It's Morning in America for Obama, Michelle Shows: Amity Shlaes ``We listened to our hopes, instead
of fears.'' With that line in Denver, Michelle Obama summarized
it all. In America, politics isn't a contest between political
parties. It is a contest between hope and fear. The party that
has the hope usually gets the White House.
America's Obsession With Housing Hobbles Growth: Amity Shlaes Everything will be all right if we
just fix the housing problem. That was the hope investors clung
to as they watched Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac crumble this
week.
Google Can Get Content Lesson the Old-School Way: Amity Shlaes So Google Inc. now is pushing further
into the business of content. Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
confront the universal question of the information business: How
do you add value?
Mad Men of Washington Cheat Voters on Housing Law: Amity Shlaes Sometimes television and politics
conspire to tell the country the same story. That's certainly the
case this week. The new season of ``Mad Men'' debuted with
another episode chronicling Don Draper's secret life. The ad man
in the cable-TV series knows he's not supposed to have that many
drinks at lunch. He knows he's living too hard when he smokes
Lucky Strikes. He knows he shouldn't cheat on his wife.
Obama Chooses a Symbol of War as Berlin Backdrop: Amity Shlaes Sometimes it is the words that get
the politicians in trouble. Sometimes it is the images. In
Berlin, a single picture of Barack Obama is likely to paint a
thousand words about the limits of his foreign policy.
Reagan's the Wrong Scapegoat for Market Crisis: Amity Shlaes Is this the end of Republicans and
their Reaganite philosophy? That's how many Americans are
subtitling the financial drama unfolding before their eyes.
Old Harvard Ties Failing in New Egalitarian Age: Amity Shlaes They have to get in. Sometimes it's
an Ivy League link they covet. Other times it is that slot at a
college that people talk about at church. Either way, college
and grad-school applicants clearly believe that a lifelong
benefit derives from admission to a certain school.
It's Obama's Vision Versus `American Girl' Power: Amity Shlaes Would I be ready for that? That's
the question most of us have when we hear about a family facing
a home foreclosure in, say, Ohio.
McCain's Tax Plan Would Block a Democrat Katrina: Amity Shlaes At about the time the river rose
above its banks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, people in Washington began
talking about how John McCain was going to put the whole country
underwater with his tax plan.
Paulson, Bernanke Face Cleveland's Golden Rebuke: Amity Shlaes American leaders tell themselves that
citizens aren't interested in the nuances of the dollar's value.
The yuan exchange rate? That is something Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson deals with at summits like the one this week with
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan at Annapolis, Maryland. The
inflation rate? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke grapples
with it. The rest just live with the results.