Opinion Focus

Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson was online Tuesday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss his recent columns and the latest news.

Throwing Their Blogs into the Ring (Post, Jan. 23)

The transcript follows.

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Eugene Robinson: My fellow Americans, thanks for joining me on SOTU Day. The president speaks tonight, and for the first time one of those seats behind him will be occupied by a woman, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. That's progress. The other chair will be occupied by Dick Cheney, who as I write is being blamed in court (but not charged) for the Valerie Plame leak. That's something other than progress. Anyhow, lots to talk about today, as usual. Today's column, for the record, was about the Web sites of the major Democratic candidates. (John Edwards has the best web presence, by far.)

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Baltimore: Mr. Robinson: Yours seemed to be the only chat scheduled today where it made sense to address this issue, because I know you have been an editor as well as a columnist. The Post's print edition is carrying an op-ed by Liz Cheney re: the need to stick things out in Iraq -- and the Post's web site is fronting the op-ed, complete with photo. Ms. Cheney is identified as a former principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. She is not, however, identified as the daughter of one of the principal architects of the Iraq fiasco, Richard Cheney. Somehow, I think that identifier is needed, in addition to her former State Dept position. (Gee, I wonder if she got it the same way the President got his current job ... family connections.)

washingtonpost.com: Retreat Isn't an Option (Post, Jan. 23)

Eugene Robinson: I think everybody knows who Liz Cheney is. But, on balance, I agree with you. Better to err on the side of too much identification.

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Gulf Shores, Ala.: Mr. Robinson, excellent column today. I am really opposed to this early start on election '08. I hear that it will cost $300 million for a candidate to get elected. It seems some of that cost can be directly attributed to having to campaign for 18 months. It seems the only people to benefit from this is the talk show pundits and election pollsters. The American citizen, I fear, will be so sick of it come election time they may just stay away from the polls. Something drastic could happen like Bush starting a war with Iran or another terrorist attack to change that, though. What is your opinion?

Eugene Robinson: The starting date for campaigns has been getting earlier and earlier. This time, there's no sitting president or vice president in the race -- and thus no prohibitive favorite in either party -- so all the hopefuls are jumping in before somebody else locks up all the big campaign contributors and all the influential party activists in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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New York.: Can you suggest the rationale behind President Bush's new health care proposal? His proposed new tax on higher end programs runs completely counter to his most basic fiscal philosophy and simultaneously ignores the needs of so many of the uninsured who won't benefit at all from the marginal tax deduction he's offering them. His plan seems to have little chance of gaining traction in Congress and appears destined to be yet another one of his failed initiatives.

Eugene Robinson: Hard to really analyze the proposal until we get the details, but yes, it does seem to run counter to what we've seen from him in the past. My question is what impact it would have on employer-paid health plans overall -- would employers rationalize that since their workers could get a tax break for insurance they bought privately, why should the company even have to offer insurance? Let them buy it on their own, and the tax break will partly compensate them.

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Richmond, Va.: Can you explain this? On "Meet the Press" this past Sunday, John McCain said "The result of withdrawal would be ethnic cleansing between rival religious groups in the capital on the scale of that in Srebrenica, where Serbian military forces slaughtered 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in 1995. We can't expect Americans to sit outside Baghdad or outside the borders and watch such a thing go on." Am I wrong in my understanding that with 34,000-plus Iraqis have been killed this past past year alone, many of them in sectarian violence that seems to mirror the slaughters in the Bosnian/Serbian conflict? Doesn't it appear that, with a majority of Americans wanting a drawdown not an escalation, they are quite prepared to sit outside and watch such a thing go on?

Eugene Robinson: You're right that at least 34,000 Iraqis died in sectarian violence last year. I think McCain was saying that if U.S. forces were to leave, the toll would be much worse.

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Washington: Mr. Robinson, who are you more looking forward to watching: Bush or Webb?

Eugene Robinson: Both. I think it was smart of the Democrats to choose Webb to deliver the response, because of his credibility as a military man. And the personal friction between Bush and Webb makes it that much more interesting.

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Greenville, S.C.: Eugene -- I read an article in The Hill today about the CBC again rejecting membership to non-blacks. Would you be okay with a Congressional White Caucus, restricting membership to whites only?

Eugene Robinson: There was one, for quite a long time. It was called "Congress."

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"I think everybody knows who Liz Cheney is.": Sorry, I'm well-read and I wasn't sure of that fact. I looked it up online to confirm it after reading the article. What happened to full disclosure and not assuming anything?

Eugene Robinson: Like I said, more disclosure is better than less.

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Atlanta via Washington: Within a matter of months Barack has been anointed a savior to the Black community, and now is on the verge of being crucified by the same. Well before the mainstream will even know about it. A little off topic, but what gives in the Black community that our leadership or voice has to come from some predefined assembly in order to have an endorsement of validity? I have a love-hate relationship with Jesse and Sharpton. They serve a purpose but in some arenas they are beyond their realm. Obama may not be the answer, but the contempt I hear in our own community toward him at the infancy of his effort is just startling.

Eugene Robinson: I think the idea of a single black leader, or group of leaders, is an anachronism. I think people look to Revs. Jackson and Sharpton on some issues and not on others. It's understandable that some black political leaders who have toiled in the vineyards for years would resent Barack Obama's sudden rise to prominence. Some white political leaders resent him too, for the same reason. Some white political leaders who thought they had a clear path to the presidency now have to rethink their strategies. Meanwhile, I think voters, black and white, will make their own decisions about him.

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Cache Valley, Utah: Good day Mr. Robinson -- many thanks for the chats, they are the perfect compliment to my mid-morning coffee and donuts. Could you, would you please inform the WaPo readership what, exactly, qualifies Liz Cheney to pen an op-ed piece on winning the Iraq war while criticizing the Democratic party (i.e., HRC) for not winning said war even though her father's republican party is totally responsible for the mess it has become. Also, have you read any of the WaPo readers' comments -- over 45 pages and counting -- and do you think it is surprising that almost no comments have been posted in support of her nepotistic drivel? Where are Bush's elusive 28 percent approval-squads to cheer Ms. Cheney on?

Eugene Robinson: To steal and mangle a great line, I disagree with every word of that op-ed, including "and" and "the." But op-eds are supposed to be provocative, and any piece that provokes 45 pages of comments is doing its job. She worked in the State Department on the Middle East, and she wrote a piece that got people riled up. Those qualify as qualifications.

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Annapolis, Md.: I watch Imus in the morning and today ex-Sen. Santorum was on. I was amazed that he wants Sen. Clinton to be the Democratic Presidential candidate. He went in to great detail on how he thought Obama was not qualified. Do you think his statement reflects the Republican party thinking that they would rather take on Hillary than Obama? Are these the kind of talking points we are going to hear for the next year? Also he stated that the intelligence community had been holding back on disclosing that Iran has been a major player in the Iraq war. If this was a problem why did the ex-Senator not bring this to anyone's attention when he was in the Senate? Who has been in charge the past 6 years? Santorum supports the President's troop increase. My last thought about the interview this morning was that Santorum, for a mere $30,000 per lecture, would be glad to speak to any group. I am sure some will be paying that fee to hear the ex-Senator speak, but one morning interview on Imus for free was enough for me.

Eugene Robinson: Thanks for the summary of Santorum's talking points; you saved me $30,000. I doubt there's a unified Republican position on whom the party would like to run against, since there isn't even a unified Republican position on who should be the party's candidate. I, too, would wonder why the senator would have been all hush-hush about Iran all this time.

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Las Vegas: Good morning Mr. Robinson. I know today's "State of the Union speech" is a tradition or norm, but is it me or is the President unwittingly wasting what "political capital" he has? Also, have the actions of President Bush fostered a mistrust and anger in American society that will haunt future Presidents? Thanks.

Eugene Robinson: The State of the Union speech is something the president has to do, and anyway it's not as if he has a lot of political capital to fritter away at this point. I do think people will be more skeptical about whatever snake oil their leaders are trying to sell them. At least I hope so.

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Juneau, Alaska: Hi Gene -- Given the recent poll numbers for 43, can he go any lower? I used to think if he was revealed to be the Antichrist, 40 percent still would hang with him. Now I am not too sure. Your take?

Eugene Robinson: The president's approval rating is so low at this point that he risks spending the next two full years as an unpopular lame duck. His big problem is Iraq. If the war situation doesn't somehow improve, I find it hard to imagine how he can get his numbers to rise.

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Pittsburgh: Will we find out anytime soon what Senator Specter's motivation was in slipping language into the reauthorization of the Patriot Act that has allowed the administration to replace 8 or 9 U.S. Attorneys without congressional oversight? Any chance Congress will revisit this provision?

Eugene Robinson: I don't know why he did that, and I hope Congress does revisit this issue.

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Virginia: I read that Sen. Webb's son has just been scheduled for another tour of duty. What are the chances that Sen. Webb says something really pointed about that this evening? Like "A few weeks ago the President asked how my son was. Apparently, he found out that he was doing well and decided to change that."

Eugene Robinson: I think the chances of that are quite slim. But that's the thing about Webb, you never really know. He's not a traditional politician. I'll be watching to see what happens.

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Alexandria, Va.: I was surprised The Post endorsed the President's health plan tax proposal. I ask everyone in this chat: "All those with 'gold-plated' health plans, please raise your hand."

Eugene Robinson: My sense is that even the most generous employers have been scraping the gold plating off their health plans in recent years, simply because of rising costs.

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RE: Liz Cheney : Since someone raised the topic, I'd just like to say I appreciate Liz Cheney pointing out we are in a war. Props for that clarification, Ms. Cheney -- you just left out the word "illegal." Oh, and thanks for questioning the courage of those who disagree with you and your daddy ... real American of you, that.

Eugene Robinson: We've spent more than enough time on the Liz Cheney piece, but I did want to take on the canard that anyone who disagrees with the Bush-Cheney analysis of the situation in Iraq is either spineless or a friend of terrorism. That's not an honorable way to frame an argument.

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Political junkieland: I enjoy your appearances on MSNBC. I consider myself a moderate/liberal but find your fellow pundit, Pat Buchanan, delightful in spite of the fact that I disagree with almost everything he says. When you get him laughing it's just contagious. Is he as delightful in person?

Eugene Robinson: I disagree with almost everything Pat Buchanan says (except his opposition to the war in Iraq, and his alarm over the possibility of a new war with Iran). Some of his views, especially on immigration, are just way beyond the pale. But yes, he's a really nice guy. He really is.

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South Orange, N.J.: Thank you for taking my question. Do you think that "alternative media" like the Internet will reduce the cost of political campaigns?

Eugene Robinson: Not presidential campaigns. It's possible, though, that the Internet will allow candidates to reach people who are not reachable by old-school campaign techniques. And the Internet, as Howard Dean proved, can be a formidable fund-raising tool.

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Washington: Hi Eugene. USA Today had a cover story a few weeks back identifying the "big question" on Barack Obama as being lack of experience. Give me a break. Do you think that the "experience" question is just a proxy for the real question, which is whether Americans are ready and willing to elect a Black man as President?

Eugene Robinson: Well, let's not go overboard. While it's true that there have been presidents with less experience than Obama -- Lincoln was one -- it's also true that most presidents have had more experience. I think some people may use that as a proxy for the race question, but it doesn't come totally out of left field. He will deal with the experience thing by the way he handles his campaign and his Senate business over the coming months. The race thing is something voters will have to deal with, because he can't change that.

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Helena, Mont.: I have thought that having Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker will help Hillary Clinton if she becomes the Democratic nominee -- the American people will have become accustomed to a woman in a place of power. What do you think?

Eugene Robinson: I agree.

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Eugene Robinson: Thanks, everyone. My time is up for today. See you again next Tuesday at 1.

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