Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The current economic downturn shares many features with depressions of the past. The United States must acknowledge this and work aggressively to increase domestic demand, subsidize new industries, and reform the financial system.
American elections are most often battles for the political center. If the Democrats wish to field victorious candidates in November, they will need to capture that political center by identifying the Republicans with the radical right.
Three nominees to the National Labor Relations Board are being held up in Congress. A recess appointment of those nominees would not only be a shrewd political move for Obama, it would also enable the understaffed Board to play its designated role as a counterweight to the power of big business.
The Democratic loss in the Massachusetts Senate special elections indicate that Obama is facing a political crisis, and he may not have the political clout necessary to enact the policies that will restore the public’s faith in his leadership.
The enormity and nature of the challenges that Barack Obama faces threaten to make his presidency comparable to that of Herbert Hoover, whose example shows that a person who is highly qualified to be president and who boasts significant accomplishments in office can still fail because of the enormity of the challenges he faces.
By invoking the existence of evil as a justification for war, Obama ventured onto dangerous terrain; that kind of language lends itself all too easily to a crusade-like, messianic foreign policy.
Polls about government regulation of finance and business, about health care, and about climate change all reveal the same basic pattern: Americans look to their government for help, but they still don't like the government.
If the results of New York’s 23rd congressional race are placed alongside those of the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, it is clear that voters chose candidates who positioned themselves as moderates.
California faces a tattered educational system and deep racial divides in income and occupation. It requires a far-sighted government that can transcend faction and interest.
Obama's health care reform efforts are laudable, but his fortunes are tethered to the economy. If he does not clean up the crisis, his administration may not be around to enjoy the future he is building.
