Word: flank
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Long past dreams of Beltway comity, Obama is now in a political tight spot, wedged between sky-high unemployment and lingering concerns over government spending and debt. That choice pits the President's left flank against his moderate supporters. Meanwhile, Republicans have found some traction on the economy, for which Americans traditionally blame, for good or ill, the guy who calls 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home. As soon as Obama finished speaking, his foes pulled out their knives too. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint called Obama "delusional" and "out of control...
...Iran experts say Tehran's broad interests in Afghanistan are the same as Washington's. The Islamic Republic doesn't want to see a return to chaos on its eastern flank, which would probably lead to a massive refugee influx. As a Shi'ite state, it would see the return to power of militant Sunni hard-liners as a setback. And Iran, which faces a drug-addiction problem of alarming proportions, shares the U.S. desire to curtail Afghanistan's opium trade. If anything, "Tehran stands to lose much more than Washington if Afghanistan reverts back to an al-Qaeda-infested...
Pakistanis, too, are likely to take the 18-month timeline as a signal that they should continue to hedge their bets and support the Afghan Taliban in the tribal areas along the border in order to foil a much feared expansion of Indian influence on their northwestern flank. At the moment U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan believe they can continue the battle despite Pakistan's tolerance of the Afghan Taliban leadership within its borders. Should Pakistani policy move toward active aid and support, however, the task of defeating the Afghan insurgency would become impossibly difficult. (See Europe's response...
...marks the end of the controversial White House strategy of keeping all the powerful industries playing nice during the months-long period of bill-drafting. But the insurance lobby's hard-line tactics may give President Obama and his aides a convenient foil just when critics on their left flank are mobilizing for more-dramatic reforms. If those more liberal lawmakers get their way, the insurers could take some more hits: on Oct. 14, Democratic New York Senator Chuck Schumer struck back by announcing that he wants to revoke health insurers' antitrust exemption. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called...
Maverick No More? The challenge on his right flank helps explain why McCain has been withering in his criticism of Obama. To some of his former admirers on the left, McCain's gracious election-night concession speech seemed to signal the return of the true McCain: a buoyant dealmaker more interested in crossing the aisle than in scoring partisan points. But McCain's campaign edge hasn't gone away. "A lot of people, including me," says Mark McKinnon, a longtime adviser, "thought he might be the Republican building bridges to the Obama Administration. But he's been more like...