We can’t peer into President Obama’s soul, but his statement last week that he is “struggling” with whether to endorse same-sex marriage is open to an unedifying interpretation. Given the president’s support of gay rights in other contexts, his opposition to marriage equality raises the question of whether the struggle Obama referred to is between politics and principle. If so, we hope principle w

With his signature last week, President Obama ended the military’s distasteful policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” In doing away with this discriminatory practice, he also ushered the American armed forces back into the mainstream of American life. One salutary consequence is that some of the nation’s most prestigious universities now are willing to host Reserve Officer Training Corps units on thei

Europeans have grown accustomed to seeing government workers shut down their countries when provoked. At this time of huge deficits from Washington to the smallest towns, government workers in the U.S. also face significant cutbacks.Americans may have had their first taste of what that will mean.New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor David Paterson are both calling for an inve

When Dmitry Medvedev became president of Russia two years ago he pledged to combat “legal nihilism,” the disrespect for law that feeds corruption and backwardness in his country.Any hope that Medvedev might behave differently from his mentor, and Russia’s real ruler ― Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ― has been doused by the biggest show trial since the days of the Soviet Union. A week ago, the forme

What’s the biggest financial decision facing Europe in 2011? Easy. The choice of a new president of the European Central Bank.When Jean-Claude Trichet steps down from the post in October, the leading candidates to succeed him will be Bundesbank President Axel Weber and the governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi.Neither is the right man. Weber would be intolerable to the peripheral euro countr

The past year was one of political disappointment in Japan as the government failed to make breakthroughs in resolving crucial economic and diplomatic problems. Prime Minister Naoto Kan and the Democratic Party of Japan should reflect on what went wrong, set clear goals that will capture the minds of people and mobilize every possible resource to realize them. The nation’s economic difficulties, t

The tax bill passed last month perpetuates the huge unfunded giveaways to the rich that have for a generation increasingly divided our nation. Rebuilding the American middle class requires tackling this growing divide head-on. If our politicians won’t or can’t, then ordinary Americans must and can.Those who believe the tax deal gives too much to the top should devote at least some of their tax cut

A year ago, we predicted that Texas Gov. Rick Perry would beat Bill White for re-election and that Congress would pass President Barack Obama’s health care bill. But we failed to see that a lagging economic recovery would mean Republicans would win back the U.S. House and make big Senate gains.Undaunted, we tackle 2011:January: Fox News announces that Sarah Palin’s son, Track, will participate in

Perhaps the simplest thing to say about the law in 2010 is this: Never in America were so many judged by so few with such inconclusive results.As our population rose, and Americans filed 100 million or so lawsuits, the role of the courts somehow shrank in our lives. Dozens of federal judgeships remained empty throughout the year, the victim of partisan bickering on Capitol Hill. State judicial sys

An era of high inflation is coming. China has raised its interest rates for the second time since mid-October. This move has been made to counter the country’s fastest-growing inflation rate in more than two years. Additional fiscal moves are expected as China is currently battling against various economic bubbles.In spite of Chinese officials’ efforts to curb real estate speculation, property pri

The Clean Air Act turned 40 this year, as did the Environmental Protection Agency, which was created to enforce that new law and others Congress adopted to reduce all types of pollution. But it has taken this many years for the EPA to begin flexing its regulatory muscles to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the principle culprit linked to climate change.For many years the agency claimed that the