October 29, 2012 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Milton Glaser Incorporated

Feature

Michelle Obama’s Moves

Has the first lady’s anti-obesity campaign been too accommodating toward the food industry?

Bridget Huber
The Myth of the ‘War On Coal’

Despite Romney’s claims, Obama poses little threat to the industry.

Ken Ward Jr.
The Economic Crisis Both Presidential Candidates Are Ignoring

Instead of addressing the real problems, Obama and Romney are focusing on deficit reduction.

Sherle R. Schwenninger
On the Road With Working America

In the depressed former steel towns of western Pennsylvania, disillusionment with all politicians is deep. The AFL-CIO's labor affiliate is trying to change that.

Josh Eidelson
Tagg Team: The Romney Family Recipe for Crony Capitalism

How investors in Tagg’s firm Solamere Capital can cash in if his father wins.

Lee Fang

Editorial

Year of the Woman?

Outrageous GOP attacks on women could result in a repeat of the 1992 phenomenon, which saw an upsurge in women elected to Congress.

The Editors
Fightback on Voting Rights

An important court decision stayed the GOP’s voter-suppression scheme in Pennsylvania. But that battle, and others like it across the nation, is only just beginning.

Ari Berman
Noted

Jeff Ernsthausen on the Free the Files project, Richard Lingeman on The Billionaire's Manifesto, Peter Dreier on honoring Pete Seeger, Liliana Segura on California's juvenile lifers, the editors on the Afghan war at 11

Various Contributors
The Colorado Cannabis Factor

Turnout for a popular ballot measure that would fully legalize marijuana could determine whether Obama or Romney wins this important swing state.

Alyson Martin and Nushin Rashidian
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Column

Mitt Doesn’t Think That Nearly Half the People In This Country Are Moochers After All

Calvin Trillin
Debate This!

Women were not the only ones left out of the last presidential debate. Here's what the next moderator should ask.
Katha Pollitt
Our Lizard-Brain Politics

We dismiss the anti-intellectualism of the right at our own peril.

Patricia J. Williams

Books & the Arts

Exit Stage Left: The FBI and Student Radicals

How in 1960s Berkeley the state waged a two-front war to stamp out opponents, real and imagined, to its rule.

Steve Wasserman
Makeshift and Marginal: On ‘The Master’

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, a drifter meets a rude awakening.

Stuart Klawans
Shelf Life

A.M. Homes’s May We Be Forgiven; Sherman Alexie’s Blasphemy.

Aaron Thier
The Crazy: Writing the Iraq War

In memoirs and novels, Iraq vets reflect on war’s dehumanizing consequences.

Eli Jelly-Schapiro
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