"WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces Monday, then quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run."

"Not since Jack Kennedy has a president had a press corps so protective of the man they cover -- though in Kennedy's case, they covered up a lifestyle that could have ended JFK's presidency."

"So much of this administration's talk about energy sounds similar to a bull session in the faculty lounge, or what we would expect from lifelong bureaucrats and public functionaries who have never experienced long commutes or struggles in the harsher, profit-driven private workplace. 

"Now the global economy is recovering and energy use is climbing, as the U.S. dollar sinks. The oil-rich Middle East is in chaos. And more than 2 billion people in India and China are desperate for imported oil. The result is that American gas prices are astronomical, and the public is furious and starting to demand relief from the administration. 

"Its answer? Simple: Since re-election looms, the administration now insists that high energy prices are no longer good, but suddenly bad. And the evil oil companies are mostly to blame!"

"Climate change is dead as a major political issue for the foreseeable future. Don’t believe me? Check out Obama’s remarks in his weekly radio address last weekend. It was all about energy policy, and yet not once did he talk about climate change. 

"In one sense that’s odd, given that without global warming, his energy policy goes from merely misguided to outright bonkers. After all, if you wanted to create non-exportable jobs, wean America off foreign oil, or pursue energy independence from the Middle East, absent any concerns about climate change or releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, you would unleash America’s massive energy reserves in coal, gas, and oil. According to the Congressional Research Service — hardly a mouthpiece for Big Oil — the U.S. has the largest energy resources of any country, Saudi Arabia and Russia included."

"An administration that lacks a consistent foreign policy philosophy has nevertheless established a predictable foreign policy pattern.  A popular revolt takes place in country X.  President Obama is caught by surprise and says little.  A few days later an administration spokesman weakly calls for 'reform.'  A few more days of mounting protests and violence follow.  Then, after an internal debate that spills out into the media, the president decides he must do something.  But hoping to keep expectations low, his actions are limited in scope.  By this point, a strategic opportunity is missed and the protesters in country X feel betrayed.

"This record of serial indecision has damaged American interests."

"The real crisis that shouldn't go to waste is figuring out not how to borrow more, but how to spend less. Republicans should call the Democrats' bluff and demand that, in exchange for some modification of the current debt limit, every federal program be subjected -- calmly, soberly -- to the most rigorous practical and constitutional re-examination. Then, such programs should either be cut, reformed or otherwise reduced in cost until we're living within our means and our currency is again on a sound footing so we can start retiring the national debt."

"The battle lines for 2012 are now clear: The very difficult task of confronting our debt, which should be a bipartisan project, falls to just one party. Republicans will have a better shot at success if they remember that reducing future spending, while essential, will never be popular. The message of avoiding fiscal catastrophe must be paired with promoting economic growth in the private sector. Cutting government and promoting jobs and growth are two sides of the same coin. 

"But Republicans cannot be under any illusions. Recent polling suggests that 'granny in the snow' may still elect Democrats."

"Gallup just reported that the Obama approval rate among independent voters stands at 35%. The conventional reply to this is that the American people fundamentally 'like' Barack Obama, or that the GOP candidate will make the election an unlikability Olympics.  

"What voters like is the memory of the historic Obama they voted into the office of the presidency. The person they voted for in 2008 is different than the person who kicked off his presidential campaign last week by personally stomping his opposition. 

"Somehow voters are apparently expected to 'like' whichever version Mr. Obama chooses to give them. It is asking a lot. By definition, this is a gap, and it's looking like it could be a dangerous one for the incumbent."

"In 2008-2009, magazines showed Obama with FDR's hat and cigarette holder; in 2011, the National Review gave them to Ryan, as the New Deal's reviser. History gave Obama his chance to make history by creating a sustainable safety net for the 21st century, and he is blowing it. If he doesn't do it, someone else will."

"The Obama fiscal policy since 2009 has been to explode the U.S. balance sheet with ever-greater spending financed by monetary reflation -- which the President in his speech euphemized as 'emergency steps.' The result after more than two years is what scares S&P and more than a few Americans: a historically subpar recovery, unprecedented deficits, persistently high unemployment, commodity inflation and now growing anxiety over U.S. creditworthiness.  

"The Ryan budget has been criticized as heartless and cruel. But its purpose is to address the rising U.S. debt problem without tanking the U.S. economy, and to do so before a truly heartless and cruel credit downgrade of the sort S&P gave Japan in January. Mr. Obama's response was simply to mock the GOP proposal. 

"The ratings agencies are hardly the last word on U.S. economic health. But the S&P outlook is a warning to the White House that financial markets have noticed that this President seems to have decided that his path to re-election lies in demonizing his opponents rather than seeing to the nation's fiscal well-being."