The Editors

Terrence Samuel considers the meaning of Joe Lieberman: Still the narrative that emerged this week was that Lieberman’s shape-shifting abilities had saved him yet again. He was the survivor. But while he will chair a powerful and important committee, Lieberman has no margin for error. While Harry Reid and Democrats — salivating over the potential […]

In an article from our November issue, Tara McKelvey reports on how counterinsurgency theory has come to dominate military thinking — and what implications that has for the Obama administration: John Nagl‘s memories of Vietnam are vague, at best. He was, after all, only two years old during the 1968 Tet offensive and was in […]

In an article from our forthcoming print issue, Dayo Olopade reviews the mound of briefing books various groups have prepared in attempt to set a policy agenda for president-elect Obama: No fewer than 20 progressive think tanks, issue groups, media outlets, and ad-hoc coalitions have already or will soon release presidential transition plans. These open […]

Barack Obama has promised an office of urban policy, but what will it look like? Dana explains: There is a certain vogue gathering around urban issues. No — not inner city poverty, crime, or joblessness — but, rather, those issues that might broadly be described as ones of “human geography.” Where do people live, where […]

Ann Friedman calls out the pundits claiming that, unless Obama ignores minority groups, his presidency will fail: During the Bush years, many pundits agreed that the Democratic Party had a “white man problem” — that a Democrat would never win the presidency without more support from working-class white dudes. Just last year, David Paul Kuhn […]

First, Mark Schmitt explained Barack Obama‘s theory of change: But let’s take a slightly different angle on the charge that Obama is “naïve” about power and partisanship. Suppose you were as non-naïve about it as I am — but your job wasn’t writing about politics, it was running for president? What should you do? In […]

In an article from our forthcoming print issue Mark Schmitt explains how patience won Obama the presidency: A single tactical choice early in Barack Obama’s quest for the presidency set the course for all the events that followed — Obama’s securing of the Democratic nomination and surprisingly smooth path to resounding victory in the general […]

Adam Serwer explains how Tom Perriello beat Virgil Goode in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District: Even in a rough year for Republicans, most political observers still didn’t give do-gooder Tom Perriello much of a chance against Virginia’s Republican congressman Virgil Goode. Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, situated in the middle of the state, is a deep pool […]