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in The New Republic
by
Noam Scheiber, 7 May 2008
Scheiber provides a rare study of Barack Obama's campaign manager and his impact on the presidential contender's campaign. David Plouffe honed his skills working for Dick Gephardt in 1992, when he became a master of Iowa's demographics and elections. Then in 2003, Plouffe joined forces with "Chicago message guru" David Axelrod to manage Obama's campaign for the Senate. When Obama turned his focus to the White House, Plouffe employed his Iowa skills to deliver the state to his candidate. Following this victory, Plouffe's strategizing became legendary as he turned the delegate math into a path to the nomination. Scheiber's piece is a well-written tribute to this political insider.
Posted 4:58, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Pinoli
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Gabriel Sherman, 7 May 2008
Ralph Nader announced his candidacy in this year's presidential election in February, to more jeers than cheers. Many of his allies at the very non-profits he founded have deserted him, claiming that association with him is toxic. Their fears are not unfounded: Public Citizen saw a $1 million drop in donations following the 2000 election. This February, the director of the Nader-founded Center for Study of Responsive Law told his staff to emphatically deny ties to Nader's campaign. Even his close friends are decrying his run for the presidency this year as a quixotic ego trip. Sherman dismisses any potential Nader influence in this election in this tight, unsympathetic account.
Posted 4:50, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Ashley Eldridge
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
The New Republic, 7 May 2008
Amid the hubbub of the race for the Democratic nomination, The New Republic reminds us of the country's millions of disenfranchised voters, abandoned by the political process for any of several reasons. Pertinent to the primaries is the fully one-tenth of Americans who live in Michigan and Florida who have been left completely adrift by the Democrats. The editors widen their net, discussing DC residents who lack representation in Congress, and the eleven states who continue to bar ex-felons from voting. Rather than dilute the argument, the laundry list coalesces into a succinct rallying cry: "For too many Americans, democracy remains a promise unfulfilled."
Posted 3:02, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Amy DeGeus
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Christina Larson, 7 May 2008
As the people of Cambodia celebrate the Festival of the Dead, a holiday commemorating their ancestors, the government has decided to bring the last surviving members of the genocidal Khmer Rouge to trial. Larson smartly recognizes that the timing is more than suspicious. Hun Sen, who has led the kleptocratic government in Cambodia since 1993, continues to win votes by leveraging the horrors of the past. With 70 percent of the population under the age of 30, memories of Pol Pot's atrocities are quickly fading, and Sen is trotting out the last surviving members of the regime, hoping to ride the memory into another term this June.
Posted 2:47, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Gallaway
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
The New Republic, 7 May 2008
Over the past three decades, Robert Mugabe has been slowly destroying his nation. Zimbabwe, of which Mugabe has been president since leading it to independence in 1980, today has the shortest life expectancy on the planet and an unemployment rate of 80 percent. Now, after he has been soundly beaten in an election by Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe is doing everything he can think of to hold on to power. As armed paramilitary gangs attack supporters of Tsvangirai, perhaps the most harrowing detail of the conflict is that the international community has allowed it to happen.
Posted 2:46, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Gallaway
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Michael Crowley, 7 May 2008
Crowley compares Barack Obama's campaign promise to remove all American troops from Iraq within 16 months to Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign promise about his "secret" withdrawal plan from Vietnam. He believes that, like Nixon, Obama has no intention of keeping his campaign troop withdrawal promise. He offers conflicting remarks made by Obama and some of his advisers as evidence. The read-between-the-lines conclusion that Crowley draws quite convincingly is that Obama will leave 60,000 to 80,000 American troops in Iraq maybe until 2010. For some fervent anti-war Obama supporters, this might be a sobering shot of reality.
Posted 2:31, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Elliot Feldman
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Michell Cottle, 7 May 2008
The internal politics of the Clinton campaign make Hillary Clinton's battle for nomination look like a school yard squabble. This article details the whole sordid mess, from turnover of campaign managers to manipulative message masters. Grandstanding, hissy fits, and backstabbing seem the norm, and that's before an ex-president begins to throw his weight around. It's an unflattering portrait of a campaign in trouble, but an entertaining read nonetheless.
Posted 1:39, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jacinta Lodge
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Dayo Olopade, 7 May 2008
So-called "green collar" coalitions between industrial and manufacturing unions and environmental groups could be the unguent that heals their historic divide. In 2005, the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club together formed the Blue-Green Alliance, an organization committed to both sustainability and job creation. It's the beginning of a nascent movement to unite environmental "liberal elites" and blue-collar workers long suspicious of losing jobs to conservation efforts. Olopade traces the problems that union and environmental efforts face in understanding one another in this well-written piece.
Posted 1:31, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Amy DeGeus
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Sean Wilentz, 7 May 2008
Wilentz's discusses the sunset of the Reagan Revolution in American politics, inferring that a "gray" period of national adjustment is the new political order. The key missing factor in his conclusion, however, is the popular rise of Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, a longtime supporter of the Ronald Reagan legacy. But this well-written piece is valuable for Wilentz's capsule history of the Reagan Revolution.
Posted 1:08, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Elliot Feldman
and edited by Brijit.
in The New Republic
by
Sarah Williams Goldhagen, 7 May 2008
The New Museum in the Bowery of New York opened late last year, as an exhibition area for contemporary arts. In her review of the building, Goldhagen begins with a lengthy discussion about her reluctance to criticize a relatively young female architect. But the niceties do not last long. Goldhagen refers to the Museum as a "freeze-dried packet of desiccated minimalism" that is "downright unpleasant" and "akin to standing in a cleaned-out subway." Though not entirely without praise, Goldhagen's impassioned article ponders if minimalism still has a place in contemporary architecture, and is engrossing in the same way that a traffic accident is engrossing.
Posted 1:08, 25 April 2008
This abstract was written by
Jonathan Gallaway
and edited by Brijit.