Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

Jeffrey H. Birnbaum is a Washington Times columnist, a Fox News contributor and president of BGR Public Relations. His firm represents a variety of corporations.

Articles by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

BIRNBAUM: Conventions are needed rituals

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

September 5, 2012

BIRNBAUM: Unready for tax reform

Leaders of both political parties say they want to overhaul the federal income tax, but saying is a lot different from doing. BesBefore the tax code was reformed in the mid-1980s, Congress passed three consecutive years of tax increases. That was good practice for the tax-reform job that lay ahead.

August 3, 2012

BIRNBAUM: Defending big government just got harder

Government activism has become a larger issue in presidential politics this year as the result of the Supreme Court's decision to save Obamacare. The role, size and scope of government were always going to be a factor in this year's elections.

July 2, 2012

BIRNBAUM: Romney’s moderate appeal

Election 2012 will be a nail-biter. The Senate majority is as likely to remain in Democratic hands as it is to fall into the Republicans'. And both candidates for president are viewed by voters as credible choices.

May 30, 2012

BIRNBAUM: Romney’s antidotes to envy

President Obama wants to make this year's election an us-versus-them affair, to rile the masses against the wealthy and mobilize government as his instrument of revenge. Mitt Romney has had a hard time fighting back. After all, his personal success and riches are the argument's primary targets.

April 24, 2012

BIRNBAUM: Politicians dodge deficit reality, invite disaster

Everyone knows - and the midterm elections were testimony to the fact - that Washington politicians are not great listeners. But sometimes they don't listen even to themselves.

December 8, 2010

BIRNBAUM: In praise of moderation

The biggest lie of 2010 is this: "I want to go to Washington to get things done." The biggest truth of 2010 is this: Official Washington is too polarized to allow that to happen.

November 19, 2010

BIRNBAUM: Obama’s already on the rebound

Democrats were thrown out of office in droves last week largely because the economy tanked and the Democratic president didn't do enough to revive it. Voters thought President Obama had pushed policies that diverged from their primary concerns and, worse, had doubled the federal deficit in the process.

November 8, 2010

BIRNBAUM: Sounding the fiscal klaxon

Critics have accused the Tea Party of everything from racism to radicalism, but they miss the larger point. Tea Party adherents are angry mostly about the size of government and its mounting debt. The movement, at its core, expresses a deep and widespread dread about what is in fact a real problem that neither political party has been willing to address.

September 23, 2010