The Editors

In her piece on the state-secrets defense, Tara McKelvey wonders if the Obama administration will fight to expose decisions made by previous presidents. Should we expect his own administration to embrace transparency fully, or are there times when the defense is acceptable? —The Editors

In his piece on green architecture, Kriston Capps wonders why LEED-certified buildings must always be certifiably hideous. Should we sacrifice beauty for sustainability? And must we have to? —The Editors

Ann Swidler reviews Elsewhere, U.S.A., which considers the effect of modernity on human relationships: Elsewhere, U.S.A. offers two big concepts to diagnose modern society’s ills: the “elsewhere” society, and the “intravidual.” “Mrs. and Mr. Elsewhere,” workaholic professionals, always feel they should be somewhere else than where they currently are, and so they betray those around […]

Adam Serwer writes about the NAACP’s newly taken stance against Proposition 8: The NAACP still hasn’t endorsed gay marriage — but this is the strongest stance it has taken against laws that would prohibit the practice. The distinction is meant to alleviate tension between board members who are religiously opposed to same-sex marriage. But even […]

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 […]

This morning, Ezra had breakfast with Nancy Pelosi. She’s primarily focused on energy at present, but Ezra says she made some interesting remarks on health care. Read his post here. —The Editors

Eli Sanders examines why one netroots candidate failed: Liberal bloggers do face serious long-term challenges in reaching a mass audience that includes swing voters, but it doesn’t help their cause when so many of their current media-relations problems are self-inflicted. While they and their favored candidates may indeed be some of the smartest people in […]

In a gripping feature, Harold Meyerson chronicles UNITE HERE’s internal struggle: Today, UNITE HERE is splitting apart in a bitter civil war that pits the UNITE side against the HERE side in a vicious, ugly fight. Some of the savviest and most dedicated union leaders and staffers ever to work in American labor are savaging […]

Gershom Gorenberg writes that Israel’s prime minister-designate is in an unenviable political situation: Bibi Netanyahu is a nervous man, known for sweating heavily. What’s making him sweat now is the prospect that his ruling coalition will consist only of those six parties of the right. That coalition will be fragmented and unstable. Even worse for […]

TAP senior correspondent Gershom Gorenberg recently discussed the future of Israel with David Frum on Bloggingheads. In this clip, Gershom talks about the settlement problem: Watch the whole debate here. —The Editors