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Ways to Perfect Our Democracy
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
The first 100 days of the Obama Presidency have come and gone in a state of crisis. For supporters of democracy reform, however, that could describe the last eight years since Bush v. Gore. If the 2008 election vindicated their work, it was only a first step toward redressing the fundamental flaws of our democracy.
In the words of Miles Rapoport, democracy reform advocate and president of the think tank Demos, "A lot of the focus for Demos and for other organizations over the last ten years has been work on the state level. That was a result of the fact that Washington was so hopelessly gridlocked on these issues, it was almost better not to have Washington take them up. The situation is different now. The possibilities for federal reform are better now than they've ever been before."
As the data-crunchers digest the numbers, it's clear that 2008 had the highest turnout of any presidential election since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1972: 62% of eligible voters. More African-Americans, Latinos, and young voters made it to the polls than ever before, and the electorate on November 4th looked more like America than it ever has in the past (proportionally speaking). However remarkable, this milestone was partly the result of a slightly lower turnout (in relative terms) by white and elderly voters, and it was far short of the record-setting spectacle many had hoped for. Voting rates in the US continue to lag far behind many of the world's other oldest democracies. There's still much to do to make it possible for all Americans to make their voices heard, from enacting election day registration and early voting to making election day a holiday.
(25) CommentsMay 4, 2009
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Around The Nation
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Nation did not take home a National Magazine Award this week. We were nominated in two categories: Naomi Klein for Columns & Commentary, and William Deresciewicz for Reviews & Criticism. The night was bittersweet, with smaller turnout than years past and real concern for the state of the industry, but also a diverse range of winners, including some "little magazines that could," demonstrating the continued value of investigative reporting and public interest journalism. We congratulate Bill; Naomi and all of the winners and nominees.
We are proud to announce, however, that our June 30, 2008 special issue, "The New Inequality," has been awarded the 2009 Sidney Hillman Foundation Prize in Magazine Journalism. A collaboration with the Institute for Policy Studies, "The New Inequality" was our effort to call attention to the stunning wage and income equality gap in America today, and to propose alternatives to the emerging plutocracy. "The New Inequality" was prescient, on newsstands three months before the worst of the financial crisis hit home, but foretelling the systemic instability of this decades economic boom. The Hillman prize honors journalism that "fosters social and economic justice." We're grateful to the Hillman Foundation, and hopeful that the award will spark continued debate about economic equality and poverty.
Two other housekeeping notes and recommendations today:
(19) CommentsMay 1, 2009
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The Progressive Caucus and Obama
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) met with President Obama for one hour in the East Room of the White House yesterday.
CPC Co-Chair, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, said that 50 of the 77 Caucus members attended, and they honed in on two major issues: their commitment to only supporting a healthcare reform bill that includes a public plan option that is "more than a gesture"; and the $83 billion war supplemental.
"It was a serious meeting," Rep. Grijalva said. "It moved quickly, there was a lot of candor from both sides."
(58) CommentsApril 29, 2009
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Chasing Ghosts in Afghanistan
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
There were two important hearings regarding Afghanistan on the Hill last week -- in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and at the Congressional Progressive Caucus' (CPC) third forum examining the war. Both raised critical questions about the current strategy of escalation -- questions Congress should take to heart as it considers the $83 billion war supplemental in coming weeks.
Senator John Kerry -- who as a young Vietnam veteran famously asked the Foreign Relations Committee, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" -- now chaired that same committee's hearing titled "Voice of Veterans of the Afghan War." He said in his opening statement that he "would not compare all of our conflicts to the Vietnam War.... [That] does not mean, however, that there are no parallels between the two wars." The hearing bore out some of those parallels.
There was a diversity of opinion among the four veterans and retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich as to whether sending more troops is the right thing to do. But there was also something they held in common: their connection to this war -- its stakes, costs, and consequences -- is very personal (in the case of Bacevich his personal connection comes not only from having served in Vietnam but also losing his son in Iraq.)
(22) CommentsApril 27, 2009
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100 Down, 900 to Go
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
As we mark the first 100 days of his presidency, it is staggering to consider the enormous challenges President Obama inherited from his predecessor, arguably the worst President ever. Can the devastation wrought by an eight-year nightmare be sorted out in 100 Days? Of course it can't. That's why Obama himself talked about needing to measure his accomplishments not by the first 100 days, but by the first 1,000.
Yet as we near this iconic marker -- whether one is disappointed by some key appointments (read on), the size of the recovery bill, escalation in Afghanistan, the bank bailout plan or other issues -- this President must be given credit for hitting the ground running and confronting challenges head on. Brutal and fundamental fights still lie ahead -- on energy, healthcare, the budget, to name a few.
Obama understood the power -- both symbolic and real -- of swift, smart action, even within the first 100 hours of his inauguration. He pledged to close Guantanamo and the CIA black sites. He quickly passed a strong recovery bill -- even if it was smaller than it should have been; that bill and his proposed budget begin to lay out a new blueprint for economic recovery and reconstruction, and a break with ill-conceived dogma about deficit reduction that has defined and limited economic policy for thirty years. He repealed the global gag order, took steps to restore science to its proper place with regard to stem cell research and addressing climate change, and has embarked on a substantive transformation to a clean energy economy.
(77) CommentsApril 22, 2009
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Rethinking Afghanistan
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
As we mark Obama's first 100 Days, there is much to celebrate--from repeal of the global gag rule to the passage of the stimulus and the Administration's pledge to close Guantanamo. The budget, a smart blueprint to build a new economy, will demand that progressives mobilize to take on well-funded lobbies intent on obstructing real reform.
Yet, as I think about the most troubling aspects of these first 100 days, there are two areas which I fear could endanger the Obama Presidency: the bank bailouts and military escalation in Afghanistan.
Americans deserve a real national debate about the Administration's plans in Afghanistan -its ends and means and exits--before undertaking such a major military commitment. That's why Brave New Films' work is so essential: with its new documentary Rethink Afghanistan and online debates such as the one CAP's Lawrence Korb and I had last week, BNF is fostering the kind of discussion, debate and dissent that Obama has said he welcomes.
(17) CommentsApril 21, 2009
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Nearing 100
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Three days after Senator Obama's historic election, I proposed an agenda for President Obama's first 100 days. As we near this iconic marker I'm surprised to see just how much of that platform is in motion - from passage of the stimulus and repeal of the global gag rule to the Administration's pledge to close Guantanamo. I'm frustrated at how slow progress is on other priorities, like health care and labor reform. And I'm troubled by the administration's direction on some issues, notably the bank bailout plan and Afghanistan. But as voices left and right move to grade Obama's progress, it is astonishing to see the energy and directness with which Obama's administration has confronted the issues of our time.
We have arrived, then, at a stunning and troubling moment. Reform opportunity is there. A reform Congress is in place. Big issues are teed up to fight for. But there are two areas which I fear could endanger the Obama Presidency: military escalation in Afghanistan and the banking bailout. Most projections say we'll have double digit unemployment through 2011. The contrast between the treatment of the auto industry, where workers and managers and creditors and shareholders are taking the hits, and the bailout of banks is corrosive. When more bonuses are paid out, more self-dealing exposed, we may see more anger - especially right wing populism. On Afghanistan, I am concerned that it will bleed us of the resources needed for economic recovery, further destabilize Pakistan, open a rift with our European allies and negate the positive effects of withdrawing from Iraq on our image in the Muslim world.
Alternatively, there is reason for optimism. The President's commitment to pragmatism suggests that, confronted with sufficient pressure from mobilized citizens and thinkers who understand the endemic problems with the Summers/Geithner plan, he may ultimately move to a Plan B or Team B in order to keep his popularity, credibility and agenda alive. And we can hope that hearings in Congress, and pressure from citizens who seek a non-military path to security in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will push the Administration to bear down on regional diplomacy, commonsense counter-terrorism measures and targeted development aid as the most effective security policies to stabilize the region.
(101) CommentsApril 17, 2009
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A Step for Press Freedom in Russia?
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
As someone who has been close to Russia's leading opposition newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" for many years, it's a very important development that Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev gave his first print interview to that paper and its brave editor-in-chief Dmitrii Muratov. The interview, which took place a few days ago in the Kremlin and was published Wednesday, gives the paper much needed protection at a time when the economic and human rights situation in Russia is worsening. (Until now, the paper's main protection derived from the fact that former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev is a part-owner.)
Not only is Medvedev's interview an important step for "Novaya," but it may also tell us something significant about Russia's still-new President Medvedev. But for that we probably need to wait for more evidence.
The interview was not completely unexpected. When I was in Moscow last month, my husband Stephen Cohen and I spent an afternoon at the newspaper's offices, talking to Muratov--a tenacious, spirited and brave editor--who we first met in a Moscow basement cafeteria in 1993.
(61) CommentsApril 15, 2009
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Obama's Economic Sermon on the Mount
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
As President Obama approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency, he delivered a speech Tuesday at Georgetown University in which he laid out what he sees as the foundation of a new economy. Using this crisis--and his gift of oratory--Obama signaled that the fight for the next economy begins now.
He alluded to the Sermon on the Mount to describe the stronger, more fair economy he envisions: "There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men," he said. "The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was destroyed as soon as the storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when '...the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house...it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.' We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock."
I think the speech is important for what it reveals about Obama's understanding of the task ahead--building a new economy out of the ashes of our failed one.
(94) CommentsApril 14, 2009
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Tax Rates for America
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
With Tax Day just around the corner, and the nation attempting to recover from our worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) -- "Reversing the Great Tax Shift" -- offers seven strong recommendations on how to pay for the recovery and rebuild an economy of shared prosperity.
There is good momentum for reversing the disaster of thirty years of tax cuts for the wealthy that have contributed to growing inequality, concentration of wealth, and a shifting of the economic burden to the poor and middle class. In New York, for example, a strong progressive coalition won a key victory in pushing through a new tax structure that requires the wealthy to pay their fair share instead of paying the same rate as those earning just $20,000 a year.
The IPS report provides a good dose of historical perspective at a time when Republicans and too many Democrats fulminate at the possibility of raising the highest tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent for households earning over $250,000. It notes that in 2006 (the most recent IRS data) the 139,000 taxpayers reporting incomes of $2 million or more paid just a 23 percent rate thanks to mega-loopholes; in 1955, people earning over $2 million in 2006 dollars paid a 49 percent rate. The top 400 taxpayers paid a 51 percent in 1955; in 2006 they paid just 17 percent of their incomes in federal income tax.
(200) CommentsApril 13, 2009
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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