December 8, 2008 Issue
Cover art by: Cover art by Doug Chayka; cover design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels
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Feature
Can Obama Take On the Pentagon?
Taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task Barack Obama faces.
Frida Berrigan
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Sunrise, Sunset
In this last episode we mostly wrap things up, but leave a few strange matters for earthly or cosmic interpretation.
Gary Phillips
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Editorial
Past and Future
Obama’s too smart to allow the ideas of the past to define his presidency. Yet Timothy Geithner is an architect and enabler of the unfolding crisis.
William Greider
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John Leonard
Toni Morrison, Victor Navasky and Gene Seymour remember a noted author, editor, critic and all-around stellar human being.
The Nation
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Push Back on Prop 8
If the courts don’t overturn Proposition 8, expect an initiative challenging it to appear on a California ballot.
Torie Osborn
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Noted.
Kristina Rizga on harnessing young voters’ energy, Stephen Duncombe on a spoof edition of the New York Times
The Editors
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Peach State Promises
Obama should make a serious campaign swing through Georgia to get out the vote for Senate hopeful Jim Martin.
John Nichols
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Time for a Bank Holiday
No more free money from Washington. No more masters of the universe. No more business as usual.
William Greider
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Nation Contest: Retire Bush!
What should W. do after leaving office? Enter our contest and win an Edward Sorel cartoon.
Edward Sorel
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Column
Return of the Wall Street Hustlers
Obama, who promised change, has put the same old Wall Street hustlers on his economic team. Maybe he could send us an e-mail to explain.
Robert Scheer
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Obama Faces Deflation Risk
Wall Street was buoyed by the appointment of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. But that can’t offset worries that deflation will compound our economic woes.
Nicholas von Hoffman
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Mark Cuban Libre
Billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been accused of insider trading. Is he guilty or just a target because of his larger-than-life persona and populist appeal?
Dave Zirin
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The People’s Choice
Finally, a prochoice president. Here are five ways to solidify his position.
Katha Pollitt
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Nail That Double Standard to the Mast!
If America loses its domestic auto industry, 5 percent of the workforce may be on the street. Don’t workers need a bailout, too?
Alexander Cockburn
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Books & the Arts
How Wood Works: The Riches and Limits of James Wood
James Wood may be the best literary critic we have, but the status he enjoys reveals just how far we have fallen.
William Deresiewicz
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Her Nature Was Future: Emily Dickinson’s White Heat
The intimate friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson takes wing in two new books.
Ange Mlinko
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Back Talk: Toni Morrison
The Nobel Prize-winning author talks about Barack Obama, the writer; language; and her new novel, A Mercy.
Christine Smallwood
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Naipaul’s Darkness: Patrick French’s ‘The World Is What It Is’
Biographer Patrick French offers a vivid, sometimes enthralling portrait of a deeply enigmatic writer.
Scott Sherman
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Stewartsville: George R. Stewart’s Names on the Land
What possessed the fierce individualist George R. Stewart to compile a history of place-naming in the United States?
Christine Smallwood
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Alone Among the Ghosts: Roberto Bolano’s ‘2666’
Roberto Bolaño’s last novel, 2666, is his most profound exploration of art and infamy, craft and crime, the writer and the totalitarian state.
Marcela Valdes
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Letters
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Crossword