Michael Barone
The Archive
America's culture wars aren't new — and don't have predictable endings
Cultural wars are nothing new in America. In fact, these quarrels trace back to the American Revolution with Yankees' heritage battling against Puritan roots.
The secrets to making Big Government work
The Democrats' major problem, Ezra Klein argues, is that they're too unambitious.
Dems' 'end of democracy' warnings on GOP gerrymanders prove totally hypocritical
After years of complaining about Republicans gerrymandering, the Democrats are redrawing like never before with the help of partisan state courts, Michael Barone writes.
Two special-election results suggest Republicans have stanched the bloodletting
In this century of increasing partisan polarization and straight-ticket voting, local special elections are a proxy for opinion on national issues.
De Blasio is a goner, but his toxic anti-meritocracy mentality is here to stay
Bill De Blasio will be out of office soon, but his mindset, bent on advancing bogus theories of systemic racism and opposed to upward mobility, seems to be lingering on...
Flawed assumptions about voters have produced two presidents many find wanting
Here’s a jarring thought: Most political analysts, and most political strategists for our two political parties, have been operating off flawed data and flawed assumptions. The result has been one...
Democrats need better arguments for their agenda than 'Orange Man Bad'
President Joe Biden’s disastrous border and social spending policy changes from the Trump administration come down to one sleazy narrative -- "Orange man bad,” Michael Barone writes.
Will Hillary EVER apologize for propagating the biggest hoax in US political history?
The full consequences of the great political hoax of our time — the charge that former President Donald Trump was colluding with Russia — aren’t yet fully apparent. Yet they...
Joe Biden is making even Jimmy Carter look good
“The worst president since Jimmy Carter.” You see a lot of that sort of thing if you regularly read conservative commentary, as I do. But as a conservative writer, I...
A different airlift shows what an utter disaster Biden's Afghan evacuation truly is
President Harry Truman’s successful Berlin airlift operation in 1948-49 shows how awful President Joe Biden has been at leading the country, Michael Barone writes.
Taiwan, Israel, Japan will get the message behind Biden's neglect of US allies in Afghanistan
Historians aren’t actually sure that Nero caused or neglected a fire that consumed much of ancient Rome. Historians, however much they’d like to, won’t be able to deny that President...
California Democrats are failing the basic test of governance
Will Gov. Gavin Newsom be the second Democratic governor of California to be recalled and removed from office in this (or the last) century? Polls suggest it’s possible.
The Biden era is a wretched repeat of our 1960s and ’70s crises
Doesn’t it make sense to go back and update policies that worked?
Democrats condemn Trump's 'Big Lie' but keep telling ones even worse ones themselves
Did you know that black people are not going to be allowed to vote in America anymore? At least in states controlled by Republicans? Sounds a bit unlikely, but that’s...
NYC mayoral race shows: It's well-off whites — not minorities — who back far-left policies
New York City’s notoriously incompetent election officials have not finished tabulating the votes in the June 22 Democratic primary, with its novel ranked-choice-voting system.
On Juneteenth, remember those who paved the way for slavery's extinction
Edward Coles lived to witness the 13th Amendment and the original Juneteenth. This Juneteenth is a good time to remember him and the many others who strived to put American...
Facebook is America's biggest suppressor of free speech — and proud of it!
“A lot of people have egg on their face” for dismissing the COVID-19 lab leak theory, tweeted ABC News’ Jonathan Karl this week. “Some things may be true even if Donald...
Political winds — like those in Britain — mean trouble for Democrats in US
Five years ago next month, British voters, in the largest turnout ever, voted to leave the EU by a 52% to 48% margin. It was an unexpected result, and a...
Based on Biden's performance so far, there's trouble ahead for Democrats
On the surface, President Joe Biden seems to be doing pretty well. But underneath, there are signs of problems, areas where partisan overstretch threatens the underpinnings of what some are...
In the age of COVID, trying to avoid all risk has its downside
“This is not politics,” President Joe Biden said last week. “Reinstate the [mask] mandate.” This follows his dismissal of Gov. Greg Abbott's decisions in Texas as “Neanderthal thinking.” But maybe...