Copyright (c) 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. http://news.yahoo.com/i/2709 Opinion - RealClearPolitics.com en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:30:07 GMT 5 142 18 http://news.yahoo.com/i/2709 http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/nws/th/main_142b.gif http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080821/cm_rcp/which_candidate_would_be_a_bet realclearpolitics/20080821/which_candidate_would_be_a_bet RealClearPolitics.com Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:30:07 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Kudos to Pastor Rick Warren for pulling off his Saddleback Church forum with Barack Obama and John McCain--and for devoting a quarter of the airtime to the critical but oft-neglected topic of leadership. Even this brief inquiry has given voters important new insight into the two men as people, and some sense of the contrasting styles with which they would lead the nation. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080821/cm_rcp/obama_brings_a_knife_to_a_gunf realclearpolitics/20080821/obama_brings_a_knife_to_a_gunf RealClearPolitics.com Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:30:38 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Two months ago Obama declared of the McCain campaign, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." And while Obama has sharpened his message of late, today he pulled out a pocketknife and McCain responded by pulling out a .44 Magnum. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080821/cm_rcp/tables_turning realclearpolitics/20080821/tables_turning RealClearPolitics.com Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:45:13 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - As recently as, oh, yesterday, the general view was that if any candidate had to get a little crazy with his VP pick, it's John McCain. Running as the old, white guy against a dynamo like Obama, especially in a year the electorate seems sick of the status quo, is reason enough to shake the ticket up a bit. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080821/cm_rcp/the_chicago_way_part_ii realclearpolitics/20080821/the_chicago_way_part_ii RealClearPolitics.com Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:12:52 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Apropos my post yesterday on Emil Jones, Jr., David Freddoso catalogs Obama's machine ways in this morning's Wall Street Journal. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080820/cm_rcp/the_chicago_way realclearpolitics/20080820/the_chicago_way RealClearPolitics.com Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:30:38 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Ah, yes, this is how it's done in Chicago. Emil Jones, Jr., Barack Obama's political "Godfather" and the man who once said about Obama to a colleague, "I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator," is retiring from office and has already put plans in motion to bequeath his State Senate seat to his son: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080819/cm_rcp/any_given_tuesday realclearpolitics/20080819/any_given_tuesday RealClearPolitics.com Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - In February, the New York Football Giants stunned everyone by upsetting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42 Their journey to football's highest peak was as improbable as it was surprising and their successful playoff run shows similarities to this year's Presidential race. The Giants and the McCain campaign share a few similar traits. Both were wild cards in the respective contests. At every turn, both were outspent, outgunned and not expected to win. The Giants went to Dallas and beat the Cowboys. They went to Green Bay and beat a legend on his own field. McCain, left for dead time-and-again, used the springboard of his New Hampshire victory to rack up enough victories to make his nomination a forgone conclusion by the time the polls closed on February 5th. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080819/cm_rcp/how_to_confront_russia realclearpolitics/20080819/how_to_confront_russia RealClearPolitics.com Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:10:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - The best advice to President George W. Bush on how to conduct foreign affairs with Russia is still the comment of Teddy Roosevelt, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Regrettably, the Washington, D.C. crowd, including the President and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are instead speaking harshly. They seem unaware that we no longer have a big stick in hand. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080819/cm_rcp/a_bad_week_for_obama realclearpolitics/20080819/a_bad_week_for_obama RealClearPolitics.com Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:10:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Sen. Barack Obama had a bad week, which he and his staff contrived to make worse. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080818/cm_rcp/political_topography realclearpolitics/20080818/political_topography RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:30:10 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - I'm back from a week in the desert where I was blissfully unaware of all things political. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080818/cm_rcp/the_shape_of_the_race_changes realclearpolitics/20080818/the_shape_of_the_race_changes RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:40:20 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the contest for President has become a real horse race, close to a tossup (Obama maintains a 1-2 point lead in the tracking polls). The 17 days of the Olympics and the exploits of Michael Phelps have driven most political stories off the front burner, other than Russia's aggression against Georgia. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080818/cm_rcp/when_will_north_korea_collapse realclearpolitics/20080818/when_will_north_korea_collapse RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:30:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - An array of intelligence analysts, Asian and American scholars, specialists in think tanks, and workers in relief organizations have renewed speculation that the North Korean regime of Kim Jong Il is in danger of collapsing because that nation is on the brink of mass starvation and mounting isolation. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080815/cm_rcp/dems_take_another_shot_at_chic realclearpolitics/20080815/dems_take_another_shot_at_chic RealClearPolitics.com Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:30:05 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Democrats snatched control of the House of Representatives in 2006, and after picking up a few seats in special elections this year they now enjoy a 37-seat advantage. But more than a few Democratic challengers couldn't quite crack the Republican stronghold on vulnerable districts, and some of the congressional wannabes are back to take a second shot at the seats they came close to stealing. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080815/cm_rcp/the_clintons_are_here_to_stay realclearpolitics/20080815/the_clintons_are_here_to_stay RealClearPolitics.com Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:30:05 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Get used to it. They are not going away. Anyone who thought that Barack Obama had sent Hillary Clinton back to the Senate to atone for her campaign's sins or banished her husband, baying at the moon, into the wilderness was deluded. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080813/cm_rcp/mccain_and_lieberman_perfect_t realclearpolitics/20080813/mccain_and_lieberman_perfect_t RealClearPolitics.com Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:30:39 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - John McCain has zero charisma. Next to the excitement of Obama, he looks like an old man defending the status quo. Ironically, his career has embodied exactly the opposite. He is what Obama symbolizes - a person who rises above party, confronts the special interests, and wants to change the way Washington works. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080813/cm_rcp/mccain_is_our_churchill realclearpolitics/20080813/mccain_is_our_churchill RealClearPolitics.com Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:20:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - It was March of 1939, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was shocked that a man he trusted had gone back on his word. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080812/cm_rcp/us_russia_should_be_friends_eq realclearpolitics/20080812/us_russia_should_be_friends_eq RealClearPolitics.com Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:20:00 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080811/cm_rcp/why_barack_obama_will_not_win realclearpolitics/20080811/why_barack_obama_will_not_win RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:30:07 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - There is palpable anxiety, even despair, among many Republicans and conservatives over the possibility that Barack Obama will be elected president this November. This anxiety is being fueled by the mainstream media's fawning coverage of Obama's every word, while shamelessly downplaying John McCain's campaign; by public opinion polls that purport to show Obama "leading" the race over McCain; and by political commentators, on both sides of the aisle, who believe this is the Democrats' "election to lose," based on historical cycles, an uneven economy, high gas prices, continuing opposition to the Iraq War, and President Bush's dismal approval ratings. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080811/cm_rcp/michigan_the_obamawrightkilpat realclearpolitics/20080811/michigan_the_obamawrightkilpat RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:30:40 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Two percent. That's the percent of voters outside the "Motor City" that have a favorable impression of embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. You don't have to be a pollster to understand how strongly disliked Kilpatrick is throughout Michigan. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/realclearpolitics/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/realclearpolitics/20080811/cm_rcp/whats_wrong_with_kansas_republ realclearpolitics/20080811/whats_wrong_with_kansas_republ RealClearPolitics.com Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:15:58 GMT RealClearPolitics.com - Last Tuesday, State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins won a surprising upset over former Rep.