they were decent because her likely opponent (former Gov. Mark Sanford had yet to win his runoff) has a lot of baggage. I paused, then asked why this person cared. "Because I like Stephen Colbert and dislike people that cheat on their wives."

Fair enough, I suppose. But as I reflected on the comment, it dawned on me that despite the fact that following politics is literally my job, I knew nothing — and I mean nothing — about Stephen...

How the Supreme Court will rule on gay marriage: A prediction

The Week — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:25:00 -0400

It's always a dangerous task predicting the outcome of a Supreme Court case. But in the spirit of March Madness — why not? Below, find out how the Supreme Court will decide its gay marriage cases, before the justices even write the opinions:

Hollingsworth v. Perry (the Prop 8 case):
Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the four liberal members of the court, will dismiss the case. Specifically, the Chief Justice will rule that the proponents of Proposition 8 do not have standing to challenge the District Court's ruling, because the decision allowing gay marriage did not cause them...

Why we shouldn't applaud the 'courage' of politicians backing gay marriage

The Week — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:05:00 -0400

In the lead-up to this week's gay marriage arguments at the Supreme Court, legislators and wannabe presidents are coming out of the woodwork to express their support for gay marriage. Jon Huntsman. Rob Portman. Hillary Clinton. Claire McCaskill. Mark Warner. Mark Begich.

But before we rush to heap praise on these individuals for standing up for gay rights, we should probably ask a few questions. Here's one: Dick Cheney publicly supported allowing gay couples to marry in 2009 — what took the rest of these folks so long?

With the possible exception of Portman, who is a Republican senator...

Ben Carson should not run for president

The Week — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:43:00 -0400

His name is Ben Carson. He is a graduate of Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School. He is the director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008 for his contributions to medicine and his work in education. He is articulate. He is attractive. He is likeable. He is conservative. "He loves Jesus," according to one Republican senator. He is black. Oh, and Cuba Gooding Jr. once played him in a movie.

Given his background, it's hardly surprising that conservatives would want Dr. Carson to enter the political fray on their side. But when...