Columns

WASHINGTON -- So much for the argument that having more people armed in public places will result in fewer gun deaths.

The end of the world may be nigh: Uber-liberal politician Sandy D'Alemberte and I agree on something. It is that state Sen. John Thrasher would be a great president for Florida State University.

For 10 days, Americans have argued over the wisdom of trading five Taliban senior commanders for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.President Obama handed the Taliban a victory, critics contend, and imperiled U.S. troops in Afghanistan when the five return to the battlefield. Moreover, he has inspired the Haqqani network and other Islamists to capture more Americans to trade.

President Obama evidently was caught by surprise by the scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs.So, apparently, was VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who evidently took at face value the corrupt VA statistics -- and who, after a distinguished military career, resigned last week.

Though President Barack Obama's first term was characterized by anemic economic growth, decreasing household income, prolonged joblessness, an unpopular health law, foreign policy blunders and bitter partisanship, the electorate seemed stubbornly unwilling to lay any of it at his feet. As late as July 2013, 35 percent of Americans assigned George W. Bush a "high degree" of blame for the economy versus only 19 percent who named Obama alone.

WASHINGTON -- What is it with Susan Rice and the Sunday morning talk shows? This time she said Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had served in Afghanistan "with honor and distinction" -- the biggest whopper since she insisted the Benghazi attack was caused by a video.

WASHINGTON -- What Winston Churchill said of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles -- that he was a bull who carried his own china shop around with him -- is true of Susan Rice, who is, to be polite, accident prone. When in September 2012 she was deputed to sell to the public the fable that the Benghazi attack was just an unfortunately vigorous movie review -- a response to an Internet video -- it could have been that she, rather than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was given this degrading duty because Rice was merely U.N. ambassador, an ornamental position at an inconsequential institution. Today, however, Rice is Barack Obama's national security adviser, so two conclusions must be drawn.

WASHINGTON -- The exchange of five Guantanamo detainees for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has reminded us of three unpleasant facts of life: The United States does negotiate with terrorists; the president will circumvent laws as circumstances require; Republicans and Democrats will be summarily outraged as party affiliations seem to require.

Last week I set out a 2016 nightmare scenario for Republicans -- not one that seems likely, but one that can be extrapolated from current polling.In that spirit, let me set out a 2016 nightmare scenario for Democrats -- again, not likely but a plausible extrapolation.

It's not often that anyone can get 89 percent of any American group to agree on anything. In Florida today, recent polling has concluded that 89 percent of Florida Democrats want to see a debate among Democratic candidates for governor.

WASHINGTON -- To hear tell, the mean ol' GOP is waging war on Michelle Obama and, brace yourself, America's children. Got it? The newest war on women/children relates to the first lady's well-intentioned but disastrous school nutrition program, otherwise known as the Dumpster Derby.

It's been 10 years since Ronald Reagan passed away, but one horrible myth about him will not die. When he passed, The Advocate magazine published an essay by radical gay playwright Larry Kramer titled "Adolf Reagan." The rant began: "Our murderer is dead. The man who murdered more gay people than anyone in the entire history of the world, is dead. More people than Hitler even."

Here's a not-so-bold prediction: After the press loses interest in the Veterans Affairs scandal, after the investigations have been completed and one or two officials have resigned, nothing will change.

WASHINGTON -- It is said that the problem with the younger generation -- any younger generation -- is that it has not read the minutes of the last meeting. Barack Obama, forever young, has convenient memory loss: It serves his ideology.

The latest mass-casualty shooting spree -- this one in Santa Barbara, Calif. -- has touched off the usual debate about how to put a stop to these hideous spasms of murder. These random massacres have become, as I wrote in a previous column, an American psychosis.