On April 13–15, President Obama participated in what will likely be the last Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. It showed that contemporary gatherings such as this latest Summit—absent strong U.S. leadership and lacking a genuinely constructive agenda—can easily be derailed. The showy gathering of heads of state was designed, starting in 1994, to bring the Americas together. Today, in the glare of the cameras, the summit has become a dysfunctional reality show, where increasingly independent-minded regional leaders freely speak their minds. The summit is a bruising, ego-heavy affair … More
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At the April 2 meeting of North American leaders—President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and President Obama—the U.S. President was not modest in his claims: “When I came to office I pledged to seek a new partnership with our friends in the Americas, a relationship of equality and shared responsibility built on mutual interest and mutual respect. That’s what we’ve done.” For seasoned observers, President Obama rather fulsome claims of success are matched by a certain paucity of results. Observed Robert Pastor, once Jimmy Carter’s … More
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Details of a large non-profit’s plans to combat the Keystone XL pipeline have surfaced, and offer some insight into the strategies and tactics of groups looking to combat the use of fossil fuels. Canadian news channel Sun News uncovered of a PowerPoint presentation from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund detailing its work with other groups to derail the Keystone XL pipeline and other similar projects it deemed parts of “a globally significant threat.” The presentation, written in 2008, describes the allocation of $7 million to environmental non-profits for tactics that include … More
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Heritage and the Wall Street Journal released the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom on Thursday, ranking 179 countries on 10 benchmarks that gauge their economic success. This year Heritage introduced a new interactive feature that gives you the opportunity to create a comparative graph. This week’s chart shows how the United States stacks up against Canada and the United Kingdom. As recently as 2009, the United States led both countries in economic freedom. But after four years of decline, the United States is heading in the wrong direction. This year … More
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Heritage and the Wall Street Journal released the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom on Thursday, ranking 179 countries on 10 benchmarks that gauge their economic success. This year Heritage introduced a new interactive feature that gives you the opportunity to create a comparative graph. This week’s chart shows how the United States stacks up against Canada and the United Kingdom. As recently as 2009, the United States led both countries in economic freedom. But after four years of decline, the United States is heading in the wrong direction. This year … More
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In an exclusive interview with The Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sharply criticized President Obama for engaging in class warfare and accused him of shifting the focus away from his own failed policies in advance of next year’s election. “My view is he’ll have a hard time convincing Americans he deserves four more years of this,” McConnell said. “There’s nothing he’s done that the American people approve of, so of course, he’s trying to change the subject.” McConnell addressed a range of issues during the interview, from … More
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