Michael A. Cohen: All Related Content

Twenty-five years ago, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick famously lambasted Democrats as "blame America firsters" and a party plagued by "self-criticism and self-denigration" of America. It was a speech at pace with an emerging political stereotype that suggested Democrats weren't quite patriotic enough and didn't love their country as much as Republicans did. This image of Democratic weakness and self-doubt became one of the most effective attack lines for Republicans -- and Democrats' greatest political liability.

"Security is not just Blackwater," says Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who has studied the use of contractors. ...

... have the troops to do these tasks on their own," says Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who has studied the issue. ...

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Today, nearly 50 million Americans lack health care coverage, the average American is often one serious illness away from financial ruin and every year nearly 20,000 Americans die because they don't have health insurance.

Yet last week, when President Barack Obama gave a nationally televised news conference to explain his health care policies, he focused on two narrow questions that are defining the health care debate in Washington: "What's in this for me?" and "How does my family stand to benefit from health insurance reform?"

July is not over, but it's already the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war began eight years ago. The US has begun a major offensive against the Taliban, but two out of three allied casualties are caused not by direct combat but improvised explosive devises, crude roadside bombs. Defense Secretary Gates says there must be "progress" before next summer or the war will lose the support of the American people. How will "progress" be measured? What are the US objectives in what's now being called "Barack Obama's War?"

Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, the one criticism heard perhaps more than any other from Republicans was about the cult of veneration that had developed around Barack Obama. He was the “second coming,” the Democrats’ “messiah,” a preening “celebrity,” the political ads joked. But the GOP might have been on to something. For Democrats and their ambitious domestic agenda, it’s all about Obama.

"We're on the path to socialism in America," or so says the Republican National Committee, which in a special emergency session Wednesday wrestled with a resolution condemning the Democrats' "march to socialism." On the bright side, Republicans backed off a move to rebrand Democrats as a "socialist" party. But it seems the damage has already been done.

However, even the seeming prospect of punch-line status cannot divert Republicans from their current path of political marginalization and self-parody.

Dambisa Moyo's new book, "Dead Aid ," is a prime example of an old idea wrapped up in new packaging. As a Harvard-educated child of Africa (Zambia), with stints at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank, Moyo makes for an appealing messenger. However, the idea on which her book is based -- that foreign assistance for Africa hasn't worked -- is hardly an original one to most aid practitioners.

Michael A. Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, said that in the short term -- the next six months or so -- there probably is not going to be an enormous impact. "You've got places that obviously rely pretty heavily on ...

Two months into his presidency, Barack Obama is acting like a stereotypical Democrat on national security. He is reaching out to America’s enemies; he is preaching diplomatic engagement rather than flexing America’s military muscles, and he is following through on his pledge to bring the troops home from Iraq.

It’s been six weeks since change came to Washington, but an old chestnut from the 2008 presidential campaign -- more of the same -- may best define the Republican Party today.

Nearly four months after the American people offered a stinging rebuke to Republicans, the rhetoric from the party’s leaders sounds remarkably familiar: Taxes are bad, spending is bad, big government is worse and socialism is on the way. Indeed, the Republican response to Barack Obama’s election -- both rhetorically and policywise -- has been to act as though nothing has changed.