Over the past few weeks I’ve been working my way through the seasons of The West Wing. I was in middle school when The West Wing was last on the air, and after hearing so much about the show; I thought it was time to take a look. What’s so striking about The West WingContinue reading “The Case for West Wing Idealism”
Category Archives: American Politics
Contemporary Lessons from The Power Broker
Robert Caro’s The Power Broker is many things – the story of a city, the story of a man, and even more so the story of power and the importance of accountability. Having finished his LBJ series, I’ve spent the past eight months slowly chipping away at Caro’s 1,200-page biography of Robert Moses. In contrastContinue reading “Contemporary Lessons from The Power Broker”
Why Everyone Should Read 3,000 Pages on LBJ
Oscar Wilde once said, “Biography lends to death a new terror.” This statement holds especially true to the life of Lyndon Johnson. Robert Caro’s 3,000 page biographic series puts everything about LBJ on the table– the good, the bad, and the ugly. Caro explains in pain staking detail the ups and downs of Lyndon Johnson’sContinue reading “Why Everyone Should Read 3,000 Pages on LBJ”
A tale of two health care systems
On September 9, 2009 President Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on the need to overhaul health care in the United States. In this speech, President Obama said that the United States’ “collective failure to meet [the challenge of health care reform] – year after year, decade after decade – has ledContinue reading “A tale of two health care systems”
Demographic Shifts Shake GOP
This past week, Barack Obama became the first president since Franklin Roosevelt to be re-elected with relatively high levels of unemployment. His win and the Democrats’ resounding victories are testaments to the skill of the Obama campaign as well as some long-term changes in American demographics. Matt Yglesias had a great blog post earlier this week onContinue reading “Demographic Shifts Shake GOP”
Vote to Continue Forward
I remember the exuberance that surrounded the election of Barack Obama as president four years ago. Even though I was living in Canada, I recall going to school the next day and hearing everyone talk exclusively about the election. My headmaster devoted a school assembly to talking about the meaning of Obama’s victory. The 2008Continue reading “Vote to Continue Forward”
Foreign Policy in Focus
According to Peter Beinart of The Daily Beast, neither President Obama nor Governor Romney won the recent foreign policy debate. The real winner was George W. Bush because “the framework for understanding the world that he put in place after Sept. 11 still holds.” He describes this framework as the viewing of foreign policy almost through anContinue reading “Foreign Policy in Focus”
To Understand US, Look to VA
One only has to cross the Key Bridge to be in one of the most competitive swing states in the country — not only for the presidential election but for the senate race as well, with former Democratic Governor Tim Kaine facing off against former Republican Governor and Senator George Allen. To better understand VirginiaContinue reading “To Understand US, Look to VA”
Two Sides of the Coin in VP Toss-Up
The recent vice-presidential debate was one of the more polarizing events of the past few weeks. Depending on to whom you talked, Vice President Joe Biden’s performance was either phenomenal or atrocious. This sharper-than-normal partisan divide can be explained by Joe Biden’s personality — his quirks are simultaneously his greatest strengths and weaknesses. Watching theseContinue reading “Two Sides of the Coin in VP Toss-Up”
Independent of Party, Not Purpose
It’s become almost trite for Americans to complain about the lack of bipartisanship in Washington. Every stump speech includes some standard line about the need to break the “partisan gridlock.” “The Daily Show” had a great sketch this week in which John Oliver asked different individuals at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions about the tension betweenContinue reading “Independent of Party, Not Purpose”
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