Robert Kuttner

Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party just as the Senate was completing action to approve President Bush’s tax cut with only slight modifications. While Jeffords’s switch will help the Democrats slow down Bush’s juggernaut, it comes too late to block his single most revolutionary victory. Bush will now pay dearly for governing as if […]

George W. Bush, the only presidential son since John Quincy Adams to serve as chief executive, could emulate the Adams family in one other respect. Like Adams senior and Bush senior, W. could well be a one-term president. Recent polls bring nasty news for Bush. His approval rating has plummeted. Despite the generally favorable media […]

Republicans now control the executive and legislative branches of government and are aiming for a lock on the third branch, the federal courts. All that stands in their way are 50 Democratic senators, 40 of whom can mount a filibuster. But will the Democrats be as unified and as tough as the Republicans? We will […]

It was Ronald Reagan, that old trouper, who first started using as human props ordinary Americans who would supposedly benefit from administration policies. We became accustomed to seeing John and Mary Doe, the putative beneficiaries of tax cuts and regulatory guttings, seated in the gallery at State of the Union addresses and other political events. […]

What is the matter with the Democrats? They are rolling over in a blissful haze of bipartisanship, while George W. Bush appoints a hard-right Cabinet and pursues a hard-line program. It’s like a country after a bloodless coup d’etat. Daily life goes on. The tame media makes soothing noises. Rituals of democracy endure. The out-party […]

“I thought it was a very good speech, Dan … everything about Bush’s reaching out … Let’s hope he succeeds. It will be the best thing for the country.” — Bob Schieffer, CBS, Dec. 13 It’s hard to know which part of the Wednesday night denouement was worse – Al Gore’s feeble concession platitudes, George […]

In the last couple of weeks, Al Gore has undergone yet another makeover. Now he’s a populist, bashing drug companies, oil barons, and tax cuts for the wealthy, sticking up for the ordinary working American. He gave a barn-burner of a speech to the NAACP. This past week he was rewarded by a nice bounce […]

Watching the new movie ”Thirteen Days,” I got really scared. What frightened me was not just the vivid memories from my childhood of October 1962, when we all huddled around the TV and wondered if the world would be blown up. What really terrified me was the thought of George W. Bush rather than John […]