A 2016 Debate We Need A 2016 Debate We Need
Editor’s Note: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here. On Tuesday, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address to a Congress ruled by Republicans. The president has two years left in his second term, but political Washington is so focused on the 2016 presidential race that even the president’s speech is evaluated for its effect on the race. Presidential campaigns start earlier and earlier, but seem to get emptier and emptier. Already the media is hyping the coming horse race, laying odds on who is in and who isn’t, positioning one candidate against another, treating reform ideas like fashions on a Hollywood red carpet, judged only in relation to the competition. Already the money primary has started, with political contenders dutifully lining up like beauty contestants at big money donor gatherings. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! On the Republican side, contenders seem to be tripping over one another, with a baker’s dozen or more considering the race. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has already built a campaign in waiting, even before announcing her exploratory committee. Activists hoping to avoid a Clinton coronation have launched a “draft Warren” movement, to push Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren into the race. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former senator Jim Webb are also considering a run. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here. Read Next: Katrina vanden Heuvel on Bill Moyers
Jan 20, 2015 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Obama’s Smart Economic (and Political) Calculus: Tax the Rich Obama’s Smart Economic (and Political) Calculus: Tax the Rich
The president will use his State of the Union Address to propose new taxes and fees on very rich people and very big banks.
Jan 18, 2015 / John Nichols
Obama’s Right to Embrace the Public Option for Closing the Digital Divide Obama’s Right to Embrace the Public Option for Closing the Digital Divide
The president wants cities to be able to innovate with municipal broadband systems.
Jan 15, 2015 / John Nichols
On Bill Moyers’s Legacy On Bill Moyers’s Legacy
Following a career of more than forty years, Bill Moyers retires.
Jan 13, 2015 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Did Obama Just Introduce a ‘Public Option’ for Higher Education? Did Obama Just Introduce a ‘Public Option’ for Higher Education?
The president’s plan to make two years of community college free for some students could solve some of higher education’s most intractable problems.
Jan 9, 2015 / Mike Konczal
Mario Cuomo Gave Some Great Speeches. But What Did He Actually Accomplish? Mario Cuomo Gave Some Great Speeches. But What Did He Actually Accomplish?
And why are progressives so easily seduced by words?
Jan 7, 2015 / Column / Katha Pollitt
Steve Scalise’s Defense Steve Scalise’s Defense
He spoke before he knew that group preached hate. That’s human error—cause for mild rebuke. Although the leader’s name does ring a bell, It might have been some other David Duke.
Jan 7, 2015 / Column / Calvin Trillin
January 7, 1999: The Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton Begins January 7, 1999: The Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton Begins
In The Nation Jonathan Schell laid to rest any comparisons between Clinton’s crimes, such as they were, and those of Richard Nixon.
Jan 7, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
January 6, 1919: Theodore Roosevelt Dies January 6, 1919: Theodore Roosevelt Dies
Previously critical of the former president’s “half-baked Rooseveltian socialism,” by the time of his death The Nation had swung to the left. We saw TR as “...
Jan 6, 2015 / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
‘Nothing Was an Accident That Night’: Mexican Federal Police Implicated in the Disappearance of the 43 ‘Nothing Was an Accident That Night’: Mexican Federal Police Implicated in the Disappearance of the 43
As he prepares to visit Washington, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s alibi is unraveling.
Jan 5, 2015 / Greg Grandin