New York Times

No one likes a political loser, especially when they are defeated in a presidential election. And no party seems to cast aside those who fail at the ballot box as quickly and as ruthlessly as the Democratic Party. After his ignominious defeat under a mountain of negative attacks in 1988, Michael Dukakis quickly became persona non grata among Democrats; after being defeated by George Bush in 2000, Al Gore wandered in the wilderness for years; and since losing in 2004, John Kerry has consistently and often… more

“Know your audience.” These are the first words drilled into the head of any budding speechwriter. Figure out who your audience is, then draft a set of remarks directly tailored to them. Last night Hillary Clinton offered all the young scribes out there a clinic in precisely how it is done. Speaking directly to her millions of former supporters who remain hesitant about voting for Barack Obama, her message was clear and unambiguous: get over it and get on board the Obama bandwagon.

Last night’s address at… more

On the campaign trail, image-making and speech-making have always gone hand in hand. But rarely is that more true than when the candidate’s spouse delivers a speech at the national party convention.

Remember the 1996 Republican National Convention; it’s not easy, because there was little from that convention or even that campaign that was terribly memorable. But if one moment stands out, it was Elizabeth Dole, the former secretary of the Labor Department and the Transportation Department and the head of the American Red Cross --… more

On Aug. 28, Barack Obama will deliver one of the most eagerly anticipated speeches in American political history. As the country’s first African-American presidential candidate and possibly the most renowned political orator of his generation, the pressure on Mr. Obama to say something unique and memorable is extraordinary.

But Mr. Obama’s task is far simpler than the drama of the moment might suggest. He must do what every “change” candidate from Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton has done: frame… more

Even some Republicans have started to wonder whether the Reagan strategy on taxes has run its course. Earlier this year, two young conservative writers, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, came out with a book called “Grand New Party.” Their basic thesis is that the Republican Party, for all its successes over the past generation, has failed to cement its majority because of economics. If the party’s agenda continues to revolve around tax cuts that mostly benefit the well off, the… more

In his brief time on the national stage Barack Obama has been compared to a host of great 20th-century orators, including John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. But the most apt comparison may be to one of the greatest 19th-century orators: Frederick Douglass, the abolitionist leader.

In The New York Times recent examination of Mr. Obama’s career as a law school professor, a former student noted that he regularly evoked Douglass and not simply for his speaking skills but also for his “use of a collective… more

This year’s Little League World Series, which began on Friday, is a lavish, nationally televised American sporting event. At the site of the series in South Williamsport, Pa., there is a tent for the tournament’s corporate sponsors to show off their products, an instant-replay system to decide close calls and a perfectly groomed, two-stadium baseball complex.

For all of the tournament’s seductive gloss, Little League was born in poverty. In 1938, Carl E. Stotz, a Williamsport oil company clerk, lost his job when the business shut… more

In “The Wrecking Crew,” the liberal journalist Thomas Frank tells the story of free-market ideologues who came to Washington to start a revolution and built a lucrative lobbying empire instead. Now a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Frank established his reputation as the editor of The Baffler and then as the author of the best-selling What’s the Matter With Kansas? (2004) by combining two things absent from most liberal commentary: muckraking reporting and satiric wit.

Frank’s gifts as a social observer are on display in his… more

Ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation’s population in a little more than a generation, according to new Census Bureau projections, a transformation that is occurring faster than anticipated just a few years ago.

The census calculates that by 2042, Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites. Four years ago, officials had projected the shift would come in 2050...

...Gregory Rodriguez, a senior fellow… more

...Raising the retirement age further, reducing benefits across the board, pegging increases in benefits to inflation rather than wage hikes, and allowing retirement at an earlier age in return for cuts in benefits were all floated in a December 2005 study, “Nonpartisan Social Security Reform Plan.” Its authors included Jeffrey Liebman, now Mr. Obama’s chief Social Security adviser, and Maya MacGuineas, who advised Mr. McCain on the subject in 2000... LINK