TheNextReport

Count Your Change Now that the race for president is over and the Democrats have lost the White House yet again, it may be instructive to reflect on how it happened and perhaps finally consider that it is time to change the system. Declaring that the 2008 campaign is finished may be a bit premature you say? Hardly. While it’s true that the cable news channels will continue to churn out their form of information to make a horse race seem inevitable, the eventual result couldn’t be clearer. These last few days have seen the departure of John Edwards and Rudi Giuliani from the race, the endorsement of Barack Obama by the Kennedys and the near coronation of John McCain after his victory in Florida. These events remind us of two important, sobering facts: the first is that idealism – the pursuit of noble principles and moral purposes – is intrinsic to American political discourse; the second is that bottom-line concerns over national security will trump idealism almost every time. Along wit

The First Laddie Former president Bill Clinton is a man possessed. He is, once again, explaining for public consumption the intimate details of a love affair – this time, with his wife. Now roundly criticized by power brokers in his own party for being impolitic with his remarks chastising the Obama campaign, the former president has clearly become his wife's most ardent champion. Bill Clinton's entry into Hillary Clinton's campaign was a strategy born from a widespread belief in the enduring political skills and the popularity of the 42nd president. His spousal advocacy displays an ardor, however, that would appear to go beyond mere support of Hillary's quest for office. In Bill Clinton's mind, the election of the first woman president may in fact be the last act of a grand political passion play featuring the First Man: the resurrection of the impeached. Granted an unprecedented second opportunity to enact a policy agenda that was derailed by his fall from grace,

The Dems Open a Vein With so much at stake for the future of the nation and the world, one would think that the Democratic Party and its supporters would have acted with a bit more deliberation before blithely tossing away the presidential election. With George Bush and the party he represents held in such apparent low esteem by the nation, one has to wonder how the Democrats can possibly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory; yet, if last week is any indication, that is exactly what they have been aiming to do. That Hillary Clinton would decide that the best way to win the South Carolina primary and its majority African-American voters would be to attack Martin Luther King on his birthday is about as believable as the contention that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in 2002. Yet, driven by an incessant media hype, the perception that Clinton was denigrating Dr. King by pointing out Lyndon Johnson's key role in shepherding civil rights legislation through Congress became viabl

We Like Mike? One can never fail to be amused or mystified by the American political process. The race for the presidency among the Republican candidates helps one to remember that media-driven politics in the U.S. – especially of the presidential variety – is very similar to another American phenomenon: the carnival sideshow. There a snake oil salesman – the slippery carnival barker – stands in front of the crowd promising thrills and chills, a peek perhaps at a bearded lady, a strongman or a Siamese twin, or two. Eager for entertainment, the public slaps down its greenbacks to enter the tent and see for themselves what they may otherwise find difficult to believe, oblivious of the fact that they are being had. Witness the ascendancy of Mike Huckabee who won the Iowa caucus. The prevailing punditry would have us believe that Mr, Huckabee, a former minister, swept to victory in Iowa because he most clearly embodied the conservative Christian values characteristic of the majority of rur