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The Midterms Cometh
A bar graph haunts Washington. You know the one. Its jagged teeth notch losses for the President’s party in every post-WWII midterm House election, all except two. Those electoral projections have been a moving target this year, and in many respects we are living in unusual times. But the ultimate results will be more
The Legacy Question
It’s time. Time to talk about the L word. As the cherry trees blossom in Washington and legislators’ minds turn towards reelection, the administration is taking stock of its legacy. In our hyper-polarized era, an administration’s first two years, especially if under unified governance, play an outsized role in the mark they leave on politics,
Notes on Editing (Or: Why We Need a Different Thesis Statement)
In marking the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, many are taking stock of the state of the response as well as our democracy. The latter has not made for easy reading—the US has been categorized as a “backsliding democracy” for the first time or otherwise downgraded by think tanks studying
A Familiar Landmine: The Looming Debt Ceiling
With all the other tumult going on in our politics, one might be forgiven for not focusing on a familiar landmine: the debt ceiling. After all, since its regularized inclusion in the appropriations process a decade ago, Congress has shifted from extending the debt limit to a specific amount
Politics by Other Means
I have been in Washington, DC, for the two major attacks of the past generation, on September 11, 2001, and on January 6, 2021. On 9/11 I was a college freshman. A sleepy morning narrowed quickly into a hyper-focused state as classes were cancelled and people became glued to their televisions. Around my dorm, I
Social Movements and Policy Change
How should we understand the fire this time? In the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, a movement has re-ignited for civil rights in general and against police brutality specifically. August 28 saw a March on Washington, 57 years after the original march with MLK’s famous “I have a dream” speech to crowds
Lessons of Economic Recessions
In politics, we often learn the lesson of the last time. Our current economic troubles prompt comparison to previous episodes, particularly the 2007-2009 Great Recession. While the past six weeks may seem like an eternity to many Americans, we are early in the government response to this crisis, particularly its economic effects. The future
The Long Shadow of 2010
The dawning of a new decade brings the expected retrospectives. While algorithms compute our most listened-to songs and pundits connect the latest torrential news cycle to a loose historical pattern, finding the signal amidst the noise can be elusive. Periodization schemes can be difficult to pin down. But arguably, a decade is precisely the right
Back In Session
Congress is back in session, and all eyes are on the impending budget negotiations. The past month has not provided a respite from significant news. A number of mass shootings, border developments, and the clattering of the 2020 presidential aspirants reminds us that while Congress may have escaped the Potomac’s heat, the world does not
Lessons In Impeachment
In politics, we often learn the lesson of the last time. When President Obama came into office, he and his advisors read Gordon Goldstein’s Lessons in Disaster, which covered mistakes made in Vietnam, to apply them to Afghanistan and Iraq. The enduring legacy of these conflicts is the power vacuum that enabled the rise