Editor's Cut

Feingold Gets Afghanistan Right

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Senator Russ Feingold was way ahead of the Senate curve in insisting on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, and last week he got it right again in calling for a flexible timetable to bring US troops out of Afghanistan.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Feingold writes that "we must recognize that our troop presence contributes to resentment in some quarters and hinders our ability to achieve our broader national security goals." He voices particular concern about the war destabilizing Pakistan--"a witch's brew of threats to our national security that we cannot afford to further destabilize." He also points out that this "nation-building experiment...may distract us from combating al Qaeda and its affiliates, not just in Pakistan, but in Yemen, the Horn of Africa and other terrorist sanctuaries."

Feingold lays out a compelling case for an alternative course--"a civilian-led strategy discouraging any support for the Taliban by Pakistani security forces, and offer[ing] assistance to improve Afghanistan's economy while fighting corruption in its government. This should be coupled with targeted military operations and a diplomatic strategy that incorporates all the countries in the region."

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August 31, 2009

Healthcare, History and Kennedy

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

I was writing this column when I heard of Senator Kennedy's death.

I am heartbroken.

For more than five decades, my father William vanden Heuvel was a close friend and political ally of Kennedy's. When I called him this morning he had been weeping. He'd just seen the footage on CNN of Kennedy's extraordinarily emotional visit to Ireland, one year after his brother John's assassination. My father traveled with Kennedy on that trip, as he would on many others in the years to follow. He also shared memories of sailing trips on the coast of Maine, and the good times, and tough times, and the campaigns waged and won.

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August 26, 2009

Around The Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

The accusations keep flying so fast and furious about Blackwater that it's almost--almost--hard to be surprised by anything. The news the the CIA under President Bush was contracting out political assassinations in Afghanistan to a politically connected, dangerous private mercenary army is stunning, but it's hardly surprising. On MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, The Nation's Jeremy Scahill explained the latest bombshell:

Is there any question that the US State Department, once and for all, needs to sever ties with Blackwater?

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August 21, 2009

What's Delay's Dance?

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

By 9 am on this hot and furious August, I had read everything about the pros & cons of the public option and the outcome of the Afghan elections. I'd even marked passages in relevant articles with my husband's favorite red Flair pen. (I read HARD copies.)

But then I got to the red meat. Gail Collins of the New York Times (and if I had any real blogging dexterity, I'd be linking to her column of 8/20) and I seemed to be obsessed with the same thing--Tom Delay's entrance into the world of reality show competitive dancing.

Ever since I learned, a few days ago, that DeLay was going to be a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars"--my daughter's favorite reality show (and that's a feat)--I've been wondering 1/ how do I get on? and 2/ what will this disgraced politician's favorite dance be? Well, I have no clue to #1 (hey, producers, I am in top shape after spin and core fusion classes) # 2 and I have a lot of ideas about DeLay's fave dance, thanks to palling around with my Twitter friends.

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August 20, 2009

Around The Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

August used to be a slow month in politics. Instead we've seen simmering anger over healthcare, fiery debates over the future of the Democratic party, and breakthroughs in two major Nation investigations. Here are five items of note this week:

•Melissa Harris-Lacewell has been following the disturbing racial undercurrents to the healthcare town halls. Her segment from Tuesday's Rachel Maddow Show is a must-see:

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August 16, 2009

Let's Get Real about Obama

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

It's been a rough and tough few months. And this August is making a bid to replace the Ides of (is it?) March as the meanest month in our calendar. From a slew of intense late night and early morning calls, I know that many progressives are wondering: Who did we vote for? (And I won't pose the David Axelrod question: Are you Muhammad Ali or Sonny Liston? Though I confess I think it's one worth asking right now.)

Now, no one on the left with any savvy or knowledge of history believed we wouldn't live -- and learn -- through disappointment. Isn't that what politicians are for? And anyone who believed Obama was going to remain an idealistic community organizer, well -- I got a bridge to sell you.

Still, questions remain: Couldn't he have picked a cabinet filled with that real team of rivals? Why not include a Joseph Stiglitz along with a Larry Summers and let the sparks fly? It might have led to a kind of creative de/construction. Where is the organizing out of the White House -- committed to overtaking those who would undermine its message and policies? And couldn't Obama, like FDR, have used this moment of crisis, admittedly not as severe as 1933, but still as severe as many living have experienced, to restructure --not simply resuscitate --the smug financial sector? Couldn't he have used his pulpit and brilliant speaking skills to explain that what we need to fear is joblessness -- not deficits? Or as one of the great historians of the New Deal, David Kennedy, argued, Obama "will be judged not simply on whether he manages a rescue from the current economic crisis but also on whether he grasps the opportunity to make us more resilient to face those future crises that inevitably await us."

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August 13, 2009

Sestak vs. Specter

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

The debate over issues like President Obama's stimulus, healthcare reform and climate change have revealed fault lines in the country, but also within the Democratic party. In the stimulus fight, longtime Republican Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter backed President Obama. In April, Senator Specter switched parties, edging Democrats closer to a so-called "super-majority" in the Senate and roiling Washington. But for progressives, is Senator Specter an ally, or someone who switched parties out of political convenience?

Tomorrow, Senator Specter will face political bloggers, Pennsylvania voters and his primary opponent, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, in a forum held as part of the "Netroots Nation" yearly conference of progressive bloggers and online activists. The Specter-Sestak debate with be co-moderated by The Nation's own Net Movement Correspondent Ari Melber and Pennsylvania blogger Susie Madrak, and live streaming here at TheNation.com at 11 AM Friday, EST.

In 2007, Netroots Nation (then "Yearly Kos") was the site of one of the most thoughtful, informed and vigorous debates of the Presidential primary cycle. By bringing together Sestak and Specter -- who are engaged in what may be the defining race of the 2010 Democratic primary season -- Netroots Nation is keeping online citizen engagement at the forefront of our modern political process, and taking head-on the future of the Democratic party.

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August 13, 2009

Organizing For A Public Option?

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

For those who were counting on President Obama's grassroots army-- Organizing for America (OFA)--to lead the fight this August for a public health insurance option, there are some troubling signs.

This week, OFA Director Mitch Stewart sent two e-mails to members--one asking them to call their representatives and another asking them to visit their representatives' offices. There was no message to advocate for the public option in either e-mail.

When calling their legislators, Stewart directs OFA members to say, "Thanks for working to enact real health insurance reform this year. Voters like me support your efforts."

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August 12, 2009

HCAN Turns Up the Heat

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

In 2007, USAction Executive Director Jeff Blum and Richard Kirsch, then-director of Citizen Action of New York, were tossing around the idea of how best to advance the fight for quality affordable healthcare for everyone. They reached a simple conclusion.

"If we could bring a wide array of progressive forces together," Blum says, "progressives would be able to compete with the deep-pockets and insider lobbyists on the right."

That realization, combined with vast coalition building experience among the key players and a set of principles all could agree on, led to the creation of Health Care for America Now (HCAN)--the largest single-issue progressive coalition in modern American history. This August, with the battle over healthcare reform raging, the success of HCAN will be a determining factor in whether we get a progressive bill--a robust public option and a progressive tax to pay for it--out of Congress.

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August 7, 2009

Rep. Ryan's Plan to Make Your Healthcare Worse

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Last week, I co-hosted Carlos Watson's morning news program on MSNBC. In an interview with Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Congressman was combative as he wrongly dismissed Democratic proposals for healthcare reform as "the government taking it over." Ryan claimed he wants to get "everybody insured" and that his Patient's Choice Act would do just that--giving people "the ability...to have a plan just like the one we have here in Congress."

It appears, however, that Ryan is just another conservative cog in what New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calls "a wall of misinformation."

Just check out the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) new scathing report entitled Coburn-Ryan Health Bill Would Jeopardize Coverage for Many, While Failing To Reduce the Number of Uninsured Significantly. Here's just some of the damage this bill would do:

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August 4, 2009