Ally McBeal’s Younger Sisters
Why do the young women on television act so childishly—especially when the children are so adult?
The Politics of Sanctimony
George W. Bush and God Himself are on notice: “The Democratic Party is going to take back God this time,” Gore operative Elaine Kamarck announced a few months ago as the vice president made his play for the Almighty. He declared his disdain for “hollow secularism,” his support for state funding of sectarian social service…
El Governador
Is Hispanic support for George W. Bush a genuine political phenomenon—or a case of targeted campaign spending run riot?
Reform Party Follies
In the summer of 1998, Jesse Ventura, who was running for governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket, wanted to obtain a loan from the party’s national headquarters to pay for political advertising, but he couldn’t get the national organization on the phone. National Chairman Russell Verney later explained to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “The…
But Is It Journalism?
From “fly-out menus” to scandal coverage, the ins and outs of Web news.
Dick Morris’s The New Prince
Dick Morris’s The New Prince Machiavelli Updated For The Twenty-First Century 11.01.99 | reviewed by Jonathan Chait Here are some of the chapter headings in Dick Morris’s latest book: Issues over Image, Strategy over Spin, Generosity over Self-Interest, Racism Doesn’t Work. No, really. Dick Morris, inventor of triangulation, who advised President Clinton to alter his…
More Liberal Than You Thought
As George W. commandeers the political center, Gore and Bradley may find more compelling voices as liberals.
Why Bush Won’t Be Nominated
Did he inhale? Did he duck the draft? Whom does he remind you of?
America’s Parliamentary Election
The 2000 presidential election, we’ve all heard, is “front loaded” because early primaries are likely to decide the nominations, and candidates consequently have had to accumulate money and support long in advance. But this past year, the race became front loaded in another way- many people were already bored when it had scarcely begun. Very…
Waiting for Lefty
Warren Beatty can play a useful liberal role—but not as a candidate.
The Bush Court
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
The Next Big Test in Kosovo
The big idea of the post-WWII era was collective security by the great powers. Now, in the post-Cold War era, can the international community make it a reality?
The New Power
It seemed appropriate to begin my series of modest screeds with a short pre- snake person analysis of where power is moving to in America. Here’s who’s losing it: Giant corporations and their CEOs. They’ve made money in the current expansion, but they’re losing clout. Vast industrial- age bureaucracies can’t move fast enough. All are…
Coming of Age
Why the elderly are a net asset to society.
The Voucher Seduction
Vouchers have new political power derived from their potent appeal to minorities and the poor. Liberals and defenders of public education had better take notice.
Comment: Brighter Prospects
A decade ago, in year nine of the Reagan-Bush era, Paul Starr, Robert Reich and I founded a new liberal journal. The Prospect began as a quarterly, with 2,700 subscribers. Longtime readers may notice a few changes in this, our forty-seventh issue, the first to be published biweekly. 1989 was not a liberal moment. The…
