How Obama is riding out the Democratic storm of scandals From Tom Daschle’s taxes, to Charlie Rangel’s apartments, to Rod Blagojevich’s hair, scandals have recently shaken the Democratic Party. Yet polls show that President Obama and the Democratic brand remain relatively untarnished by this long train of embarrassments. His widespread pre-existing popularity has certainly helped Obama limit the fallout from ... Read More

Midterm elections already loom Each election cycle seems to begin the day its predecessor ends. Since the midterm elections will affect President Obama’s ability to enact major pieces of his long-term agenda, it is already worthwhile to start examining the outlook for November 2010. The president’s party ordinarily loses congressional seats in the midterm elections.  In the past 19 off-year ... Read More

Feingold proposes ban on Senate appointments Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has introduced a constitutional amendment that would require elections to fill vacant seats in the Senate, prohibiting governors from filling the seats by appointment. The proposal has its downsides, but it will quite possibly become our 28th amendment, a fact we have good reason to cheer. A Little History Prior ... Read More

The power of Limbaugh, and what Obama plans to do about it Amid the turmoil that historians may label the Battle of the Stimulus, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) did something unthinkable, at least for a Republican congressman: he publicly rebuked Rush Limbaugh. The conservative faithful did not look kindly on Gingrey’s comments, and he soon appeared on Limbaugh’s radio program ... Read More

Can Michael Steele lead blacks to the Republicans? The recent election of Michael Steele, the first African-American chairman of the Republican National Committee, may be taken to symbolize the necessary modernization of the Grand Old Party, or merely cynical tokenism at its worst. Steele’s victory ended a racially charged contest in which one candidate, Katon Dawson, was discovered to have ... Read More

Understanding the impact on oil-exporting countries On June 23, 2008 the price of oil peaked at over U.S. $140 a barrel, and by the following February fell drastically to below $39 a barrel. As Venezuela, Russia, and oil-dependent economies across the Middle East saw their oil revenues dry up over the course of a few months, a devastating impact seemed ... Read More

Socialism, populism, and the future of Venezuelan democracy In February, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez celebrated victory in a constitutional referendum that abolished presidential term limits, winning him the right to seek reelection indefinitely. As leader of the United Socialist Party, Chávez has dominated Venezuelan politics since his first election in 1998. Armed with his unique brand of leftist political ideology ... Read More

New Labour is still the defining movement of British politics “This our hope: not just to promise change but to achieve it. New Labour. New Britain.” In the 1997 parliamentary elections, these words won Tony Blair the largest victory of any prime minister since Clement Attlee. Yet “New Labour” was more than a catchy slogan; Blair aspired to a different ... Read More

New prospects for stable democracy Four years ago, the Iraqi national elections were riddled with fraudulent voting, sectarian boycotts, and insurgent attacks. Although the accomplishment of largely free and fair elections drew praise from onlookers around the world, the elections still suffered from violence and low turnout; this seemed to indicate how difficult, even impossible, the transition to democracy would ... Read More

Russia’s reemergence in Latin America “This time, we are back [in Latin America] forever,” announced Alexei Sazanov, the deputy director of Russia’s Foreign Ministry. Sazanov, a prominent spokesman for Russian diplomacy, made this declaration just days after three Russian warships performed joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy. At that same time, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was in Havana, Cuba ... Read More

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How the European Union’s rapid expansion threatens European unity The European Union has come a long way in a short time. What began as a six member coal and steel community in 1951 has evolved into a diverse political and economic partnership of 27 countries, representing 495 million people and over 30 percent of the world’s economic output. The fifth ... Read More

A proposal for rejuvenating the Republican Party American conservatism is in disarray. Democrats won decisively in the 2006 midterm and 2008 presidential elections. Once reliably conservative constituencies like married couples and regular churchgoers are shrinking in size, and young voters voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Conservatism is out of power and out of steam. With both the White House and Capitol Hill ... Read More

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A novel and compelling treatment of the 37th president The legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock once remarked, “The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.”  Given this formula, it is hardly surprising that Richard Milhous Nixon, quite possibly the most despised and maligned political figure of the past half-century, would naturally lend his story to cinematic success.  With his ... Read More

Can a powerful Iran advance American national interests? Former CIA officer Robert Baer’s new book, The Devil We Know: Dealing With The New Iranian Superpower, is sure to make waves. Baer contends the erratic Islamic Republic of 1979 has vanished; modern-day Iran may be secretive, but it is a rational, clever actor that harbors an “unshakable belief in its right ... Read More

Can black politicians transcend race? Barack Obama was an unlikely standard-bearer for black politicians. He did not work his way up through the ranks of the black establishment and his ties to the old guard of black politics like Jesse Jackson or John Lewis are tenuous and recent. His political presentation is not traditionally “black,” but as the broader appeal ... Read More

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Can capitalism work for charity? Economists are no strangers to knee-jerk argumentation. Their soundest arguments are often those that strike most sharply at the beliefs non-economists hold dear, and statistics are not often enough to unseat them. Conventional wisdom, then, would suggest that Dan Pallotta should lower his expectations for the controversial argument laid out in Uncharitable: How Restraints on ... Read More

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Former National Security Advisor on U.S. policy in the Middle East

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Writer and activist Rose Styron on the role of art in politics

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker on aid to the auto industry

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Howard Zucker