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One year on since President Obama was elected and as our John Nichols notes, the fate of his presidency could come down to one word: Jobs. But for progressives, figuring out how to feel about the Obama presidency is daunting. Do we play the betrayal sweepstakes--or soldier on in a more sustained campaign for progressive change that seizes the opportunities of the moment? In The Nation's print magazine this week I offered my thoughts on "Obama, One Year On"--you can read them here.
Also this week was our special issue on youth and youth politics. A big thank you to Editorial Board member and Wiretapmag.org Editor Kristina Rizga, who guest-edited. For a good overview of the main topic--where Obama's young supporters have gone, one year later--watch this VideoNation interview with Kristina and reporter Elizabeth Mendez Berry. We also revealed the winners of the annual Nation Student Journalism Contest. Our winner was Jim Miller, from Henderson State University in Arkansas. Read his fantastic winning entry on small-town America here.
Another video feature is launching this weekend at TheNation.com--an 8-week series of interviews with journalists and media insiders on the future of journalism. What will the media look like in 5 years ... 10 ... 15? Can investigative journalism survive? The Nation's John Nichols leads off, followed by Nick Penniman (Huffington Post Investigative Fund), Ana Marie Cox (Air America and MSNBC), Dan Rather, Jane Mayer, Mark Luckie (10000words.net) and Victor Navasky. You can view John's video here.
Two last items of note:
•If you want to ask The Nation's Jeremy Scahill any questions, now is your chance. Jeremy has has been investigating and exposing the dangers Blackwater USA poses to democracy and human rights for years, and is now raising tough questions about why the Obama administration continues to renew Blackwater contracts. I'll be hosting a conference call with Jeremy - part of our monthly, donors-only conference call to benefit The Nation Associates. We'll open up this one to everyone as a preview; the call is at 3:00 pm Eastern / noon Pacific on Monday. For all the details and to sign-up, email rsvp [at] thenation [dot] com.
• Monday is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I spoke with Mikhail Gorbachev about the monumental anniversary in an interview last month; last week I was a guest on C-Span's Washington Journal, discussing the anniversary, the end of the Cold War, the lessons for us in Afghanistan and the state of the Obama presidency. Here's the segment in full:
As always, leave comments below and follow me on twitter at twitter.com/katrinanation.
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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Thoughts on politics, current affairs, riffs and reflections on what’s in the news and what’s not--but should be.
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Oh Katrina... you're so beautiful!!!
Posted by Tiger2Lover at 11/07/2009 @ 3:24pm
Wouldn't it be nice if some lefties got into the anti-government protest action and, alongside the usual anti-healthcare-reform/anti-tax/anti-this/anti-that teabagger nonsense, we could see signs like...
- No More Contracts for Soldier Electrocutors!
- No More Contracts for Rape Facilitators!
- No Bid? -- No Contract!
Posted by snowball777 at 11/07/2009 @ 8:53pm
KvH: "One year on since President Obama was elected and as our John Nichols notes, the fate of his presidency could come down to one word: Jobs."
I like traditions....
It's the Economy, Stupid (that's Magic, aka The Messiah, The Annointed One, The One)!
Posted by Happy at 11/07/2009 @ 10:23pm
Posted by Happy at 11/07/2009 @ 10:23pm |
It's the BUSH Economy,...
Posted by snowball777 at 11/08/2009 @ 12:50pm
It's the BUSH Economy,...
Posted by snowball777 at 11/08/2009 @ 12:50pm
I have no doubt that'll be the Dems electioneering slogan all the way till Nov., 2010......and I'll be Loving It!
Posted by Happy at 11/08/2009 @ 1:03pm
Happ, it IS the bush economy!
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 1:44pm
I'm sure the repubs and cons will spin it around and make it about Obama and the dems, but we wouldn't be where we are now if it wasn't for bush and cheney and the whole lot of the repubs who voted in lock step with said.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 1:47pm
I'm sure the repubs and cons will spin it around and make it about Obama and the dems, but we wouldn't be where we are now if it wasn't for bush and cheney and the whole lot of the repubs who voted in lock step with said.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 1:47pm
It's the BUSH Economy,...
Posted by snowball777 at 11/08/2009 @ 12:50pm
Anyone who makes the statement that it's the "Bush" economy is either completely ignorant of basic economic knowledge or so partisan they cannot be honest.
Hmmm, I wonder which applies to these two posts?
Posted by antisocialist at 11/08/2009 @ 3:29pm
When you go to a car dealer and buy a used car it is yours when you sign the papers and drive it off the lot.Obama is off the lot and unfortunately went with economic advisors that are in the same lot as GWB's pals. Excuse time is over,it is time to get our financial players to help small business get going again.If we are going to have thriving green businesses we had better get on the stick. Let's get domestic investment going and get people back to work.
Posted by whatozz at 11/08/2009 @ 3:53pm
Katrina:
"But for progressives, figuring out how to feel about the Obama presidency is daunting. Do we play the betrayal sweepstakes--or soldier on in a more sustained campaign for progressive change that seizes the opportunities of the moment?"
When presented like this the choice is obvious, but perhaps to "soldier on" is a bad metaphor given the grim reality we're subjecting our soldiers to --see Moyers' latest painfully sobering episode online, and as is often the case his show ought to be compulsory for all Americans.
www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11062009/profile.html
Apparently just a snippet of this episode is available online, but I can hardly more highly recommend the documentary film that Moyers previews:
thegoodsoldier.com
In any case, in regards to Obama, his presidency is making the case perhaps more strongly than we've previously witnessed that our president is more captive than captain.
What's the proper response for us as citizens? The Nation's editorial voice has had a pronounced tendency to favor working from the inside i.e. reform the Democratic Party via strengthening its progressive "base". Base is quotes because the Party leadership doesn't recognize its own base. The reasons are complex, but the bottom line (as Chris Hayes has mentioned on Maddow and Olbermann) is that Washington has a culture of power brokers that operate with relative obliviousness to the concept of "progressivism". It's practically as if the idea doesn't exist in the corridors of power in DC --our Versaille on the Potomac.
It's begun to dawn on quite a few of us that it may take nothing short of a revolt of angry citizens to knock us off a seriously downward spiralling trajectory. In fact, if our government were a rocket I'd suggest that it's time to abort
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 5:59pm
and hit the eject button (interestingly, the latest NASA plans for a human carrying rocket includes an ejection system). The damn thing's about to self-destruct.
It'll be interesting to see how events play out from here, but one thing is a virtual certainty. Our predicament is growing more hairy than the vast majority would care to contemplate. So we don't.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 5:59pm
Yes whatozz, Obama needs to take responsibility, but let none of us forget what was left over from the last administration for us to clean up. That goes for you to Anti, regardless of basic economics or bipartisanship. What was left over was a doozy too.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 6:01pm
And comrade Trotsky...I mean Snowball,
;-)
I'll look into the book you suggested on the earlier Ed Cut. It sounds quite interesting.
One thing to point out though is that I made no specific suggestion as to how I thought so-called blue collar voters might tend to vote, though I'll say here that I suspect that there is some truth to Jonesy's claim that in the case of his homeland those voters tend to vote toward the conservative end of things. The same's probably true here as well.
Jonesy rips his pants at the crotch when he stretches to suggest --as he has in at least one previous post-- that those with more education will also tend to vote conservative. Rightwing ranters here in the states give the game away when they go moonbat crazy over wine and cheese eating elites --read highly educated.
Personally, I prefer a good beer.
Peace out, ~B
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 6:12pm
b_kool, I happen to love a good beer, preferably a micro brewery or longhammer or kilt lifter. :^)
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 6:58pm
I rip my crotch when I read that educated voters vote conservative. Give me a break.
Posted by whatozz at 11/08/2009 @ 6:59pm
Anyone who makes the statement that it's the "Bush" economy is either completely ignorant of basic economic knowledge or so partisan they cannot be honest. Hmmm, I wonder which applies to these two posts?
Posted by antisocialist at 11/08/2009 @ 3:29pm
I know that it's pretty simplistic (you are the REAL antisocialist, yes?), but are you implying the following:
Bush and his buddies did not leave the economy in disarray.
And, even if they did, the stimulus was a wrong move - all of the banks and other institutions should have been allowed to fail. Our economy would be in better shape at this point. In other words, it's mostly the fault of the current administration.
Is that what you are saying? Yes, I know that you've elaborated on this a hundred times before, but leaving Bush (who you say you didn't care for, policy wise) out of the crosshairs as far as 'a blind complicity' goes seems incorrect as well.
Go ahead, 1800 letters or less. One more time. Give me, and everyone else, a short, logical statement describing why you think Denise and Snowy are ignorant.
Posted by ficheye at 11/08/2009 @ 7:08pm
Did I hear, "Kilt lifter"?!
Now there's a blast from the past. Haven't had one of them beers since I lived in AZ. Four Peaks Brewery, not a bad racket, that.
It'd be a hoot to have a beer with some of the folks here, although I'd find it irresistable to dump at least one good sized pint on Happy's hapless head.
:D
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:11pm
Yep, you pegged it, from way northern arizona, one of only two dem districts in the whole state, we call it poverty with a view.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:19pm
In fact, b_kool_66, we may have run into each other and just don't know it, 66 is the main street here abouts.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:21pm
Speakin' of beers, here's a fine tune I dug out of my archives last night while enjoyin' some fine brewskys:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee1rS0CsEss
From Steely's first record, "Can't Buy a Thrill".
Lyrics oddly apropo to the circumstances of the day:
I decline To walk the line They tell me that I'm lazy Worldly wise I realize That everybody's crazy A woman's voice reminds me To serve and not to speak Am I myself or just another freak
Don't you know There's fire in the hole And nothing left to burn I'd like to run out now There's nowhere left to turn...
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:21pm
Its a small world after all. :^)
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:23pm
Cheers, Denise. The next one I hoist is in your honor!
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:24pm
As a matter of fact, I'm drinking a kiltlifter as we blog! :+)
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:25pm
Cheers to you b_kool, to your health, it seems appropiate.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:27pm
One more AZ note. I remember readin' that route 666, that passes through Safford I believe, was renamed or at least a measure was being raised to do so, some years back.
Perhaps the main street in Hell, MI should take the name to keep the memory alive.
Silly humans, we make me laugh!
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:29pm
Health's fine, knock on wood, but I'll second yer motion.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:31pm
'd find it irresistable to dump at least one good sized pint on Happy's hapless head. :D
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:11pm
Lord almighty, that would be hard to resist, 'tis true.
That guy would probably steal your change. Then laugh, and refer to it as 'stimulus' money.
Posted by ficheye at 11/08/2009 @ 7:36pm
Another notable AZ location I think, Denise. Greasewood Flats.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:40pm
"Probably"? I think, definitely.
;-)
That weasle is the one dude here that I probably deplore more than anyone else on these blog spaces. He clinched the pennant when he waxed longingly of having "missed out" on Vietnam. To call him a tool would be far too polite.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:44pm
Yup, b_kool, I do remember something about that (route 666), stoopids, is what they, we? are and its going to take some doing to set it straight, if ever..... another big ole sigh...... .
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:44pm
Hey, we've always got beer and laughter. I think.
Gotta take off in a minute. Enjoyed the time, fellow travellers.
:-)
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:47pm
Uh you must mean.... Happy? Ya, quite the tool, no? I have patients who live in greasewood, actually I have peoples from all over northern Arizona come to see our office, the native americans are the coolest, navajos and hopis in particular. I live under the sacred mountain, the san francisco peaks, and the mountain is spectacular! And humbling and serene, and one of the best features of this small mountain town.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:50pm
Be safe b_kool_66, talk to you next time, now I shall enjoy my kiltlifter, ha.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:52pm
That's what I kinda thought when I saw you say, northern AZ. Flagstaff is a very attractive area in AZ.
Bisbee is another interesting locale in the south. Tucson is a better place, politically for sure, than the Valley i.e. Phoenix.
But perhaps my favorite spot that I enjoyed for its quirkiness and, I think, cool factor was Jerome. There's a very cool museum and old, very fascinating indian dwellings just below Jerome.
Yeah, Sedona's red rocks are beautiful and there are some great hiking trails around the area, but I can do without the "vortexes" and the so-called hip factor. It aint THAT hip.
Peace out, ~B
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 7:59pm
Yea they say there are 16 vortexes, and 72 are in Sedona.
Posted by Denise29 at 11/08/2009 @ 8:03pm
One more 'fore I exit the door...
Snippet of Wiki entry for Jerome, AZ:
Jerome became a notorious "wild west" town, a hotbed of prostitution, gambling, and vice. On 5 February 1903, the New York Sun proclaimed Jerome to be "the wickedest town in the West".
Now, THAT's how you sell a city.
Catch ya on the flip.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/08/2009 @ 8:09pm
Go ahead, 1800 letters or less. One more time. Give me, and everyone else, a short, logical statement describing why you think Denise and Snowy are ignorant.
Posted by ficheye at 11/08/2009 @ 7:08pm
I would have thought that you would have known that my choice was that they are overwhelmingly partisan, not ignorant.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/08/2009 @ 9:41pm
Too much "Hope" & idealism in the face of decades of failed Big Gubber social engineering is frankly, pretty "ignorant".......of both human nature and history!
Posted by Happy at 11/08/2009 @ 10:37pm
Posted by Happy at 11/08/2009 @ 10:37pm
So, HAPP....when WERE the "Good Ol' Days"?
Posted by Mask at 11/09/2009 @ 07:43am
....when WERE the "Good Ol' Days"?
Posted by Mask at 11/09/2009 @ 07:43am
In college and senior HS......I was easily able to afford being a semi-Hippi and a moderate/liberal......like the young today, and you still!
Posted by Happy at 11/09/2009 @ 09:47am
....when WERE the "Good Ol' Days"?
Posted by Mask at 11/09/2009 @ 07:43am
In college and senior HS......I was easily able to afford being a semi-Hippi and a moderate/liberal......like the young today, and you still!
Posted by Happy at 11/09/2009 @ 09:47am
Early to mid 60's...by 1966, I owned 3 cars that I paid for in cash while working for 1.25 an hour. Plus I was able to make my mother's house pymt ($58 a month). Beaches in So Cal had no parking fees, so we surfed for free.
Abalone was plentiful off Laguna Beach and we could get a gunny sack filled in about 20-30 minutes. Ate lots of fish, lobster, abalone, mussels, all free with just a little effort.
Great music-
We could gather a group of teen guys and go to the mountains with our guns for a weekend of fun-all as minors and parents didn't have to worry.
It was a great time to be alive.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/09/2009 @ 10:42am
Jeremy and Katrina,
Do you really think the solution to Blackwater is for the Obama administration to fire them and not use them for our foreign policy imbroglios. Do you really want a bunch of professional assassins operating FREELANCE as they surely will once our government stops employing them? Wouldn't it be more effective to continue to employ them but just confine them to their barracks? As long as they are on the government payroll, there is at least a mechanism for restraining their anti-Islam crusade, don't you think?
Posted by dont_know at 11/09/2009 @ 11:38am
Posted by Happy at 11/09/2009 @ 09:47am
You claim to have training as an engineer. You remind me of a shirker with technical/scientific/hands on skills who lobbies for transfer to some pedestrian, desk bound post & at the same pay scale as that commanded by the responsible & conscientious people who serve their profession & the nation.
The truth is that most hippies are more responsible than you. You are simply another individual exploiting the system. A prime example of one who should be taxed for the right to sit & brag. The dollars spent on your personal aggrandizement are no more productive than those spent by a food stamp recipient & certainly less honorable.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/09/2009 @ 11:51am
"...The dollars spent on your personal aggrandizement are no more productive than those spent by a food stamp recipient & certainly less honorable."
~Sorelish
Thanks for that. I'm sure he's got you on ignore, and if not you are now.
I've maintained here in a few previous posts that I find Happy the Fool more despicable than pretty much anyone I've ever seen post on these blog spaces even though there are certainly some that are more addled.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/09/2009 @ 12:00pm
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/09/2009 @ 12:00pm
kool, watch him come back with a snarky line that translates into "You just want to penalize success." Unfortunately, for people like him, "success" comes at a great price to the health & well being of most of us.
Only the tea baggers & their ilk look up to a fraud like him. The Wall Street barons might condescend to find him humorous.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/09/2009 @ 12:18pm
Yep, and the thing is with Happy is that he's not some super "successful" mover and shaker. He's just some suburbia schlub with nothing better to do than broadcast how happy he is with himself.
What it signifies is that he's really no such thing. If exposed he will admit that deep down inside he hates himself. See the film, "American Beauty" for a nicely presented tutorial on the barren psychic wasteland that exists in the vast, numbingly bland expanse of American suburbia. Happy's practically the poster child for the worst of its character-less characters.
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/09/2009 @ 12:29pm
Too much "Hope" & idealism in the face of decades of failed Big Gubber social engineering is frankly, pretty "ignorant".......of both human nature and history!
Posted by Happy at 11/08/2009 @ 10:37pm
But...but...but...you're doing so WELL because of the guy (your forays into gold, etc.)...why the unHAPPIness?
Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/09/2009 @ 12:42pm
But...but...but...you're doing so WELL because of the guy (your forays into gold, etc.)...why the unHAPPIness?
Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/09/2009 @ 12:42pm
Exactly.
The way HAPPY tells it you'd think that he would OWN the internet soon. Why does he spend his precious time here when he could be making acquisitions?
I'll tell you why.. Because, in some perverse way, he thrives on being despised. Revels in it, in fact. Reports to others about it. They laugh... then walk away wondering just what the hell is troubling him so deeply... and making a note to not get too close to the fellow. He may come to work with a gun one day.
Posted by ficheye at 11/09/2009 @ 12:55pm
Posted by b_kool_66 at 11/09/2009 @ 12:29pm
Thanks for the recommendation kool. American Beauty will clue me onto a place that I've only hurried through when necessary & a place that luckily I've never lived in.
Meeting ex-suburbanites has always given me the impression that I'm faced with Disney characters covering their cartoon heads with human ones.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/09/2009 @ 1:04pm
The truth is that most hippies are more responsible than you. You are simply another individual exploiting the system. A prime example of one who should be taxed for the right to sit & brag. The dollars spent on your personal aggrandizement are no more productive than those spent by a food stamp recipient & certainly less honorable.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/09/2009 @ 11:51am
LOL.....tell me, how were hippies responsible at all?
I think your Messiah just might disagree with your pegging my "personal aggrandizement" as "no more productive than those spent by a food stamp recipient". I get the distinct impression Magic wants those of us predisposed to "personal aggrandizement" and have the means to do so, to aggrandize away as much as possible....to help something called.....I think.....the Economy?
"less honorable"....I might agree somewhat there. I get a nice kick, aggrandized that is, for spending money in a sports bar but I can't say I felt all that "honorable". Same with restaurant meals.
Today, I hired a Hispanic labor to do a few hours of work and I also didn't feel "honorable". But, hey, Mission Accomplished....I helped the Economy!
Posted by Happy at 11/09/2009 @ 11:01pm
I get a nice kick, aggrandized that is, for spending money in a sports bar but I can't say I felt all that "honorable". Same with restaurant meals. Posted by Happy at 11/09/2009 @ 11:01pm
I have to agree with you on this one,I don't feel honored when i eat out, more like screwed out of my hard earned cash. Thanks to those capitalists,you think they're helping the economy?!!
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Posted by hotsalesshop at 11/12/2009 @ 11:11pm