President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have had an exceptionally good couple of months after taking a beating on inflation, a stalled agenda, and high energy prices during the first half of the year. Inflation may hang around for a bit longer, but Democrats now have an impressive string of legislative victories thanks to Biden's experience, patience, and willingness to compromise. The Economist: “When Joe Biden bangs on about bipartisanship and compromising, some Democr

One of America's greatest advantages is that the world's best and brightest still want to come here to work, live and built new businesses. President Joe Biden wants to use that advantage to drain Russia of its top science talent by relaxing some visa requirements. New York Times: "An administration proposal sent to Capitol Hill as part of a larger package requesting $33 billion in spending on the war would suspend for four years the requirement that scientists applying for v

Donald Trump considered withdrawing from NATO if he won in 2020. To him such alliances are simply expensive relics of the cold war, and he demonstrated no ability to work in concert with our allies on the Iran nuclear deal or anything else while in office. Independent.UK: "Donald Trump was considering pulling out of Nato and cutting the US’s alliance with South Korea if he won the 2020 election, according to an account of his private meetings with top aides." That decision wo

President Joe Biden's legislative agenda took a bit of a hit when Sen. Joe Manchin announced that he could not vote for the Build Back Better Act [BBB] without substantial revisions. In their heart of hearts, most Democrats in Washington expected Manchin would make passage as difficult as possible. He's trying to hold on to a Senate seat in one of the reddest states in America and the climate portions of the bill are anathema to the coal industry in West Virginia. Manchin's a

To a majority of Americans, President Joe Biden's decision to mandate the Covid vaccine for a large portion of our population is just common sense. Most of us are tired of the inane excuses and bizarre conspiracy theories, and understand that the unvaccinated are the reason that the virus has space to mutate into increasingly dangerous forms. And, if I meet one more person who tells me that the vaccine is part of a plot to sterilize white people, I think my head will explode.

During the Trump years, America's standing in the world was reduced to what it could obtain through raw power and intimidation. That might have been enough for Great Britain in the 19th Century, but in the age of nuclear weapons, cyberwarfare, terrorism, and a globalized economy it's not enough to achieve the nation's international goals. You also need what IR expert Joseph Nye called "soft power." US President Joe Biden understands that you need both to reach your global obj