Michael A. Cohen: All Publications, Events and Press

Live from the Campaign Trail

Communications — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:15:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/09/2008 - 12:15pm

As the campaign season begins to heat up this summer, please join us for a lively discussion about the role of speechwriting and oratory on the campaign trail with three former speechwriters: New America Senior Research Fellow Michael A. Cohen, New America Fellow James Pinkerton (Campaign Officer for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush), and Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Executive Vice President Jeremy Rosner (Speechwriter for President Bill Clinton).

The panelists will be discussing a range of issues, from the history of campaign oratory to a closer look at the speeches and rhetoric of Barack Obama and John McCain as they battle it out on the campaign trail to be the next President of the United States.

The point of departure for our discussion will be Michael A. Cohen's new book, Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Speeches of the Twentieth Century and How they Shaped Modern America.

Michael Cohen on WTOP Radio | 'Presidential Campaigns'

Communications — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:40:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Michael Cohen, Senior Research Fellow at the New America Foundation, discusses his book Live from the Campaign Trail and what makes a presidential candidate's political oratory extraordinary... LINK to audio

Patriot Games

Ron Tang — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:48:00 -0400

Last week, Barack Obama traveled to Independence, Mo., to talk about patriotism, a perennial campaign topic that has taken on added relevance this year. Mr. Obama’s earlier refusal to wear a flag lapel pin, his failure to put a hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem, his supposed Muslim lineage have all been seized upon by his opponents to make the case that Mr. Obama is somehow “not one of us.”

Unfortunately, in his remarks, Mr. Obama missed an opportunity to move beyond this nonsense. By focusing largely on his own personal definition of patriotism… more

Obama Should Emulate FDR

Ron Tang — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:20:00 -0400

During his historic run for the White House, Barack Obama has been compared to an impressive range of Presidents. His oratory reminds some of Kennedy, his paeans to national greatness evoke Reagan and the postpartisan themes of his campaign bring to mind Bill Clinton.

But if one looks at Obama's campaign in a larger historical context, the most apt comparison may be Franklin Roosevelt. At a time when the nation was hungry for real solutions to serious national challenges, FDR understood what too few Democratic presidential contenders have since: At moments of profound discontent, the nation craves not a policymaker in… more

The New Colonialists

Ron Tang — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:32:00 -0400

Even on their best days, the world’s failed states are difficult to mistake for anything but tragic examples of countries gone wrong. A few routinely make the headlines -- Somalia, Iraq, Congo. But alongside their brand of extreme state dysfunction exists an entirely separate, easily missed class of states teetering on the edge. In dozens of countries, corrupt or feeble governments are proving themselves dangerously incapable of carrying out the most basic responsibilities of statehood. These countries -- nations such as Botswana, Cambodia, Georgia, and Kenya -- might appear to be recovering, even thriving, developing countries, but like their failed-state… more

McCain’s Misguided Strategy?

Ron Tang — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:29:00 -0400

As the 2008 general election heats up, one of John McCain’s strongest political advantages is his opponent Barack Obama’s lack of political experience. No surprise there: when Mr. McCain began his political career, Mr. Obama was still a college student.

But lately, Mr. McCain seems to be taking the experience argument in an extreme direction: intimating that Mr. Obama doesn’t actually know, well, much of anything.

Here, for example, is Mr. McCain in a recent op-ed in The Detroit Free Press: “Those who would lead our countries must work to ensure that the benefits of NAFTA are understood throughout our… more

Live From the Campaign Trail

Ron Tang — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:44:00 -0400

In this collection of 27 of the most influential presidential campaign speeches of the twentieth century, Michael A. Cohen brings to life the words that have shaped American politics over the last century. From the legendary, like William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" and Ronald Reagan's call for a "national crusade to make America great again"; to the infamous, including Richard Nixon's maudlin "Checkers" speech and Bill Clinton's rhetorical broadside against the rapper Sister Souljah; to the poignant, such as FDR's evocation of America's "rendezvous with destiny," Hubert Humphrey's call for America to walk "into the bright sunshine of human… more

The Souljah Legacy

Ron Tang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:37:00 -0400

Sixteen years ago, the most influential campaign speech of the last two decades was delivered at a hotel ballroom in Washington. It wasn’t broadcast on television and only a few hundred Americans heard it in its entirety. But when presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition on June 13, 1992, and attacked an obscure rapper named Sister Souljah it fundamentally changed the popular perception of the Democratic Party.

Standing only a few feet from Mr. Jackson, Mr. Clinton excoriated the young rapper, who had said: “If black people kill black people every day, why… more

Obama's Adversity Creates Opportunity

Ron Tang — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:47:00 -0400

After months of bruising political battles, the matchup for the November election is now almost set. It’s clear that one of the two presumptive nominees has been badly hurt by his party’s nominating fight. Barack Obama?

No. John McCain.

Certainly, Obama has faced the tougher primary battle. But in adversity has come opportunity. The presumptive Democratic nominee has been able to confront difficult questions about his candidacy that would normally arise during the general election. And he was able to test out an affirmative message of change with independent voters in nearly every state of the country.

McCain, on the other hand, won… more

Dems, Beware Electability Trap

Ron Tang — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:04:00 -0400

With her campaign on life support, Hillary Clinton is making the one political argument that could hold the greatest sway with national Democrats: She is more electable.

It's hardly a surprising approach. Convinced of the party's vulnerabilities with the electorate and intimidated by opponents seen as masters of the black art of negative campaigning, Democrats are long accustomed to making electability their political lodestar.

But history shows that this is a shallow and counterproductive game -- one that can and should finally be put to rest in this election cycle.

Electability took on heightened significance for Democrats after the disastrous 1984 (Mondale) and… more

It's No Longer 1968 For Dems

Ron Tang — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:58:00 -0400

In May 2004, as the presidential campaign was beginning to gather steam, an unnamed senior Bush administration official was asked to comment on the dilemma John F. Kerry faced in criticizing the handling of the war in Iraq. His response: “It’s never stopped being 1968” for Democrats.

A more telling description of Democratic vulnerability on national security issues is difficult to imagine. The year 1968 is shorthand for the 40-year political caricature of Democrats as “soft” and “weak” on military affairs. In the late ’60s, Democrats were “dirty hippies”; in the ’70s, they were peacenik McGovernites; in 1984, they were “blame… more

The Divided Democrats

Ron Tang — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:00:00 -0400

It has been more than five decades since any political party in America has had a brokered convention, and for political junkies a heated battle at the Democratic convention seems like a tantalizing possibility. But for Democrats, a protracted nomination battle, culminating in a convention fight, could undermine the party's hopes of reclaiming the White House this fall.

Since voters in Ohio and Texas breathed new life into Hillary Clinton's campaign, some have argued that the current stalemate will not hurt the party's candidate come November. After all, as several prominent bloggers have argued, wasn't the 1968 Democratic primary battle worse?… more

Obama's New Populism

Ron Tang — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

No presidential campaign in this country would be complete without the three Ps of politics -- polls, pundits and populism. The first two Ps are more modern creations. But the populist candidate who claims to speak for the "people" -- against some political straw man such as big business or big government -- has a long history. Political leaders from both sides of the aisle have consistently and unabashedly utilized populist appeals. The run-up to the 2008 election, with John Edwards's missives against corporate power or John McCain's attacks on big government, has largely followed a similar script.

But this year,… more

Michael Cohen in The Toronto Star | 'The vanishing election issue: foreign policy'

Communications — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:10:00 -0500

New America in the News:

The vanishing election issue: foreign policy (The Toronto Star)

"McCain is hard to figure," says Michael Cohen of the New America Foundation, author of Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the 20th Century and How They Shaped Modern America.

"He hasn't done a critique of Bush's policy. He put pressure on the White House to say America wouldn't engage in torture, then he backed away. He can talk tough on Iran with Republican voters, but it isn't a great message for the election."

..."The most dramatic change will be a step back from unilateralism," says Cohen.

Congress and the 'YouTube War'

Articles — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 07:14:00 -0500

The United States is “fighting a different kind of enemy” in its War on Terror, or so says President Bush. He’s right. For the first time since the days of the Barbary pirates, America is doing active battle not with a rival nation, but with a non-state actor (al Qaeda) that lacks a geographical home, is motivated by ideology more than territorial ambition, and whose victories are defined in non-military terms. It is an enemy that uses communication technology, public opinion, and the global 24-hour news cycle to wage its battles. It is, in a very real sense, the first… more

Reining in Military Contractors

adminn — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 07:35:00 -0500

It's unlikely that many Americans know Stewart W. Bowen Jr. They should. As the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), Mr. Bowen has helped save taxpayers billions of dollars. His audits of reconstruction contracts have turned up waste, mismanagement and fraud; and his investigations led to four criminal convictions and embarrassed excuses from the U.S. government's biggest military contractors.

Yet, for all his good work, some in Congress are not terribly appreciative. On the eve of recent mid-term elections, an amendment, buried deep within a military authorization bill, closed down Bowen's office. After media outrage, congressional leaders scurried to give… more

Privatizing Foreign Policy

Ron Tang — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 20:00:00 -0400

In August 2000, a motley array of democracy activists, politicians, and fringe nationalists trudged into a hotel in Budapest. The assembled figures constituted the leading members of Serbia’s political opposition movement -- a fractured and increasingly desperate group. Only weeks earlier, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, hoping to catch his erstwhile opposition off guard, had announced snap presidential elections. After watching his domestic opponents spend eight years repeatedly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Milosevic was confident. But this time, Serbia’s democratic leaders had a secret weapon -- a bespectacled, Harvard-educated political consultant armed with a PowerPoint presentation.

Doug E. Schoen,… more