James Crabtree profiles the head of Britain's Conservative Party:
[David] Cameron's promise of a revived conservatism now hangs on whether he, or anyone else on the right, can find a plausible answer to the breakdown of their cherished free market and can find peace with the greater role for government that this implies. But despite the financial crisis, Cameron remains odds-on to become his country's next leader. If any Republican in the U.S. wants to be in the same position anytime soon, a study trip to London might not be a bad first step.
Paul Waldman writes about the commonalities shared by two great communicators:
It's far too early to tell whether future progressives will ask themselves "What would Obama do?" as today's conservatives ask themselves, "What would Reagan do?" What we do know is that Obama has already done some of what Reagan did. Like Reagan, Obama understands the intersection of politics and identity and how his supporters can see themselves in him. That's what happened during the campaign, when being an Obama supporter became an emblem of identity. It meant you embraced a multicultural America, you were forward-looking, you weren't afraid of change, and you were willing to proclaim your progressivism after years of keeping quiet about what you believe.
And Robert Kuttner warns that comprehensive housing policy is needed if the economy is ever to return to health:
The housing sector is where this crisis began. If the administration doesn't succeed in putting a floor under collapsing housing prices and curbing mortgage foreclosures, the economic downdraft will overpower the constructive pull of the stimulus. Stabilizing housing is also the key to determining the market price of the assets that are clogging bank balance sheets, many of which are bonds backed by sub-prime mortgage loans.
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--The Editors
