Shrum proclaims “end times” for Reaganism. Wise Democrats will want to handle that prediction with care.
If the chapter is closing on the Reagan era in U.S. politics—and I think it is—it is not closing because Reaganism has been repudiated (as Shrum would wish). It is closing because Reaganism has been accepted and digested.
A little history.
In   more

There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him.
A year ago, the Arizona senator’s team made a crucial strategic decision. McCain would run on his (impressive) personal biography. On policy, he’d hew mostly to conservative orthodoxy, with   more

In this week of financial panic, we can already begin to see hope for economic recovery.
In trading Friday, the price of oil fell below US$65 a barrel, down from US$145 only four months ago. This dramatic price collapse will act like a massive global tax cut. Along with the huge monetary stimulus delivered by the   more

Shrum is right: This is no time for Democrats to go wobbly. After Election Day—that’s the time to go wobbly!
As Republicans have learned, governing isn’t nearly so carefree as campaigning. Soon it will be the Democrats’ turn at the controls. Beginning on November 5, they will have a series of very important decisions to make.
1.   more

You probably know this old joke:
A mother and her son are walking along the beach. Suddenly a giant wave roars into shore, engulfs the boy and carries him out to sea. The woman bursts into prayer: “Lord I have always been a good woman, given to charity, prayed every day, shunned every sin. Please Lord   more

Sometimes campaigns and candidates make the difference. Very possibly, a different campaign or a different candidate could have won the presidency for the Democrats in 2004. (Most Republicans cited Dick Gephardt as the Democrat they feared most, John Kerry as the candidate they feared least.) Not impossibly, as Bob Shrum suggests, a different vice presidential   more

Talk to the Taliban?
That’s the big policy question everybody asks about Afghanistan. After an eight-day NATO-sponsored tour of the country, I can report that the best minds at work on the country all give the same answer: “Maybe later. Not now.”
Here’s why:
1) The current push to talk to the Taliban comes from Afghanistan’s Karzai government   more

I compare this election to a job interview. The employers (that’s you, Mr. and Mrs. America) are sick to death of the current job holder (that’s my team, the GOP). They are itching to fire us.
But they cannot do it until they have found a plausible alternative. Now if the alternative gives offense or embarrasses   more