When I became editor of The American Prospect in 2008, a few people pointed out to me that it was a little odd that I’d never actually worked at a magazine before. And it’s true: I’d been writing for the Prospect since 2001, and blogging for TAPPED, and had a column in the magazine since […]
Mark Schmitt
Posted inColumns
Mind the Map
Obama’s success proves that there’s no turning back from the reality that states, their governors, legislators, and parties will play a central role in our country’s political future.
Posted inFeatures
The Audacity of Patience
Obama’s savvy coalition-building broke all the rules about how to run for president. If he can take the same approach in the White House, he will be a towering success.
Posted inEducation in America
Grading the Election Theories
Let’s give some of the theories about how the election would turn out a post-final-exam assessment.
Posted inArticle
RAHM: THE WONK AS WARRIOR.
The news that Rahm Emanuel would be White House chief of staff sent me back to look at a review I wrote last year in The Washington Monthly of a quickie book about Emanuel’s leadership of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the takeover of 2006. Much of the book was about his profane tirades […]
Posted inArticle
PATIENCE.
President-Elect Barack Obama doesn’t just deliver perfect speeches; over time, he’s become perfect at modulating the tone, the balance between substance and inspiration, and the intensity of his speeches to the moment. The legendary victory speeches of the first caucuses and primaries, where phrases like “Yes, We Can” first acquired their now unforgettable rhythm, soared […]
Posted inArticle
ONE MORE STUPID THING TO SAY ABOUT THE ELECTION…
…is some version of “half the country will be angry and disappointed tomorrow morning.” Like this. Or this, from the FT: This has been an exhilarating and exciting contest. But the visceral dislike between red and blue America has also made it disturbing. There is talk that if Mr Obama loses on Tuesday there will […]
Posted inArticle
“IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY.”
In her first major policy address today, we’re told that Governor Palin will call for “full funding” of special education. Special needs children are “not a problem, they’re a priority,” she told Jill Zuckman of The Chicago Tribune, and will presumably say today. “Full funding” of special education has a specific meaning. The Individuals with […]
Posted inArticle
Populism Without Pitchforks
All Democratic presidential campaigns, whether desperate or confident, in good times or bad, turn populist at the end. Obama’s inclusive, quiet tone has given liberals a new language of ethics.