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 […]
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).
Posted inColumns
Perils of the Public Plan
A badly designed public plan could turn out to be the opposite of what progressives intend.
Posted inColumns
Revolution Amid Recession
Universal broadband internet is going to be spectacularly disruptive, and the challenge isn’t just going to be getting everyone connected.
Posted inColumns
Breaking the Grip of the Past
Reflexive conservative ideology remains a powerful factor in national debate. So it’s crucial–if not for Obama, then for others–to continue to press the case that our present problems have ideological roots.
Posted inColumns
The Realignment Opportunity
Conservatives say that America remains a center-right country and Obama won only because of special circumstances, while some liberals claim that the election marks a historic realignment. Neither is the right way to read the returns.
Posted inColumns
The American Collision
A presidential race between Obama and McCain was supposed to bring a less-polarized politics, so why hasn’t it worked out that way?
Posted inColumns
The Year of Passion
In this year’s primaries, for the first time in many election cycles, Democrats were carried by inspiration, rather than political calculation.
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Freedom’s Future Online
In his new book, Jonathan Zittrain argues the very qualities that make the personal computer and the Internet so valuable are the source of their vulnerability and possible undoing.
Posted inArticle
VICE PRESIDENT GORE? AGAIN?
James Carville says Obama should pick Al Gore for vice president. Here are some reasons Democrats are likely to take this option seriously, unless Gore himself rules it out. Gore answers the need for “experience,” but unlike Nunn and various others who’ve been mentioned, he doesn’t contradict the message of change or raise any tensions […]
Posted inColumns
Lullaby of Baghdad
Are we winning the Iraq war, or is what little progress we have achieved actually an illusion?