Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
National parties mediate the differences between their regional bases. The Democrats, for example, must negotiate between the interests of their constituencies in the northeast, the upper midwest, and the west coast. What an autoworker in Detroit sees as a critical political issue from a taxi driver in New York City, and both would [...]
There is always theater in the writing of a defense budget. That is true no more so than this year, when a string of unusual events has made the American military process even more complicated than usual. In 2009-2010, the defense budget is…
Being made by a Democratic President and Democratic Congress for the [...]
The GOP made a big show of not cooperating with President Obama’s passage of the stimulus bill last week. No Republican member of the House voted for the bill and only three GOP Senators did so. There are three major political implications of the way the bill was passed:
Legislative power in the government [...]
On this day in history, the United States took actions that came to symbolize the contradictions of the Pacific War, at home and abroad. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ordered the internment of ethnic Japanese (Issei) and Japanese-Americans (Nisei) living in the western U.S.. In 1945, assault [...]
“Don’t blame us for sucking at our jobs.”
One of the most critical underlying stories of last night’s election is the continuation of a regional electoral realignment that started in the 1960s and reached partial fruition yesterday night. In 1976, Jimmy Carter won election to the Presidency by winning every southern state, a spine of states running up the Appalachians to New [...]
Part I (Army),here
Part II (Air Force)here
Like the Army and Air Force, the Navy avoided moving away from the comfort of its Cold War strategy. During the first post-Soviet, the admirals clung to the philosophy that had driven acquisitions during the Cold War. That strategy had been based on controlling the sea, following the precepts of [...]
Also posted at The Jamestown Project blog
Why is Barack Obama winning this election? Just over a week before the election, the Democratic nominee enjoys substantial leads in most polls, popular and electoral both. That is no guarantee of ultimate victory: the only poll that counts is November 4th, as Thomas Dewey found out to his [...]
Presidential candidates, for good or ill, are crucially defined by war. That is as true in 2008 as previously, but the superior candidate in this election is not the one everyone thinks.
Perceptions of the candidate and, less obviously, perceptions by the candidate are influenced by their experiences of war. In recent elections, the images of [...]
Part I here,
Part II
here.
None of the three main Democrats in the primary campaign had any substantial military knowledge. Rather than attempt to run another war hero, the Democrat voters decided that Iraq would neutralize the national security issue. But that required a candidate who was not tainted by Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for [...]
The Jamestown Project- Small Tent April 16, 2009 dsilbey
- Votes Have Consequences, or Regionalization (continued) April 14, 2009 dsilbey
- What A Regional Party Looks Like April 7, 2009 dsilbey
- What Defeat Looks Like March 31, 2009 dsilbey
- The Wrong Question March 30, 2009 dsilbey
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- Silbey@twitter
- silbey: My daughter just mooned my wife. Proudest moment of my life.
- silbey: Well, there goes stretching: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/phys-ed-how-necessary-is-stretching/
- silbey: @msilbey Color Me Mine called; your pieces are ready.
- silbey: http://edgeofthewest.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/insert-economist-joke-here/
- silbey: @msilbey Almost no chance.
- silbey: @davezatz Me too. An external keyboard for my iPod Touch is all I need to dump my laptop on trips.
- silbey: @msilbey Smooches. (somewhere, KHop is retching)
- silbey: @kdhopwood You're a doll.
- silbey: @kdhopwood http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2009-11/tales-of-a-geek-squad-recovery/
- silbey: Having emotional crisis. Wish to punch out commenter on wife's blog post. Recognize that this is not professional. Still wish to do it.
