Republican Smarts Trump Obama’s Scorn: Kevin Hassett (Update1) Whether in the halls of academia or broad swaths of America’s news media, a watchword of liberal faith is that Democrats have the corner on smarts.

Toddlers Buy Houses When Stimulus Trumps Reason: Kevin Hassett The huge economic stimulus blew up in the faces of its supporters last week. The legislation led, we now know, to a massive tax fraud. If ever there was an object lesson in the perils of rushing out a stimulus plan, this is it.

ObamaCare Debate Risks Lives of More U.S. Troops: Kevin Hassett President Barack Obama is betting his presidency on the success of his health-care bill. The politics of health care may now be costing troops their lives in Afghanistan.

Obamacare Tax Frays Middle-Class Vow: Kevin Hassett (Correct) The U.S. Senate’s version of Obamacare finally is emerging into broad daylight, and the more people see of it, the less popular it should be.

Hand Over Your Job If You Want to Dream in Green: Kevin Hassett There may be nothing so dangerous as a policy fantasy. A good one is like the H1N1 virus. It spreads on contact and threatens to infect everyone in its path.

Obama’s Too-Big-to-Fail Plan Is Too Dumb to Pass: Kevin Hassett Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s appearance in Congress last week to explain how President Barack Obama would overhaul financial regulation elicited the most striking sign yet that the wheels have come off the administration’s economic-policy team.

As Acorn Falls, Democrats Would Be Wise to Duck: Kevin Hassett The group known as Acorn found itself at the center of a media storm last week, when two young filmmakers exposed the willingness of workers at several of its offices to offer assistance to a nascent prostitution ring.

Big Spill’s Bad Timing Puts Oil Drilling at Risk: Kevin Hassett It was only last year -- not a millennium ago, as it seems -- that the argument over oil exploration off the U.S. coast was a key issue in a presidential election. Republicans wanted to drill here, and drill now, and scored significant political points with voters who were angry over high gasoline prices.

Obama Heeds Dictator Handbook With School Speech: Kevin Hassett President Barack Obama cannot possibly intend to resemble an aspiring dictator. Somehow, he keeps doing so.

Dollar Is Funny Money in Push for World Currency: Kevin Hassett Like the Chinese, the folks at Disney World peg their currency to the dollar. Hand them $1 U.S. and you receive one Disney dollar, complete with a picture of Mickey Mouse or his friends, plus the signature of Disney’s official treasurer, Scrooge McDuck.