Greatest Hits: Steve Calabresi (Sept edition)

TW: As promised I combed the past 90 days "Arena at Politico" answers of the inimitable Prof. Steve Calabresi, Northwestern University, for his best nuggets of political insight. The nuggets are so delicious that I am going to have to break it up, these are from one month's great work.

Sept 11, 2008- How Palin did in the Gibson interview?
"Palin’s interview shows her to be Reaganesque in her toughness, niceness, and ability to connect with ordinary Americans."

Sept 15, 2008- Which candidate is reacting best to the deepening economic crisis?
"Obama offers us a second term of Jimmy Carter economics"

Sept 18, 2008- On how McCain should have reacted to Obama's surge in the polls?
"McCain should argue that the financial crisis will be made much worse by Obama’s massive spending and tax increases by his refusal to extend free trade to Columbia and South Korea, by his calls for the renegotiation of NAFTA, and by the $10 a gallon gasoline that will result from an Obama energy policy built around windmills and solar.

Obama wants to react to the financial crisis the way Herbert Hoover reacted to the stock market crash of 1929 which was to kill free trade, raise taxes to balance the budget, and impose new regulatory burdens. The Obama-Hoover approach is one sure way of turning a Wall Street crisis into a great depression."

Sept 19, 2008- On why Republicans were doing better?
"Republicans now have a war hero running for president, Ronald Reagan reincarnated as a woman running for vice president..."

Sept 23. 2008- On whether to trust the Bush Administration?
"This Administration deserves to be trusted because it has kept us safe from terrorist attack since 9/11, has fought and won two wars, has presided over eight years of economic growth, has appointed two stellar justices to the Supreme Court, and has even learned how to do Louisiana’s job of protecting that state from hurricanes. The day will come, and not before long, when Americans will wish that George Bush was still president."

Sept 27, 2008- Reaction to the first Obama/McCain debate (the one that was universally regarded as a key positive inflection point for Obama)
"Obama seemed rattled and peeved by McCain’s repeated polite but firm attacks.
It makes you wonder how he would do if he ever gets those meetings with Ahmadinejad, Raul Castro, or Putin! If Obama’s goal tonight was to vex McCain he not only failed but got vexed himself instead."