November 24, 2008 | The Nation

Votes & Smokes, Folks

Glendale, Calif.

Most Americans want to put the war in Iraq behind them, but this feeling is based not on a coherent critique but on a kind of collective exhaustion.

Of all the challenges Barack Obama faces, none is more daunting, or more important to our collective future, as energy.

Citizenship is a passionate joy at times, and this is one of those times.

Edward Rothstein separates Studs Terkel's politics from his oral history, proving he doesn't understand the man's legacy at all.

2008 will go down as a year activists were able to keep a rotten electoral system honest.

Remembering our national griot, the bearer of stories of people, ordinary and extraordinary.

In a nation hungry for heroes on election day, blue-collar Ohio delivered.

Obama's appeal helped the Democrats secure wide gains in the House and Senate.

Reactions to the Obama victory from London and Nairobi.

America has a long way to go before we get to the "more perfect union" Obama promises. But the work has begun in earnest.

Celebrating a new president's promise to respect, empower and include all Americans.

With bald lies and racial pandering, an anti-gay marriage intiative succeeds in California.

How can a President Obama improve US relations with Russia if some of his closest advisors are unrepentant hawks from the cold war era?

Saving jobs by giving automakers large amounts of cash is a very expensive form of trickle-down. What we need is a clear plan about how automakers will use the money.

As Sarah Palin goes back to Alaska, take a moment to appreciate some other Sarahs.

All the Denver Broncos wideout l wanted to do was celebrate Obama's victory--but his teammates censored him and the media ridiculed him. Why?

Obama can change the way Washington does business by mobilizing the same grassroots ground operation that got him elected to push his legislative agenda.

God's gift to journalism--and to feminism.

Obama will face a bruising engagement with reality in the months ahead.

It's been a long time coming.

Breakfast turns violent, more is revealed, and while a decent president gets elected, there's no rest for Congresswoman Kang.

In light of all of the corruption and cronyism that have marked the career of Lawrence Summers, why is Obama considering him for treasury secretary?

Faith-based claims about the dangers of big government do not stand up to the evidence.

The economy needs a shot of public investment--and if it's green, the payoff will be greatest.

Reviews: Arnaud Desplechin's enchanted A Christmas Tale and Charlie Kaufman's brilliant Synedoche, New York.

An appraisal of Rainer Maria Rilke's novel, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

Robert Gildea examines France between the revolution and World War I.

Reading the letters of Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop.

Our generation can move beyond old battles of single-issue silos and narrow constituency interests into broader rainbow coalitions of new progressives.

From the April 3, 1948, issue.

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