Nation Topics - Governor | The Nation

This article reflects on the resignation of Harvard University president Larry Summers. It argues that Summers' technocratic neoliberalism does not work in the real world. The article compares Summers to Robert McNamara, who helped execute the Vietnam War and former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, who ran for president in the 1980s. The author suggests that the neoliberal model of "every man (or country) for himself" may be on the decline.

Focuses on the declining popularity of Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lack of support for a special election on measures that would enhance Schwarzenegger's budget authority, extend probation for new teachers, and impose a new way to redraw electoral districts; Discussion of antilabor measures supported by Schwarzenegger; Desire of Schwarzenegger to prevent public-employee labor unions from making large political donations; Reliance of the California Democratic Party on union contributions; Impact of Schwarzenegger's anti-immigration proposals on his public support.

Argues that accusations from the right have delayed the construction of two cultural institutions called for in architect Daniel Liebeskind's plans for the World Trade Center site in New York City. Report that the cultural center was to house two of four organizations chosen by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, including the Drawing Center art museum and the International Freedom Center (IFC); Report that the Drawing Center was driven away after censorship-like demands for oversight; Demands placed on the IFC by Governor George E. Pataki that the IFC not present exhibits that denigrate the U.S., New York or freedom; Reference to an article by Debra Burlingame in the "Wall Street Journal" that criticized the IFC; Criticism of the IFC for agreeing to Pataki's demands and for being unwilling to say a word in favor of freedom of expression.

Offers a look at the Louisiana's Governor's Program on Abstinence (GPA), which supports an official statewide censure of all extramarital sex, with a particular focus on the sexual activity of school-aged children. Review of the work by doctor Dee Burbank in support of the program; Report that while federally funded programs for programs such as school lunches and childcare are being slashed, abstinence-only education is expanding; Statistics on federal funding for abstinence-only education in the Social Security Act of 1996; Discussion of the role of religion in the GPA; Review of materials made available to students in the GPA.

Presents news briefs related to the federal and state estate tax in the United States. Reports on how, during a time of massive budget deficits, Democratic Senators Max Baucus and Blanch Lincoln are negotiating with Republican legislators to eliminate the federal estate tax; Suggestion that the federal estate tax is a levy that falls on only the wealthiest two-percent of Americans; Discussion of how Connecticut's Democratic state legislators recently forced their Republican governor to restore the state's estate tax as a way to increase funds for health care and education programs.

Presents a political comic strip which criticizes the performance of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California.

Looks at Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty's interest in an expansion of Indian gambling in the state. Author's view that Pawlenty is trying to maintain his political reputation as being an anti-tax Republican, despite the fact the state has seen a decrease in public sector funds, including education funding; Suggestion that Indian gambling is being considered as a potential remedy to budget shortfalls in states throughout the country.

The article focuses on political conditions in California under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger announced he was giving up on his proposal to shift public employee pensions into private accounts. Demonstrations and falling poll numbers have underlined the governor's political decline and his now uncertain future in office. Apart from the pension privatization scheme, Schwarzenegger was also proposing a merit pay plan for teachers and an erosion of their tenure, as well as diverting $2 billion away from public school funding. Schwarzenegger was saying he would go directly to the voters and ask them to approve his teacher merit-pay plan, the private pension proposal, a political redistricting measure and a budget spending cap. So his pullback of the private pension plan is an implicit recognition by him that he was losing the initiative.

Presents the poem "Senator Bill Frist, A Thoracic Surgeon Who Made a Neurological Diagnosis of Terri Schiavo After Watching a Video of Her, Reports on a Physical Examination He's Done of Jeb Bush, His Potential Rival For the 2008 Republican Presidential Nomination, After Observing One of the Governor's Florida Press Conferences on Television," by Calvin Trillin.

This article comments on issues related to U.S. politics. Permanent Minority: New Mexico Democratic Governor Bill Richardson called George W. Bush "gracious" for his willingness to negotiate over the massive cuts he has proposed in Medicaid, the nation's premier healthcare program for the poor. Toward the Majority: Montana's new Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer likened Bush's efforts to sell governors on his Medicaid and Social Security plans to a livestock auctioneer with poor quality studs who fails to tempt buyers. He saw a lot of nose-crinkles among the govs, as if they detected a foul odor: "I didn't see a lot of buyers in the room," he said.