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November 2004Is It Time for Malpractice Reform? It's not just about tort reform anymore. Using progressive solutions to fix the malpractice system could result in better health care for all. November 20, 2009 | | web only A Devil of a Job for Democrats Forget making everyone healthy and saving the polar bears. If Democrats can't solve the jobs problem, next year's elections will be an uphill battle. November 20, 2009 | | web only Iran's Crisis of Resistance Facing heavy domestic criticism, the Iranian regime could seek to recoup lost credibility by causing more trouble in the region. November 20, 2009 | | web only The New Politics of Conscientious Objection in Israel For years, it was the left that argued about selective disobedience -- but the right is now picking up the charge. November 19, 2009 | | web only The Afghanistan Strategy Dodge Separating strategy from questions of resources and personnel obscures the options. November 18, 2009 | | web only Palin for President! Palin's book is full of half-truths and self-congratulation. But for a woman aimed at 2012, such inaccuracies may not matter. November 18, 2009 | | web only Obama Makes the Case for Attending Copenhagen By lowering the expectations for what will be accomplished in the December meeting, the president has made a strong case for his own attendance. November 17, 2009 | | web only The Left Fights Itself In his new book, Michael Bérubé says the left is torn between radical politics and cultural studies. The loser, naturally, is its relevance. November 17, 2009 | | web only When Hope Meets Reality Obama inspired the country with his campaign, and now he must manage expectations of those swept up by his rhetoric. November 17, 2009 | | web only The Left Splits Over Bagram Is sending some Guantanamo detainees to Bagram a good idea? November 13, 2009 | | web only That Old Republican Revival Will the GOP be sufficiently rebuilt to challenge Obama and the Democrats in 2010? Probably not. November 13, 2009 | | web only Girl Talk A new book posits zines as the founding documents of third-wave feminist political culture. November 12, 2009 | | web only The Myth of Judicial Backlash The failure of gay marriage in Maine proves one thing -- it's not the courts voters mobilize against; it's the issues. November 12, 2009 | | web only Policy, Pressure, and Peace If the United States wants peace in the Middle East and Afghanistan, it's going to have to use its leverage. November 11, 2009 | | web only Democrats Leave Women Behind Health-insurance reform was supposed to end the cruelties our system inflicts on patients, not create them. November 10, 2009 | | web only Looking Back, Moving Forward In the wake of this year's election drama, the only advice Democrats should follow is to make good on their promises. November 10, 2009 | | web only Under Eighteen to Life The Supreme Court takes up the question of whether life sentences for juvenile offenders are cruel and unusual. November 10, 2009 | | web only What's the Alternative to Tucker Max? Many progressive young men are rejecting traditional and toxic notions of masculinity. But they're still figuring out what should replace it. November 9, 2009 | | web only Yaakov Teitel and the Allure of Lawlessness Can one man's violence be divorced from an environment where acting on fury is sometimes treated as a virtue? November 6, 2009 | | web only The Fraud of Voting Scandals The right isn't the only party at fault for the continuing battle over voter fraud. November 6, 2009 | | web only Atlas Drugged Her fans still find her intoxicating, but will the right ever truly embrace Ayn Rand? November 6, 2009 | | web only Why Are We Talking About 2010? While the urge to read the political tea leaves is strong, Tuesday's results say little about next year's elections. November 6, 2009 | | web only One Year Later The message for Democrats? Extremists are out and economic concerns are in. November 4, 2009 | | web only Can Reason Win the Drug War? Stoner jokes aside, the debate over America's drug policy is sounding increasingly sane. November 3, 2009 | | web only Taxing Matters Maine and Washington voters are considering initiatives that would limit their state governments' ability to raise taxes -- and provide crucial social services. November 2, 2009 | | web only The Battle Over Bailout The proposed regulations before Congress do not represent the fundamental rethinking of the financial industry many progressives advocate. November 2, 2009 | | web only High-Stakes Health Reform Senate Democrats finally seem willing to take risks to ensure the public option's survival. October 30, 2009 | | web only Can Human Rights Win the War? Top U.S. military officials are starting to sound like human-rights advocates when it comes to detention policy in Afghanistan. October 29, 2009 | | web only A Too Late Solution? J Street's first conference may have been a success, but prospects are still bleak for the two-state solution the organization wants. October 29, 2009 | | web only Fox and Foes The Fox debacle isn't a tale of media versus government -- it's about a television network trying to rewrite journalism's rules. October 27, 2009 | | web only A Feminist Case for War? One of the few remaining rationales for maintaining the occupation is protecting Afghan women. Is that enough? October 27, 2009 | | web only Work/Life Balance Is Not a Woman's Issue Men need family-friendly workplaces, too. So why is this issue framed as something only mothers should care about? October 26, 2009 | | web only Obama's Foxhole The White House is fighting back against Fox News, and journalistic objectivity is at risk of becoming collateral damage in this war. October 23, 2009 | | web only The Israeli Left Implodes The lack of leadership on the Israeli left is all the sadder given the new prominence of the dovish camp among supporters of Israel in the United States. October 22, 2009 | | web only Nothing Is Certain But ... The current fight at the heart of health-care reform isn't the public option. It's the excise tax. October 21, 2009 | | web only Their Own Worst Enemy Health insurers stopped pretending they support reform. In doing so, they may have given new life to the public option. October 20, 2009 | | web only Something Rotten in the State of Texas Why is the execution of a potentially innocent man less scandalous than an affair? October 20, 2009 | | web only Defending Goldstone A report on last year's Gaza conflict has provoked outrage in Israel. But is the reaction justified? October 16, 2009 | | web only The Housing Hangover Waves of foreclosures continue to undermine economic recovery, and Treasury isn't doing enough to solve the problem. October 16, 2009 | | web only All These Governors Do the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey say anything about the Democratic Party's future? October 16, 2009 | | web only Europe-a-Dope The European Union is becoming ever stronger, and no one seems to care. October 15, 2009 | | web only Democrats Take a Pass on Civil-Liberties Reform While we were busy fretting about Obama's Nobel, the Democrats dropped the ball on reforming Bush-era civil-liberties abuses. October 14, 2009 | | web only The Charter Barter On education -- and every other social policy issue -- the Obama administration must play referee among competing experts. Is it up to the task? October 13, 2009 | | web only A Case for Empathy Last week, we got to see what it looks like when a justice is unable to view the world from another's perspective. October 13, 2009 | | web only American Ignorance and Afghanistan We can't keep training the public to think in black and white terms about a very gray war. October 12, 2009 | | web only A March Toward Irrelevance? The National Equality March drew thousands to Washington for workshops, speeches, and "dancestravaganzas." But was anything really done to advance gay rights? October 9, 2009 | | web only Student Union At NYU, a more progressive president means less progressive labor policies. October 8, 2009 | | web only Trouble at the Temple Mount When diplomacy appears deadlocked, the chances of violence rise. Jerusalem's most holy space has once again become a tinderbox. October 8, 2009 | | web only A Stimulus by Any Other Name The Obama administration needs to do more to combat unemployment, starting with aid to states. October 7, 2009 | | web only The Second Coming of Sarah Palin Will Alaska's former governor become the leader of the GOP's religious wing? October 6, 2009 | | web only Dalai Drama How much should we read into Obama's choice not to meet with the Dalai Lama? October 6, 2009 | | web only The Specter of Containment Should we approach today's nuclear threats using Cold War policy? October 2, 2009 | | web only A Problem of Olympic Proportions When it comes to Copenhagen, we should worry less about the Olympics and more about the looming December climate summit. October 1, 2009 | | web only Real Reform for the PATRIOT Act? The Senate is reviewing Bush-era surveillance powers set to expire at the end of the year. This could be the moment to revise the whole architecture of post-9/11 spying law. October 1, 2009 | | web only Time Is on Their Side No one -- especially Democrats -- should believe the hype about 2010 as the new 1994. September 30, 2009 | | web only Is Europe's Left in Crisis? The defeat of Germany's Social Democrats certainly isn't good for socialism in Europe. But is the loss as devastating as many say? September 30, 2009 | | web only The Military's Overlooked Brain Trust Top commanders of the U.S. Army need to start listening to the opinions of the rank and file. September 29, 2009 | | web only Hurry Up and Wait Why passing health-care reform might not be the political boon you'd expect. September 29, 2009 | | web only Can California Be Fixed? The Prospect talks to Repair California, the coalition attempting to call a constitutional convention in the country's messiest democracy. September 25, 2009 | | web only Skipping the Summit for the Movies Our Middle East correspondent skips the Netanyahu-Abbas meeting to watch Ajami, a controversial film that shows the courage needed to truly bring peace. September 24, 2009 | | web only How Will World Leaders Fix the Financial Mess? Economist Ken Rogoff previews the agenda at this week's G-20 Summit. September 23, 2009 | | web only The Vietnamization of Afghanistan Obama's choices in Afghanistan will either break the Democrats' association with Vietnam or confirm it. September 23, 2009 | | web only Kristol and the Tea Baggers Intellectuals don't always guide movements; often, movements guide intellectuals. September 23, 2009 | | web only The Wrong Side of the Mommy Track The Good Wife? More like The Get Back to Work Wife. CBS' new drama is less about political marriage and more about a generation of opt-out women who are headed back to work. September 22, 2009 | | web only Glenn Beck's Party The message of the GOP is being delivered by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. September 22, 2009 | | web only Sister Hacked Diablo Cody set out to make a feminist horror film -- so why is Jennifer's Body the least empowering slasher flick currently on screen? September 18, 2009 | | web only Southern Baggage As long as racism is tolerated within their party, Southern Republicans shouldn't act too surprised when they get pushed on the issue. September 18, 2009 | | web only Hawks and a Hack Job John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsay Graham all want the White House to commit more resources to Afghanistan. Too bad the senators don't have any credibility on the issue. September 17, 2009 | | web only Why Can't Tom Perez Get Confirmed? Obama's pick for head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is caught up in the same politicization that marked the Bush years. September 17, 2009 | | web only Is Obama Too Calm Before the Storm? His staid reaction to the financial crisis may have won him the presidency, but too much complacency could cause him to lose it. September 16, 2009 | | web only Convenient Untruths A 9/11 Commission lawyer catalogues the deceptions that mounted in the attack's wake. September 16, 2009 | | web only Stuff Some White People Don't Like The right's animosity toward Obama isn't about fascism or socialism -- it's about racism. September 15, 2009 | | web only The Return of the Repressed It should come as no surprise that with the election of Barack Obama, the right has returned to a politics of racial resentment. September 15, 2009 | | web only Will the U.S. Stop Treating Settlement as a PR Problem? George Mitchell's visit to Israel to discuss settlements doesn't mean the U.S. is taking the issue seriously. September 14, 2009 | | web only Extreme Makeover, Health-Care Edition Both liberals and conservatives are upset about how Obama has handled health-care reform. Do Americans expect too much? September 14, 2009 | | web only How Van Jones Will Help Win the Health-Care Fight The resignation of Obama's green-jobs czar is a primer on the right's political warfare tactics -- those preparing to defend health-care reform should take note. September 11, 2009 | | web only Health-Care Reform Gets a Booster Shot Obama's speech had some important news: His plan now includes some immediate relief on insurance costs. September 11, 2009 | | web only Combating the Campus Rape Crisis College is back in session, and that means it's time for a lot of ineffective pageantry on rape prevention. Don't our young women deserve better? September 9, 2009 | | web only Who's Leading the Fight Against Consumer Financial Regulation? The Chamber of Commerce doesn't think consumers need real protection after the financial crisis. September 9, 2009 | | web only No Place Like Home After seven years in Gitmo, Mohammed Jawad was supposed to be going home. He almost went back to prison instead. September 8, 2009 | | web only The Three Audiences Obama Has to Please Wednesday's speech is the president's chance to talk three key congressional constituencies into passing health-care reform. September 8, 2009 | | web only The Real Nanny Diaries Americans pay lip service to the idea child-raising is important work, but when they hire people to do it for them, they tend to pay them little and respect them less. September 4, 2009 | | web only The Deification of Matthew Shepard What the gay-rights movement has lost by making Shepard its icon. September 4, 2009 | | web only Barack Obama, Explainer-in-Chief Republicans have been able to confuse the issue, but their chances of killing health-care reform remain slim. All Obama has to do is lay out the facts. September 4, 2009 | | web only Sea Change of Japan? Thanks to a landslide victory for Japan's opposition party, the United States' relationship with its Asian ally just became rather unpredictable. September 3, 2009 | | web only What Max Baucus Can Learn From the Labor Movement As Labor Day approaches, Richard Trumka gets tough with uncooperative Democrats. September 2, 2009 | | web only A Battle of Wills George Will and William Kristol are two of the loudest voices in the conservative movement. But whose vision will guide the Republican Party? September 2, 2009 | | web only Civilian Affairs The Obama administration says civilian safety is a priority in Afghanistan. But have ground tactics really shifted since the Bush era? September 1, 2009 | | web only Health Care's Lowest Foes The most reprehensible critics of reform are not the ignorant or deluded, but the conspirators who lie knowingly about what's at stake. September 1, 2009 | | web only The Imperfection and Redemption of Ted Kennedy Because of the mistakes of his youth, Ted Kennedy felt he had something to prove in the Senate. And we're all better off as a result. August 31, 2009 | | web only Don't Know from Adam Adam seeks to raise awareness of Asperger's Syndrome, but does it do much good for those who have it? August 28, 2009 | | web only The Invention of the Body-Snatchers Take one Swedish journalist, one Israeli politician, add allegations of international organ trafficking, and you've got one international mess. August 27, 2009 | | web only Keeper of the Liberal Flame Kennedy was the champion of the uninsured, the undocumented, and the forgotten. August 26, 2009 | | web only Will the Deficit Save Health Reform? If the latest budget projections are keeping you up at night, the best way to ease your troubled mind is to support health-care reform. August 26, 2009 | | web only Master of Opportunity Ted Kennedy was never afraid to seize the chance to further his vision of a just society. August 26, 2009 | | web only Shaking Up Suburbia The Obama administration has told affluent Westchester County it can't continue to segregate low-income and minority housing. Is it the end of the all-white suburb? August 25, 2009 | | web only Rally 'Round the "True Constitution" Convinced that the 10th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits spending programs and regulations? Conservatives have a movement for you. August 25, 2009 | | web only Last Chance for the Public Option? Reports of its demise could be premature. August 25, 2009 | | web only A Kitchen of One's Own It's difficult to conceive of cooking being a calling if you have to do it every day on a budget. August 21, 2009 | | web only The De-Facto Segregation of Health Care Opponents of health care reform haven't shied away from invoking race. Why are advocates afraid to point out that people of color suffer the worst inequities of the current system? August 21, 2009 | | web only Fragments of the Afghan State Today, Afghans cast their votes under the threat of violence. But even if the election goes smoothly, one day's outcome should not be mistaken for sustained, effective governance. August 20, 2009 | | web only Will Huckabee Pay A Price For Rejecting the Two-State Solution? The former (and likely future) presidential candidate's statements during a Middle East visit are to the right even of his own party. August 19, 2009 | | web only Sacrificing the Public Option Chill out, progressives. To get health-care reform through the Senate, the public option is almost certainly going to have to be dropped. August 19, 2009 | | web only Insurance Fraud In the health-care reform debate, the insurance lobby is a wolf in sheep's clothing. August 18, 2009 | | web only Keeping Up With the Clintons The world still isn't accustomed to a husband and wife who both have a lot of official power. August 17, 2009 | | web only Mad Men, Bohemian Boys What Mad Men really gets about the 1960s is how much the era was about collapsing the boundaries of pop culture and lived experience. August 14, 2009 | | web only New Abuses in Old Forms Big private-equity companies, which are largely unregulated, are hungry to take over failed banks. August 13, 2009 | | web only Whose Religion Is This, Anyway? Being an Orthodox dove in Israel is a complicated business. August 13, 2009 | | web only Letting the People In People want their voices heard in the making of policy. But how do politicians figure out which ones to listen to? August 12, 2009 | | web only The State Tax Wars How have some states managed to raise taxes during a recession? August 12, 2009 | | web only Their Man on Health Care What is Sen. Mike Enzi doing in the middle of the Senate health-care negotiations? August 12, 2009 | | web only All the Rage Over Health-Care Reform The ugliness of the opposition to health-care reform is a symptom of something much larger. August 11, 2009 | | web only How the Sotomayor Saga Could Help Progressives Take Back the Courts Sotomayor's hearings shelved the stereotype that progressive judges rule based on their hearts and treat the Constitution as a play toy. August 10, 2009 | | web only Same As It Ever Was? The pro-Israel lobby, long seen as an immutable part of American politics, may be headed toward obsolescence. August 7, 2009 | | web only Double Jeopardy Civil-liberties and human-rights groups have found themselves fighting a two-front battle on how the United States tries terrorist suspects. August 6, 2009 | | web only Why Geithner Should Get Angry Despite an ambitious program from the Obama administration, millions of mortgage holders still face foreclosure. August 5, 2009 | | web only Health Care's Public Perception Malady Don't count on successful health-care reform to change the public's attitudes about government. August 4, 2009 | | web only Questioning Journalistic Objectivity There's a case to be made for reporters collaborating with the people they write about. August 3, 2009 | | web only A President in Need of a Break Birthers, Blue Dogs, Glenn Beck, and beer -- all of these things have spelled a bad week for Obama. Now, it's time for a vacation. July 31, 2009 | | web only Jerusalem's Shepherd Hotel Affair In Jerusalem, where all planning is strategic and all local issues are international, the sale of one property can serve as a political move intended to determine the city's future status. July 30, 2009 | | web only Should Disability Funding Be Part of Health Reform? When it comes to their top legislative priority, disability activists fear later will mean never. July 30, 2009 | | web only With China, Money Talks Strategic and economic dialogue? Forget it, Hillary -- it's China. July 29, 2009 | | web only The 10 Dumbest Arguments Against Health-Care Reform The health-care debate has been overwhelmed by grumbling resistance. Too bad the complaints are largely groundless. July 28, 2009 | | web only A "Uniquely American" Abortion Debate The notion that tax dollars shouldn't pay for abortions is an international aberration, an example of American exceptionalism run amok. July 28, 2009 | | web only The Next Diplomatic Cable Technology helped make Barack Obama president. Can it help Hillary Clinton save the world? July 27, 2009 | | web only Sports Misogyny and the Court of Public Opinion Last week, a lawsuit was filed accusing football player Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault. In the blink of an eye, sports apologists turned the focus on the case from the athlete to the alleged victim. July 27, 2009 | | web only Women and the Minimum Wage The increase in the federal minimum wage helps women -- but not nearly enough. July 24, 2009 | | web only Something About Airplanes The move to cut funding for the F-22 program is more than just a victory for common sense over defense pork. July 23, 2009 | | web only The Environmental Mess Palin Left Behind The policies Gov. Sarah Palin sold as solutions to America's energy crisis are now failing investors, stakeholders, and the environment. July 23, 2009 | | web only How the Battle Over Health Care Will Be Like the Battle Over the Stimulus ... and why it should be different. July 22, 2009 | | web only Our Man in Honduras The backers of the Honduran coup have an inside man in Washington. July 22, 2009 | | web only Going Strong on the Wrong Message The GOP became its own worst enemy during the Sotomayor hearings. July 21, 2009 | | web only Holdren's Controversial Population Control Past White House science czar John Holdren co-authored a textbook in the 1970s that discussed coercive population control. Should this disqualify him as a serious voice on science? July 21, 2009 | | web only Lessons for Feminists from Sarah Palin Ultimately, our discomfort with Sarah Palin is more about us than it is about her. July 20, 2009 | | web only The Dick Cheney Diversion Cheney's re-emergence in the media spotlight can only make Obama look good. July 17, 2009 | | web only The Hurt Locker as Propaganda For a supposedly anti-war film, Kathryn Bigelow's Hurt Locker serves as a remarkably effective military recruiting tool. July 17, 2009 | | web only Picking Sides Every time there's an international crisis, conservatives rush to judgment. It's not a good idea. July 15, 2009 | | web only New Testimony From Gaza A newly published account by an organization of Israeli soldiers suggests that policy set by top commanders led to unnecessary civilian deaths and massive physical damage. July 15, 2009 | | web only We'll Always Have Wasilla Love her or hate her, Sarah Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska means political coverage is about to get a lot less interesting. July 14, 2009 | | web only Playing the Abortion Card Conservatives are crying "abortion" in their efforts to derail health reform. But progress for reproductive rights is far from assured. July 14, 2009 | | web only Meet the Cast of the Sotomayor Hearings Ready for a week of Senate questioning? Here is your guide to the major players of the Sotomayor confirmation hearings. July 13, 2009 | | web only In Defense of Confirmation Hearings Sonia Sotomayor will spend the next week in the spotlight of Senate confirmation hearings. Attempting to "depoliticize" the process would not merely be impossible but undesirable. July 13, 2009 | | web only The Dilemma of Post-Acquittal Detentions The administration says it can detain terrorist suspects even after they've been acquitted. It is legal, but is it a good idea? July 10, 2009 | | web only Are Depressions Necessary? The current crisis has revived an old debate about the utility of economic downturns. July 10, 2009 | | web only Palin on Prime Time? Sarah Palin may be well suited to the small screen, but she was never White House material. July 10, 2009 | | web only Small Steps Toward a Nuke-Free World Obama's visit to Russia may have been drama-free, but it wasn't uneventful. July 9, 2009 | | web only Are Democrats Ready to Fight for Consumer Protection? Bank lobbyists are marshaling opposition to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. July 8, 2009 | | web only Delivering Affordable Health Care Hospital deliveries are now the norm, but home births may actually be better for women -- and government's pocketbook. July 8, 2009 | | web only Sarah in Wonderland Palin appears to reside in the looking-glass world of the conservative base. From there, resigning as governor seems like the best move she could have made. July 7, 2009 | | web only Health Care's True Price The real reason we need a public option in health-care reform isn't cost control. It's security. July 7, 2009 | | web only Continental Drift Europe is tilting right as America goes left. TAP Online talks to Yale political scientist David Cameron about the future of European social democracy. July 7, 2009 | | web only Life and Death in the Climate Change Debate As we push Congress to pass a climate bill, let's not forget the grass roots. July 6, 2009 | | web only The Rise of Megaregions Planning theorists argue we need to rethink the spatial coordinates of the national economy. July 3, 2009 | | web only Does Franken Solve the Filibuster Problem? Don't break out the champagne quite yet: The Democrats' supermajority is just as much a curse as it is a blessing. July 3, 2009 | | web only Standard Deviation Forty-nine states and territories have signed on to create national education standards. But will state-by-state implementation really work? TAP talks to the movement's leaders. July 2, 2009 | | web only Two States, Still One Exit Is the two-state solution an obsolete strategy? July 2, 2009 | | web only TAP Talks to P.J. O'Rourke In his new collection of essays, the libertarian political satirist skewers all things government. TAP Online sat down with him to talk about being an avowed ring-winger in the Age of Obama. July 1, 2009 | | web only How Do You Measure Success? As the administration juggles ambitious domestic policy programs with ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the question is which numbers define success -- or failure. July 1, 2009 | | web only Recession Depression The authors of Womenomics are telling employees to demand work-life balance -- or else! But in a bleak economic climate, most women workers lack real bargaining power. June 30, 2009 | | web only The Fretting Over Health Care Reform Is health-care history just repeating itself? Not quite. June 30, 2009 | | web only The Cost of Hashtag Revolution With the Iranian election, we've seen a privately owned technology becoming a vital part of the infrastructure supporting political activity. That's a problem. June 29, 2009 | | web only Where Blacks Lead the Fight for Gay Rights Black leadership is changing the fight for gay rights in D.C. June 26, 2009 | | web only The Real Stonewall Legacy Waiting our turn isn't working. Asking nicely isn't working. What will work is what worked that fateful night at Stonewall. June 26, 2009 | | web only A Governor Undone by Love Forget the broader implications for the GOP -- Mark Sanford's public breakdown was a human drama all its own. June 26, 2009 | | web only Concern Trolling Iran The conservative take on Iran has never been genuinely interested in what Iranians think or in the well-being of the Iranian people. June 25, 2009 | | web only Burqa Politics in France What happens when feminism and sexual liberation become tools for nationalism? June 24, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 86) This week in religion and politics: In her last regular column, Sarah Posner says so long to The FundamentaList. June 24, 2009 | | web only The Prospect's Coverage of Iran's Unrest Prospect writers on the Iranian election's impact on the region, America's reaction to allegations of voter fraud, and the Neda video. June 23, 2009 | | web only Health Care Reform Villains It's time for Obama to start naming the bad guys in the battle over health care reform. June 23, 2009 | | web only An Uncertain Fate for Voting Rights The Supreme Court might not have struck down the act yesterday, but it didn't preserve the act, either. June 23, 2009 | | web only Four Ways States Could Squander the Stimulus Implementation of Obama's stimulus bill is largely in the hands of the state governments. Here are four ways they might derail it. June 23, 2009 | | web only Don't Call It a 'He-cession' Why are we pitting men against women? The economic crisis affects everyone -- and we can only fix it together. June 22, 2009 | | web only The Never-Ending Labor Wars An inter-union fight is exhausting the time and resources of important labor leaders. Can UNITE HERE and SEIU reconcile before their conflict gets even more bitter? June 22, 2009 | | web only The Other Sons of Iraq How the lessons al-Qaeda learned in Iraq are informing the next generation of fighters. June 22, 2009 | | web only Nothing Stays in Vegas It's a safe bet that Sen. John Ensign will survive his affair scandal. The Republican Party's odds are not so good. June 19, 2009 | | web only Who Regulates the Regulators? Obama's far-reaching proposal for financial regulations is a mixed bag -- can Congress improve the project? June 19, 2009 | | web only Conservatives' Cold War Approach to Iran Republicans are once again deploying a cracked history of the Reagan era to cast international politics as a zero-sum game. June 18, 2009 | | web only Did Obama's Cairo Speech Change Everything? Whether Obama has had a small influence or a large one, the Middle East has already changed significantly. June 18, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 85) This week in religion and politics: The Army secretary nominee's record on church-state separation comes under scrutiny, and immigration reform may leave out LGBT people. June 17, 2009 | | web only The Left and the Living Dead In the event of a zombie apocalypse, will progressive ideals win out? June 16, 2009 | | web only Our Iran Strategy The Obama administration has approached the Iranian elections delicately thus far. But if Ahmadinejad is named the official winner, where does that leave us? June 16, 2009 | | web only Is Iran's Election America's Problem? The theft of Iran's presidential election raises more foreign-policy implications than any clean result could have. June 15, 2009 | | web only Netanyahu's Illusory Concession on Palestine The Israeli prime minister endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state, while rejecting it in the particular. June 15, 2009 | | web only Meet D.C.'s Anti-Gay Marriage Crusaders An alliance between local and national activists is a test of the effectiveness of Republicans' reliance on culture-war wedge issues. June 12, 2009 | | web only Who's Afraid of Virginia Primaries? Relax, political junkies: Virginia's gubernatorial primary doesn't quite mean what you think it does. June 12, 2009 | | web only The Sound of Settling Right-wing hawks and Israeli officials are savaging Obama for his condemnation of settlement expansion. But is there any good reason for the president to back down from his stance? June 11, 2009 | | web only Why is the Treasury Excluding the Gulf Coast from Stimulus Benefits? Low-income housing construction is stalled due to the economic collapse -- and a recent ruling by Tim Geithner is preventing federal funds from reaching the victims of Katrina. June 10, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 84) This week in religion and politics: An HHS appointment raises questions about the purpose of faith-based offices, and religious leaders mourn the assassination of George Tiller. June 10, 2009 | | web only Five Questions We Should Ask About Financial Oversight Strengthening regulation is only the beginning. June 10, 2009 | | web only The Numbers Game We ought to be in a golden age of data. So why are so many of the statistics we hear just fuzzy math? June 9, 2009 | | web only The Future of Philanthropy New movements reacting against the "nonprofit-industrial complex" are pushing the funding world to give grants with fewer strings attached -- and to give directly to grass-roots groups. June 8, 2009 | | web only Can a Speech Change the World? In his Cairo address, Barack Obama sought to transform the way the United States engages with the Muslim world. June 5, 2009 | | web only The Devil Is in the Health Care Reform Details If Obama is not careful, he could end up with reform that is worse than the current system. June 5, 2009 | | web only House Hunting in the West Bank Our Jerusalem correspondent finds that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's argument for allowing continued construction in settlements contains layers of deception. June 4, 2009 | | web only The Quiet Bias The death of a black police officer at the hands of his white colleague should be a wake-up call for us to explore the role of unconscious racial bias in the police force. June 4, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 83) This week in religion and politics: Should the Senate Judiciary Committee consider Sonia Sotomayor's stance on the separation of church and state or her lack of a record on abortion? June 3, 2009 | | web only The GM "Precedent" The real challenge before the administration is to promote policies that foster whole new industries, not that save individual firms. June 3, 2009 | | web only Why Geithner Went to China It wasn't just to reassure China that the administration has economic recovery on track. June 3, 2009 | | web only The Compassion of Dr. Tiller George Tiller is frequently described as "controversial." But in the tight-knit world of abortion providers and among the women under his care, he was often called a saint. June 2, 2009 | | web only Judicial Abstraction Republicans talk so much about "judicial activism" because it's a dog whistle to the base. Too bad that base is increasingly small and irrelevant. June 2, 2009 | | web only Detention Retention President Obama has tried to split the difference between comprehensive immigration-reform advocates and law-and-order types. But for immigrants in detention, not much has changed since the Bush era. June 2, 2009 | | web only Why Clinic Violence is Obama's Problem Dr. George Tiller's murder should push the federal government to get serious about fighting harassment of abortion providers. June 1, 2009 | | web only Obama's Honeymoon Nears Its End With a Supreme Court nomination in process and midterm fundraising already underway, Obama is about to learn that politics isn't just about being popular. May 29, 2009 | | web only The Soderbergh Experience In his new film, The Girlfriend Experience, Steven Soderbergh turns to his obsession with the metaphor of economics as prostitution. May 29, 2009 | | web only The North Korea Conundrum How do you solve a problem like Korea? With great difficulty. May 28, 2009 | | web only The Empathy Dodge Conservative jurists are just as guilty of displaying the soft touch -- it's just reserved for those with money and power. May 27, 2009 | | web only It's Gingrich Time The return of the former House speaker is not only due to the leadership vacuum in the GOP. Republicans are back in opposition, and nobody opposes quite like Newt. May 27, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 82) This week in religion and politics: Culture warriors prepare to battle over "judicial activist" Sonia Sotomayor's Court nomination, and the religious right reacts to California's Prop. 8 ruling. May 27, 2009 | | web only Exit Strategy A new study assessing the withdrawal method finds it is nearly as effective as condoms. Should we teach it to teenagers? May 26, 2009 | | web only Honor Military Families with Adequate Health Care The VA is still operating as if all of its patients are young, childless, and male -- and veterans' families are paying the price. May 23, 2009 | | web only Obama, Your Party Isn't Behind You (And That's OK) Senate Democrats' rejection of Obama's plan to close Guantanamo shouldn't be cause for worry. May 22, 2009 | | web only What the Guantánamo Speech Means for Civil Liberties TAP Online talks with the ACLU's Anthony Romero about Obama's proposed changes to national security policy. May 22, 2009 | | web only Organizing the Unemployed During past recessions, collective action among laid-off workers was common. Will this financial crisis foster a similar movement? May 21, 2009 | | web only Did Your Car Cause the Crisis? The threat posed by expensive oil hasn't disappeared; it stands ready to derail a fledgling economic recovery this year and handcuff growth until Americans break their decades-long petroleum habit. May 21, 2009 | | web only Going After the Perpetrators of the Housing Bubble State attorneys general, like Massachusetts' Martha Coakley, are leading the charge to hold accountable the lenders behind the current economic crisis. May 20, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 81) This week in religion and politics: Obama's Notre Dame speech shines attention on his relationship with religious constituencies, and anti-Muslim propaganda is making the rounds once again. May 20, 2009 | | web only The Health-Care Time Warp With the health-care debate underway once again, Republicans are dusting off the same rhetorical playbook they used during the Clinton years. May 19, 2009 | | web only Is Homophobia the New Anti-Semitism? As the gay-rights movement has been globalized, so has religious and political opposition to homosexuality. May 19, 2009 | | web only Can Obama Influence Netanyahu? As recent domestic battles show, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu caves easily to political pressure. But does he feel pressure to resolve the Palestinian crisis? May 18, 2009 | | web only How Hate Groups Went Mainstream In his new book, David Neiwert charts the rise of paranoid, hate-focused rhetoric on the right. May 15, 2009 | | web only Dick Cheney Just Wants To Be Loved Dick Cheney's attempts at public redemption have a logical root in his Cold War experience. May 15, 2009 | | web only Denial Island National-security concerns aren't the only reason -- or even the best reason -- to worry about the climate crisis. But they are real. May 14, 2009 | | web only The Trouble with Double X Is the niche-ification of the Internet amplifying or ghettoizing women's voices? May 14, 2009 | | web only Sex Work Two new biographies -- one of Helen Gurley Brown and the other of sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson -- offer cautionary tales about mixing sex and the workplace. May 14, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 80) This week in religion and politics: Religious leaders react to evangelicals' permissive attitudes toward torture, and the Notre Dame commencement controversy stokes the abortion-reduction debate. May 13, 2009 | | web only Not Even Chuck Norris Can Save the GOP Celebrities and everymans are the pundits of choice for the GOP. Is it any wonder Republicans are directionless? May 12, 2009 | | web only Obama: Stay Away From Notre Dame's Commencement Abortion has nothing to do with it. A progressive president shouldn't support an institution that reserves 25 percent of its admissions seats for legacies. May 12, 2009 | | web only How Do Americans Really Feel About God? The religious right's era of unquestioning Christianity is over. In fact, Americans have incredibly complex feelings about God and country. May 11, 2009 | | web only Obama v. the Republican Party The president can name the most agreeable of moderates as his Supreme Court nominee, and Senate Republicans will still put up a fight. May 8, 2009 | | web only Cramdown's Downfall Bankers are making it hard for Obama to limit foreclosures -- but he's not doing much in the way of fighting back. May 7, 2009 | | web only A "Post-Racial" Assault on Voting Rights It is minority voters -- not Southern municipalities -- who need the protection of the Supreme Court. May 6, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 79) This week in religion and politics: More evidence emerges of aggressive proselytizing in the military, and the religious right wants to cause trouble for Obama's Supreme Court nominee. May 6, 2009 | | web only A Taxing Argument Republicans think they'll revive their party by repeating the refrain of "small government, lower taxes." Unfortunately for them, taxation isn't quite the problem they imagine it to be. May 5, 2009 | | web only A Long, Uncivil War In her new book, former ACLU board member Wendy Kaminer goes after the organization and its current director. But in mixing the personal with the political, does she miss the real challenges facing the group in the wake of the Bush administration? May 5, 2009 | | web only Race, Voting Rights, and the Genius of Justice Souter Justice David Souter doesn't care for politics, but he understands the politics of race better than his colleagues to his left or his right. May 4, 2009 | | web only In the Court's Best Interest The Supreme Court nomination process isn't about finding the "best" candidate -- it's about finding the right fit. May 4, 2009 | | web only Neglecting the Swine Flu Frontlines Stimulus spending couldn't have hit the ground fast enough to avert the current swine flu crisis. But moderate senators -- including new Democrat Arlen Specter -- still have a lot to answer for in terms of their lack of support for local public-health funding. May 4, 2009 | | web only Specter's Epilogue Arlen Specter's move to the left isn't a chapter in the Republican Party's decline -- the story has already played itself out. May 1, 2009 | | web only Reclaiming Religion Two new books respond to the anti-religion screeds of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. But are attempts to reclaim Christianity for humanism mere wishful thinking? April 30, 2009 | | web only Will Public Media Survive Where Mainstream Media Failed? We must construct a public media network capable of informing and engaging our citizenry. April 30, 2009 | | web only Do Conservatives Understand Torture? Conservatives don't actually support torture. They just think it's a useful tool. Too bad they're wrong. April 30, 2009 | | web only Defining Public Media for the Future Four experts discuss what "public media" means -- and what it will look like in the future. April 30, 2009 | | web only The Myth of 100 Days To a transformational president, each day is a blessed opportunity, none more or less important than another. April 29, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 78) This week in religion and politics: Religious drama surrounds Kathleen Sebelius' Cabinet confirmation, and the "religious left" seems to lean toward the right. April 29, 2009 | | web only Trickle-Down Politics The influence held by partisan elites is a disperse -- but far-reaching -- kind of power. April 28, 2009 | | web only Obama's Foreign Policy at 100 Obama has reprioritized U.S. interests and the strategies used to achieve them. April 28, 2009 | | web only Obama's Domestic Policy at 100 At the home office, Obama's hundred days have been a whirlwind of activity, but the big fights come next. April 28, 2009 | | web only Listening to Ahmadinejad The Iranian president wraps his Holocaust denial in legitimate criticisms of Israeli policy. That makes dealing with him much more difficult -- and requires a change in Israel's attitude. April 28, 2009 | | web only Seeking Justice in a System that Doesn't Guarantee It How do we hold police and local governments accountable for the backlog of untested rape kits? April 27, 2009 | | web only Moving Beyond Black and White on the Armenian Genocide What are outside resolutions doing to further the conversation in Turkey on the Armenian genocide? April 24, 2009 | | web only Lessons from the GOP in Retrograde The modern-day Republican Party is not so much a political party as it is a cautionary tale. April 24, 2009 | | web only Refusing a Single Narrative There are multiple accounts of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Making peace is not a matter of choosing one side's story over the other's. April 23, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 77) This week in religion and politics: Church leaders speak out against torture, and why the "religious conscience" of gays and lesbians apparently doesn't matter. April 22, 2009 | | web only The Unlikely Revolutionary Economist Simon Johnson isn't a populist. He just thinks bankers run the country. April 22, 2009 | | web only What's the Problem with Gary Gensler? The political jockeying over his nomination to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has obscured the key question: What is the best way to regulate the sprawling derivatives market? April 21, 2009 | | web only Is the Threat of Homegrown Extremism Real? Government needs to watch fringe political groups more closely -- but can it do so without abusing its surveillance power? April 21, 2009 | | web only It's the End of the World As They Know It The American right appears to be going insane. And over what? April 21, 2009 | | web only The Argument Over Inequality By allowing income inequality to dramatically increase, the myth of individual exceptionalism undermines society on the whole. April 20, 2009 | | web only Women and Children First Two new books chronicle the damage done -- at home and abroad -- by the rise of religious fundamentalism in America. April 17, 2009 | | web only Accounts of Torture, Abstract and Experienced TAP compares the "enhanced interrogation" memos to Red Cross accounts of what happened. April 17, 2009 | | web only The First Cut Is the Deepest We should be paying attention to the very real cuts Secretary Gates has proposed to outdated, oversized Cold War-era projects. April 16, 2009 | | web only Report Card on Civil Liberties Obama pledged to reject the Bush administration's fast-and-loose adherence to constitutional rights. How is he doing? April 15, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 76) The anti-gay-marriage argument unravels and Glenn Beck says it's the end of the world as we know it. April 15, 2009 | | web only We've Already Won the Battle Over Gay Marriage Public support for marriage equality is on the rise, and it is conservatives who are ceding ground. April 14, 2009 | | web only The Questioning Spirit Hebrew schools have long discouraged American Jewish children from thinking critically about Israel. This Passover season, it is time for a change. April 14, 2009 | | web only The Combat Within: Female Veterans and PTSD Benefits Given the rate of sexual assault of female soldiers, it's time to start acknowledging that not only combat veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress. April 13, 2009 | | web only Outside Activism, Reconsidered Have outsiders helped or hindered the Gulf Coast's recovery? Six activists discuss the influx of post-Katrina volunteers and their role in the rebuilding process. April 10, 2009 | | web only Portrait of Misogyny A recently released documentary on Cindy Sherman illustrates the misogyny still pervasive in the art world today. April 10, 2009 | | web only Republicans Tripping Conservative critics used Obama's recent diplomatic trip to demonize the president. Unfortunately for them, their histrionics don't seem to be working. April 10, 2009 | | web only Netanyahu Returns Benjamin Netanyahu is in power once again, but is he in control? After just a week back in office, Israel's prime minister is already revealing his weaknesses. April 9, 2009 | | web only Which Union Do I Belong To Now? The nation's largest unions are involved in a complicated negotiation over a possible super federation. Meanwhile, clashes over organizing strategy and resources continue. April 9, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 75) The culture wars aren't coming to a close, "common ground" isn't common at all, and "abortion reduction" is still misleading rhetoric. April 8, 2009 | | web only Five Lessons Britain Can Learn From Obama As the president returns to the U.S., here are the lessons the U.K., and Europe as a whole, should take from his historic election. April 7, 2009 | | web only The President's Aesthetic Goes Global Elements of the Obama campaign's design have become nearly as iconic as the president himself. April 7, 2009 | | web only Is Foreign Aid a Bad Thing? Dead Aid author Dambisa Moyo is right to be critical of the current state of foreign aid. But she's dead wrong in calling for it to be cut off within five years, which would be catastrophic for Africa. April 7, 2009 | | web only Is Turkey the Key to a New Middle East Approach? By putting a stop in Ankara on his first European tour, Obama has demonstrated that he's taking a fresh diplomatic approach to both Turkey and the Middle East. April 6, 2009 | | web only Evan Bayh's Budget Hypocrisy What Evan Bayh says he wants out of the budget is less important than how he actually votes. April 6, 2009 | | web only The Trillion-Dollar Question Rather than ask how to better conduct our costly wars, the Obama administration should focus on getting out of them. April 3, 2009 | | web only Why Are Democrats Undermining Obama's Diplomatic Plans for Iran? The members of Congress calling for the United States to set a time table for Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment program are missing the point. April 2, 2009 | | web only Dayton, Part II? Thirteen years after Bosnia's wars, the Dayton Peace Agreement is under attack as outmoded and unsustainable. But is there any better solution on offer? April 2, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 74) This week in religion and politics: Extremist Catholics attempt to ruin the graduation of moderate ones, and theo-conservatism threatens rational policy. April 1, 2009 | | web only Reversing Rockefeller New York is set to repeal some of its harsh drug-offense-sentencing laws. But do the reforms go far enough? April 1, 2009 | | web only Is Merit Pay a Distraction in the Fight for Meaningful Education Reform? Merit pay is the hot topic in education policy. But we should be skeptical of single-faceted solutions to multifaceted problems. March 31, 2009 | | web only Who's Afraid of New Media? Obama hasn't shied away from engaging with the new vanguard of media. And the only people who seem bothered by this choice? Old-media reporters. March 31, 2009 | | web only The End of the Women's Movement The era of the singular feminist agenda is over. But that doesn't mean gender-based activism is. March 30, 2009 | | web only We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes We cannot achieve meaningful electoral reform until we can quantify exactly what is wrong with the system. March 27, 2009 | | web only Mind the Wage Gap While we've been wracked with angst about the failures of the financial system, it is the slow collapse of the wage economy that may have brought us to this ugly point. March 27, 2009 | | web only Why We Need a Commission on Presidential Power We should not look upon presidential lawlessness as if it were an odd aberration of the Bush years. March 26, 2009 | | web only The Testimony from Gaza Israeli soldiers' accounts of the fighting last winter further undermine the official rationale of the war. March 26, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 73) This week in religion and politics: Progressive faithful call for an "ethical audit" of Wall Street, and Newt Gingrich "reinvents" the conservative movement. March 25, 2009 | | web only He Won't Back Down This week's briefing showed one thing for sure -- the Obama administration isn't afraid of the scale of its ambitions. March 25, 2009 | | web only Can a Click Replace a Glance? Newspapers offered a serendipitous reading experience that online formats haven't managed to replicate. March 24, 2009 | | web only Ten Radical Remedies America Needs Obama must use his leadership to make necessary radical ideas mainstream. These changes are essential if we are to build an economy of broad prosperity. March 24, 2009 | | web only The 50-Vote Senate Could an obscure Senate rule free Barack Obama from the filibuster and enable health-care reform? March 23, 2009 | | web only Rating Agencies, Discredited The major credit raters helped fuel the sub-prime mortgage crisis by saying risky assets were safe bets. So why is the government now relying on their help to rescue the economy? March 20, 2009 | | web only The Persuasion Broker In a city littered with liberal dreams gone awry, one social entrepreneur has been getting it right for almost 50 years. March 20, 2009 | | web only Tell Us a Story, Mr. President What we need now is for Obama to tell us what success would look like coming out of this financial crisis. March 20, 2009 | | web only Against Surge Logic Why do we need another surge in Afghanistan? Because we've done nothing but resort to surges in the past. March 19, 2009 | | web only How Obama Should Approach the G-20 President Barack Obama's first international conference is less than two weeks away, and the stakes could not be higher. March 18, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 72) This week in religion and politics: The honeymoon may be over for Obama and evangelical "centrists." March 18, 2009 | | web only When Slim Budgets Mean Better Prisons As states around the country look for ways to cut spending, could shrinking prison populations via more effective re-entry programs be the answer? March 18, 2009 | | web only Inconvenient Contraception For millions of women, getting birth control is a laborious process. Would making the pill an over-the-counter drug be the best policy fix? March 17, 2009 | | web only So Long, Alex P. Keaton The millennial generation could pull American politics even further to the left, and for a longer time, than the Reagan generation pulled our politics to the right. March 17, 2009 | | web only A Radical Vision for the Council on Girls and Women We need to shift our priorities on women's issues, and the new White House Council for Women and Girls can be the catalyst. March 16, 2009 | | web only Nothing Will Save You Now, Michael Steele It is hard to envision any explanation that would save the RNC chair from the wrath of the extreme right. March 13, 2009 | | web only On the Road to Nowhere The Prospect talks to Mariia Zimmerman about the difference between spending infrastructure money quickly and spending it well. March 12, 2009 | | web only His Uniform, My Responsibility My son's induction into the Israeli army makes politics even more personal than before. March 12, 2009 | | web only Worse than 1929? If government doesn't do more, and fast, the country could be in worse shape than it was during the 1930s. March 12, 2009 | | web only Is Loan Modification Enough? Critics on both the left and the right are concerned that the administration's focus on reducing the monthly payments for borrowers isn't a good solution. March 11, 2009 | | web only Will Van Jones Work in the White House? Van Jones has been agitating for a green agenda as a lifeline for the dying ghettos of America. Will he be effective making policy on Capitol Hill? March 11, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 71) This week in religion and politics: Anti-abortion activists dislike Kathleen Sebelius, stem-cell research gets funding, and the ranks of atheists and evangelicals both swell. March 11, 2009 | | web only The Tiny Battles of a Has-Been Candidate Back in November, John McCain lost the presidential election by a significant margin. So why are we still paying attention to him? March 10, 2009 | | web only Obama's Middle East Chess Game Obama's early Middle East strategy is about generating favorable options through diplomacy. March 10, 2009 | | web only Working Toward Health Reform SEIU head Andy Stern discusses labor's approach to health care reform, disunity within the movement, and the skittishness of business. March 9, 2009 | | web only It's Not Iran; It's Palestine Israeli consensus on priorities is dangerously out of line with reality. March 5, 2009 | | web only The NAACP Takes a Stance Against Prop. 8 The national office of the NAACP took its first stance on gay-marriage rights, reinvigorating the debate over gay rights in the black community. March 4, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 70) The religious right still runs the Republican Party, Obama is the "socialist Antichrist," and Muslims struggle to find their place within the conservative movement. March 4, 2009 | | web only Repairing Housing Policy If the Obama administration is to revive the economy, it must prevent further foreclosures. While the housing plan may be a step forward, is it comprehensive enough to end the housing crisis? March 3, 2009 | | web only Believe It or Not, He's Walking on Air Obama is looking more and more like a progressive Reagan. What does that say about the progressives who rallied to elect him? March 3, 2009 | | web only The Trouble with Outside Activists Do-gooders from out of state are still flocking to help New Orleans rebuild. Are they actually doing as much harm as they are good? March 2, 2009 | | web only A Good Working Environment The labor and environmental movements have historically been at odds. But the creation of the green-jobs program may finally unite the two groups' interests. February 27, 2009 | | web only Disunite There UNITE HERE is splitting apart in a bitter civil war that pits the UNITE side against the HERE side in a vicious, ugly fight. Worse, this battle involves some of the savviest and most dedicated union leaders and staffers ever to work in American labor. February 27, 2009 | | web only A Condensed History of Labor Since the 1960s The labor movement faced few extraordinary struggles during the second half of the 20th century. Now, an intra-union conflict is set to be the most dramatic clash in decades. February 27, 2009 | | web only Why Can't Mothers Be Intellectuals? Critics of the first volume of Susan Sontag's journals have found her ambition outsized and formidable. Is that really because she mixed intellectual ambition with motherhood? February 27, 2009 | | web only The New Terms of the Labor Dialogue TAP talks to Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor specialist at Cornell, about what EFCA means for women, the media war over the bill, and Obama's trade team. February 26, 2009 | | web only The Blight of Bagram Human-rights advocates expected Obama to reverse the previous administration's position on detention. But a recent decision involving prisoners in Afghanistan suggests that undoing Bush-era policy may take more time than expected. February 26, 2009 | | web only Netanyahu, Cornered Benjamin Netanyahu is politically trapped. Israel's new leader is tasked with balancing the interests of his right-wing coalition, appeasing his rivals, and maintaining a healthy relationship with America. February 26, 2009 | | web only A Housing Rescue Long Overdue For nearly two years, the housing market has struggled -- and helped take the rest of the economy down with it. Now, an unlikely trio of officials may finally have a plan that can stop this crisis. February 25, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 69) This week in religion and politics: Medicaid coverage for abortion continues to stir controversy, and are "homegrown" sex education programs in Texas unconstitutional? February 25, 2009 | | web only There Is No Social Security Crisis Critics of Social Security have long perpetuated the myth that the system will eventually go bankrupt. It's time to dispel that claim once and for all. February 24, 2009 | | web only How Entitlement Reform Became Health Reform Why progressives should stop worrying and learn to love today's White House Fiscal Summit. February 23, 2009 | | web only How Women Built the Law In his new book, Fred Strebeigh chronicles the struggle for equality of the sexes under law, all while personalizing the pioneers who fought for it. February 20, 2009 | | web only Rescuing America's Homeowners On Wednesday, Obama announced his plan to stem foreclosures across the nation. But what exactly does it hold in store for homeowners? February 20, 2009 | | web only The Monumentally Egomaniacal Senator from Illinois Roland Burris, who rode into the Senate on the strength of the most cynical, race-based political ploys of all time, is having a hard time seeing the trouble he's in. February 20, 2009 | | web only Time for a Global Stimulus The world needs a coordinated response to the current economic crisis, in which each country commits to undertake stimulus that's appropriate to the size of its economy and to its position in the global balance of trade. February 19, 2009 | | web only Beyond the Foreclosure Crisis HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan is tasked with fixing a policy in shambles. Will his bold agenda be enough to solve the housing crisis? February 18, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 68) This week in religion and politics: Civil-liberties groups soften their criticism of faith-based initiatives and the OFBNP's Advisory Council comes into conflict with feminists. February 18, 2009 | | web only The Tyranny of the Centrists You'd think passing a $787 billion stimulus bill would count as a victory for Obama. But it was the centrists who got what they wanted from the stimulus bill, and what they wanted was for the entire nation to beseech them for their favor. February 17, 2009 | | web only Reflections on Obama-Era Patriotism Loving your country does not mean waving a flag and singing the anthem. True patriotism comes in the form of genuine, once-and-for-all integration. February 16, 2009 | | web only Ending the Compromise Era on AIDS The removal of Mark Dybul as head of the federal AIDS program shows that the era of compromising with the religious right on global HIV prevention is over. February 13, 2009 | | web only The Ghost of Democratic Agenda Echoes of another liberal turning point were felt at last week's Thinking Big conference. February 13, 2009 | | web only The Power of Political Personality Puncturing an iconic image of a revolutionary, Steven Soderbergh's Che operates as a meditation on political power in the everyday. February 13, 2009 | | web only "25 Random Things" About the Stimulus Package The stimulus package illuminated -- Facebook-style. February 13, 2009 | | web only The Real Economics of Immigration Reform By ignoring the role of immigration policy in our economic situation, Americans are actually hurting themselves. February 12, 2009 | | web only Advice for the New Drug Czar Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske is Obama's pick to head the Office of National Drug Control. We're not sure whether to offer congratulations or condolences. February 12, 2009 | | web only Why Are the Israeli PM Candidates Fighting for the Support of This Man? Forget about the struggle between Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu. The man who has really won is Avigdor Lieberman. February 12, 2009 | | web only What Went Wrong for Tim Geithner Tim Geithner was supposed to be the answer to all our financial woes. Why, then, did the markets panic after he announced his plans for TARP? February 11, 2009 | | web only The TARP Dog and Pony Show With no clear strategy, the new bank-rescue plan offers only more uncertainty. February 11, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 67) This week in religion and politics: Obama gives the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships a broader policy role, and anti-evolution activists on Darwin's 200th birthday. February 11, 2009 | | web only Towards an Economics of Shared Prosperity A manifesto on long-term economic recovery from the Thinking Big, Thinking Forward conference. February 10, 2009 | | web only Time to Think Big The current economic crisis presents a challenge, but it also offers an opportunity. Rather than merely patch up a broken system, America should build an economy that provides opportunity for all. February 10, 2009 | | web only Good Work, If You Can Get It Every national politician, in good times and bad, will talk about "jobs." But as the current debate on the stimulus has shown, not everybody has the same understanding of what a "job" is. February 10, 2009 | | web only The Myth of Bipartisanship Given the consistent failure of compromise between Republicans and Democrats, it might be time to take away the minority's most harmful weapon: the filibuster. February 9, 2009 | | web only Obama's Republican Hit List President Barack Obama won the districts of 46 congressional Republicans on Election Day. Has anyone noticed? February 9, 2009 | | web only Michael Steele Will Not Save Your Party Michael Steele accurately diagnosed the GOP's troubles as an "identity crisis." But it is difficult to see how Steele solves that problem for the party. February 6, 2009 | | web only How the Stimulus Screws Commuters By allocating transportation funding to highways instead of public transit, Congress is missing a very big opportunity to improve the stimulus package economically and environmentally. February 5, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 66) This week in religion and politics: Calling the next Martin Luther King Jr., progressive religious leaders speak out on policy, and Focus on the Family stands up for Limbaugh. February 4, 2009 | | web only Limbaugh vs. Obama With a new Democratic administration and Democratic majorities in Congress, Limbaugh is right back where he wants to be -- on the outside. February 3, 2009 | | web only Why Ledbetter Isn't Enough The passage of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a victory for workers' rights. But it doesn't correct big loopholes in gender-discrimination law that leave workers vulnerable. February 3, 2009 | | web only What's the Matter With Teen Sexting? Sex and predatory adults are not the biggest dangers teenagers face online. Their main risk is garden-variety kid-on-kid meanness. February 2, 2009 | | web only The Big Business of Family Detention It's not just alleged terrorists who are suffering from our inhumane treatment of detainees. It's also children. February 2, 2009 | | web only Post-Partisanship, R.I.P. The struggle between Democrats and Republicans over the stimulus bill is an instructive lesson in the battles Obama will face over the next four years. January 30, 2009 | | web only The Confidence Game Right now, confidence in Barack Obama is all that is standing between us and a complete collapse into economic and emotional depression. January 30, 2009 | | web only Obama's Darfur Test The International Criminal Court is expected to issue a warrant for the arrest of Omar al Bashir, president of Sudan, in the coming weeks, heightening tension in the region. January 29, 2009 | | web only Plunder and Blunder: A Roundtable, Part Two Part two of a two-part discussion of Dean Baker's new book, Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of The Bubble Economy. January 29, 2009 | | web only Saved by the Bureaucrats Liberals have a chance to make bureaucracy work. Here's a rundown of four agencies to watch under the Obama administration. January 29, 2009 | | web only An Open Letter to George Mitchell As President Obama's Middle East envoy, Mitchell will need to challenge the belief that nothing can be done to achieve peace in the region. January 28, 2009 | | web only With God On Our Side? President Obama acknowledged nonreligious Americans in his Inaugural Address. Will his administration re-separate church and state? January 27, 2009 | | web only Plunder and Blunder: A Roundtable Part one of a two-part discussion of Dean Baker's new book, Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of The Bubble Economy. January 27, 2009 | | web only Truth, Reconciliation, and Obama As we step around the wreckage wrought by the Bush administration, one awkward but crucial question is how much we need to look backward in order to clearly see the way forward. January 26, 2009 | | web only We Have Been Turned Around The long journey to our first black president is finally over. On Tuesday, the crowds gathered to hear a black man proclaim a vision for the future. January 23, 2009 | | web only Obama's Minimalist Approach to Guantanamo Obama's draft executive order on closing Guantánamo still doesn't go far enough toward addressing the worst of the Bush administration's moral and legal quagmires. January 23, 2009 | | web only Gay Narratives in Graphic Form In Alison Bechdel's comic strip "Dykes to Watch Out For" -- collected in a recently published anthology -- the personal is political, the political gets personal, and history "bends toward justice." January 23, 2009 | | web only Getting Rid of the "War on Terror" Mindset The Obama administration marks the beginning of the end of the war in Iraq. But it's less clear what it means for the larger "war on terror." January 22, 2009 | | web only A Pass for Geithner Tim Geithner received a remarkably light grilling at yesterday's Senate confirmation hearings. January 22, 2009 | | web only A Farewell to Words Obama's Inaugural Address showed that he's moved beyond simply inspiring us. His oratory is now about naming and giving order to the work to be done. January 21, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 64) Inside the politics of a new evangelical-progressive coalition, comparing Rick Warren to MLK, and can progressive Christians mobilize? January 21, 2009 | | web only What We Talk About When We Talk About Obama Now that he's president, this theorizing about what type of president we're going to get -- a hidden socialist? a compulsive compromiser? a master strategist? -- will be put to the test. January 20, 2009 | | web only The Prospect on Barack Obama The best of our writing on the 44th president of the United States. January 20, 2009 | | web only What Tomorrow Really Means It is not the end of war, racism, or politics as usual. But it is a chance to reaffirm our commitment to making this country a more ethical, more equal place. January 19, 2009 | | web only What's Wrong With Theater? Monologist Mike Daisey raises hell about how corporate attitudes broke the American stage -- and why a simple application of government stimulus alone can't fix it. January 16, 2009 | | web only Self-Awareness Arrives at the White House It wasn't Katrina that destroyed the Bush presidency; it was downhill from the moment Bush tried to destroy Social Security. He knows it, and Barack Obama should, too. January 16, 2009 | | web only It's Not About Holder The Senate knows Eric Holder is qualified. It'll use today's hearing to stress that the office of attorney general should be independent from the White House. January 15, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 63) This week in the religious right: Reconsidering Ted Haggard, a deeper look at Rick Warren's finances, and Bristol Palin on birth control. January 14, 2009 | | web only The Bush Legacy Takes Shape As you might guess, it's not quite what his supporters have in mind. Despite Republicans' long-standing claims of being the party of fiscal responsibility and growth, Bush has overseen eight years of economic disaster. January 13, 2009 | | web only Would the National Popular Vote Advantage Red-State Republicans? Republican states seem to suffer the worst from the vicissitudes of the Electoral College, but they are also the least interested in switching to a national popular vote. January 9, 2009 | | web only The Race Card Returns Obama's dream of race-neutral politics lasted as long as it took for his governor to realize he had only one trick left. January 9, 2009 | | web only How the U.S. Should Be Involved in Gaza Absent external pressure, the internal logic of politics tends to point toward momentary conflict escalating out of control. But playing that role effectively requires political commitment. January 8, 2009 | | web only Size Matters Economists generally agree that the government has to step in with a plan to jump-start the economy -- but will Obama's plan be big enough? January 8, 2009 | | web only End of the Divorce? Union presidents move to reunite a divided labor movement. January 8, 2009 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 62) Conservatives fight for the RNC chair, Focus on the Family fears the new Congress, and has Obama "defanged" the religious right? January 7, 2009 | | web only The Ignored Choices in Gaza Both Hamas and the Israeli government had options for avoiding this conflict. Now, in the heat of battle, those options have been eclipsed. January 7, 2009 | | web only Deadly Medicine for Youth Violence New efforts at dating-violence prevention are based on the same old gender stereotypes. No wonder they're not working. January 6, 2009 | | web only What Will the Next Republican Coalition Look Like? Forty years ago, "the unpoor, the unblack, and the unyoung" provided a comfortable majority for Republicans, but no longer. January 6, 2009 | | web only An Ounce of Prevention? The standard story is that prevention saves health-care dollars. But if we're to get better at averting illness, we're going to have to spend more. January 6, 2009 | | web only I Love Christmas Music Yes, I'm Jewish, and no, the love is not ironic. Christmas music is about winter, and nostalgia. It's an aural blanket, a cup of sonic cocoa on a cold day. December 24, 2008 | | web only The Public Option and the Hope of Health Care Reform Democrats' discussion of health care reform points to just how much the debate over health care reform has moved forward. December 23, 2008 | | web only The Rebel Prince Benjamin Netanyahu is the front-runner in Israel's election. Will voters notice that a radical rightist has hijacked Netanyahu's Likud party? December 23, 2008 | | web only America's New Year's Resolution: A Return to Integrity As we prepare to usher in a new year and a new administration, let's all pledge to rediscover our moral way in this country. December 22, 2008 | | web only Will Environmental Justice Finally Get Its Due? Obama's environment, energy, and urban affairs appointees are poised to enact policies that environmental justice activists have long been pushing for. December 22, 2008 | | web only Learning From the New Deal's Mistakes The New Deal was, for the most part, phenomenally successful, but there are many ways it could have gone further or been better organized -- failings it is critical we avoid this time around. December 22, 2008 | | web only Negotiating Duty Nothing But the Truth, the new fictionalized film about the Judith Miller scandal, leaves out nuance in favor of neat drama. December 19, 2008 | | web only No Education Silver Bullet In the United States, the education debate has been framed as a zero-sum game. But a look at Finland, whose schools rank No. 1 in global surveys, shows that a national commitment to education can neutralize political debates over school reform. December 18, 2008 | | web only How Bush Failed Somalia Two years ago the United States intervened in East African politics in a way that has created the pirate problem and is breeding a new generation of anti-American jihadists. December 18, 2008 | | web only The Great Persuader Obama's recently announced HUD secretary, Shaun Donovan, has an impressive record of bringing stakeholders together to create affordable housing, but can he reform HUD's moribund bureaucracy? December 18, 2008 | | web only A Tame Regulator for the SEC Appointing a safe, Wall Street favorite like Mary Schapiro to chair the SEC does not augur well for Obama's pledge to get at the roots of the financial crisis. December 18, 2008 | | web only The Shia Religious State The Bush administration and its supporters hailed the recently signed security pact between the U.S. and Iraqi governments as a major milestone. But the agreement revealed who the most powerful forces in the new Iraq really are. December 17, 2008 | | web only Unions Come to Smithfield On Dec. 11, Smithfield workers were not just celebrating a vote count. They'd just defeated one of the longest, most bitter anti-union campaigns in modern U.S. labor history. December 17, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 61) Democrats' love of evangelicals, Rick Warren's never-ending quest to discern Purpose-Driven Thinking, and conservatives on Twitter. December 17, 2008 | | web only Nobody Here But Us Post-Partisans Barack Obama hasn't even taken office yet, and progressives are already debating his presidency. Does it matter if Barack Obama doesn't call his policies progressive? December 16, 2008 | | web only The Truth About Abortion Reduction A coalition of evangelicals and Catholics is trying to lay claim to Obama's reproductive-freedom agenda. Here's how the debate is likely to play out in 2009. December 16, 2008 | | web only Bailouts: The Ultimate Double Standard The auto industry is being put through the wringer for relatively modest public aid, while the Treasury has taken a hands-off approach to the much larger bailout of the financial industry. December 15, 2008 | | web only The Last Undecided Election On Tuesday the Minnesota state canvassing board will begin examining challenged ballots in what hopefully is the final round of deliberations in the Senate race between GOP incumbent Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken, the Democrat. December 15, 2008 | | web only The Truths That Television Can Tell Ron Howard's new film, Frost/Nixon serves as a daring argument about the way TV can be most virtuous precisely when it acts most like TV. December 12, 2008 | | web only Feminist Media in a Time of Economic Trouble TAP Online talks with Bitch magazine co-founder Andi Zeisler about her new book, "sexy" feminist issues, and the fate of feminist magazines like Bitch and Ms. in an economic downturn. December 12, 2008 | | web only Health Care Heavyweights By appointing Tom Daschle and Jeanne Lambrew, Obama isn't just signaling that he is serious about health care, he's putting it in the hands of people who will get it done. December 12, 2008 | | web only The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care Forget what reform will cost -- we have to understand the price of a broken system. December 12, 2008 | | web only Will Labor Get What it Wants From Obama? Despite the fact that Obama may wait on some of their priorities, union officials remain positive about the prospects for labor under Obama. December 11, 2008 | | web only The Sit-Down Strike Returns! Now What? Chicago workers' use of occupation to battle with their employer was successful, but labor needs more than the return of 1930s tactics to reclaim power. December 11, 2008 | | web only Palestinian Presidential Follies Obama can't wait until the inauguration to respond to the Palestinian political crisis. December 11, 2008 | | web only Green Standards Aren't Just for Detroit As Congress looks to attach environmental requirements to the automaker bailout, it should consider not just the Northern Big Three manufacturers but also the Southern Big Three: Honda, Hyundai, and Mercedes Benz. December 10, 2008 | | web only What Was Blagojevich Thinking? Did Blago really think intimidating the Tribune would go unnoticed? How did he get re-elected? A primer on Chicago-style corruption from a veteran Chicago political reporter. December 10, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 60) Blackwell runs for RNC chair, liberals propose revamped faith-based initiatives, and Newsweek argues that the Bible condones gay marriage. December 10, 2008 | | web only The Reformer and the Racketeer Obama is not the first president to come from a corrupt political world. Voters understand that reformers, by definition, emerge from places in need of reform. December 10, 2008 | | web only Government Is Back On Jan. 20 the Age of Reagan ends, and the Age of Obama begins. We don't know if it will last, but we do know that conservatives can no longer force everyone to play by their rules. December 9, 2008 | | web only As Politics Evolves, Punditry Stalls Obama has made a point of appointing a diverse group of thinkers to his cabinet. But what about the diversity of opinion outside the White House? December 8, 2008 | | web only How the Democrats Protected the Independent Agencies Independent agencies are a supposedly apolitical "fourth branch" of government, but the Bush administration tried to politicize them by appointing ideologues to run them. Here's how Democrats fought back. December 8, 2008 | | web only Milk and the Idea of California Gus Van Sant's new film Milk, about the rise of gay rights icon Harvey Milk, goes far toward explaining why the passage of Prop. 8 was such a deep blow to the gay rights community. December 5, 2008 | | web only He's Black, Get Over It We may not have chosen to be a hybrid people, anymore than we chose to come here in the first place, but that's what we are now. And it's a beautiful thing. December 5, 2008 | | web only Where Is the Left? So far, Obama has made no cabinet appointments that are intended to appeal to the left wing of the party. Will that change? December 5, 2008 | | web only Why Jim Jones Will Make or Break Obama's Foreign Policy Successful presidents rely on strong national security advisers who can produce a unified strategy while allowing healthy debate. December 4, 2008 | | web only Bush's Pity Party In a Dec. 1 interview with ABC News' Charlie Gibson, Bush said that "the biggest regret" of his presidency was "the intelligence failure in Iraq." In other words, his biggest regret wasn't regret over anything he did but rather regret over something that was done to him. December 4, 2008 | | web only Death of the Comrade, and of the Party Is the Labor Party of Israel on the verge of becoming history? With elections set for Feb. 10, polls show the party fading away. December 4, 2008 | | web only Will the Mumbai Terrorists Get What They Wanted? As India's government reacts to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, tensions with Pakistan seem certain to increase -- just what the attackers hoped for. December 4, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 59) Obama's support for LBGT rights angers conservatives, Latino evangelicals mobilize against gay marriage, and Palin boosters plot 2012 campaign. December 3, 2008 | | web only Obama and Liberals' Fears The 2008 election was defined as much by things that didn't happen -- from racism denying Obama the presidency to working-class men finding him too elitist -- as things that did. December 2, 2008 | | web only Why We Need EFCA Despite its paltry membership, the U.S. labor movement remains the nation's most potent force for progressive change and the most effective vehicle for electing Democrats. December 2, 2008 | | web only How to Repair Our Relationship With Europe Our relationships with the countries of the EU have been marred by a lack of actual diplomacy from the Bush administration. November 26, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList Thanksgiving Special A look back at the most important developments in the religious right over the past year. November 26, 2008 | | web only Green or Die TAP Online talks with the Rev. Lennox Yearwood about the cost of environmental degradation on communities of color, how to change the consumerist culture of hip-hop, and what Obama owes the hip-hop generation. November 26, 2008 | | web only Let the Conservative Whining Begin During eight years of Republican rule, conservative talkers had to work hard to find people to blame for the nation's troubles. That won't be a problem anymore. November 25, 2008 | | web only The House of Dispute A house in Hebron has become the site of the latest battle over settlements in the West Bank. In a ruling last week, Israel's Supreme Court gave residents three days to clear out voluntarily, or face eviction. November 25, 2008 | | web only Michelle Obama and Military Families The incoming first lady is poised to make veterans' affairs one of her top issues -- and we could all take a cue from her. November 24, 2008 | | web only The Case for Keeping the Big Three Out of Bankruptcy Whatever the moral claim of UAW members and retirees to their paychecks and pensions, it's their sheer number that requires the government to keep the Big Three, for now, out of bankruptcy court. November 24, 2008 | | web only Why Waxman Won Henry Waxman's defeat of John Dingell wasn't the first time he has defeated a more senior member of Congress -- he and his fellow California Democrats have been challenging the seniority system since the 1970s. November 21, 2008 | | web only Don't Be Afraid of Joe the Senator We shouldn't worry that Joe Lieberman has gained anything by hanging on to his chairmanship. While he will head a powerful and important committee, Lieberman has no margin for error. November 21, 2008 | | web only How Do We Keep Obama's Youth Mobilized? Barack Obama's campaign politicized and organized more youth than any campaign has in recent history. Nine youth organizers, writers, and progressive-policy thinkers show us how to keep them engaged. November 20, 2008 | | web only A Drama-Free Transition? Obama's transition is downright ... boring. The real news is that it's been an unusually straightforward transition, and one that promises to maintain the contemporary presidential tradition of concentrating power in the White House. November 20, 2008 | | web only The Fundamentalist (No. 58) Religious conservatives plan to start new organizing efforts outside the Republican Party and Mike Huckabee settles some scores from the 2008 campaign. November 19, 2008 | | web only Can Obama Make Wonks and Hacks Work Together? After eight years in the wilderness, the reality-based community is back in charge. Now they have a chance to prove that they know what they're doing. November 18, 2008 | | web only The Identity Blame Game It's Cabinet speculation time, and the valiant defenders of the place of white men in the Democratic Party are worried, once again, that women, people of color, and gay folks will screw it all up for them. November 18, 2008 | | web only Advocating for Urbanism Obama has promised to create a White House Office of Urban Policy. What will this look like? Who will run it? November 18, 2008 | | web only The Summers Bubble The selection of Larry Summers as treasury secretary would send a message that Wall Street is more powerful in the Obama administration than the progressive coalition that brought him to power. November 17, 2008 | | web only How Tom Perriello Showed Virgil Goode The Door Virginia's 5th District was supposed to be a safe Republican seat. So it was a definite upset when Democrat Tom Perriello squeaked out an apparent win. November 14, 2008 | | web only The Case for Putting a Mideast Peace Agreement First Barack Obama should address the need for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement sooner rather than later. November 14, 2008 | | web only A Stimulus Everyone Can Love As Congress dithers, the economy continues to crumble. The consensus that we need a stimulus package has been undermined by deadlock over what should get funding. Here's a plan both sides can agree on. November 14, 2008 | | web only A Promising Partnership Previous presidents whose parties enjoyed large majorities in the House and Senate nonetheless had a troubled relationship with legislators. But Democrats have learned their lesson and seem eager to work closely with their new president. November 14, 2008 | | web only The Emerging Center-Left Majority Conservatives dismiss the notion that this election represents the solidifying of a center-left America. A new poll shows they are wrong. November 13, 2008 | | web only Who Will Replace Obama in the Senate? Voters may have elevated Obama to the presidency, but they don't get to pick his replacement -- that task goes to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Here is a rundown of the top contenders. November 13, 2008 | | web only Our House Democrats didn't just keep their House majority -- they expanded it. Now the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi face the messy business of legislating while looking ahead to the midterms. November 13, 2008 | | web only The Fundamentalist (No. 57) Religious conservatives plot takeover of Republican Party, atheists in the military ask Obama for protection from discrimination, and the culture wars get nasty in California. November 12, 2008 | | web only Goodbye and Good Riddance After eight years of President Bush, we almost don't know how to function without him -- almost. But before we move on, we should pause to remember just what we're leaving behind. November 11, 2008 | | web only A Round Table on Race, Gender, and the Election Join three Prospect writers as they discuss the fall-out of Barack Obama's historic victory, Sarah Palin's confusing candidacy, and the demographic shifts that are defining American politics. November 11, 2008 | | web only Getting to Sixty One not-so-secret weapon in building President Obama's filibuster-proof majority could be John McCain, as well as other frustrated GOP moderates. November 11, 2008 | | web only Distress Signal One Iraq veteran's suicide shows the human cost of the overburdened VA medical system, and the tragedies that occur when the care of veterans is delayed or insufficient. November 10, 2008 | | web only Grading the Election Theories Let's give some of the theories about how the election would turn out a post-final-exam assessment. November 10, 2008 | | web only The Democratic Majority Has Emerged Realignments are hard to see as they're happening, but the 2008 election showed that Latinos and labor can be the backbone of a durable liberal majority. November 10, 2008 | | web only The Most Crushing Losses Progressives won the White House -- but they didn't succeed everywhere. Here's a run down of where Democrats lost out on Tuesday. November 7, 2008 | | web only Does Rahm Emanuel's Pick Mean the Chicago Machine Is Coming to Washington? A look at Rahm Emanuel's and Barack Obama's relationship to the Daley machine. November 7, 2008 | | web only Up-Close and Personal in Iraq Dexter Filkins' new book provides an intimate and engrossing account of his time in Iraq. Why don't we read more like it in our newspapers? November 7, 2008 | | web only How to Break the Neocon Lock on Washington To succeed in putting forth a progressive foreign policy, Obama will need to reach out to moderate Republicans. November 6, 2008 | | web only Obama and Religious Voters Barack Obama won more support among religious voters than recent Democratic nominees have, but that doesn't mean narrowly targeted religious outreach is the best approach for future Democratic candidates. November 6, 2008 | | web only The Great Repudiator? If history is any guide, the next four years will be shaped by how Obama confronts the Bush administration's abuses of power. November 5, 2008 | | web only The Identity Politics Election Race, gender, and their discontents never went away, but thanks to this election, we're actually discussing them again. That's progress. November 5, 2008 | | web only The Most Unlikely President Barack Obama's candidacy forced us to confront the worst of our 9/11 fears and our lingering racism. November 5, 2008 | | web only The American Prospect 2008 Election Night Guide Keep our handy election night scoring guide close as the results trickle in. November 4, 2008 | | web only Why American Youth Will Vote Though we are sometimes too cool for our own good, the youth of America are also naive enough to hope. That's a good thing. November 4, 2008 | | web only Why We Vote Whatever problems our politics have, Election Day is a moment when we hope for the future and revel in the solemnity of the democratic process. November 4, 2008 | | web only Best of the 2008 Election Coverage Prospect writers on the policy battles, scandals and also-rans of the longest campaign season in recent memory. November 4, 2008 | | web only Rubin Rising Now that the financial crisis has damaged his reputation, deregulation-pusher and deficit-hawk Robert Rubin is on a quest to remake himself. November 4, 2008 | | web only The Power of the Advisory Council The Latino vote has already swung; McCain and Obama's Latino advisory boards could explain why. November 4, 2008 | | web only Five Ways We Talked About Race and Identity This Election Barack Obama's candidacy has sparked a complicated debate on race and ethnicity that needs to be carefully unpacked. November 4, 2008 | | web only Voter Protection, Twitter Style A new coalition is using Twitter to map problems faced by voters across the country and connect voters in need with election-protection groups. November 3, 2008 | | web only John McCain's Hillary Problem McCain has run his general election campaign by borrowing from Hillary Clinton's primary playbook, and the flaws of this decision have become all too apparent. November 3, 2008 | | web only Are the Republicans Right About Acorn? In short -- no. Accusations of registration fraud against ACORN mask the very real voter disenfranchisement going on around the country. October 31, 2008 | | web only Changing the Ground Wars In 2004, liberals who wanted to elect John Kerry linked up with 527s or independent campaigns. This year, with pro-Obama liberals working directly for his campaign, the independent groups have scaled back. October 31, 2008 | | web only Time to Nationalize a Bank Instead of just throwing money at banks that it can't or won't control, government should exercise the rights of ownership -- which is to make policy. October 31, 2008 | | web only So, You Want to Be in the Cabinet Seven strategies that will help you land a plum post in the next administration -- and one that won't. October 31, 2008 | | web only Races to Watch: Pennsylvania 11 This Friday, Hazleton, Pennsylvania's mayor, Lou Barletta, will go to court to defend some of the most zealous anti-immigrant ordinances in the nation. Next Tuesday, he just might be elected to Congress. October 30, 2008 | | web only John McCain: Not More of the Same Barack Obama and his allies have spent the last year arguing that John McCain is just like George W. Bush. They're wrong. October 30, 2008 | | web only Why Those "Other" Federal Courts Are So Important In This Election There is considerable opportunity for the next president to shape the legal landscape through appointments to the 13 federal appellate courts. October 30, 2008 | | web only Races to Watch: Alabama 3 Josh Segall, a 29-year-old lawyer and former campaign worker for Paul Wellstone and Russ Feingold, is enjoying improbable success. October 30, 2008 | | web only My Job Is Driving Me Crazy NBC's Thursday-night lineup is full of employed but dissatisfied characters. What are they going to do now that the economy is tanking? October 30, 2008 | | web only Unions Confront Race at the Doorstep In all-important Ohio, labor has finally taken on the challenge of persuading its white members to vote for Barack Obama. Will it be enough to change working-class voters' minds? October 29, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 56) Even if McCain loses, the religious right isn't going anywhere. In fact, a McCain defeat may actually strengthen their position in the party. The only question is who will lead them -- probably Huckabee, Jindal, or Palin. October 29, 2008 | | web only The Real October Surprise If Osama bin Laden releases a pre-election tape like he did in 2004, don't assume it will be to the Republicans' benefit. October 28, 2008 | | web only Guilt by Insinuation Barack Obama isn't a terrorist and neither are American Muslims. Why hasn't his campaign been more vocal in defending them? October 28, 2008 | | web only Palin's Polar Bear Problem Sarah Palin's denial of global warming isn't the only scientific idea she has dismissed -- she has also rejected protection of endangered polar bears. October 27, 2008 | | web only An Israeli Looks at Obama I was getting so many questions from friends and neighbors about how Obama stacked up on foreign policy, particularly as it concerned Israel, that it seemed time to sit down and review the facts. October 24, 2008 | | web only Is the Southern Strategy Dead? Elizabeth Dole is fighting hard for her Senate seat, Democrats have significantly outpaced Republicans in new voter registrations, and unions have put organizing muscle in North Carolina for the first time. October 24, 2008 | | web only Dancing on Air A documentary on Philippe Petit, the man who walked on a wire between the World Trade Center towers in 1974, leaves the question of what motivates art to the viewer. October 23, 2008 | | web only Suddenly, Everyone's Pro-Choice! There's one surprising issue that keeps cropping up in progressive and some moderate Republican campaigns this year: A woman's right to choose. October 22, 2008 | | web only What We Need Out of a Second Stimulus Package The consensus in Washington seems to be moving in the direction of a second economic stimulus package. Democrats need to consider crafting it around something other than just encouraging spending. October 22, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 55) How the current Republican attacks on Democrats are straight out of the religious right's play book and why the Florida gay marriage ban is failing. October 22, 2008 | | web only One Cool Customer Amid all the talk about John McCain's character, the press has missed the most important personal story in this election: Obama's steady, mature, and thoughtful approach to politics appeals to voters. October 21, 2008 | | web only Sheila Bair for Treasury Secretary As Obama puts together his shortlist for treasury secretary, he should stay away from ex-Wall Streeters and former Clinton administration officals. Current FDIC chair Sheila Bair looks better by the day. October 20, 2008 | | web only Populism Without Pitchforks All Democratic presidential campaigns, whether desperate or confident, in good times or bad, turn populist at the end. Obama's inclusive, quiet tone has given liberals a new language of ethics. October 20, 2008 | | web only Shadows and Fog After a past denunciation is unearthed from the files, Milan Kundera faces his own trial by media. Is the jury rigged against him? October 17, 2008 | | web only John McCain's Anger Problem This is a year that favors health care plans and regulatory schemes and unemployment benefits. It is not a year that favors John McCain. Is it any wonder then, that the man is seething with resentment? October 16, 2008 | | web only The Case for Plain Vanilla Here is the radical implication of this collapse: The next financial system, rebuilt by governments on the ruins of the old one, needs to be plain vanilla. October 16, 2008 | | web only The Coming Military Spending Surge New Pentagon spending estimates for the next five years fly in the face of progressive priorities -- the likely incoming majority shouldn't stand for it. October 16, 2008 | | web only What Are Those Squiggly Lines on CNN Telling You? Viewers of the presidential debates on CNN have a novel feature on their screen -- a box at the bottom showing the real-time reactions of a focus group of undecided voters. Should we take it seriously? October 15, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 54) Religious conservatives name Palin as heir-apparent, the Family Research Council launches a new anti-Obama ad, and gay-marriage opponents outplay opponents in California. October 15, 2008 | | web only The Permanent (Smear) Campaign Conservatives realize that a successful Obama presidency could remake American politics. If Obama wins the election, they will try to destroy his presidency with lies, just as they sought to do to Bill Clinton. October 14, 2008 | | web only The Political Power of the Coffee Klatch It's not campaign ads or talking heads that have the greatest power to reach undecided voters who flip on the TV. It's five women who chat on comfy couches every morning. October 13, 2008 | | web only What Right Wingers Mean When They Call Obama a "Socialist" Right-wing attempts to paint Barack Obama as a socialist aren't just disingenuous. They're rooted in a history of conservative smears against black leaders. October 13, 2008 | | web only A City United Against Itself The Jerusalem mayoral race speaks to the sharp divisions within the city, and the lead candidate's culture-war appeal is a reminder of how ugly politics can get. October 10, 2008 | | web only Can We Have a New Deal Without the New Dealers? Can a massive government intervention in the economy work if it is being run by people who don't believe in government? October 9, 2008 | | web only Man Without a Shadow: An Interview with Barton Gellman Barton Gellman, author of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, reveals the inner workings of one of the most secretive offices in history. October 9, 2008 | | web only Races to Watch: Minnesota 3 Ashwin Madia is not just mounting a strong challenge to the Republican incumbent -- he's tapping a new base of Indian American voters and heading up a next generation of Iraq vets seeking office. October 9, 2008 | | web only Who Will Look After the Economy Until January? Bush, Bernanke, Paulson, and the incoming president would do well to avoid the mistakes of the Hoover-Roosevelt interregnum, a stand-off that made it even more arduous to climb out of the Great Depression once Roosevelt finally took office. October 8, 2008 | | web only McCain's Ideas Fell Flat John McCain tried and failed to remake himself as an economic populist during last night's debate. Barack Obama won, not just because his policies are more authentically progressive but because he approaches economic issues from the perspective of ordinary people. October 8, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 53) Dobson endorses McCain after insisting he wouldn't, it's the High Holidays, so it must be time for Jews to find Jesus, and is Sarah Palin the modern Queen Esther? October 8, 2008 | | web only Sympathy for McCain Negative campaigning has destroyed the McCain brand. But it was always more fragile than McCain had let himself believe. October 8, 2008 | | web only Will the November Surprise Be Disenfranchised Voters? Don't expect everything to go smoothly on Election Day. Make no mistake: The problems that existed in 2000 and 2004 haven't gone away. There could be millions of Americans who will be prevented from exercising their franchise on Nov. 4. October 7, 2008 | | web only Races to Watch: Ohio 15 Mary Jo Kilroy is running again for the House -- but this time the incumbent is gone, and the largely suburban district, like many across the country, is starting to trend Democratic. October 7, 2008 | | web only What Comes After Paulson? The Paulson plan will take weeks to implement, and markets are already declaring a resounding vote of no-confidence. October 6, 2008 | | web only The Strange Case of the Colorado Labor-Business Coalition In the Rocky Mountain swing state, business leaders are working alongside unions to defeat a right-to-work ballot initiative. Inside one of the wackiest political compromises in American history. October 6, 2008 | | web only Protecting Voter Rights TAP Online talks with Myrna Perez of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU about what we can do to ensure eligible voters get to cast a ballot. October 3, 2008 | | web only How Does Iraq Play Into the Economic Crisis? The focus is on our unstable credit markets -- but we shouldn't forget that Bush's foreign policy has exacted its own costs on our economy. October 2, 2008 | | web only What Comes After Senate Approval of the Bailout Bill? Congressional leaders need to look to more than just passing the bill in the House. October 2, 2008 | | web only Democrats on a Wire As Congress attempts to bail out the bailout, will Nancy Pelosi have the leverage she needs to get the package right? October 1, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 52) Conservative pastors seek the right to practice politics from the pulpit, and a conservative group says Obama is not a Christian. Also, does Sarah Palin think Putin is the Antichrist? October 1, 2008 | | web only The Coming Conservative Crack-up The Republicans' split over the bailout bill is the latest example of the party's internal divisions. Unless the GOP figures out what it stands for, it's headed for civil war and electoral disaster. September 30, 2008 | | web only Learning from 1929 After yesterday's bailout fiasco and stock market drop, what can we expect going forward? And how can we prevent another Great Depression? September 30, 2008 | | web only The Misrepresented Middle Class It's almost refreshing to have the media and our elected leaders finally focus on average Americans' biggest concern -- not terrorism or the culture war, but meeting basic financial needs. September 29, 2008 | | web only Should Congress Pass the Paulson-Pelosi Package? A consideration of the merits (and what's missing) from the bill Congress failed to pass. September 29, 2008 | | web only How Much Will It Cost and Will It Come Soon Enough? Could the current bailout bill have been better? Yes. But there are still a few fixes Congress should consider. September 29, 2008 | | web only After the Bailout Failure: What Now? The unraveling of support for the bailout bill may be a blessing in disguise. Both parties will now go back to the drawing board -- and this will give Democrats a chance to put together a better bill. September 29, 2008 | | web only Can Obama Counterpunch His Way to the White House? In Friday's debate, Barack Obama refrained from going after John McCain, and left viewers looking for a soundbite disappointed. Will this strategy work? September 27, 2008 | | web only The Progressive Imam A liberal mosque in Cape Town is a reminder of Islam's complexity and a promise that change can come from the Islamic periphery. September 26, 2008 | | web only How to Score the Foreign Policy Debate Has your attention been tied up sorting out the numbers on that $700 billion bailout package? Ilan Goldenberg walks you through how to score Friday's debate. September 26, 2008 | | web only McCain's Bailout Caper: Politics First What about the substance of the legislation and the fate of the country? McCain and the Republicans have abdicated. September 26, 2008 | | web only Is the Republican Alliance Finally Breaking? The rebellion of House Republicans last Thursday was more than a tactic to help John McCain. It may have been the beginning of the end of the political deal that has defined the last three decades. September 26, 2008 | | web only The Deficit? Never Mind For years, we've heard bipartisan cries that we can't make major social investments because they would increase the federal deficit. But now that Wall Street needs a bailout, the deficit fear-mongers have gone quiet. September 25, 2008 | | web only The Ghosts of Bankers Past John McCain invoked his maverick magic to address the economic crisis, while Bush tried to explain it without blaming Wall Street. The financial titans of the past would be pleased. September 25, 2008 | | web only But Will It Work? Why Paulson and Bernanke are only partly correct, and why main street needs more direct help than the bailout plan currently provides. September 25, 2008 | | web only The Bailout Deal's Crucial Details The bailout compromise pays lip service to protecting homeowners and limiting CEO pay. But how important these protections turn out to be will depend on as-yet unannounced details. September 25, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 51) A conservative compares Obama to Hilter, there's nothing scary about speaking in tongues, and a look at the people behind Palin's Wasilla book-banning. September 24, 2008 | | web only Thinking Outside Paulson's Box The Treasury Secretary has made a false assertion that Congress has to act now or the whole financial system will collapse. But it's better to do this overhaul right -- from the bottom up rather than from the top down -- than to do it in great haste. September 24, 2008 | | web only Democrats Find Their Footing on Fatherhood For years, conservatives shrugged off all potential public-policy solutions to black poverty, while liberals failed to face up to any policy failures. But Democrats are changing the political conversation about fatherhood. September 23, 2008 | | web only The Ideology Gap The current financial crisis reveals how inadequate McCain's conservative ideology is and gives Barack Obama a chance to build a progressive consensus not seen since FDR. September 23, 2008 | | web only Republicans Try for Obama's Coattails Two moderate Republicans ran ads earlier this season linking themselves to Barack Obama. Has it worked? September 23, 2008 | | web only Paulson's Folly The current Wall Street rescue plan has some serious failings. Will congressional Democrats (and Republicans) stand up to the treasury secretary? September 22, 2008 | | web only Fighting Terrorism With Education TAP talks to Sam Carpenter, founder of Kashmir Family Aid, which fights poverty and extremism by building schools in Kashmir. September 19, 2008 | | web only The Demise of the Washington News Bureau The San Diego Union-Tribune just became the latest newspaper to shutter its D.C. office. The recent spate of bureau closings strikes a major blow for political coverage, but it is also a warning about newspaper survival in the digital age. September 19, 2008 | | web only Obama's Foreign Policy Advantage Nouri Al-Maliki's endorsement of Obama's withdrawal timeline was a coup for the candidate. And even though economic issues have elbowed foreign policy out of the headlines, Obama shouldn't forget it. September 18, 2008 | | web only Examining Palin's Record on Violence Against Women Sarah Palin's advocacy for women who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence leaves a lot to be desired. September 18, 2008 | | web only Seven Deadly Sins of Deregulation -- and Three Necessary Reforms Our current crisis is the result of the misguided notion that financial markets can regulate themselves. Here's a rundown of the mistakes we've made and the three reforms we need now. September 17, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 50) Values Voter Summit reveals conservatives love Palin because she affirms their power over McCain and are angry at moderate evangelicals who are looking beyond the culture wars. September 17, 2008 | | web only How to Win a Presidential Debate The debates, for better or worse, may decide the outcome of the election. Here's how the press will decide who won. September 16, 2008 | | web only McCain's Dangerous Do-Nothing Economics The Great Depression was caused by a banking system left to self-destruct by a conservative president who, like John McCain today, insisted that the economy's "fundamentals" were strong. September 16, 2008 | | web only Are Motherhood Politics a Good Idea? Sarah Palin is not the only candidate reclaiming the political authority of motherhood -- but are mommy politics bad for women? September 16, 2008 | | web only Sarah Palin's Retrograde Gender Politics Sarah Palin's role in McCain's campaign is to reinforce traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity. September 15, 2008 | | web only Israeli Politics, Bankrupt The impending indictment of Ehud Olmert for bribery and corruption points to a larger leadership vacuum in Israel. September 15, 2008 | | web only Everybody Calm Down! Obama Is Hitting Back Quit your whining, Democrats. If Barack Obama loses this election, it won't be because he didn't fight back. September 11, 2008 | | web only Another Student Loan Crisis? The real crisis in student loans is the ways we're asking college students to finance their educations. September 10, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 49) The IRS is asked to investigate a Christian legal group, the GOP alienates Latino evangelicals, and religious leaders ask Sarah Palin to start acting like a Christian. September 10, 2008 | | web only Where Does Palin Fit in Alaska's Culture of Corruption? Alaska politics at both the state and national levels are rife with bribery, corruption, and scandal. Has Sarah Palin stayed out of the fray? September 9, 2008 | | web only The Politics of Contempt John McCain is declaring war on the media, the elites, really, anyone who's not you. The Republicans' thirst for contempt is limitless. September 9, 2008 | | web only Alone in the Arena The Republican National Convention was a stripped down, lackluster affair. John McCain showed that he stands alone, without a party, and without a real agenda. September 5, 2008 | | web only Beverly Ills I returned from two and a half years of living abroad to discover that Beverly Hills, 90210, my guilty teenage pleasure, was being resurrected. This would be the perfect transition back to American culture, right? September 5, 2008 | | web only The Conservative Case for Urbanism Republicans may have an uneasy relationship to global warming, but some are finding reasons to embrace government projects close to environmentalists' hearts -- like public transit. September 5, 2008 | | web only Meet Jane Doe By selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain plunged his campaign into the plot of a Frank Capra film. September 4, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 19) The ostensibly anti-earmark McCain picks earmark-loving Palin, employment and nonresidential construction are down, and oil prices plunge. September 4, 2008 | | web only Who Will Be the Boss? Amid unvetted VP rumors, and on-the-trail gaffes, John McCain has proven to be a seriously undisciplined candidate. Who is going to actually hold the reins if he takes the presidency? September 4, 2008 | | web only The Elephant in the Room Women at the Republican convention react to Bristol Palin's pregnancy and offer a stark reminder of how limited conservative ideology is in its views of sexuality, education, and choice. September 3, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 48) Special Convention Edition! The religious right loves Sarah Palin and conservatives prepare to get out the vote in November. September 3, 2008 | | web only Sex Education as Liberation The bitter debate over teaching abstinence-only in schools has gotten tired and myopic. It's time to improve and expand our notion of what sex ed means. September 2, 2008 | | web only Character Study What Obama did so well in his convention address was taking the raw material of policy and turning it into an indictment not just of what John McCain wants to do but of who John McCain is. September 2, 2008 | | web only Party People A collection of the Prospect's interviews with activists, delegates, and politicians during the Democratic National Convention. August 29, 2008 | | web only Obama Goes Beyond Oratory The most poetic speaker in modern politics has descended to prose -- and to great effect. In Thursday's speech there were echoes of some of the greatest, most plain-speaking Democratic presidents. August 29, 2008 | | web only McCain's Sexist VP Pick The GOP seems to think women will eagerly vote for any ticket that includes a member of their gender. That's Republican tokenism and pandering at its worst. August 29, 2008 | | web only The Palin Gamble By choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee, Senator John McCain has put a gimmick on his ticket: An idea rather than a politician with the legitimate credentials to be vice-president, much less to replace McCain as president. August 29, 2008 | | web only Labor: United and Divided A fractured labor movement is throwing everything into its campaign for Barack Obama. August 28, 2008 | | web only Biden's Plain-Spoken Genius In his speech accepting the vice-presidential nomination, Joe Biden kept it simple -- no grand themes. This may be just the shot in the arm the Democratic ticket needs. August 28, 2008 | | web only John Kerry, Foreign Policy Warrior Wednesday night, Kerry moved beyond his failed presidential bid and offered the critique of John McCain that Democrats long needed to make. August 28, 2008 | | web only What Hillary Means Now Hillary Clinton's speech showed that in defeat, she has become a sort of patron saint of the Democratic Party. August 27, 2008 | | web only The Speech Progressives Have Been Waiting For? Let's hope in his acceptance speech Obama includes a full-throated endorsement of progressivism. August 27, 2008 | | web only Democrats in Daylight The convention is all about party unity -- so does it matter that everyone is still hanging out with his or her usual ideological cohorts? August 27, 2008 | | web only Sherrod Brown on How Blue-Collar Voters Can Go Green TAP talks to the Ohio senator about how Obama can appeal to white union members, talk about the loss of manufacturing jobs, and promote green jobs. August 26, 2008 | | web only Ted Kennedy: A Liberal's Bipartisan The next time you hear that it is impossible for Barack Obama to work with Republicans and be a partisan Democrat, just point to the splendid example of Ted Kennedy. August 26, 2008 | | web only A Walk Among the Blue Dogs Tom Schaller scores a ticket to a Denver event for the Blue Dog caucus and, as Code Pink protests and corporates sponsors look on, considers the role of centrists in today's Democratic Party. August 26, 2008 | | web only Fighting Jackie Robinson Syndrome Michelle Obama's convention speech was inspired, but it was also a testament to the extra burden she's asked to bear as a black woman in America. August 26, 2008 | | web only A Tale of Two Parties Anyone who insists there's no difference between our two political parties should be made to attend both parties' conventions. August 25, 2008 | | web only Gestures of Unity Barack Obama has even agreed to seat the full Florida and Michigan delegations. So all is set for a drama-free convention, right? August 25, 2008 | | web only The Democratic Education Divide A pre-convention education event was full of anti-union rhetoric, even as teachers' union members remain among the most loyal of Democratic constituencies. August 25, 2008 | | web only Learning to Love Biden's Big Mouth The voluble manner of Obama's VP pick is in fact the mark of a man who has mastered a subject and wants nothing more than to share it with you -- at length. August 24, 2008 | | web only The Troubled Tourist Travel is so broadening. It shows you other nations' narrow-mindedness, so that when you get home you can see your own more clearly. August 22, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 18) Newsflash! Giving tax breaks to the rich doesn't create jobs, it looks like recession time, and more tales of dumb executives August 21, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 47) Rick Warren downplays his conservative record, McCain's anti-abortion stance, and the religious right falsely claims Obama voted to legalize infanticide. August 20, 2008 | | web only It's Not About the Medals The Olympics remind us of the real reason why all of us should be proud of our country -- diversity. August 19, 2008 | | web only The Drums of Change On or about last Friday, the world changed. China and Russia put everyone on notice that the power relationships of the past have been reshuffled and that formidable new powers are challenging the established order. August 15, 2008 | | web only But What Does it Mean for NATO? The conflict between Georgia and Russia has reignited a long-standing debate over NATO expansion. Robert Farley explains. August 15, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 17) McCain supports privatizing social security, The Washington Post is in denial about the housing bubble, and Wall Street jobs are now being outsourced. August 14, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 46) Anti-abortion protestors are expelled from China, McCain equates Obama with the Antichrist, and a plan to move evangelicals to South Carolina falls flat. August 13, 2008 | | web only Overhyping Georgia The conflict between Russian and Georgia is certainly important -- but the majority of the rhetoric in the United States has been overheated. August 13, 2008 | | web only I'm Sigmund Freud, and I Approve This Message By the time it's over, this presidential campaign may set some kind of record for the sheer quantity of silliness, trivia, and stupidity. Sometimes, a tire gauge is just a tire gauge. But not this time. August 12, 2008 | | web only Bush Rejects Bushism Over the past year, the Bush administration has moved left on foreign policy -- negotiating with governments it previously shunned and abandoning its long-standing preference for unilateral action. August 11, 2008 | | web only Are We Neglecting the Next Activist Generation? While it's great that young people are so excited about the Democratic candidate this year, progressives need to focus on encouraging young activists to do non-Obama-centric work. August 11, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 16) Economic growth and employment turn out to be lower than we thought, liberals miss an opportunity on oil drilling, and why does John McCain think real men have flat tires? August 8, 2008 | | web only A Polaroid of War The new HBO miniseries Generation Kill perfectly captures the mundane details of military life, but it lacks the emotional depth that any truly accurate depiction of war should have. August 8, 2008 | | web only When Identity Politics Backfire Nikki Tinker's resounding defeat in her primary challenge to Rep. Stephen Cohen may suggest that identity politics don't work quite as well as they used to. August 8, 2008 | | web only CUFI Confidential An undercover reporter John Hagee's annual summit finds that his followers are just as messianic and radical as ever. August 7, 2008 | | web only Waltz With Unbearable Memory In his new documentary Waltz With Bashir, filmmaker Ari Folman explores his own inability to recall the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon as a means of considering how nations go to war, and how we judge what leaders do. August 7, 2008 | | web only Congress' New Watchmen TAP talks with David Skaggs and Porter Goss, the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the newly formed Office of Congressional Ethics. August 7, 2008 | | web only A Glossary of Iraq Euphemisms The Iraq War has been characterized by euphemism since its inception. Here's a guide to some of the most pronounced, and pernicious, euphemisms of the Iraq War. August 6, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 45) Evangelicals organize an ecumenical coalition against gay marriage in California, a "progressive" religious blog isn't progressive, and evangelicals mourn Solzhenitsyn. August 6, 2008 | | web only Business Schools Edison Schools learned what career educators have always known: Managing schools isn't easy or particularly profitable. August 5, 2008 | | web only Why Obama Should Name His Cabinet Now Whoever he picks as his running mate, Barack Obama will end up disappointing someone. But if he announced a cabinet at the same time he could reassure all factions of his party. August 5, 2008 | | web only Obama's Racial Catch-22 For Barack Obama, countering racist attacks means acknowledging that racism is alive and well -- which poses a threat to his hope-based campaign. August 4, 2008 | | web only Selling It Short Joe McGinniss' classic text on presidential campaign ads is almost 40 years old now. But it still has valuable lessons for candidates and the public alike. August 1, 2008 | | web only The Art of Social Justice A new exhibition of the art of Harlem Renaissance-era painter Aaron Douglas shows his commitment to using his work to promote economic and racial equality. August 1, 2008 | | web only The Flex Fuel Solution TAP talks to energy security advocate Gal Luft about the economics of alternative fuels and why natural gas isn't the solution to our energy problems. July 31, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 15) The deficit is not at record levels, housing prices continue to fall, and McCain correctly suggests cutting executive pay at Fannie and Freddie. July 31, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 44) Evangelicals debate whether Obama has "a spirit of the Antichrist" and conservatives claim Rick Warren will give Obama space to defend his "gospel of condoms." July 30, 2008 | | web only False Accusation Blaming public housing policy for an increase in crime misses the point -- the problem is a lack of true support for equitable housing and economic policy. July 30, 2008 | | web only What Next for Affordable Housing? The sub-prime mortgage crisis offers a silver lining -- the potential for the less-well-known problem of affordable housing to get some well-deserved attention and funding. July 30, 2008 | | web only Playing His Own Game For years, Republicans have out-played Democrats, particularly on media strategy. This year, with Barack Obama, Democrats have the upper hand. July 29, 2008 | | web only How Important Was the Surge? Did the surge create the dramatic drop in Iraqi violence? TAP Online asked a dozen-or-so Iraq experts, from all sides of the political spectrum. July 28, 2008 | | web only 36 Hours In Israel (With Barack Obama) When John McCain visited Israel last March hardly anyone noticed. When Barack Obama did the same this week he caused a sensation. July 25, 2008 | | web only What's Next For Campaign Finance? TAP talks with campaign-finance guru Thomas Mann, a key advocate for McCain-Feingold who now says reform should focus more on public funding of candidates and less on contribution limits. July 24, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 14) McCain's offshore drilling plan is designed to support his campaign, not lower gas prices, and bailing out Fannie and Freddie could cost $100 billion. July 24, 2008 | | web only Why McCain Should Embrace Withdrawal The United States must listen to the Iraqi government's demands or risk endangering the gains that have been made during the past 18 months. July 24, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 43) McCain avoids talking about birth control, Dobson may back McCain, and why does Rick Warren get to host the "Compassion Forum"? July 23, 2008 | | web only Will Congress Rebuff the Supreme Court's Anti-Consumer Activism? The Court's campaign against individual court enforcement of consumer, employee, retiree, and other statutory protections has been a secret hiding in plain sight for the last four decades. Congress is finally taking notice. July 23, 2008 | | web only Shorts and Fannies: A Brief History Scratching your head trying to understand just what short-selling is and why it threatens banks; or what exactly Fannie Mae is, and how it might be dragging down a housing sector? Founding Editor Robert Kuttner explains. July 22, 2008 | | web only The Aisle of Least Resistance What am I to make of my commitment to not participate in a sexist, historically racist institution when my own gay friends are rushing to the altar? July 21, 2008 | | web only Maliki's Walk Forward Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's plan for U.S. troop withdrawal shows us the real shape of the debate to come. July 21, 2008 | | web only The Misshapen Mind Two new books argue that the human brain's haphazard evolution has left us at the prey of irrational behaviors and self-defeating instincts. July 18, 2008 | | web only Five Questions Israel Should Ask Before Bombing Iran After Iran's missile tests last week, the question of whether Israel will strike Iran preemptively is on everyone's mind. Here are five questions Israel should ponder before striking. July 17, 2008 | | web only What's Next for J Street? TAP talks with Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of the new pro-Israel group J Street, about his organization's congressional endorsements and why he doesn't mind being attacked from the right. July 17, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 13) Inflation surges, Fannie and Freddie get away with reckless incompetence, and Obama proposes a subsidy for tax accountants. July 17, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 42) Duping conservative evangelicals is easier than using a computer, Huckabee on TV, and Hagee angers his flock by moving to the center. July 16, 2008 | | web only Scoring The New Yorker Cover Debate Sunday night the new issue of The New Yorker hit newsstands. By Monday morning, everyone had an opinion. Here's a rundown of the cover's defenders and attackers. July 16, 2008 | | web only It's the Economists, Stupid Phil Gramm's tone-deaf remark about a "mental recession" shows that in picking advisers, on the economy or otherwise, John McCain doesn't have a clue. July 15, 2008 | | web only Looking at The Dark Side In her new book, New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer chronicles the Bush administration's embrace of torture and secrecy in the War on Terror. July 15, 2008 | | web only Is the U.N. Making Things Worse in Darfur? Foreign aid and a U.N.-backed peacekeeping mission may be prolonging the conflict in Darfur by providing a safe-haven where rebels can safely leave their families and recruit new soldiers -- some of them children. July 14, 2008 | | web only The Men Behind Generation Kill TAP talks with David Simon, executive producer of Generation Kill, the new HBO series about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Evan Wright, author of the book on which it is based. July 11, 2008 | | web only Focusing on The Family Journalist Jeff Sharlet went undercover to infiltrate the secretive Washington, D.C., religious organization, The Family. Sarah Posner asks him what they want, and how they go about getting it. July 10, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 13) McCain advocates balancing the budget with magic, Greenspan is either a liar or a fool, and government lenders sag under the weight of bad mortgages. July 10, 2008 | | web only Obama Is Not a God Liberals need to understand that Obama can never live up to his golden image -- but they should still hold him accountable for the campaign promises he's made. July 9, 2008 | | web only How the Left Can Avoid a New Education War A battle is brewing between portions of the civil-rights community and teacher unions over the future of liberal education policy. July 9, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 41) Obama shifts emphasis on reproductive rights, "abortion reduction" has some limitations, and an update on Sen. Grassley's investigation of televangelists. July 9, 2008 | | web only The McCain Rules The press has been reasonably kind to Barack Obama. But this is nothing compared with its eagerness to adopt any argument even mentioned by the McCain campaign. July 8, 2008 | | web only Barack's Pilgrimage The trip that future president Obama needs to take to Israel is not the one that candidate Obama can risk. July 3, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 12) The Times confuses the stock market and the economy and worries about a shortage of Europeans while McCain only claims to want to hold economists accountable. July 3, 2008 | | web only Fixing the System Obama Broke We need a fundamentally different way of allocating public funds to political candidates. July 3, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 40) Obama is friendlier with evangelicals than McCain, Huckabee supporters push him as Vice President, and Huckabee says immorality is the cause of big government. July 2, 2008 | | web only A Limited Health-Care Success in Massachussetts The Massachusetts health reform plan says much about the pitfalls and promises of reform. July 2, 2008 | | web only McCain: Noun, Verb, Terrorism For all John McCain's supposed experience, he has the same absurdly simplistic and factually ignorant understanding of the problem as President Bush. July 1, 2008 | | web only The Doctors' Revolt Doctors, the traditional advocates for the medical status quo, are increasingly in favor of major reforms to the U.S. health-care system. July 1, 2008 | | web only Justice Scalia's Dueling Opinions Scalia's opinion in the ruling overturning D.C.'s gun ban shows the flaws of his trademark judicial thinking. June 30, 2008 | | web only Nader's Black and White World Ralph Nader made news last week by accusing Barack Obama of "talking white." But all he really told us is that he's still trapped in the past. June 30, 2008 | | web only The Abortion Counseling Conundrum Pro-choice activists have come to embrace the idea that many women who've had abortions can benefit from non-ideological counseling. So why are the groups that provide such counseling having so much trouble raising money? June 30, 2008 | | web only The Celeb Factor in Politics Hollywood and Washington have always had a lot of connections, but, this election cycle, the nature of celebrity involvement in politics has really changed. June 27, 2008 | | web only Does the Housing Bubble Have to Pop? Congress is currently debating the Dodd-Frank bill, which would provide relief for struggling homeowners. But does the bill offer the most efficient solution to the housing crisis? June 27, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 11) Airline CEOs have some odd ideas about customer service, Exxon gets a break from the Supreme Court, and many middle aged families have very little savings. June 27, 2008 | | web only The Torture Taint Even as they worked out the details of how interrogation techniques widely regarded as torture would be used on detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Pentagon officials sought to keep the blood off Defense Department hands. June 26, 2008 | | web only Talking to Iran Is Not So Controversial Don't look now but there is a broad consensus on what the next administration should do about Iran. June 25, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 39) Latino evangelicals may play a decisive role in future elections, Dobson says Obama has a "fruitcake" interpretation of the Constitution, and culture wars continue in Texas. June 25, 2008 | | web only Democrats Capitulate on FISA Democrats are trying to rationalize capitulating on surveillance and telecom immunity in the new FISA bill by calling it a compromise. It isn't. June 25, 2008 | | web only Larry Johnson's Strange Trip How a onetime hero of the liberal blogosphere and the Democratic Party spread perhaps the most damaging anti-Obama smear of the primary. June 24, 2008 | | web only Smearing Michelle Frustrated by their inability to successfully call Barack Obama's character into question, his opponents have seized on the next best option -- attacking his wife. June 24, 2008 | | web only Dodd and the Democrats' Countrywide Problem The news that Sen. Dodd received a preferential mortgage deal comes right as the Senate gears up to debate a new bill that would bring relief to borrowers. June 23, 2008 | | web only Corzine's Choice New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine is facing one of the nation's worst budget crunches. Can a man who was elected to clean up a state's financial crisis also enact progressive policies? June 20, 2008 | | web only When Love Meets Racism Lincoln Center's rapturous new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" is a reminder of liberal moral pluck on issues of race and the simplicity of a bygone era's emotions. June 20, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 10) A Chinese central banker makes some very odd complaints, Wall Street bankers got bonuses for profits that we now know were bogus, and McCain doesn't understand what cap-and-trade means. June 19, 2008 | | web only A New Legal Challenge to Israeli Settlements In a pioneering court case, Israeli human rights activists are asking the Supreme Court to grant an order to demolish homes being built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. June 19, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 38) The Southern Baptist Convention returns to politics, Obama secretly meets with evangelical leaders, and why Huckabee is a threat to the Southern Baptists. June 18, 2008 | | web only Will This Man Fix American Health Care? Can Max Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee finally reform health care? Monday's "Prepare for Launch" event was their attempt to convince us to let them try. June 18, 2008 | | web only "If the Detainee Dies, You're Doing it Wrong" We have known for a long time that Donald Rumsfeld approved the use of 15 torture techniques in 2002, but a new congressional hearing exposes the depth of opposition he faced from the military. June 18, 2008 | | web only McCain's Desperate Debate Gambit John McCain knows his campaign is in trouble, and so he's trying to pressure Barack Obama into a long series of town hall meetings. But speeches are the real way the president appeals to the public. June 17, 2008 | | web only Feminist Groups Prepare to Back Obama Are angry feminists defecting en masse to the McCain campaign? Far from it. Behind the scenes, many women's organizations are preparing to fight for an Obama victory in November. June 17, 2008 | | web only Beyond Boumediene The Supreme Court's decision in the most recent enemy combatant case was a reminder that Roe v. Wade is far from the only area of law in which treasured constitutional protections are hanging by a thread. June 16, 2008 | | web only Bush's Misplaced Regrets George Bush says he regrets that his rhetoric did not make him sound like a "man of peace." But his actions, not his rhetoric are what destroyed his party and his legacy. June 16, 2008 | | web only The Friendship Offensive Peace activists on Capitol Hill hope to stave off war with Iran through cross-cultural contact between ordinary citizens. Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus show their support. June 13, 2008 | | web only Wrecking the L.A. Times Sam Zell is doing his best to wreck The Los Angeles Times. Newspapers' problems can't be fixed by indiscriminate cuts or measuring reporters' output by the number of column inches they produce. June 12, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 9) The average homeowner owes more and more, why renters are the ones accumulating wealth, and why we shouldn't want a strong dollar. June 12, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 37) McCain's problems with evangelicals are exaggerated but real, polls show Obama could win the votes of some moderate evangelicals, and a prominent evangelical defends Hagee. June 11, 2008 | | web only In Iran, Things Can Always Get Worse American neoconservatives have consistently downplayed differences among Iranian leaders and, as a consequence, ignored the impact their own words have on Iranian politics. June 10, 2008 | | web only The Soft Art Obama's defining political skill may prove to be his ability to parry attacks and turn them to his advantage. It kept his campaign moving forward and upward when others would have found themselves unable to go on. June 10, 2008 | | web only Dear Hillary: A Letter from an Obama Feminist Even though I didn't vote for you, I want to thank you for your path-breaking campaign. You changed the landscape of politics and gender. June 9, 2008 | | web only Seven Ways Hillary Clinton Changed Our Politics How did Hillary Clinton affect the 2008 Election, and progressive politics, over the course of the primary? June 6, 2008 | | web only Patching Up the Democrats Forty years ago two good Democrats divided the Democratic Party. Supporters of each candidate lost perspective and the resulting tensions hurt the party. But this year, unlike 1968, Democrats have a chance at reconciliation. June 6, 2008 | | web only The Spectre of '68 The last candidate to lead a seemingly unstoppable movement for racial and economic justice was Bobby Kennedy. Obama has the potential to carry on Kennedy's legacy and build a progressive majority. June 6, 2008 | | web only Did Road to Unity Begin in Virginia? Before sneaking off to a secret meeting with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama spoke kindly about Hillary Clinton at a rally in Virginia. His supporters weren't so nice. June 6, 2008 | | web only Three Fixes For Our Lobbyist Problem Forget money, lobbyists' real power comes from information. Here's three ideas that would reduce their influence on Congress and strengthen our democracy. June 5, 2008 | | web only Bill Clinton's Party of One Bill Clinton may be a remarkable political talent, but his genius is defensive, and that has not translated well into helping other Democrats win elections. June 5, 2008 | | web only Tough Like Tzipi As Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni prepares her run for prime minister while Hillary Clinton ends her run for president, the question becomes: How tough must a female candidate be? June 5, 2008 | | web only The Public Transit Paradox At the very time we need public transit most, its funding is being cut across the country. This is crazy. As gas prices rise, transit should become a central priority in infrastructure spending. June 5, 2008 | | web only Did Hillary Crack the Working-Class Code? In the waning months of the campaign Hillary Clinton found a new and startlingly effective way to talk about the economy. She may have lost, but her novel economic argument will live on. June 4, 2008 | | web only What Hillary Did for Women We don't have to wait to see how Hillary Clinton's campaign changed the role of women in politics. From the vice-presidential competition to punditry to Netroots activism, we're already seeing positive results. June 4, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 36) This Week in the Religious Right: McCain gets a warm reception from AIPAC and Ralph Reed, evangelicals may not mind McCain's rejection of Hagee, and Hagee's Jewish friends don't mind his controversial comments. June 4, 2008 | | web only The Anatomy of Smear The White House response to former press secretary Scott McClellan's damning new book would be much more convincing if it weren't so familiar. The administration is following the same script it always uses when one of its own turns against it. June 3, 2008 | | web only Why the Democrats' Cap-and-Trade is Far Better than McCain's McCain's plan to combat global warming is really a giveaway to people who already pollute heavily. Clinton's and Obama's plans make everyone who wants to pollute pay equally. June 3, 2008 | | web only The New Look of School Integration A bad Supreme Court decision overturning race-based integration programs in Louisville, KY, and Seattle, WA, has produced a positive result. A new initiative in Louisville does something even better for children -- it integrates them by class. June 2, 2008 | | web only The Problem With Conservatism Is Conservatism Conservatives fail to understand that replacing the government with free-market forces simply hasn't worked in practice. June 2, 2008 | | web only Winter Soldiers on the Hill Veterans of the Iraq War have finally testified before Congress about the violence against civilians, torture, and lax rules of engagement. But their larger campaign -- convincing other soldiers to oppose this war -- is ongoing. June 2, 2008 | | web only Not Holding Her Own Clinton supporters on the Rules Committee break with their candidate -- a portent of what's to come if she continues her campaign. June 1, 2008 | | web only Byron Dorgan's Contracting Fraud Crusade Byron Dorgan has led a crusade against contractor fraud in Iraq. Now he wants a full congressional committee with subpoena power to finally expose the truth about war profiteering. May 30, 2008 | | web only Muqtada's Got a Posse Patrick Cockburn's new book, Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq, confronts neocon myths about the political situation in Iraq. May 30, 2008 | | web only Playing by the Rules The debacle over seating Florida's and Michigan's delegates is the culmination of the Democratic Party's failure to change the primary process over the years. May 30, 2008 | | web only It's Time to Stop Talking About Soft Power Democrats have a rare opportunity in 2008 to finally erase their long-running deficit on security issues. One of the things they should consider is changing the terminology they use. May 29, 2008 | | web only Clinton's Two-State Two-Step Hillary Clinton and her supporters are welcome to advocate for the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations, but insisting that doing otherwise is undemocratic and unfeminist is a mockery of both ideas. May 29, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 8) This week in economic news: House prices continue to plummet, speculation is probably not to blame for high gas prices, and new corruption is exposed in the mortgage industry. May 29, 2008 | | web only Contempt for Karl Rove? As Karl Rove is subpoenaed to testify before Congress, the White House fights a congressional law suit aimed at forcing the testimony of administration officials. May 28, 2008 | | web only Is Jim Webb Too Good for the Vice Presidency? Jim Webb is on the top of everyone's VP picks list, and the release of his new book suggests he is gunning for the job. But Webb is a politician unlike any other -- and that's why he should stay in the Senate. May 28, 2008 | | web only The POW Dodge John McCain maintains that he doesn't exploit his captivity in Vietnam for his campaign, but in reality he can barely talk about anything else. That's fine, but McCain's service should be the start of a conversation -- not the end of one May 27, 2008 | | web only Vice President Bobby Jindal? Bobby Jindal headed to Sedona last weekend for a Memorial Day weekend VP tryout. May 23, 2008 | | web only The Appeasement Paradox Conservatives say reasoning with foreign dictators is pointless because it grants bad actors legitimacy. In doing so, they fail to understand the usefulness of diplomacy and the limits of American power. May 23, 2008 | | web only A Useful Nudge in California The California Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage fits neatly within a pattern of jurisprudence that goes back to the Warren Court. May 23, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 7) The Senate decides to help struggling homeowners by taking money from low-income renters, the Federal Reserve suddenly realizes the economy is in trouble and inflation seems likely to rise. May 22, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 35) Conservatives rail against the California Supreme Court, moderate evangelicals are divided, and will Mike Huckabee be picked as John McCain's VP? May 21, 2008 | | web only What Does Not Change Forget what happened in Kentucky and Oregon. What's most telling in the Democratic primaries are the things that don't change: More voters, more volunteers. May 21, 2008 | | web only The Backlash That Wasn't The conservative reaction to last week's California Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage was remarkably subdued. Even John McCain, desperate to pander to the base, had little to say. May 20, 2008 | | web only Harry Reid's High Hopes Harry Reid is not an optimistic man, but even he predicts big gains for Democrats in 2008. Even voters in the reddest of red states want to punish Republicans. May 19, 2008 | | web only A Crisis of Attention and Intention The distracted American college student can teach us a lot about living a life that is more than just productive. May 19, 2008 | | web only Iron Man Versus the Imperialists What's missing in the movie is what has sustained the comic book series for most of its history. Iron Man is actually a scathing critique of American imperialism. May 16, 2008 | | web only Debating Liberal Internationalism Matt Yglesias argues that Democrats need to embrace liberal internationalism wholeheartedly. Anne-Marie Slaughter, David Frum, Justin Logan, Derek Chollet, and David Rieff respond. May 15, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 6) Barney Frank's bailout would mainly benefit banks, stimulus checks provide little stimulus, and the benefits of higher prices from China. May 15, 2008 | | web only McCain's America John McCain intends to win the presidency by convincing voters he's just more American than Barack Obama. McCain's gambit reveals how hollow his vision of America is and shows how desperate the GOP has become. May 15, 2008 | | web only Losing Lebanon Violence has shaken Lebanon as Hezbollah, backed by Iran, resists efforts by the nation's pro-western government to weaken its power. May 14, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 34) The Evangelical Manifesto makes an inauspicious debut, the Alliance Defense Fund seeks to legalize politics from the pulpit, and is Huckabee at the top of McCain's VP shortlist after all? May 14, 2008 | | web only Is Congress the Problem With Health Care? Tom Daschle thinks so, and he should know. The former Senate minority leader sat down with Ezra Klein to discuss his new book, Critical, about how to free health-care reform from legislative gridlock. May 14, 2008 | | web only McCain's Judicial Hypocrisy This week John McCain wholeheartedly embraced the idea of "judicial activism" -- a throughly mendacious concept that actually just means opposing judicial decisions that conservatives disagree with. May 13, 2008 | | web only When West Virginia Mattered This year West Virginia won't tell us much about the outcome of the Democratic primary. But it is a reminder of how this is not the first time we've seen a culturally alien candidate out to prove themselves to voters. May 13, 2008 | | web only Titans on the Mat Some say politics in the United States can be explained by the Cronus theory -- parents stamping out their children's revolts at any cost. Has Barack Obama managed to overcome the resentments of older generations? May 12, 2008 | | web only The GOP's '08 Election Anxiety The race to watch on Tuesday is a special election in Mississippi. The reddest of congressional districts is poised to elect a Democrat, sending yet another signal that Republicans are in serious trouble come November. May 9, 2008 | | web only Israel at 60 To understand the co-existence of modern, cosmopolitan Israel with the Israel of permanent violent occupation, it's important to understand that Israel has locked itself into a box of fear. And that fear has become a danger in itself. May 9, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 5) Hillary Clinton's curious stance on the gas tax, adventures in JohnCare, and sub-prime analysts look to the past in order to misread the future. May 8, 2008 | | web only Is Clinton the Last to Know It's Over? Barack Obama coupled a solid, double-digit win in North Carolina with a narrow defeat in Indiana to stall Hillary Clinton's recent momentum. The question now is whether Clinton can see the increasingly obvious end of her campaign. May 7, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 33) Wead and Copeland join to denounce Grassley, Copeland and Huckabee prevent a schism, and a new evangelical manifesto angers the religious right. May 7, 2008 | | web only Dispatches From Flyover Country Thanks to the primary, states like Indiana are finally getting some attention from national reporters and Democrats. Now if only they could learn that not every Midwesterner is an awestruck hillbilly. May 6, 2008 | | web only An End to Payday Loans? Concern over the predatory practices of the payday lending industry has forged an unorthodox partnership in Virginia between religious, consumer-rights, and anti-poverty groups. May 6, 2008 | | web only How Deep Is Your Love? Republicans are up to their usual tricks -- questioning the patriotism of their opponents. The media, as usual, is playing along because it lauds political success, not virtue. May 6, 2008 | | web only How Europe Avoided Our Mess The credit crisis, which is sapping America's economic strength, was the result of an almost religious belief in deregulation whose excesses are now coming home to roost. May 5, 2008 | | web only The Undocumented American Dream A new anthology of autobiographical stories written by undocumented immigrant college students serves as a reminder that we're neglecting some of the country's best and brightest. May 5, 2008 | | web only McCain's Delusional Tax Plan The McCain Agenda: John McCain has adopted a tax plan that covers up massive giveaways to the rich with absurd assertions and faulty calculations. May 2, 2008 | | web only Step Right Up Indiana Like many late primary states, Indiana is feeling the flush of increased voter registration, national media attention and money from the DNC. Democrats are hopeful that this will auger well for down-ticket races in the fall. May 2, 2008 | | web only Subverting the Canon In her new book, Wild Nights!, Joyce Carol Oates takes on the (largely male) Western literary canon in an attempt to sort out her ambivalence toward it and her place within it. May 2, 2008 | | web only The Myth of Green McCain The McCain Agenda: Despite the hype, McCain's environmental record shows a candidate who acknowledges the reality of climate change, but will do little to roll it back. A President McCain would only push for reforms that do not inconvenience businesses or trouble the conservative elite. May 1, 2008 | | web only The Mideast Editing Wars The hawkish pro-Israel group CAMERA's campaign to warp Wikipedia articles was ineffectual. But it's a warning not to trust the online encyclopedia -- and to be wary of partisan "accuracy" advocates in the Israeli-Palestinian Narrative War. May 1, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 4) Clinton joins McCain in support of giveaways for oil companies, the housing market declines even faster, and McCain proposes gutting our health care system. May 1, 2008 | | web only Heat-Seeking Missives A Senate committee seeks to limit the use of secretive national security letters -- if you receive one, you're not allowed to tell anybody, but you are obliged to comply with its request for information. May 1, 2008 | | web only "Then No One Would Be a Democrat Anymore" In 1970, Richard Nixon, inspired by a spontaneous construction workers' riot, settled on the political strategy that would win him the 1972 election by a landslide and dominate American politics to this day. April 30, 2008 | | web only Obama Praises the Wrong Conservatives Barack Obama says Republicans have some good ideas, but he is missing an opportunity to point out the difference between traditional conservative governance and the deliberately destructive agenda of today's conservative movement. April 30, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 32) Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee agree on theology, Hagee explains divine "curses," and the Christians-only National Day of Prayer comes to Washington. April 30, 2008 | | web only Why John McCain Wants You To Give Up Your Health Insurance The McCain Agenda: McCain believes that Americans use too much health care, and he has created a plan that will make care less affordable so millions of Americans will use less. April 30, 2008 | | web only The Best Thing Not to Have Happened During the Bush Administration With the stock market sinking and no end to our current economic woes in sight, aren't we glad we didn't privatize Social Security? April 29, 2008 | | web only How Democrats Can Beat McCain Democrats need not panic about running against John McCain. The war, the economy, and the Bush Legacy are aligned against him, and he's never had his centrist credentials attacked from the left. April 29, 2008 | | web only The Case of the Missing Education Policy The McCain Agenda: Want to know what John McCain's plans are for fixing America's education system? Good luck. His last major statement was during his 2000 campaign. April 29, 2008 | | web only Does John McCain Stand for Anything? Ideas have never been the Arizona senator's strong suit, even when the conservative tide was surging. McCain's calling card has always been his biography, and his platform is built on received conservative truths. April 28, 2008 | | web only The Pope's Free Pass American politicians missed a chance to criticize the pope for the church's opposition to the use of condoms to stem the spread of AIDS. April 25, 2008 | | web only Benedict v. Islam Was the pontiff's visit to Ground Zero a gambit in the Catholic Church's contest with Islam for the soul of the developing world? April 25, 2008 | | web only On the 2008 Primary and Black Anger The Clintons do not seem to understand that the kind of revulsion they are generating in what was once the heart of their base is not your garden-variety political frustration. April 25, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 3) McCain has a very odd definition of economic progress, Bush is confused about the definition of recession, and a massive new foundation takes aim at Social Security and Medicare. April 24, 2008 | | web only The Democrats' 60s Fixation This year, the war and the economy may allow Democrats to transcend their internecine battles. Will Clinton and Obama rise to the challenge? April 24, 2008 | | web only Congress Tries New Tactic on Subpoenas Congress, facing a Justice Department unwilling to enforce its subpoenas, is exploring a novel legal option that could vastly expand the power of the legislative branch. Or not. April 24, 2008 | | web only TAP Talks with Lilly Ledbetter The Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear overturned decades of employment-law precedent. Congress is considering legislation this week that would reverse the decision and help end discriminatory pay practices. April 23, 2008 | | web only Knockin' You Out Like Rocky Balboa Hillary Clinton has taken to calling herself the Rocky of the '08 primary. The analogy may be more apt than she realizes. April 23, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 31) This week in the religious right: Pentecostals cry "bigotry" while Grassley says "corruption," McCain makes headway with the religious right, and conservatives mock gay and lesbian teens. April 23, 2008 | | web only Pay No Attention to the Media Behind the Curtain The press is convinced that badgering candidates about faux scandals is necessary because the issues, "will be raised" in the general election, but it ignores its own crucial roll in shaping the terms of debate. April 22, 2008 | | web only Why the Pennsylvania Primary Will Register in November The prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination has swelled voter registration rolls in states that don't usually get a say in the primary process. April 22, 2008 | | web only Why Obama Will Win Pennsylvania Barack Obama has shown himself capable under attack, and managed to rally support beyond Philadelphia. It may be enough to stop Hillary Clinton. April 21, 2008 | | web only More Than a Mother-Daughter Debate Feminists inevitably lose when they take a reductive approach to generational rifts, such as the current fracas over whether or not to vote for Hillary Clinton. It's time for a more complex conversation. April 21, 2008 | | web only The Middle Age of Wong Kar-Wai Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai made his name chronicling romantic alienation with an unmistakable visual style. But his new film, My Blueberry Nights, is atmospherically innocuous and contentedly middle-aged. What happened? April 18, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 2) McCain proposes giving tax dollars to oil companies and expanding the deficit, Sen. Alexander says we should give the money to rich people, and the Post thinks we should use it to make homes more expensive. April 17, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 30) Evangelicals may have excluded political leaders from the drafting of a new manifesto, Huckabee launches a PAC, and the fight for religious freedom at the Air Force Academy. April 16, 2008 | | web only What's the Matter With Bitterness? Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are battling not just over the working-class voters of Pennsylvania but over the legacy of the Democratic Party. April 16, 2008 | | web only No Time For Neutrality America's conversation about Israel has largely left out the voices of progressive Jews and often alienated them from their faith. It's time for them to stop feeling marginalized and start speaking out about the difference between Zionism and Judaism. April 16, 2008 | | web only How Blue Is Your Collar? The bloviating white men of political television are obsessed with maintaining their blue-collar cred. But their obsession with keeping it real blinds them to their own wealth and leads them to mindlessly victimize Democrats. April 15, 2008 | | web only Don't Spend Your Tax Rebate! Yes, we're all looking forward to the $600 check that should be coming our way now that we've filed our taxes. But here's a thought -- maybe we should stick it in savings. April 15, 2008 | | web only J Street on the Map Today's announcement of a new Washington-based pro-Israel lobby is long overdue. Finally, there is a lobby working for what Israel and the U.S. really need: Middle East peace. April 15, 2008 | | web only Should Clinton Consider Albany? The decline of Hillary Clinton's presidential prospects does not change the fact that she is a singularly hard-working, policy-focused politician. Now that Eliot Spitzer is out, perhaps she should consider running for governor of New York. April 14, 2008 | | web only A Middle East Report Card With the clock running out on the Bush administration, can late efforts amount to actual progress in the Middle East? Is the Annapolis process doomed, or can Sec. Rice finally make some progress? April 14, 2008 | | web only Compassion Forum Falls Short of Mark Last night's Compassion Forum was billed as a chance for the candidates to discuss how their faith affects their politics, but the journalist-moderators managed to leave out the politics part of the equation. April 14, 2008 | | web only Oprah's Stale Definition of Charity Her new show may promote creative philanthropy, but in the end "Oprah's Big Give" only underscores the dated view that everyone is either a giver or a receiver, a have or a have-not. April 11, 2008 | | web only Hamas: A Silent Partner for Peace? Faced with internal political pressures and the hard fact of Israel's strength, Hamas has moderated its political positions significantly. The moment may be ripe for pushing Hamas further toward the center. April 10, 2008 | | web only The Meltdown Lowdown (No. 1) Congress acts to worsen the foreclosure crisis, why we should hope investment banks move to England, and how ordinary Americans are subsidizing fancy yachts and private clubs. April 10, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 29) Romney backers face angry followers, why Huckabee will be the next leader of the religious right, and how the focus on Catholicism misses Hagee's worst views. April 9, 2008 | | web only A Superman Approach to Foreign Policy Those who would promote liberal values need also submit to them. This means, at times, restraining your power, and even accepting that your agenda can be impeded by the intransigence of your allies and, occasionally, your adversaries. April 9, 2008 | | web only Goodbye, Mr. Penn Mark Penn's ultimate conflict of interest was not between his role in the Clinton campaign and his private interests. It was between his roles as the pollster and the PR guy. It's a shame that didn't oust him from the campaign months ago. April 8, 2008 | | web only Petraeus, Tell Us Something We Don't Already Know General David Petraeus is appearing before Congress this week to continue the debate over the success of the surge. But the surge has already worked -- it's turned the Iraq War into the next president's problem. April 8, 2008 | | web only Is America a Center-Right Nation? John McCain is counting on the idea that the country is center-right at heart. The Democrats are going to have to convince Americans that bad government is the result of conservative contempt for basic institutions of governance. April 8, 2008 | | web only Did Liberals Cause the Sub-Prime Crisis? Conservatives blame the housing crisis on a 1977 law that helps-low income people get mortgages. It's a useful story for them, but it isn't true. April 7, 2008 | | web only What Obama Could Teach the Treasury Secretary About the Economy Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wants to expand the Fed's powers to bail out struggling investment banks. Obama understands that this would only encourage damaging speculation. April 4, 2008 | | web only Dr. King, Forgotten Radical Long before his death, white and black America began to forget the true legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He fought for economic as well as racial justice, attacked war, and criticized the very foundation of our society. April 4, 2008 | | web only Can Obama Make the Populist Case in Pennsylvania? Barack Obama is fine-tuning his populism in order to gain ground in what has seemed like a Clinton stronghold. April 3, 2008 | | web only An Unfamiliar (Economic) Game Wall Street has become addicted to taking enormous risks and sticking taxpayers with the bill. As a result, financial panics are causing real recessions and returning us to the 19th century. April 3, 2008 | | web only Rewards Without Risks for Wall Street Our tax dollars are being used to protect Wall Street from the consequences of its own risky decisions. It's time to stop giving them a free ride. April 2, 2008 | | web only Will Bush's New Nukes Program Bomb? Buried in the administration's new budget is $10 million for the development of new nuclear weapons. Despite congressional opposition, and ongoing efforts to force other countries to abandon nuclear programs, the Bush administration refuses to let its dreams of U.S. nuclear expansion die. April 2, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 28) Charismatics embrace Huckabee, Parsley calls the New Deal satanic, and the Supreme Court takes a new Ten Commandments case. April 2, 2008 | | web only Toward a More Nutritious Election Every election cycle we bemoan the character-driven election coverage. But nothing seems to change. April 1, 2008 | | web only True Confessions of a Superdelegate One anonymous superdelegate opens up about being courted by campaigns, why the early primaries matter, and how to avoid an endless election next time. April 1, 2008 | | web only The Fed and Crony Capitalism The Federal Reserve's response to the current fiscal crisis raises grave questions about its independence and judgment. It is time for Congress to launch formal hearings into the governance of the Fed. March 31, 2008 | | web only There's Nothing Funny About Prison Rape More than 60,000 prisoners are raped every year, and yet we treat them as punchlines not victims. It's time to abandon the idea that rape is a suitable punishment for anyone. March 31, 2008 | | web only Is AIDS Research Back to Square One? As recently as last summer it seemed we were on the cusp of an AIDS vaccine, but the failure of the most recent trials has some calling for a return to "fundamental questions" of how to fight AIDS. March 28, 2008 | | web only Obama v. Krugman Obama's Cooper Union speech presages an FDR-like approach to our faltering economy. Why can't Paul Krugman see that? March 28, 2008 | | web only The Strange Case of Robert Malley The recent hounding of Barack Obama for the supposed anti-Israel stance of his informal adviser Robert Malley is an instructive point in the controversies surrounding who gets to tell the narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. March 27, 2008 | | web only When Barack Voted No There is a new attack on Obama's (very good) reproductive choice record. But this time it's coming from the right. March 27, 2008 | | web only McCain on the Red Phone Was McCain's recent conflation of al-Qaeda and Iran a neoconservative delusion or a habit of mind that lumps together all of America's enemies? Either way, it's frightening. March 27, 2008 | | web only Moral Hazard The Bush administration rejected the idea that homeowners caught in the sub-prime loan mess deserved government bailout -- but it endorsed the Fed's bailout of Wall Street. Trouble is, it's the latter group that should have known better. March 26, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 27) The inflammatory pastor double-standard, the Republican "other-izing" strategy, and this year's anti-gay marriage movement. March 26, 2008 | | web only Conservatives' Hate-Based Campaign Against Obama The right-wing smear campaign against Barack Obama has already begun. Conservatives intend, as they have so many times before, to appeal to Americans' ugliest prejudices and most craven fears. March 25, 2008 | | web only A Real Dialogue on Race Obama's speech rose above the rush to label anyone and everyone a racist, and instilled hope for a more productive national conversation about race, gender, and class. March 24, 2008 | | web only Florida Dems Weigh in on the Delegate Debacle The Florida Democratic Party announced this week that it is rejecting a re-vote. Now the DNC will have to clean up the delegate mess itself. March 21, 2008 | | web only A New New Deal Reshaping the U.S. economy so that it actually benefits Americans won't be easy. But it must be done. March 21, 2008 | | web only Taping Over Old Ideas of Community Michel Gondry's Be Kind, Rewind celebrates ordinary people and the extraordinary power of creativity and community. March 21, 2008 | | web only Canada Imports "School Choice" Ideology Toronto's current debate over whether to create Afrocentric public schools looks suspiciously like arguments over private school vouchers in the United States, with the same charged rhetoric and misleading data. March 21, 2008 | | web only Southwest Passage Is John McCain, with his home state advantage and record of leadership on immigration, a threat to the Democrats' plan to capture the Southwest? March 20, 2008 | | web only Does Obama Really Have a Race Problem? There is no doubt that working-class whites harbor resentments against blacks. But wealthy whites are more likely than working-class whites to use the race card in the voting booth. March 20, 2008 | | web only Five Years Later According to interviews with detained members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the most powerful recruitment tool for Islamic extremists is ... the war itself. March 19, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 26) Rod Parsley's anti-Muslim views, John Hagee's anti-Catholic views, and a new book defines "ChristianityLite." March 19, 2008 | | web only Political Theatre of the Absurd Groups like Code Pink have turned political protest on the left into a joke. Effective political movements have to both engage their participants and ensure that their actions are meaningful. March 18, 2008 | | web only What Is McCain's Economic Agenda? The man who famously admitted that economics is not his strong suit wants to fundamentally alter the government's role in the economy by deeply cutting non-defense spending, from discretionary programs to entitlements. March 17, 2008 | | web only A Midwest Progressive Hero Howard Metzenbaum, who died Wednesday at age 90, was a relentless, in-your-face senator who stood up for workers' rights and paved the way for the candidates who came after him. March 14, 2008 | | web only What $5,500 an Hour Buys The amount Eliot Spitzer paid for a prostitute buys a lot more than secrecy, and a lot more than sex. It buys a confirmation of status and power, though it remains -- or is supposed to remain -- inconspicuous. March 13, 2008 | | web only Burden of Proof Increasingly, the rabbis in the Israeli state bureaucracy demand proof that people registering to marry are really Jewish. The proof they seek is unavailable to most American-born Jews. March 13, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 25) A possible explanation for the Churchill images in McCain's most recent ad, Craig Unger on the relationship between neocons and fundamentalists, and has the evangelical center arrived? March 12, 2008 | | web only John Hagee's Controversial Gospel An excerpt from Sarah Posner's new book, God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters. March 12, 2008 | | web only The American Recession and the World's Emerging Economies The world's developing nations are no longer nearly as dependent as they used to be on consumers in the United States and other rich nations to keep them going by buying their exports. March 11, 2008 | | web only The Democrats' Struggle to Maintain Unity As the Democrats gear up for the Pennsylvania primary, they could find themselves on shaky ground as the party's old personality disorders begin to resurface. March 11, 2008 | | web only More Bellicose Than Bush? Given how often we are told that McCain has "credibility" and "experience" on matters of foreign policy and national security, it's worth asking what effect all that alleged experience has had on him. March 11, 2008 | | web only Justice Denied for Battered Immigrant Women The Department of Homeland Security is considering a policy change that would harm immigrant women who are abused by husbands who are U.S. citizens. March 10, 2008 | | web only WireTAP: A Dialogue about The Wire (Episode 10) Prospect writers discuss the final episode of the critically acclaimed HBO series. March 10, 2008 | | web only WireTAP: A Dialogue About The Wire (Episodes 7-9) Prospect writers discuss the fifth season of the critically acclaimed HBO series. March 7, 2008 | | web only The Return of Newtonian Governance Run to the bookstore! Newt Gingrich has a new book whose central theme is, unsurprisingly, that "bureaucracy" predisposes government to fail, in contrast to an inherently more effective and efficient private sector. March 7, 2008 | | web only Justice Scalia's Two-Front War Despite lip service to "judicial restraint" Scalia has been waging a war against consumer product regulation as well as protections for workers, at both the state and federal level. March 6, 2008 | | web only Remembering Buckley for the Right Reasons William F. Buckley's contradictions -- a feisty rebelliousness alongside classic, conservative principles like civility and hierarchy -- are what made his conservatism so profoundly American and so profoundly effective. March 6, 2008 | | web only Primaries Without End, Amen This is the "show me the demographics and I'll tell you the winner" Democratic presidential contest. Why bother to hold elections? March 5, 2008 | | web only How Far Will Democrats Go? Having learned that going negative works, the Clinton campaign will certainly continue. Its fervent hope is that Obama will refuse to join that particular fight. March 5, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 24) Why Russert won't ask McCain to denounce Hagee, what's next for Huckabee, Tony Perkins' "New" Evangelical Agenda, and the Catholic Question. March 5, 2008 | | web only The Contours of the Campaign to Come Obama may not have knocked Hillary Clinton out of the race yet, but his success is giving us a taste of what Republicans have in store for the general election. March 4, 2008 | | web only Obama's Usable Past Reading Obama as cut loose from history is incorrect. Obama's promise is not to remove us from history but rather to find a "usable past" in American ideals of equality, justice, and fraternity. March 4, 2008 | | web only Where Both Democrats Went Wrong in Ohio Clinton's traditional support went up against Obama's insurgent organizing. But neither campaign hit the populist notes that would have really resonated with Ohio Democrats. March 4, 2008 | | web only Breaking the Gazan Impasse If there is a way out of the current crisis, it lies in reuniting the West Bank and Gaza under a Palestinian unity government. That might require the release of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian political figure who has done the most to promote unity. February 28, 2008 | | web only A Story That Needed to Be Told TAP talks to Patrick Murphy, the only Iraq War veteran in Congress, and author of the new book, Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress. February 28, 2008 | | web only Winter of the Patriarchs What do the recent political announcements of Fidel Castro and Ralph Nader show the two to have in common? A shared allegiance to the cult of the Indispensable Man. February 28, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 23) Some answers in Grassley's televangelist probe, the "evolution" of anti-gay and anti-abortion propaganda, and a brief history of media declarations that Christian conservatism is dead. February 27, 2008 | | web only Why Health Insurance Doesn't Work It is actually against their interest for insurers to compete on giving us the best care. It's not simply that they're not doing it, but given the structure of the marketplace, they shouldn't do it. February 27, 2008 | | web only Will the Next President Lift the Ban on Gays in the Military? What will our military look like in the years to come? Depends on if the next president addresses the increasingly unpopular "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. February 26, 2008 | | web only Toward a More Enlightened Security Policy If he's so concerned about terrorism, why has Bush shown so little compassion toward the meek in the most dangerous parts of the world? A prestigious group of female national-security experts wants to know. February 26, 2008 | | web only Is Bush to Blame for the Economy? In fairness, Bush, like all presidents, does not deserve all the blame (or credit) for the economy's performance under his watch. But he turned a blind eye to the mounting evidence of an economic crisis. February 25, 2008 | | web only The Final Word The Clinton-Obama contest has opened up some unexpected divisions in the Democratic Party among people who have invested their deepest selves into one candidacy or another. Democratic chances in November may depend at least as much on what the loser says as who the winner turns out to be. February 25, 2008 | | web only What Happened to Mental Health Care for Vets? While the debate over suicide and mental health care for soldiers and veterans continues in Washington, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are killing themselves at an alarming rate. February 22, 2008 | | web only Kosovo and the Rise of the Humanitarian Hawks Kosovo's formal declaration of independence shows how modest humanitarian hawks' accomplishments have been. February 21, 2008 | | web only Iraq, Intelligence Failures, and Kelly Clarkson TAP Online talks with A.J. Rossmiller, author of Still Broken, the new book about his experiences as an intelligence officer in Iraq. February 20, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 22) Conservatives hold up funding to fight global AIDS, anti-Muslim mailings are sent to Jews, and the IRS investigates a prominent Huckabee supporter. February 20, 2008 | | web only The Underperformer Clinton's aura of inevitability has given way to a fight for relevance. It's growing increasingly hard for her to argue that her experience and electoral discipline set her apart when her campaign is performing so poorly. February 20, 2008 | | web only The Triumph of Narrative Of all the things Barack Obama has done right this campaign, none may be more important than the fact that he has told a story perfectly keyed to the current moment in history. February 19, 2008 | | web only Who Will Stop the Bulldozers? The Bush administration is supposedly committed to a freeze on Israeli settlement, as part of the bid to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement this year. So what are all those hardhats doing at building sites? February 18, 2008 | | web only What's Missing from Democratic Exit Polls? Differences in Democratic and Republican exit polling on abortion paint a distorted picture of where Americans stand on reproductive rights. February 18, 2008 | | web only Obama's Voice, Edwards' Message By introducing himself as a candidate of ideals and generational change, Obama attracted wide support -- and still left himself plenty of room to fill in the details later. He's borrowed those details from John Edwards. February 18, 2008 | | web only WireTAP: A Dialogue About The Wire (Episodes 4-6) Prospect writers discuss the fifth season of the critically acclaimed HBO series. February 15, 2008 | | web only Health Care's Odd Couple Sens. Ron Wyden and Bob Bennett are building a bipartisan coalition around health care reform. Together they have come up with a bill that is more impressive than anything offered by the presidential candidates. February 15, 2008 | | web only Should Democrats Walk Away from the Climate Bill? If the environmental movement can't decide whether to get together behind the current climate bill, does it stand any chance of passing this session -- and should it? February 14, 2008 | | web only Shades of Chicago With Clinton and Obama neck and neck in the primary race, the possibility of a bitter convention fight cannot be dismissed. February 14, 2008 | | web only The Middle Is Falling Out of the Economy What has happened that has so changed the economic life of the American people? And what public policy changes will help remedy our economic malaise? February 13, 2008 | | web only Potomac Pummeling With three decisive wins yesterday, Barack Obama proved he has broadened not just his margin of victory but the nature of his demographic coalition. February 13, 2008 | | web only The FundamentaList (No. 21) Is the religious right cracking up? We answer your questions about the state of evangelical America. February 13, 2008 | | web only Winning the Edwards Vote Restoring a prosperous and secure middle class must be the central economic policy goal of any candidate wanting the Edwards vote. February 12, 2008 | | web only The Maverick Myth You can't read a story about John McCain without seeing the word "maverick." But is it true? From the archives: Robert Kuttner on how McCain failed to stand up to the Bush administration and Steve Benen on McCain's relationship with the media. |
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