50-year-old Medicare and Medicaid programs cry out for reform. Today: Medicare/Medicaid CAL: Fifty years is enough time to judge whether a government program has lived up to its promises. Last year in this column, we agreed that 50 years after the Great Society was launched by President Lyndon Johnson, his anti-poverty programs had failed ...

Can Clinton's presidential ambitions survive the latest scandal? Today: Politics plays roughBOB: Hillary Clinton is in political trouble and perhaps even legal trouble over her use of private e-mail accounts and bypassing government-issued accounts containing substantial amounts of information that belongs to the federal government. ...

Today: Clinton Foundation, Receipt of millions from foreign governments makes many uneasy.BOB: After The Wall Street Journalreported that the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation has accepted donations from foreign governments, Republicans seized on the issue hoping to inflict damage on Hillary Clinton's potential 2016 ...

The West is facing off against terrorists, but we aren’t fighting to win.Today: World War IIICAL:The terrorist attacks in Paris are part of an ongoing plot by Islamic fanatics to destroy Western culture and occupy Western nations. It's past time we stop the hand-wringing and self delusion about a "peaceful" religion and start fighting this war ...

Today: The crystal ballAnd how we fared from our forecasts for last year ...CAL: It's time for our annual predictions for the New Year. I don't like to brag …BOB: Since when?CAL: … but most of my predictions for last year came true.BOB: Go ahead rub it in.CAL: I correctly predicted that most Democrats would flee Obamacare, and that ...

The United States appears to be losing steam to China, but tax code fixes can make America's engine roar again.
Today: China's growthCAL: As if we needed more depressing news with the social upheaval, foreign policy failures and a crushing national debt that has just topped $18 trillion, the International Monetary Fund has noticed that the U.S. ...

If Republicans want a 2016 win, Congress can't live without Obama.Today: The next two yearsBOB: President Obama unveiled his long-awaited undocumented immigrant executive order last week. We'll still be talking about it next year. The order allows up to 5 million people to avoid deportation and secure work documents. This will let them pay ...

Today: Cold War RevisitedBOB:Time magazine's recent cover suggesting the possibility of a Cold War II between the U.S. and Russia is irresponsible at best and uninformed at worst. The evidence to support the cover was almost exclusively about Ukraine and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight.CAL: The evidence is overwhelming that the ...

We need new ideas to make Washington work again. Today: Fixing governmentBob: A distinguished group of citizens, including a bipartisan group of former elected officials has produced a fascinating new study called "Governing in a Polarized America: A Bipartisan Blueprint to Strengthen Our Democracy." My initial reaction was, "Oh man, another ...

The system needs management overhaul to better serve our veterans.CAL: In a rare instance of common ground, senators from both parties agreed last week that the Department of Veterans Affairs has done a poor job assisting our military veterans with their health needs. And that is what prompted President Obama on Wednesday to come to the ...

The New York Times reports on a modest medical office in Brooklyn that received $4.1 million in Medicare funds for "therapy." The Times says the money went to one person. Maybe the government needs therapy. Taxpayers certainly do.
A personal favorite, again from USA Today: "IRS workers who didn't pay taxes got bonuses."
Then there's this from ...

You know things are bad when you can't wait for the return of a TV character to demonstrate what resolve and leadership really look like. Yes, after a four-year hiatus, the show “24,” featuring Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland), returns May 5 to the Fox network.
Bauer displays many of the traits once found in, or at least expected ...

Scandals show that the agency still has too few checks and balances.CAL: Newly revealed e-mails outline contacts between Lois Lerner, the former head of the Internal Revenue Service's tax exempt office, and the Justice Department last May, discussing the possibility of criminal prosecution of non-profit groups for "lying" when the groups ...

Too much money and time are wasted on our federal campaigns.

BOB: The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision lifted restrictions on the amount of money individuals can contribute to federal campaigns. Although the justices left intact the $5,200 limit on contributions to an individual candidate, they abolished the overall limit of $48,600 ...

Day in and day out, government grows, but problems remain.CAL: I can't count the number of deadlines President Obama has changed or new rules he has written trying to get the Affordable Care Act to live up to its name, the latest being the decision not to enforce the enrollment deadline. People are tired of dysfunctional government, and it ...

CAL: I visited the annual Conservative Political Action Conference gathering last week. Seeing so many beautiful conservatives in one place is seductive.BOB: You must be referring to the women in attendance. "Beautiful conservatives" is an oxymoron.CAL: I'm talking political seduction when one is surrounded by people who share identical ...

In foreign policy and domestic issues, recalibrate balance of power.

BOB: Republicans have a double standard when it comes to the Obama administration. On one hand, they claim President Obama is not projecting U.S. power in the world's many hot spots, the latest being the Ukraine. Then these Republicans turn around and claim the ...

There are better ways the government can help jobless regain footing.

CAL: While Democrats boast about falling unemployment numbers and Republicans scoff because many people have quit looking for jobs, I am intrigued by events in North Carolina. ...

BOB: The recent indictments alleging that former Virginia Republican governor Bob McDonnell and his wife accepted cash and gifts from a businessman are nothing new. Any day now, Ray Nagin, a Democrat, will go on trial accused of accepting kickbacks when he was mayor of New Orleans. What is new are the loopholes available to lobbyists, ...

BOB: Republicans in Congress want health care reform to fail. But they won't have HealthCare.gov to kick around as a political tool much longer. The Obamacare website repairs have been successful; 50,000 people can now use the website at the same time. The White House reports that more people signed up for Obamacare on Sunday and Monday than ...

2014 will likely bring more political turmoil and more economic growth.

BOB: It's time for our eagerly anticipated predictions for the New Year, but first let's look back at our forecasts for 2013. How did we do? ...

There's a line between stopping terrorism and terrorizing civil liberty. Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.BOB: There has been far too much hand-wringing this week over leaked ...

The Affordable Care Act has yet to prove itself the best solution to health care reform.

CAL: "A train wreck" is what Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has famously called the Affordable Care Act. In the words of a Johnny Cash song, "I hear the train a comin', it's rolling round the bend," and the collision between what was promised and reality will occur on Oct. 1, ...

Washington would work better if there were less finger-pointing. Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.

CAL: It's amusing to hear Washington politicians and much of the news media selectively use the word "scandal." They seem to be appealing to a standard for judging right and wrong that they have abandoned in most other categories. ...