picardow

Ezra Klein says what the country needs now is journalism that explains policy — precisely what the Prospect does best: I’ve written for a lot of publications, and usually about policy. So I’ve heard the same concern over and over: “You sure this isn’t too far in the weeds?” When you get too deep into […]

Sarah Blustain asks if women have the clout that they ought to in progressive politics: The disheartening news isn’t limited to the fact that women’s election to Congress has plateaued around 17 percent, putting the United States 84th in the world in terms of women’s representation in the national legislature. When you talk to advocates […]

Ross Douthat’s follow-ups to his column on gay marriage are, I think, starting to make his argument look worse, not better. His latest post quotes a very strange passage by Eve Tushnet, effectively arguing that if marriage does not remain specifically about heterosexuals, then the institution cannot be used to rein in destructive behavior — […]

Mark Schmitt says that good policy can be smart politics — and that’s the idea behind this magazine: To a reader, the Prospect’s “liberal fundamentalism” was straightforward and earnest, a refreshing contrast to all the tortured proposals for “how progressives can win.” Much of the debate of the early 1990s came down to the choice […]

Adam Serwer lays out how Obama’s immigration policies have failed the reform movement — and given the GOP an excuse to move even further right: Republican resistance to any kind of immigration reform and the administration’s own lofty rhetoric of acceptance obscure the fact that while President Obama talks like an immigration moderate, in practice […]

Matthew Yglesias on how the question of how to use American military power still threatens to split the liberal movement: Many liberals are pacifists or near pacifists who see their aim as fighting for “peace” and discrediting the concept of war. Others are very conventional advocates of American hegemony and military power who just happen […]

Michael Tomasky on what the left can learn from right-wing extremists: Let’s imagine that a right-wing reporter had asked 11 Democratic House members in 2002 whether George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had foreknowledge of the September 11 attacks and let them happen. One or two Democrats might have played that one coy, but by […]

Tim Fernholz on why Congress can’t afford to kick the can of Bush’s tax cuts down the road again: President Barack Obama — who promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 — and congressional Democrats generally favor keeping the more expensive cuts targeted at the middle class while nixing those affecting […]

Randall Kennedy reflects that when diversity became a positive, race-based preferences overcame the backlash: Over the years, affirmative action has been truncated by judicial rulings and banned by voters in some states. In one guise or another, however, special efforts to assist marginalized racial minorities remain a major force in many schools and firms, foundations, […]

David Callahan wonders if more liberals are now as rich as Republicans, do we risk forgetting the poor and working families: Liberal commentators have long debated the proper role of the upper class within the progressive coalition. This debate is timelier than ever, but it is also increasingly academic. Class politics has already remade itself. […]