Politics & Current Affairs

The National Interest calls Bush’s memoir a record of how a dauphin took the world’s leading power and left it crippled. Is Bush’s legacy one with the nation’s?

How did communism replace terrorism on the list of things Americans fear most and what’s behind Glenn Beck’s reawakening of the socialist ghost?

“There will be no more transformative legislation; it will be all Obama can do simply to protect health-care reform from sabotage,” says Hendrik Hertzberg at The New Yorker.

“Ridiculing Tea Party shenanigans is a serious error.” Noam Chomsky says we must first understand why justly angry citizens have been drawn to the right.

“The whole focus on ‘focus’ is…an act of intellectual cowardice — a way to criticize President Obama’s record without explaining what you would have done differently.”

Christine Quinn hates it when people say “it is what is.” As a kid she read every biography in her school library about a political leader or famous woman. “The […]

As the midterm’s drubbing ends, Barack Obama needs to embrace the theatrics of the presidency, however cheesy that may seem to him, says Tina Brown.

“Train wrecks are said to be attractive. Though I don’t agree when it’s my country that’s both the train and the wall.” The Pulitzer Prize winner at The New Yorker.

“Wave elections” may be becoming more common because of the intense political polarization that has emerged.

“The economic struggles of the middle and working classes…were not primarily the result of globalization and technological changes but…policy changes that favored the very rich.”

“For all his swashbuckling assaults on what he called the ‘booboisie’, Mencken was the first important writer to probe and relish middle-class American life.”

“If al-Qaida terrorists are stuffing PETN into underwear or packages, that must mean that they do not have access to cutting-edge biological research or nuclear bomb components.”

“Female politicians, candidates and leaders face blatant sexism and misogyny in both corporate media and parts of the blogosphere.”

Spiegel sees the U. S. as despondent, hopeless, pessimistic and with a political system plagued by lobbyism and stark hatred, and incapable of reaching consistent decisions.

The pioneering feminist acknowledges that people are frustrated with the Democrats, but warns that the “extreme” policies of the Republican party are bad for everyone—especially women. 

The journalist, campaigner and on-air reporter for the Iranian Press TV channel in London, recently became a Muslim. Here she talks about Islam, the West and her brother-in-law’s legacy.

The Supreme Court is to consider whether to strip First Amendment protection from violent videogames that critics say appeal to the deviant interests of children.

Theodore C. Sorensen, the special counsel to President John F. Kennedy who wrote the president’s speeches and helped shape his policy, has died, according to an obituary in the New […]

“Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are entering uncharted territory by seeming to elevate ironic detachment to the level of a political manifesto with their rally in Washington.”

After taking her notepad and pen into Boston bars, Harvard historian Jill Lepore is ready to level a charge at the Tea Party: abuse of history.

“Halliburton isn’t on the ballot next Tuesday, but it might as well be.” Robert Reich says the midterm elections are a referendum on corporate control of Washington D.C.

FDR’s words about nothing to fear but fear itself proved anything but prophetic for comic book censors a decade later.

“Policy doesn’t swing very wildly when government changes hands.” The Economist’s Iowa correspondent says midterm elections are more about coalitions than zero-sum games.

“Our self-image is one of bold action. In reality, Americans resist change, pressing the government to act boldly only when a national calamity forces it upon us.”

“American journalists in Baghdad were under attack not just from Iraqi insurgents, but, at least verbally, from our own country’s civilian and military commanders as well.”

“For both F.D.R. and Obama, national economic disaster was electoral good fortune. But Obama’s luck ran out almost as soon as the votes had been counted.”

“California is not just deciding whether pot should be legal. It’s determining the shape of a major new American industry.”

Ross Douthat: “I’m cautiously optimistic that the Cameron government is taking the right course in Britain — and somewhat more pessimistic about America’s capacity to follow suit.”

“Chancellor Angela Merkel says multiculturalism has been an utter failure in Germany… But is it really such a bad thing when immigrant groups prefer to be among themselves?”

“Foreign occupation, not religious fervor, is the primary motivation behind this form of terrorism.”