David Sirota from Creators Syndicate

The New Permanent Campaign for 02/29/2008

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In 1976, a young political consultant named Patrick Caddell sent a memo to Jimmy Carter telling the president-elect to wage "a continuing political campaign" that fuses public policy and political goals. This doctrine became known as the permanent campaign, and it is now changing from a White House tactic into a national grassroots organizing strategy.

Today's permanent campaig ...

Updated: Fri Feb 29, 2008

Hope In the Time of NAFTA for 03/07/2008

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Reading articles about Hillary Clinton attacking NAFTA can lead you to believe The Onion has taken over America's news bureaus.

Clinton spent the last 10 years repeatedly praising the trade deal in speeches, most recently calling the job-killing accord "good for New York and America." Yet, journalists barely mention that record as they transcribe her assertions that, "I ha ...

Updated: Fri Mar 07, 2008

Remembering What Nixon Learned for 03/14/2008

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A half century ago, Richard Nixon spearheaded his party's national congressional campaign in the face of a recession like we face today. Then Dwight Eisenhower's vice president, he decided the GOP would champion anti-worker laws pioneered in the segregationist south as a way to defeat Democrats. Specifically, he rolled out "right to work" ballot initiatives to weaken the labor movemen ...

Updated: Fri Mar 14, 2008

New Crisis, Old Isms for 03/21/2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Federal Reserve Bank's decision last week to address the housing crisis by extending $200 billion of taxpayer-financed credit to Wall Street banks was met with a stunned reaction typical of surprising events. But really, the move was the expression of longstanding isms that routinely package corruption as sound public policy.

Some background: During the housing boom, banks doled out ...

Updated: Fri Mar 21, 2008

Is Wright Right About Racism? for 03/28/2008

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Since the 1960s, bigotry has undergone an aesthetic makeover. Today, the most pernicious racists do not wear pointy hoods, scream epithets and anonymously burn crosses from behind masks. They don starched suits, recite sententious bromides and stage political lynchings before television cameras. For proof, behold the mob stalking Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Wright has ...

Updated: Fri Mar 28, 2008

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man for 04/04/2008

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I'll admit it: I used to admire John McCain.

To paraphrase the UFO poster from "The X Files," I wanted to believe.

Specifically, I wanted to believe the guy talking tough about campaign finance reform was committed to getting money out of politics. This was the Arizona senator who in 2002 taped a radio ad praising his state's "clean elections" system. It provid ...

Updated: Fri Apr 04, 2008

The Ludlow Legacy, Part I: Colombia for 04/11/2008

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Note to Editors: This is the first of two columns looking at the legacy of the Ludlow Massacre on its 94th anniversary.

Ninety-four years ago on April 20, America made international news when a government-sanctioned paramilitary unit murdered Colorado union organizers at a Rockefeller-owned coal mine. The Ludlow Massacre was "a story of horror unparalleled in the history of industri ...

Updated: Fri Apr 11, 2008

The Ludlow Legacy, Part II: Colorado for 04/18/2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Note to Editors: This is the second of two columns looking at the legacy of the Ludlow Massacre on its 94th anniversary.

The Ludlow Massacre's tiny monument off I-25 in Southern Colorado is easily missed if you don't know where to find it. Though the nearby coal mine garnered international attention in 1914 after a government militia slaughtered union organizers there, the minimalism of ...

Updated: Fri Apr 18, 2008

Matthews vs. McNulty for 04/25/2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If television is the nation's mirror, then no two TV characters reflect the intensifying "two Americas" gap better than Chris Matthews and Jimmy McNulty.

A recent New York Times profile of Matthews describes a name-dropping dilettante floating between television studios and cocktail parties. The article documents the MSNBC host's $5 million salary, three Mercedes and house in l ...

Updated: Fri Apr 25, 2008

The Plague of Potomac Fever for 05/02/2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If any publication was going to document the sickness known as Potomac Fever, it was going to be the Washington Post.

Last month, the newspaper penned a front-page dispatch headlined "Housing Accord Puts Builders First; Strapped Homeowners Offered Little Aid." It described congressional leaders agreeing to "provide billions of dollars in tax rebates to the slumping home-bu ...

Updated: Fri May 02, 2008

Acknowledging the Race Chasm for 05/09/2008

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When it comes to race, American politics is as polarized as a red and blue election map. On one side are those who try to distract from the issue; on the other side are those who work to sensationalize it. As this campaign season shows, what unifies both is bigotry.

Take the reaction to my recent In These Times magazine article about Barack Obama winning states with either very small or ...

Updated: Fri May 09, 2008

Toward A New Washington Consensus for 05/16/2008

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You've probably heard that John McCain once said, "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues." This line is regularly referenced by Democratic television pundits as evidence that McCain is unprepared to lead the country during a recession.

The criticism is certainly valid, but it ignores something more troubling. It's not that politici ...

Updated: Fri May 16, 2008

A Different Kind of Democracy for 05/23/2008

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The never-ending presidential campaign is enough to overload anyone's senses. The themes and messages are mind-numbingly discombobulated — race, class, flag lapel pins, NAFTA, bowling photo-ops, Iraq and, of course, endless promises of "real change." It is like the head-pounding noise of bad heavy metal music, but the subliminal message isn't a satanic code — it's one tell ...

Updated: Fri May 23, 2008

The Lamont Lesson for 05/30/2008

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When you hear folks say that history inevitably repeats itself, you probably figure they are referring to the distant past. When very recent events repeat themselves, it evokes a different parable — the one about how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Welcome to the Iraq debate, circa 2008.

Recall that two years ago, a little-known businessman named Ned Lam ...

Updated: Fri May 30, 2008

The Populist Uprising for 06/06/2008

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

American history is the history of populist uprisings. From the Revolutionary War to the coalfield wars, from labor organizers to anti-tax crusaders, from the New Deal to the current conservative era, backlashes to the status quo have defined every major political era. These uprisings have given us candidates from Goldwater to Dean, and presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan — and the populi ...

Updated: Fri Jun 06, 2008

An Anti-Clinton for VP for 06/13/2008

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You can't turn on a television or have a conversation about politics without being accosted by speculation about whether Barack Obama will select Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Will he ask her or won't he? This is the extent of today's political debate — personality-focused chatter that goes about as deep as prom-season gossip at a local high school.

The better question is sh ...

Updated: Fri Jun 13, 2008

Countering Race With Class for 06/20/2008

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In our us-versus-them culture, every political campaign is a battle to define who exactly the "us" and "them" are. Republicans typically say it is natives versus immigrants, Christians versus non-Christians and heartland folks versus Hollywood elites. At their most effective, Democrats parry by defining the "us" as the majority of working people, and the "them ...

Updated: Fri Jun 20, 2008

This Summer's Trilogy of Truth for 06/27/2008

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The future of the media is cloudy. In this brave new world of YouTube, Facebook and 400 cable channels, book publishers are fretting about obsolescence. But books have survived radio and television for the same reason they will survive the Internet. Human life is simply too complex to be represented by a news spot or a blog post — and three new tomes demonstrate how books will always be t ...

Updated: Fri Jun 27, 2008

Anywhere Becomes Everywhere for 07/11/2008

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I spent the July 4th weekend in my own Americana cliche: I relaxed in the humid heartland, drank one too many alcoholic beverages (screwdrivers), ate at a chain restaurant (Noodles & Company), played with my dog (a golden retriever mix), and attended Hollywood's latest paean to mediocrity (Will Smith's "Hancock"). I was in the bucolic suburbs of Lafayette, Ind., but really, I coul ...

Updated: Fri Jul 11, 2008

"Centrists" Running the Asylum for 07/18/2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In the asylum that is American politics, beware a candidate like Barack Obama when he is lauded for moving to "the center" — because usually that means he is drifting away from it.

Over the last month, the Democratic presidential nominee has backed a measure to permit warrantless wiretapping and protect telecom companies when they violate customers' privacy; sent conflict ...

Updated: Fri Jul 18, 2008