Outside the Beltway

Jim Yong Kim is an impressive man. But he’s got no background in banking, finance, or economics.

The Etch A Sketch meme isn’t nearly as powerful as those pushing it believe it to be.

Yesterday, Rick Santorum started to demonstrate that his campaign has run out of a logical reason to exist.

Why isn’t Obama doing better in the polls and did we just see a Kinsey Gaffe in the wild?

Does Joe Biden think he can succeed his boss?

Yesterday, the campaign silly season got particularly silly.

Hugo Chavez has built a state on cronyism.

I remember the days when stores were making the transition from the old style brown paper bags to the newfangled plastic ones–in the name of the environment.

The NFL fined the team two draft picks and suspended the head coach a full year and the GM 8 games.

Romney easily has more delegates than all of his opponents combined.

Mitt Romney won big in Illinois last night, and moved a big step closer to wrapping this race up.

Obama has borrowed slightly more money in 3 years than Bush did in 8. Does it matter?

My armchair pop psychology on George Zimmerman, the man who gunned down innocent black teenager Trayvon Martin, appears on target.

The debt has increased at a faster rate in the past three years than in the previous eight, but assigning blame isn’t what matters.

When I saw the YahooNews headline “Law firm fires 14 employees for wearing orange shirts,” I naturally presumed it had something to do with St. Patrick’s Day. As it turns out, it’s even dumber than that.

What happens when political pandering substitutes for serious fiscal policy.

What the hell was Leon Panetta thinking when he got dressed? He’s surrounded by fit Marines in battle dress and he’s wearing a poorly fitted blue short-sleeved “dress” shirt,* pleated slacks, and perhaps the most askew gig line ever, calling attention to his pot belly.

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin met on the night of February 27th. Martin died, and a firestorm has erupted.

Good Journalism?

Joe Biden got a little braggadocious last night.

An attack on Iran is likely to unleash consequences that we are unprepared to deal with.

Tebow on the block.

Russia may be getting more involved in the Syrian conflict.

Dharun Ravi was convicted of bias intimidation toward Tyler Clementi. It’s not at all clear that he should have been.

“Can Domestic Policy Affect Income Distribution?” Why, yes, yes it can.

The odds are against anyone who challenges an incumbent President. So, how do you do it?

“Asian” has an entirely different connotation in the UK than it does in the US.

My latest for The National Interest, “Ending the Afghan Slog,” has posted.

No, the Obama Administration is not plotting to nationalize the economy in the name of some “national emergency.”

Can Wall Street predict the outcome of Presidential elections? Not really.

Dear Bill Maher and Alexandra Pelosi: The plural of anecdote is not data.

Peter Singer argues that heavy people ought to pay more to fly.

Despite how it many have seemed in January, Ron Paul’s 2012 Presidential effort is ending just about the same way his 2008 effort did.

The argument over contraceptive coverage mandates has not gone well for conservatives.