The NYT’s expose on Governor David Paterson is riveting and ultimately damning. This is the kind of journalism we need more of. Maybe individual pieces of evidence suggesting Gov. Paterson is a narcissist and a flake wouldn’t hold up in court, but the preponderance of the evidence is conclusive on that score. To sum up: He can’t be reached during ... Read More
Anticipating a new era of engagement with Cuba When President Obama signed the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill into law on March 11, he took a small step towards what many hope will be a new era in U.S.-Cuban relations. Embedded in the bill were three clauses that loosened sanctions on family travel and remittances, a largely humanitarian adjustment that nonetheless ... Read More
Reading today’s New York Times editorial on the Lincoln-Kyl proposal to cut estate taxes to the tune of $250 billion, I wondered about what kind of reward these politicians hope to get for their sponsorship of such a plan. According to CNN, Arizona (from which Sen. Kyl hails) had more foreclosures in the first two months of 2009 than every ... 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
Conflict in the Congo and the changing nature of violence For over ten years, an unrelenting war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has created the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Over 5.4 million people have died since the conflict began, and millions more have suffered the depredations of the lawless Eastern Kivu region, including the systematic ... Read More
Is a new international financial regulatory system necessary? The federal takeover of U.S. mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis stunned the country and sent shockwaves through the international financial system, exposing risky lending and burgeoning trade deficits in countries around the world. Today, the international financial system is reeling from the ... Read More
The GOP's push to recovery is not an easy one
A new history of the disputed election of 1876
Oliver Stone sets his eyes on Bush
Taking stock of the future vice presidencyBy Laura G. Mirviss ‘12 The days when the vice presidency was worth “no more than a bucket of spit” are long over. Though the office has almost no formal powers under the Constitution, the power sharing dynamic between the president and vice president is a malleable, case-by-case determination. Thus, more than any other ... Read More
Republicans lately seem to be trying harder to be funny than ever before. And in many cases, they’re actually succeeding—albeit in a a “Charlie Cook thinks we’re screwed anyway, so we might as well stop pretending to take ourselves seriously” kind of way. First there was this web ad put out July 29 by the RNC right after Barack ... Read More
