Ideas for a New Era

The historic election of Barack Obama holds the promise of launching a new progressive era in the life of our nation. But as we have learned from earlier periods of our history, progressive reform is not born from one election but out of a sustained struggle involving a mobilized public seeking change. With the defeat of John McCain, one part of that struggle is over. But another has begun, as different groups within the broad Obama coalition work to influence the first crucial years of his presidency.

While many progressives are understandably concerned about Obama's center-right appointments, the deep crises we confront--the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression and the disastrous consequences of neocon foreign policy--have compelled many establishment figures to embrace change. We believe that the scale and pace of this change must be dramatic, not incremental. In this special issue, on the eve of Obama's inauguration, we take up some of the pivotal issues on which his presidency and a new progressive era will turn.

We begin with the first initiative of the Obama presidency--passage of a Main Street economic recovery program focused on public investment in areas vital to our future. As Robert L. Borosage and Eric Lotke argue, Obama's legacy will be determined not by his initial program but by whether he charts a bold course for the economy--a new New Deal defined by a massive, multiyear public investment agenda--that challenges the economic strategy of the past several decades. At the heart of such a new New Deal, Jeff Madrick suggests, must be an expanded social contract based on rising wages, robust investment in education and universal, affordable healthcare.

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