Obama was right to take on a wide range of tough problems, and no one should be shocked at the obstacles in his path.
Paul Starr
Paul Starr is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the Bancroft Prize in American history, he is the author of eight books, including American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now (Yale University Press, October 2025).
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Deal or Die on Health Care
Why progressives should support a Democratic compromise.
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Averting a Health-Care Backlash
Create a political safety-valve: let people opt out of the mandate. Just don’t let them opt back in at will.
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Faster, Please
Democrats in Congress should focus on enacting job
measures and health reforms that show voters immediate progress.
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Bipartisanship in One Party
The Democratic health-reform proposals are built around ideas Republicans used to favor.
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Health-Care Reform Gets a Booster Shot
Obama’s speech had some important news: His plan now includes some immediate relief on insurance costs.
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Sacrificing the Public Option
Chill out, progressives. To get health-care reform through the Senate, the public option is almost certainly going to have to be dropped.
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Debating the Public Option
The three founders of the Prospect discuss the perils and promise of a public-insurance option.
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OBAMA’S LUCK.
Just around this time in the Clinton administration, the country was consumed with Travelgate, the Vincent Foster case, and other assorted minor and pseudo-scandals. This spring the scandals have been Republican as Sen. John Ensign and Gov. Mark Sanford have admitted infidelities. It’s a pattern that seems to follow Obama. When he ran for the […]
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Perils of the Public Plan
A badly designed public plan could turn out to be the opposite of what progressives intend.
