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Miller Center of Public Affairs White House Speechwriters Symposium

June 20-21, 2008

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Recent News

What Now?

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 11/10/2008

For those tuning in late, I was no supporter of Barack Obama’s candidacy.  But the election is over.  Senator Obama is now President-elect Obama.  Here are some thoughts on what now:

    * Yes, I remain (as I was during the campaign) worried that President Obama and the Democratic Congress will raise taxes on entrepreneurs and investors, move towards protectionism and im...

[Read Full Article]

Obama’s Defensive Rhetoric – Bad Sign for His Closing Campaign

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 11/03/2008

Perhaps it’s my imagination, but as we enter the last 48 hours of the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama’s rhetoric on the stump is sounding increasingly defensive. That is a bad sign for his prospects.  Here’s why.
 
I wrote speeches – in three cases many, many speeches -- for Republican candidates or key surrogates (for example, President Reagan in 1988) in every pr...

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The Economics of 2008: A Choice of Middle Classes

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 10/27/2008

When it comes to visions of the middle class, the 2008 presidential campaign is not between Barack Obama and John McCain so much as between Andy Stern and Joe the Plumber. What does that means for our country and its future?
    
    Andy Stern is head of the Service Employees International Union.  By Senator Obama’s standard of earning less than $250,000 a yea...

[Read Full Article]

John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe the Plumber

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 10/20/2008

From the aftermath of former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to George Stephanopoulos’ repeated dismissals of Newt Gingrich on ABC’s “This Week”, yesterday the Sunday talk shows all but declared the election over.  Can John McCain still win even so?  Yes.  Joe the Plumber is part of why.

F...

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Obama’s Cluelessness in Our Time of Surprises

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 10/13/2008

With the MSM turning a blind eye to his every policy gaffe, Barack Obama has made more than his share of commitments that – if he acts on them – could shatter a fragile economy and undermine US security.
 
From raising taxes on entrepreneurs (in an economy in which entrepreneurship is among the few remaining drivers of growth) to retreat from victory in Iraq (an act that would make the succ...

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Everything Old is New Again

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 10/01/2008

This is the week the new-style campaign turns old.
 
Early Monday morning the Obama campaign released a TV spot slamming John McCain for his involvement in the Keating Five scandal.  The attack itself is a scandal.  McCain was totally exonerated by the special counsel appointed for the case. But that hasn’t stopped Obama, who, of course, approved this message.
 
The ad ap...

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The First Bank Run of the Non-Bank Bank Era

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/29/2008

According to a late night email from the House GOP leadership, floor debate on the financial rescue bill may begin as early as 8am Eastern Time and will be limited to three hours.  So the House will almost certainly be discussing the bill by the time this column is posted.
    
    No one needs to be told that this is unpopular legislation.  As of early last wee...

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McCain the new Sarkozy?

Written by Mark W. Davis
Appearing in BBC News / Published 09/29/2008

In France, Nicolas Sarkozy won by successfully breaking from - and even, in a sense, running against - a president of his own party, the disgraced and out-of-touch Jacques Chirac.

In a similar way, John McCain is attempting to mount a Sarkozy-style "second-stage" succession to a Republican Party that has also come to be seen as disgraced and out-of-touch.

He has a lot to run against.

[Read Full Article]

A Wall Street Rescue that Makes Every Player a Winner

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/26/2008

With the Wall Street rescue talks on the ropes, there is a deal waiting to be done that fixes the Paulson Plan’s problems and gives each key player a win.
 
The key objectives of the rescue are: 1) to restore stability and liquidity to a US financial system currently threatened by the collapse in value of a large class of assets, a collapse which has led to catastrophic shrinking of the balance ...

[Read Full Article]

Sin and the Financial Meltdown: Sloth, Not Greed

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/22/2008

    Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress need an economics lesson. Greed is not the deadly sin at the root of the current financial crisis.  If anything, sloth is.  And that means that loading a ton of new regulation on the already highly regulated financial sector will not prevent future crises.
    
    Populist Washington holds ...

[Read Full Article]

Palin v. Obama: Who’s Better Suited for National Security Leadership?

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/15/2008

In the Category 100 hurricane of mainstream media sarcasm, dismissals and denunciations that has blown over the number two spot on the GOP ticket this week, one simple fact remains standing amidst the debris: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is better suited to take responsibility for the national security of the United States than is Illinois Senator Barack Obama. 
 
Let me be clear first about the r...

[Read Full Article]

Health care too important to be a partisan issue

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in Orlando Sentinel / Published 09/14/2008

This article was co-authored with Paul Orzulak of West Wing Writers.

Ever since Franklin Roosevelt first considered including universal health coverage as part of the Social Security Act of 1935, America has seen five attempts to overhaul our federal health system. All have one thing in common: They ended in failure. With eight weeks to go in the presidential campaign, there ar...

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McCain’s Successful Convention: How so and Why

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/08/2008

 By last night (Sunday) it had become clear:  Despite almost exactly opposite reporting in the mainstream media, the Democrats two weeks ago had their second failed convention in a row.  It was the Republican convention that proved a huge success.  How so and why?
    
    First the “how so.” Politicians live and die by polls. A convention ...

[Read Full Article]

Where Does the GOP Go From Here?

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in Wall Street Journal / Published 09/04/2008

St. Paul, Minn.

When John McCain accepts the Republican nomination tonight, he will address a party that doubts itself. In the hall and around the nation Republicans are asking, why does every generic ballot show the GOP losing to the Democrats?

Is it just the normal public fatigue after eight years in control of the White House and, before the 2006 elections, 1...

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Why McCain Still Has a Chance To Win

Written by Peter Robinson
Appearing in Wall Street Journal / Published 09/02/2008

With Barack Obama already established as a skillful rhetorician, people keep asking me, a former White House speechwriter, about John McCain. Can he say anything -- anything at all -- that might place him in the company of Ronald Reagan, the president for whom I used to work?

The answer, I believe, is yes. Before I explain, I need to note one way Sen. McCain has already placed himself alongside President R...

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McCain's Challenge: Redefine the Campaign as Inside Change Blame Versus Outsider Reform

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in US News and World Report / Published 09/02/2008

U.S. News asked speechwriters from past Republican administrations to weigh in with their thoughts on John McCain's acceptance speech. Clark S. Judge wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan.

Republican nominee-to-be John McCain has a chance to redefine the 2008 presidential race on Thursday—if his convention acceptance speech lives up to the standard set so far by his surprisingly astute campaign.

[Read Full Article]

Thursday v. Friday: Set Piece Battle v. War of Maneuver

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 09/01/2008

Last week the nation witnessed two top-of-their-game presidential campaigns at work, campaigns as stunningly different as they were impressive -- different in ways that told a great deal about each candidate.
 
On Thursday night the Obama campaign mounted a show unlike any ever seen in a presidential election: a massive stadium filled to the top rows, a stage inside the stadium shooting off fireworks r...

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Barack Gatsby

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 08/25/2008

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Denver, the media is full of profiles of the party’s soon-to-be nominee.  Who is Barack Obama? they ask, an odd question.  After 19 months of campaigning shouldn’t they know?  But reading the stories, it is clear that those covering him – despite the worshipful reporting -- are not finding the answer all that easy to pin down.&nbs...

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Back-handed democracy win

Written by G. Philip Hughes
Appearing in The Washington Times / Published 08/22/2008

Quick question: When does a 63 percent election victory constitute a setback for the winner? Answer: When it happens in Bolivia.

On Sunday, Aug. 10, Bolivians - who've been going to the polls a lot lately - voted in one of Latin America's strangest elections yet: a recall referendum involving the president, vice president and eight of the country's nine prefects (governors). President Evo Morales, Bolivia'...

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Let the Contest Begin

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in HughHewitt.com / Published 08/18/2008

By Monday next week, all eyes will be turned to Denver and the Russian roulette convention that the Clintons have now forced on Team Obama.  The GOP presidential nominating meeting starts the following Monday.  So this is the last week of the long primary and post-primary season before the traditional campaign begins.  How does the race for the White House look today?
 
Going into this ...

[Read Full Article]

Battling for the Hispanic Vote

Written by G. Philip Hughes
Appearing in elNuevoHerald.com / Published 08/12/2008

(This article was originally published in Spanish and that version is available below.)

This article was co-authored by G. Philip Hughes and J. Paul Johnson.

    The U.S. Hispanic population, at 15% already the largest minority in the U.S. population, is also its fastest growing segment, increasing by 3% between 2006 and 2007.  No wonder th...

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Is The GOP Kitsch Or Clueless?

Written by Mark W. Davis
Appearing in The Wall Street Journal / Published 08/02/2008

The Reagan era was the last time the Republican Party had broad, idealistic appeal among America's youth. Subsequent cohorts -- Gen X and Gen Y -- have come to know the GOP by inarticulate voices and information irrelevant to their lives. This isolation of the Republican Party is only going to get worse as the GOP itself grows generationally irrelevant.

How big is the gap between the party and young America?...

[Read Full Article]

McCain's Latin America Gambit

Written by G. Philip Hughes
Appearing in The Washington Times / Published 07/09/2008

This article was co-authored by G. Philip Hughes and J. Paul Johnson

Pity John McCain.  Back when he was "Maverick John McCain," breaking ranks with his party on issues like campaign finance reform and challenging George W. Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000 he achieved the rank of media darling.

Now that he's the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the ...

[Read Full Article]

Enemies, A Love Story

Written by Daniel Casse
Appearing in The Wall Street Journal / Published 06/06/2008

The Pact

By Steven M. Gillon

(Oxford, 342 pages, $24.95)

In "The Pact," Steven M. Gillon focuses on the two current Washington figures whose political reputations are most in need of rehabilitation. The first is Bill Clinton, the only president in modern times to have been impeached and, more recently, the gaffe-prone spouse of a presidential contender. The second i...

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Despite Raúl Castro's reforms, Cuba still source of oppression

Written by G. Philip Hughes
Appearing in The Orlando Sun-Sentinel / Published 06/05/2008

G. Philip Hughes co-authored this article with J. Paul Johnson

The human rights focus in the May 21 observance of Cuba Solidarity Day was very apposite — but also a little ironic. In February, Cuba signed two UN human rights covenants: The Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Soon thereafter, Raúl Castro announced several much-p...

[Read Full Article]

The Marketing of Thirst

Written by Matthew Rees
Appearing in The Wall Street Journal / Published 05/23/2008

Bottlemania
By Elizabeth Royte
(Bloomsbury, 248 pages, $24.99)

Two years ago, the upscale bottled-water company Fiji published a cheeky ad that read: "The label says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland." The ad writers were no doubt making a watery allusion to the pollutant-fueled fire on Cleveland's Cuyahoga River back in 1969, an episode that severely stained the ...

[Read Full Article]

Dealing with the D-Word

Written by Clark S. Judge
Appearing in National Review Online / Published April, 2008

Two days after the 1988 Democratic National Convention, President Reagan tagged the GOP’s opponents with the “L-word” — the unutterable, to the Democrats, name “liberal” — and more or less ended Michael Dukakis’s race for the presidency as it began. This year the Democrats are on their way to attaching to themselves a new fatal letter label: the D-word, dysfunctional.


Their biggest problem, of co...

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The McCain Fiscal Record

Written by Kevin Stach
Appearing in The Wall Street Journal / Published 02/14/2008

After sweeping the Potomac primary, John McCain is now the de facto Republican nominee for president. But while Mr. McCain's fight for the nomination is all but over, Mike Huckabee's strong showing in Virginia suggests that Mr. McCain's battle to unify the Republican Party is just beginning. One major task is to secure the GOP's right flank, which remains cool to Mr. McCain over issues including taxes and ec...

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