Columnists
Cokie Roberts & Steven V. Roberts: Deadly triumph of statistics over women’s health
What were they thinking? A panel of scientists has issued guidelines for breast cancer screening that could undo years of education and advocacy that have saved tens of thousands of lives. In a report that smacks of health care rationing, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends…
Nov 20, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
E.J. Dionne: America would benefit from civilian ROTC
WASHINGTON — Imagine a time when government work was exciting, widely admired and much sought after.
Nov 19, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
David Broder: Obama should take general’s Afghanistan advice quickly
WASHINGTON — The more President Barack Obama examines our options in Afghanistan, the less he likes the choices he sees. But, as the old saying goes, to govern is to choose — and he has stretched the internal debate to the breaking point.
Nov 18, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Robert J. Samuelson: ‘Reform’ bills expand benefits without controlling costs
WASHINGTON — There is an air of absurdity to what is mistakenly called “health care reform.” Everyone knows that the United States faces massive governmental budget deficits as far as calculators can project, driven heavily by an aging population and uncontrolled health costs. Recov…
Nov 17, 2009 | 7:55 pm | Loading…
George Will: Historic war photo fabricated death scene
NEW YORK — The 20th century was 100 years of amplitude. It overflowed with barbarous fighting faiths, wars enveloping continents, and graphic journalism assaulting global audiences with scenes of shocking immediacy. The Spanish Civil War, although small in terms of the number of combata…
Nov 17, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
The buck stops nowhere in Washington
The good news: Both parties finally agree on an important element of public policy.
Nov 15, 2009 | 12:05 am | Loading…
E.J. Dionne: Don’t let abortion destroy health care reform
WASHINGTON — For some years, Democrats have denounced parodies casting their party as utterly closed to the views of those who oppose abortion. Last weekend, Democrats proved conclusively that they are, indeed, a big tent — and many in the ranks are furious.
Nov 13, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Ellen Goodman: Setting up the false choice on health reform
BOSTON — It was one of those small shocks that come unexpectedly in the wake of a death. Just days after the country had buried Ted Kennedy, Cardinal Sean O’Malley took to his blog to defend himself from critics attacking him for presiding over the funeral of a pro-choice senator.
Nov 13, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Nat Hentoff: Who needs trials? Kill terror suspects!
In October, during an interactive session with students in Pakistan, a female medical student praised Hillary Clinton for inspiring women, but then the same admirer asked the secretary of state how the United States justifies using those CIA remote-controlled Predator drone planes without…
Nov 12, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
David Broder: Giving WWII veterans wings to their memorial
WASHINGTON — A couple of weeks before Veterans Day, I went down to the World War II Memorial on the Mall to join Bob and Elizabeth Dole and a group of elderly soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen from her hometown of Salisbury, N.C., who had been flown to Washington that morning to get…
Nov 10, 2009 | 7:00 pm | Loading…
Robert J. Samuelson: Fed must work to avoid future bubble
WASHINGTON - When Nouriel Roubini talks, the world listens. Roubini is, of course, the once-obscure New York University economist whose dire warnings about a financial crisis proved depressingly prophetic. Last week, Roubini was shouting. Writing in The Financial Times, he warned that the…
Nov 10, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Republican family feud can influence elections
Republicans won big victories in New
Nov 09, 2009 | 12:05 am | Loading…
Ellen Goodman: Only terrible options for Afghan women
BOSTON - It's been 11 years since I looked through a photo album smuggled out of Afghanistan by a brave young woman. "This is a doctor," she said, pointing to one picture. "This is a teacher." It was impossible to tell one woman from another under the burqas enforced by their Taliban rulers.
Nov 06, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
George Will: Getting to know our stranger in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - Actress Cate Blanchett, who has played Queen Elizabeth I, is performing here, portraying someone less than regal - flurried, anxious Blanche DuBois, in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire." If Obama administration officials involved in formulating Afghanistan policy…
Nov 05, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
E.J. Dionne: Both parties will be spinning new health care reform law
WASHINGTON - The next health care fight has already started. It's the battle to define the bill that President Obama will eventually sign as a victory for consumers, taxpayers and the common good.
Nov 04, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Robert J. Samuelson: Rich nations up against walls of debt
WASHINGTON - The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt - that is, tell lenders that it won't repay them all they're owed - was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. Argentina and Russia have stiffed their creditors, but surely the likes of t…
Nov 04, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Kerlikowske gets dose of realism in drug war
WASHINGTON - During his immersion in his new job, Gil Kerlikowske attended a focus group of 7-year-old girls and was mystified by their talk about "farm parties." Then he realized they meant "pharm parties" - sampling pharmaceuticals from their parents' medicine cabinets. What he learned …
Nov 01, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
Robert J. Samuelson: ‘Public plan’: delusion in health care debate
WASHINGTON - In the health care debate, the "public plan" is all things to all people. For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health coverage affordable. For detractors, it's a way station on the path to a single-payer insurance system of government-run healt…
Oct 28, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
David Broder: Economic recovery must include fiscal responsibility
WASHINGTON - When I wrote a few days ago about the growing nervousness of moderate Senate Democrats over the approaching vote to raise the federal debt limit, I had no idea how quickly evidence of that shift in the political winds would appear.
Oct 28, 2009 | 12:00 am | Loading…
War on Fox News diminishes White House
Presidents usually turn to their secretaries of state for foreign-policy advice. But Barack Obama must have been channeling Hillary Clinton when he decided to attack Fox News.
Oct 26, 2009 | 12:05 am | Loading…
