Our columnist dissects and defends Obama’s strategy against ISIS With the recent announcement of President Obama’s strategy on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), congressional Republicans have been quick to question its ‘credibility and comprehensiveness’. Others akin to Robert Kagan question Obama’s aversion to conflict. What many seem to miss is that Obama’s…
Author: Taylor Tielke
Why the traffic debacle matters for Christie
Late last week New Jersey Governor Chris Christie found himself in the hot seat as thousands of documents revealed the administration’s vindictive nature in closing multiple lanes on the George Washington Bridge. Many of the documents reveal that the closings were retribution towards dissidents and rivals in Fort Lee. No one finds this surprising, it…
Drones: Ethics, legality and security issues
Once again Drone use overseas, and domestically, and abroad in places like Pakistan and Yemen. The resurge of criticism stems from non-profit and non-governmental groups like Amnesty International releasing articles titled like: Will I Be Next? Amnesty International argues that drone strikes kill more innocent lives than the U.S. Government says and that drone strikes…
The Republican Party’s identity crisis
Recent weeks have been costly to Republican clout and its political brand. The fight against the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has backfired. A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC news found that only 33% of Americans favor repealing the act. Not only that, but new polls focusing on early voter preferences…
Return to realpolitik on the budget ceiling
Washington and Congress appear to moving away from partisan gridlock and Republicans in the Senate and the President are meeting to advance budget talks. President Obama and the White House rejected the recent budget plan from the House, which extends the United States’ ability borrow for six weeks. They justified their rejection by saying the…
Our democracy, not credit rating, is in jeopardy
It’s day seven of the government shutdown, and issues have yet to be settled. Still worse, many fear that the government shutdown is an ominous precursor to the eventual budget ceiling debate. Economists fear that not raising the debt ceiling, meaning that the United States defaults on its loans, would be cataclysmic, and the recession…
Childish politics on the budget debate
Time is running out for Congress and the White House to agree on a budget policy or the government will surpass the debt limit and shutdown. It’s Déjà vu all over again, but with a distasteful additive. Representative Ted Cruz is leading the Republican charge to advance budget policy but defund the Affordable Care Act…
Protect the hungry and the poor
The Republican dominated House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday which would cut roughly $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the coming decade. Representative and Majority Leader Eric Cantor who was the leading force behind the bill stated that, “[It was] wrong for working, middle-class people to pay [for SNAP],” citing…
Obama’s newfound leverage in Syria
It seems that President Obama has a chance to catch his breath. Capitalizing on Secretary of State John Kerry’s seemingly off the cuff hypothetical, Russian President Vladimir Putin and diplomat Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov pounced on the opportunity to resume negotiations in disarming Syria’s chemical weapons. Maybe, just maybe this diplomatic shift might help boost legitimacy…


