Susan Estrich from Creators Syndicate

Keep Worrying for 10/24/2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

My Democratic friends want to know when they can stop worrying.

The answer is soon, but not too soon. Say around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. And I mean 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Barack Obama is ahead right now. Comfortably ahead. Yes, if you look through every single poll, you can find some outliers — the ones that have the race as close as one or two points, along with the ones t ...

Updated: Fri Oct 24, 2008

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The Back Room for 10/29/2008

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I have one word of advice for the fancy folks at the Republican National Committee who shelled out $75,000 at Neiman Marcus and $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue, among other places, to dress Sarah Palin and family: Loehmann's.

And if you want upscale, consider the "Back Room" at Loehmann's, which carries all the top designers at a fraction of the price.

I don't begrudge the ...

Updated: Wed Oct 29, 2008

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The Final Days for 10/31/2008

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It is time for this election to be over. It is time because it has been going on for what feels like a lifetime, because the final days have been full of noise and fury and very little light, and because we need to start solving problems rather than just debating them.

It is time because we all know how it should turn out and because thinking about what could happen if it doesn't is too ...

Updated: Fri Oct 31, 2008

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Yes He Did for 11/05/2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Four years ago, he was a State senator from Illinois. Four years ago, the idea of electing a black man as president of the United States was a fantasy.

This belongs to you, Barack Obama told his supporters. And it did, in the way any presidential victory does, in the combination of the sweat and tears, the contributions and calls, the ads and speeches and targeting and tactics of hundred ...

Updated: Wed Nov 05, 2008

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The Bitter End for 11/07/2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

For many California voters, especially those who supported Barack Obama's presidential bid, election night had a bright beginning and a bitter end. The state overwhelmingly supported the next president. There was no "Bradley effect," as it had come to be known in the place where it was born: former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's failure to win the governorship, when he was ahead in t ...

Updated: Fri Nov 07, 2008

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Sarah Palin Mattered for 11/12/2008

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

For years I've been dining out on the story of the 1988 vice presidential debate, where Lloyd Bentsen literally cleaned Dan Quayle's clock — "You're no Jack Kennedy" — resulting in a huge increase in his own approval ratings and virtually no bump at all for the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket.

Quayle and Spiro T. Agnew have long been Exhibits A and B buttressing the conventi ...

Updated: Wed Nov 12, 2008

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President Hillary for 11/14/2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

I saw it on election night, as I scrolled through the exit poll that somehow made its way online (at least at cbsnews.com) even before the polls closed in Ohio. It only took a little calculation for the result to be clear: Had the election been a contest between Hillary Clinton and John McCain, more of McCain's voters would have voted for Hillary than Obama voters for McCain. Based on the exit ...

Updated: Fri Nov 14, 2008

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Leaving Home for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

As the fires burned across Southern California this weekend, the all-news radio station I listen to kept running tape of a guy advising people about what to put in their "grab-and-go" boxes. He was from some insurance association, so — big surprise — his focus was on insurance documents.

I almost laughed. As one of the world's worst housekeepers and organizers, it c ...

Updated: Wed Nov 19, 2008

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The Legal Road Ahead for 11/21/2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The California Supreme Court's decision to hear argument as an "original" matter in three of the lawsuits challenging the adoption of Proposition 8 means the issue of gay marriage will soon be back in the courts. With one Justice voting not to hear the cases challenging Prop 8 at all and one voting to stay its enforcement (and thus allow gay marriage to continue) pending a court decis ...

Updated: Fri Nov 21, 2008

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Giving Thanks for 11/26/2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The woman going up in the medical building elevator with me was so young and beautiful and carefree that it took my breath away. Young and beautiful is not so unusual in Beverly Hills. But carefree?

I looked to see if she was carrying a case — a sure sign of a drug company representative — but she wasn't. I half followed her, looking to see if maybe there was an obstetrician ...

Updated: Wed Nov 26, 2008

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The "A Team" for 12/03/2008

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

You can tell a lot about a person by the people who surround them. In theory, the "bigger" you are, the bigger and better the people around you should be. What makes a great leader is a great team. All that.

Except that very often, it just ain't so. I can't begin to count the number of times I have met people who are, in theory, at the top of whatever their game is, and the peo ...

Updated: Wed Dec 03, 2008

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Where is John Edwards? for 12/05/2008

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Doris Kearns Goodwin could not have asked for more. The author of "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," published in 2006, is making headlines once again for her foresight, as well as her knowledge of history, in light of President-elect Barack Obama's decision to surround himself with his former rivals, including Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State ...

Updated: Fri Dec 05, 2008

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The Old Media for 12/10/2008

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In Los Angeles, where I live, there was plenty of snickering this week about Tribune Company's decision to file for bankruptcy protection. Tribune owns the Los Angeles Times, which in recent years has seen its staff cut even more than its circulation and advertising.

The once mighty Times has managed to give almost everyone in Los Angeles a reason to hate it, as it cycled through editors ...

Updated: Wed Dec 10, 2008

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Dumb and Dumber for 12/12/2008

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Trying to sell a Senate seat is dumb. Not realizing that getting caught means you have to give up your seat as governor is dumber.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich's business-as-usual attitude the day after he was indicted for putting a price on Barack Obama's Senate seat — on tape no less — provides even more evidence, if any more were needed, that the guy is not only corrupt and craven ...

Updated: Fri Dec 12, 2008

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The Next Senator Kennedy for 12/17/2008

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The news that Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president and much-dubbed Princess of Camelot, is seeking to replace Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate has set many tongues to wagging.

It's all about entitlement, some are saying: What has she done to deserve a seat in the Senate? What does she know? Who does she think she is?

Some years ago, I was helping a candidate ...

Updated: Wed Dec 17, 2008

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The Other Marriage Penalty for 12/19/2008

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Energy czar-designate Carol Browner's husband does it. So does Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle's wife. Congressman John Dingell's wife has been doing it for years.

Should they all be forced to stop and go home and bake some of those chocolate-chip cookies, the very mention of which got Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton in so much trouble so many years ...

Updated: Fri Dec 19, 2008

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The Christmas Spirit for 12/25/2008

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In the eight years since he left the White House, Bill Clinton has worked tirelessly to save the lives of children in some of the most miserable places on the planet. He has traveled to Africa more than most of us travel to see relatives, in order to bring much-needed medicines for AIDS and malaria to those who would die without them and to support economic development in places like Rwanda and ...

Updated: Thu Dec 25, 2008

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Happy New Year ... for 01/01/2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

When I was younger, New Year's was a time fraught with frantic uncertainty revolving around the seemingly critical questions of whether I would have a date and-or something to do. Having nothing to do on New Year's Eve and-or no one to do it with seemed a fate worse than death, or close.

For some years, the problems were solved by being married and being invited to a fancy and fashionabl ...

Updated: Thu Jan 01, 2009

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Crazy Like a Fox for 01/07/2009

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As the weeks pass since Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was publicly drawn and quartered by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the man has simply refused to give up. The Energizer bunny has nothing on this guy. I can't say he's earned my respect — respect would definitely be the wrong word — but he's proved that some of the oldest, and worst, rules of politics still hold true. Hang in ...

Updated: Wed Jan 07, 2009

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For Love of Israel for 01/09/2009

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

"Go back to the oven," the woman in her hijab in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., yelled to the Jewish Americans demonstrating their support for Israel. "You need a big oven, that's what you need."

This is why I love Israel and always have. It is because Israel will never surrender to their hatred.

Israel is tiny. If you live in Massachusetts, as I did when I traveled th ...

Updated: Fri Jan 09, 2009

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