Outside the Beltway

Did the debt ceiling debate reveal dysfunctional government?

Steven Metz muses, “Scholars argue that too much political mobilization can make democracies dysfunction. Is that where the US is today?”

Barack Obama’s biggest enemy in the debt negotiations has been himself.

Their mouths were moving, but nothing of substance was coming out.

President Obama is polling at 46.8 percent, below the level needed to win re-election.

One of the GOP’s staunchest media allies isn’t too impressed with their Balanced Budget Amendment.

Where is the line on using the White House to further the president’s re-election effort?

President Obama has walked out of negotiations on the debt ceiling with an agreement is nowhere in sight.

It’s still politics as usual in Washington.

The Ronald Reagan that Republicans lionize is very different from the one who actually served as 40th President of the United States.

Barack Obama’s leadership style may be his undoing.

While his best-known solo effort was “anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, [and] anti-capitalistic,” John Lennon became a Reagan Republican a few years later, his assistant claims.

Tim Pawlenty’s foreign policy speech shows him siding with the hawks, and joining in the neocon distortion of Reagan’s legacy.

Are you better off than you were three years ago? 44% of Americans say no.

Contrary to what Senator McCain, seeking realism in military policy does not make one an isolationist.

C. Boyden Gray, former White House Counsel and EU Ambassador, has signed on as the chair of the Jon Huntsman policy team, Mark Halperin reports.

Are you better off than you were four years ago?

Herman Cain says he wouldn’t sign any bill longer than three pages. It’s a line that will get him applause, but it’s totally impractical.

Unemployment was high when Barack Obama took office and it’s gotten substantially higher. Does that mean he won’t get re-elected?

Another appellate panel heard arguments on the Constitutionality of the health care reform law this week.

The main issue, above all else, is taxes.

America’s physicians are becoming more liberal in response to changing working conditions.

Once again, Sarah Palin has made herself the center of attention in the political world.

The Navy’s director of warfare integration says China is a “smart and learning enemy.”

The GOP doesn’t have a charismatic superstar waiting in the wings. That’s okay.

With the customary hand-wringing over the low quality of the presidential field well underway, the corollary pining for other candidates to join the race is starting.

The Republican candidates of 2012 are so weak because of GOP losses in 2004 and 2006 Senate and gubernatorial races.

Can one effectively run for the presidency if one’s spouse doesn’t want to be in the spotlight?

Technology has saved the lives of countless American soldiers. But it’s made going to war easier.

The 60 day deadline for Presidential discretion under the War Powers Act will expire next week. Congress won’t do anything about it.

Americans are rallying around the President in the wake of the mission against bin Laden, but it’s likely to be short-lived.

If you look at the Tea Party’s impact on state politics, you see it really isn’t much different from the Religious Right.

It is waaay too early to be putting much stock in polling for 2012 (either in terms of X v. Obama or GOP v. GOP).