DAVID BRODER

Opinion: Protest that became a dream

WASHINGTON — I did not stick around to see Glenn Beck’s extravaganza at the Lincoln Memorial, not out of protest but because I had work to do in Philadelphia. But I was more than satisfied by my memories of the earlier event at that site I’d covered for the old Washington Star, when the theme was civil rights and the speech of the day turned out to be the historic “I Have a Dream” oration by Martin Luther King Jr.

By David Broder , August 31, 2010

Opinion: It’s time for McCain to return to D.C.

WASHINGTON — Now that John McCain has taken care of his political business in Arizona, it is time for him to return to Washington and the responsibilities he bears as a leader of the Republican Party and the nation.
I did not begrudge him the $20 million he spent to win Tuesday’s primary, or whatever amount it was. Nor was I bothered by the doctrinal compromises the senator made in order to convince Arizona voters that he was, in fact, a conservative. McCain has always been a realist, doing what is necessary to survive a North Vietnamese prison camp or a tough political trap. His 2000 embrace of George W. Bush — a man he had every reason to dislike — showed his practicality, and it made possible his own presidential nomination in 2008.

By David Broder , August 26, 2010

Opinion: Cautionary examples given for the president

WASHINGTON — A couple of weeks ago, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was criticizing “the professional left” for prematurely finding fault with President Obama — an act for which he later sought to make amends — he did not, as far as I can recall, name names.
If he had, he might well have mentioned John B. Judis, the opinion journalist who wrote the cover story in the latest issue of The New Republic, titled “The Unnecessary Fall: A Counter-History of the Obama Presidency.”

By David Broder , August 25, 2010

Opinion: A man of ideas

WASHINGTON — Over the years, reporters learn that there are a relative handful of the public officials with whom we deal who can be counted on to expand our understanding of events. These are the men and women who have probed deeply into the forces shaping the country — or their part of it — and often anticipate the challenges still to come.

By David Broder , August 17, 2010

Opinion: McConnell’s birthright curve

WASHINGTON — It was an odd but intriguing experience to sit at a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor last week and listen as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly rebutted one of my recent columns, implicitly endorsed the message of another and sent a disquieting signal about the prospects that might follow a Republican victory in the midterm elections.

By David Broder , August 11, 2010

Opinion: Lack of leaders makes Senate an ‘Empty Chamber’

WASHINGTON — Earlier this week, as the United States Senate went through the motions of debating Elena Kagan’s nomination to a Supreme Court seat that almost certainly will be hers, readers of The New Yorker across the country could review journalist George Packer’s masterful article “The Empty Chamber,” tracing the decline and fall of that same Senate.
Packer shares with thousands of citizens what every reporter who covers the Capitol knows: that the public disdain for Congress, measured in record low approval scores in polls, is mirrored by the frustration of the members of both parties who have to serve and bear the scorn.

By David Broder , August 06, 2010

Opinion: For Obama, paging Bob Dole and Howard Baker

WASHINGTON — Even as he steps up his campaigning and fundraising for Democratic candidates, President Barack Obama appears to be adjusting mentally and emotionally to the prospect that his post-election life will feature more dealings with Republicans.

By David Broder , August 03, 2010

Opinion: In Delaware, civility rules

MIDDLETOWN, Del. — A lot of the mail I receive these days reads like this letter from a Milford, Utah, man, who says: “Truly, there is a lot of anger in the land, and one other thing that columnists like you appear to have missed or perhaps are ignoring. That thing is disgust with the obvious, deliberate refusal by elected officials to do their duty and actually represent the will of the people.”

By David Broder , July 30, 2010

Opinion: States can be used as an electoral barometer

WASHINGTON — In this high-stakes election of 2010, much attention naturally focuses on Republican efforts to come back in Congress and the Democrats’ drive to retain their large majorities in the House and Senate.
But for those gauging the long-term health of the two parties, nothing is more important than the fight for control of the 37 governorships and the legislatures on the ballot this November.

By David Broder , July 26, 2010

Opinion: Time to realize elections have consequences

WASHINGTON — Buoyed by a 13-6 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Elena Kagan is on her way to the Supreme Court. The talk in Washington is what the impending elevation of the former Harvard Law School dean and solicitor general will mean for the capstone of the judiciary.

By David Broder , July 23, 2010

Opinion: Pro-Reagan vs. anti-Bush?

WASHINGTON — When Congress stays in session during the dog days of a Washington summer, rebellion is always bubbling just beneath the surface. And sure enough, it erupted at a caucus of House Democrats one night last week, triggered by an injudicious comment from White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

By David Broder , July 20, 2010

Opinion: Bad time for Congress to abandon fiscal plans

On June 30, the Congressional Budget Office issued its long-term outlook, predicting that deficits would come down for the next few years as the need for counterrecession spending eased and revenue improved. But then, it warned, “unsustainable” red ink would flow again, creating debts not seen since World War II.

By David Broder , July 13, 2010

Opinion: How Henry Clay shaped America in the 19th century

Just as this year, Independence Day in 1852 fell on a Sunday. But in New York City the traditional celebration was upstaged by another event. The casket bearing the remains of Henry Clay had arrived aboard the steamboat Trenton.
As historians David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler write in their splendid biography, “Henry Clay: The Essential American,” published this year, “New York closed down and turned out on Broadway to see the makeshift parade that bore Clay to City Hall. He lay there in state for the rest of the day and all of the next, July 4, a Sunday.”

By David Broder , July 08, 2010

Opinion: Sen. Byrd’s vanished ethic

The paradox of Robert C. Byrd’s life — and the reason his death was recognized by his Senate colleagues as so significant a milestone — is the balance he struck between the parochial and the profound.
On one hand, he was known as the “king of pork” and was immensely proud of the way he used his long years on the Appropriations Committee to funnel billions in federal funds into his home state of West Virginia. It never occurred to him to apologize for looking out for the home folks.

By David Broder , July 02, 2010

Opinion: Obama walks tightrope domestically, abroad

Two departures from the Obama administration go a long way toward illuminating what is important — and what is not — in determining its political fate.
The firing of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and the resignation of budget director Peter Orszag represent the most significant fraying in the top levels of government since Barack Obama took office 17 months ago.

By David Broder , June 29, 2010