Mark Schmitt

There's no doubt that America's political parties have undergone a major transformation in the last two decades, and that we now have, for better or for worse, a center-left party and a center-right party(although at the moment, more right than center), pitted against one another, rather than the jumble of the past. The question is whether this process, which Ron Brownstein, until recently a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, calls the "Great Sorting-Out," is a bad thing, a good… more

Our social contract -- the formal and informal, public and private arrangements by which we ensure economic security and opportunity -- has evolved over the course of American history in response to changing economic and political conditions and demographic realities. This evolutionary process, in which the balance between individual responsibility and the responsibilities of government, employers, and civil society has been struck and restruck, has proceeded in fits and starts. Change has come quickly at times of crisis and… more

In the recently published Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds, Gregory Rodriguez takes an in-depth look at the largest immigrant group in American history. Rodriguez examines the complexities of the heritage and the racial and cultural synthesis -- mestizaje -- that has defined the Mexican people since the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Vis-a-vis the present era of Mexican American confidence, Rodriguez argues that the rapidly expanding Mexican American integration in to the mainstream is changing not only how… more

Who would have predicted that the defining difference in the Democratic presidential campaign would involve not Iraq but reform of the political process, particularly the role of lobbyists? At the candidates’ joint appearance at the YearlyKos convention of netroots activists in August, the question of taking money from lobbyists earned Barack Obama and John Edwards -- who don’t -- their biggest cheers, and Hillary Clinton -- who does -- her biggest boos. Since then, the fight has only escalated.

Most Democratic… more

When Congress returns from its August recess, it will take up the battle over a modest expansion of the program that provides health insurance for children. The Senate Finance Committee will begin its fight over changing the tax treatment of hedge-fund and private-equity firm profits. In both cases, Democrats are on the side of right: expanding health insurance for kids and closing tax loopholes for tycoons.

But more striking is that the Democrats are trying to keep the… more

Senior Fellow Mark Schmitt talks with National Public Radio about his blogging on TPMCafe.com, while attending the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago:

LYDEN: And you -- looking to have an impact here on the campaign?

Mr. SCHMITT: I'm not looking to have too much of an impact on the campaign. I'm more interested in how different issues are playing out in the campaign. So I, you know, if I'll write about tax policy, I'll comment on how I think… more

Barack Obama said yesterday that he would not hesitate to order military strikes against al-Qaeda targets on Pakistani soil with or without the permission of General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler.Mr Obama's speech - one of the most belligerent by a Democratic presidential candidate - appeared to be have been prompted by Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner, who has portrayed her rival as doveish and inexperienced. Mr Obama sought to allay the impression that he would be slow to… more

I’ve always resisted the idea that there is "an inherent cyclical rhythm in our national affairs," as the late Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. put it. Schlesinger suggested that American history moves in 30-year cycles between liberalism and conservatism, between public and private concerns. But it’s hard not to notice that it was exactly 30 years ago that the conservative era dawned, with the introduction of the then-audacious Kemp-Roth tax-cut proposal, in 1977, followed by California’s tax-limiting Proposition 13 the next… more

Washington -- Look at the “issues” section of a Republican presidential candidate’s Web site and you’ll typically find only the most basic statements: “cut taxes,” “defeat the terrorists” and not much more. Republicans speak in terms of principle, not programs.

While the absence of policy detail in the Republican presidential campaign is remarkable, Democrats go too far in the other direction. Their campaign has entered the season of plans, the period during which a barrage of 20-page policy proposals frames the… more

Something predictable has happened to Barack Obama's breathtaking ascent. His star is still in the sky but the shine is fading. Almost six months after launching his presidential bid, Mr Obama's poll numbers remain stubbornly behind those of Hillary Clinton.At the national level, Mrs Clinton's lead over Mr Obama averages 35 per cent to Mr Obama's 22 per cent. In the small states where the crucial early primary elections will be staged next January to determine the Democratic… more