Posts by Gary Pearce
Kennedy and Obama
As if I didn’t get enough JFK last week, I’m reading a new book about how Kennedy, in his last months, was growing into and getting better at the roles of President, politician and persuader-in-chief. If only President Obama could summon some of that mojo now on Obamacare. The book (“JFK’s Last Hundred…
Read MoreMcCroryisms
There he goes again: “We didn’t shorten early voting, we compacted the calendar.” Now, that’s positively Orwellian. And it’s the latest in a long string of eye-catching – and embarrassing – statements by Governor McCrory. Two weeks ago, John Frank wrote in the N&O: “At least a dozen times in his first 10 months…
Read MoreJFK
Those of us who remember November 22, 1963, must be a mystery to those of you who don’t. Why do we watch the same clips over and over? Why does it still affect us 50 years later? To start with, it was our first shared televised grief. TV was still new in 1963. It…
Read MoreThe Great Divide
How often does some well-meaning soul say, “Democrats and Republicans should put aside their differences and just do what’s right for the country.” That sounds perfectly reasonable. But it’s perfectly unrealistic. The differences are over what’s right for the country. And the differences are fundamental and unbridgeable. How, for example, would the two…
Read MoreScary Numbers
This poll might make Democrats wonder if Obamacare’s problems go way beyond the botched rollout, broken promise and bug-filled website. The Gallup Poll says that, by 56-42, Americans believer it is NOT the federal government’s responsibility “to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage.” Now, take this with a caveat. Gallup’s polls famously…
Read MoreWhither Obamacare?
Judging from Obamacare, Democrats can’t make government work. Judging from the October shutdown, Republicans don’t want it to work. What’s a democracy to do? Obamacare is essentially an old Republican idea, hatched by the Heritage Foundation as an alternative to single-payer health insurance. It’s essentially Romney care. The idea is to put everybody in…
Read MoreWhy We Like Polls
For all our disagreements, Carter and I agree on one thing: the value of polls. But we constantly have to explain why – and defend ourselves. Most recent was a delightful dinner discussion with a group of learned and accomplished gentlemen from Chapel Hill. For the first half hour, we were peppered by questions…
Read MoreTime to Panic?
Is Senator Kay Hagan overreacting on Obamacare, or should Democrats rush to the lifeboats and abandon ship? If you go by the N&O website’s headline – “Hagan calls for probe of healthcare website as political support drops” – you’d panic. After all, she had a conference call with reporters to call for investigations of…
Read MoreJob Killers?
Governor McCrory and legislative Republicans have a theory: Cut taxes and regulations, and jobs will flow in. What if they’re wrong – not only on the economics, but also on the politics? What if their theory leads to North Carolina becoming a more Democratic state? The question arises from two recent conversations: one…
Read MoreSalute
Only one million World War II veterans are still living in America today. My stepfather, Joe Dickerson, is one of them. Joe was in the first wave to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Fourteen of the 30 men on his LCVP died in the water or on the beach. His unit, Company E,…
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