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Charles Laffiteau

Charles Laffiteau's Republican politics, American style

Last update: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 18:16 | By: Charles Laffiteau

At 3am on 25 February, I found myself doing something I cannot recall ever doing before. It took me a moment to realise that I was clapping on my own at the end of an hour-long speech I had just witnessed on my TV. But why? Well, I guess the answer is that I must have been pretty impressed by President Obama’s first speech to a joint session of Congress – the traditional first-term president’s equivalent to the State of the Union address.

Charles Laffiteau's Republican politics, American style

Last update: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 16:43 | By: Charles Laffiteau

As I’ve mentioned before, I generally applaud the kind of people President Obama has selected to run the US government and various federal agencies, and indeed the Congress has moved swiftly to approve the nominations of the vast majority of the president’s Cabinet nominees. But that isn’t to say President Obama hasn’t stumbled in a few cases, most notably with the nomination of Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health.

Bumper to bumper

Last update: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 06:03 | By: Charles Laffiteau

It was almost 5am by the time I retrieved my bags and cleared Indian customs at the airport in New Delhi, so it was still dark when I took a taxi from the airport to my home away from home, the Hotel Empire, located in the Safdarjung Enclave not far from Jawaharlal Nehru University in south-western New Delhi. It was a conventional taxi ride in that the car not only had a taxi sign, a meter, doors and windows, but also air conditioning. I wouldn’t see another of its like until my return trip to the airport three weeks later.

Lady Luck was on my side

Last update: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 07:35 | By: Charles Laffiteau

Charles Laffiteau in India

Charles Laffiteau's Republican politics, American style

Last update: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 12:29 | By: Charles Laffiteau

One of my best friends here in Ireland recently asked me how I could have been such a strong supporter of president-elect Obama from the very beginning of his campaign, and yet am now advocating on behalf of strengthening the Republican Party as a force of opposition. While I understand why these seemingly conflicting actions may strike others as being counter-intuitive, there is actually a method to my madness.