Noted
Responses to Adam Serwer’s cover story, “The Other Black President,” James Crabtree’s piece “Britain’s Great Right Hope” and a letter from Executive Editor Mark Schmitt.
Intimacy Meets Hard Times
Some countries have a strong marriage culture and others are indifferent. The U.S. alone cherishes both marriage and the right to exit from it.
A Politics of National Sacrifice
Thirty years after Carter’s “malaise speech,” the language of humility and civic obligation resonates more powerfully than ever.
The Green Challenge: An Introduction
The green economy will get an $80 billion boost from President Barack Obama’s recovery package in the form of direct spending, loan guarantees, and tax incentives. A clean-energy economy offers not just savings in imported oil and reductions in carbon emissions necessary to save the planet but jobs and new industries — and not just…
Cities on the Front Lines
Conversion to solar and wind energy is an environmental necessity and an industrial opportunity. Success will require a concerted national policy.
Lessons From Europe
Funding for research into new technology is key.
Beyond Sunny Hopes and Windy Rhetoric
To realize the promise of solar and wind power, aspirations need to be matched with more effective strategies.
From Mass Transit to New Manufacturing
With the right policies in place, an expansion of public transportation could help reindustrialize the United States.
How Supreme a Court?
The highest court follows the political trends rather than defying them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
All Work, No Pay
Whether she likes it or not, Michelle Obama now serves as a public figure for the administration. Should the first lady get a salary for her work?
Breakfast at Hugo’s
After criticizing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, our correspondent gets a lesson on the Bolivarian revolution.
Fighting for Green Justice
In the race for green jobs, environmental-justice advocates don’t want urban communities to get left behind.
A Green Industrial Economy
The opportunity for good jobs is there — but unionization and government contracting standards will make a huge difference.
The Education Wars
Unions and reformers are fighting over the future of schools. Now the battle lines have started to blur.
Political Islam 101
Three books administration officials should read as they attempt to deal with the Middle East in all its messy nuance.
Our Man in Kabul
Richard Holbrooke learned some hard lessons in Vietnam. Now he is applying them to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Missed Connections
Bush kept choices about taxes separate from questions of services. Progressives have turned the tables.
My Recovery Prediction
Just as the economy faltered, so it will recover. There’s a reason it’s called the “business cycle.”
Team of Rivals Redux
How four men and one woman, with very different backgrounds and views, shaped the New Deal.
Naughty Mommies
Are bloggers who proudly identify as “bad moms” challenging ideals of motherhood or reinforcing them?
Slouching Towards Solvency
Obama’s real economic challenge is to minimize exotic securitization and to regulate the shadow banking system.
Post-Consumer Prosperity
We won’t return to an economy driven by ever-increasing consumption. But by prioritizing investment and consuming less, we just might end up living better.
The Radical Minimalist
Obama’s regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, has a complex faith in market initiatives. But sometimes a “nudge” is not enough.
Thinking Even Bigger
Just over the next horizon are even bolder reforms. They include: Instant-Runoff Voting. With instant-runoff voting, you designate more than one choice. If your candidate isn’t in the top two, your vote automatically goes to your second choice. With this system, now used for local elections in San Francisco, supporters of insurgent candidates can vote…
