John Kennedy
Can the Chicago Teachers’ Strike Fix Democratic Education Reform?
Why Mitt Romney Wants to Be Like James K. Polk
Karl Rove and George W. Bush looked at William McKinley as a model; Barack Obama at Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. According to Huffington Post reporter Jon Ward, Mitt Romney and his advisors also have a favorite president: James K. Polk, who served one term from 1845 to 1849. Romney’s campaign manager Matt “Rhoades and the rest of the members of Romney’s inner circle think a Romney presidency could look much like the White House tenure of the 11th U.S. president,” Ward writes. READ MORE >>
From Howard Beale to Aaron Sorkin
What Romney Doesn't Get, But FDR and the Kennedys Did
If you haven’t read Noam Scheiber’s magazine article on Mitt Romney, you should. And make sure you read all the way to the end, where it contains one of the great one-liners of all time. I won’t spoil it, except to say that, substantively, it suggests Romney doesn't dwell on the plight of those less fortunate than him. READ MORE >>
During the 1960 West Virginia primary, John Kennedy campaigned in tandem with Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. to claim that he—and not liberal stalwart Hubert Humphrey—was the rightful heir to FDR. The biopic shown at the 1992 Democratic Convention showcased difficult-to-locate footage of Bill Clinton shaking hands with JFK at the White House in 1963 as an Arkansas delegate to Boy’s Nation. READ MORE >>
Why We Need Détente With North Korea
Whatever Kim Jong-Il’s death meant for the people of North Korea, it did not change the fundamental strategic interest that the United States has in the country. The paramount issue for Washington remains assuring that Pyongyang never uses its nuclear arsenal, and that it never leaks or gifts its weapons material and technology to other nations or terrorists. READ MORE >>
Thomson on Films: Cliff Robertson and the Sordid Ways of Old Hollywood
The New Middle East
The president has found his fall guy, his collective fall guy, for his failure to see that several sort-of U.S. allies were in terrible trouble: The intelligence community, we are now told, was to blame. But the truth is that, if anyone is at fault for misreading the Arab world, it is Barack Obama himself. READ MORE >>
Paradox Now
Washington—Be ready for the paradoxical phase of Barack Obama's presidency. Many things will not be exactly as they appear. Paradox No. 1: Because over the next two years he can't get sweeping, progressive legislation through the Republican-led House, Obama will be doing far more to make the core progressive case that energetic government is essential to prosperity, growth, and equity. READ MORE >>
