What difference do political speeches make?Like Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama is regarded as a great communicator. But to what extent do political speeches make a real difference in terms of passing policy and gathering public support? asks Robert de Neufville.
Ronald reagan
Come in Spinner: royal wedding a traditional PR framing device
The recent royal wedding is instructive for many reasons, but probably mainly for illustrating the effectiveness of using tradition as a framing device.
Even Reagan isn’t enough of a Reaganite
The Republican Party has launched so far to the hard right that none of the modern Republican presidents — not Reagan nor Nixon nor Dubya — would be able to be elected today.
A history of US Presidential bookworms
Barack Obama is well known as a “reader” — but he’s hardly the first US President to bury his nose in a book: Nixon loved Tolstoy, Reagen studied the ideas of Milton Friedman, and Clinton liked the “cheap thrill” of a mystery novel.
PHOTO GALLERY: Beauty queens, bowling and bunnies: US presidents like you’ve never seen them before
From President Truman’s summer wardrobe — mainly Hawaiian shirts and pastel shorts — to Reagan surrounded by 80s supermodels and LBJ singing to his dogs, take an inside peek inside the secret world of US presidents.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: The death of the neo-cons
Though neoconservatives came to most people’s attention during the Dubya era, their imperial purple was undoubtedly the Reagan years. The death of Irving Kristol rules a line across one era of the American intellectual right.
Goldman Sachs is bad for America
Goldman Sachs’ over-the-top profit results highlights the hypocrisy haunting Wall St, writes the venerable Paul Krugman.
Obama embraces Reagan; Republicans suddenly less keen
Obama has been quite generous in his praise of Ronald Reagan of late, while Republicans have suddenly begun reassessing whether Reagan is the best role-model to follow as they seek a path back to power.
Don’t blame Reagan for recession
How could Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics and author of generally excellent columns in The New York Times, get it so wrong? asks Robert Scheer.
Paul Krugman: the Reagan wrong turn that left us stuffed
The more you look at it, the more it’s clear that Ronald Reagan is to blame for the global financial crisis.
Hot Chips! The Truth!
A Crikey expose with George Clooney
Drug testing MPs and the Shultz defence
On Sunday, Senator Bill Heffernan called for random testing of politicians for illegal drugs. Heffernan claimed that the tests would send a message “that we are fair dinkum serious about stamping out drug use”.
