Reihan Salam

A discussion with Authors Phillip Longman and Ray Boshara, with Commentary by Mark Schmitt and Reihan Salam.

As Earth Day approaches, environmentalists are bemoaning the impending death of cap-and-trade. The Obama White House offered ambitious revenue estimates for a cap-and-trade program in its proposed budget, but Congressional Democrats have made it fairly clear that they won’t risk following through, at least not this year. Whereas health care legislation has a chance of getting through Congress, any successful cap-and-trade legislation would have to secure at least sixty votes in the Senate--and that, simply put, is unimaginable.

As governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford has made a mark not by creating any new social programs or by slashing taxes or making some other dramatic gesture. He's done it by doggedly opposing new spending at every opportunity, to the point where he's struck many critics as a monomaniacal economic Luddite.

Reihan Salam, associate editor for The Atlantic, discusses the recent quarreling between GOP leader Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh. Salam is the co-author of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the ...

As the architect of America's overwhelming victory in the Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush spent most of 1991 as a prohibitive favorite for reelection. But after the economy entered a short, sharp recession, Bush looked increasingly vulnerable, not least due to restlessness among Republicans. He caught a big break in December of 1991 when his most formidable potential challenger bowed out of the presidential race. Just weeks before the New Hampshire primary, New York's then-governor Mario Cuomo announced that he would not pursue the

Demography is destiny in politics, or so we have heard. In 2004, the growth of the exurbs was said to be generating a permanent Republican majority. Now the strong support for the Democrats by young people, Hispanics, and non-Christians is said to be creating an unstoppable trend toward liberalism.

Last week, at a White House forum on reforming health care, President Obama issued a challenge to advocates of less government control of the medical marketplace.

"If there is a way of getting this done [i.e., reforming health care] where we're driving down costs and people are getting health insurance at an affordable rate and have choice of doctor, have flexibility in terms of their plans, and we could do that entirely through the market, I'd be happy to do it that way."

As the Republican tent shrinks, Rush Limbaugh, arguably the most successful and influential radio host in American history, has emerged as its most prominent voice. No elected Republican--not John McCain, not Arnold Schwarzenegger, not Bobby Jindal--commands the loyalty of as many grassroots conservatives. Rather than sit idly by as conservatives find their bearings in the Age of Obama, Limbaugh, who played a crucial role in the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, has decided to use this moment of Republican weakness and

Last year, I had the great pleasure of seeing The Order of Myths, Margaret Brown's brilliant documentary film on Mobile, Alabama's storied, and segregated, Mardi Gras celebrations. Even now, long after the end of Jim Crow, the city's leading white families put together an elaborate series of Mardi Gras balls and parades under the auspices of the Mobile Carnival Association, and they name a royal court to preside over the festivities. Starting in 1938, a number of black families formed the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association (MAMGA)… more