Politico

New America Foundation in Politico | 'Obama-Google Connection Scares Competitors'

Articles — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:54:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Not only was Google’s Schmidt on the campaign trail and on Obama’s economic advisory committee, but he also assumed the role of chairman of the influential New America Foundation early this year.

“We’re looking forward to having more friends in the next administration,” said New America Foundation Vice President Rachel White. “But as an independent foundation, the chances are good that we’ll swim against the stream of some of the policies that the Obama administration puts forward.” LINK

It Was Guns, Not Race, That Affected Bradley

Articles — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:03:00 -0500

Nelson Rising, chairman of Tom Bradley's 1982 campaign for California governor, still remembers the phone call. Bradley called him shortly after 4 a.m. on a long Election Night, when it was clear Bradley had lost to Republican George Deukmejian. "You were right," Bradley told Rising a bit wearily. With those words, Bradley, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, acknowledged that a political mistake had cost him the governorship. And, despite all the theories that the election produced a "Bradley effect" that could hurt black candidates such as Bradley -- and, a quarter-century later, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama -- the mayor himself knew his… more

Is There a Better Way Forward and a Better Way to Persuade the Public, Fear Itself Having Failed?

Articles — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:13:00 -0400

A better way forward is a different way forward. The Axis of Arrogance--the Wall Street-Washington bipartisan alliance--seems determined simply to bludgeon the American people into supporting the bailout. President Bush was at it again, just this morning in the White House, bludgeoning away once again. What’s that old adage? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, banging your head against the wall even again.

It’s a rare time in history that the elites are actively badmouthing the economy in order to win a policy dispute. But wait, it’s not just a policy dispute; it’s a battle over $700 billion, and that’s worth fighting for. What well-connected fatcat wouldn’t… more

Eric Liu in Politico | 'Poll: McCain Holds Edge on Patriotism'

Communications — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:10:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll showed that 35 percent of voters said they had concerns about Obama’s patriotism. Only nine percent said they were worried about McCain’s.

Eric Liu, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton who co-founded the True Patriot Network with Hanauer, said Obama has not been forceful enough in conveying a message on patriotism.

“It is not something that Obama has particularly, persistently, or effectively, really done,” Liu said.

“What’s encouraging to us is that he’s beginning to find his voice on patriotism,” he added, “What this poll suggests is there is some urgency to that.” LINK

Michael Cohen in Politico | 'Gotcha: Convention Address Can Haunt'

Communications — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:33:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...In 1972, McGovern eloquently declared that now was the time for America to “come home.” His tag line in support of change was used to portray him and other Democrats as isolationist liberals for years thereafter.

By the same token, Mondale in 1984 promised change when he vowed to level with Americans and declared forthrightly that he would raise their taxes should he win the White House. Mondale’s words were “disastrous,” as author Michael A. Cohen argued, because they “served to reinforce the image of [Democrats] as ... tax-and-spend liberals.” LINK

Michael Lind in Politico | 'The Campaign Ads Don't Quite Write Themselves'

Communications — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...The issue undoubtedly “adds to the general mood of distress,” said the New America Foundation’s Michael Lind. And that hurts the Bush administration and, by implication, McCain.

But, he said, “it’s not like Enron. There’s no single villain to pin this on.... Everyone loved the jump in homeownership attributable in part to mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

“You can compare it to a financial 9/11. There was a truce after 9/11,” he said. “There was a bipartisan truce. It seems to me you’ll see this now as Congress takes up proposals to rescue the two companies"... LINK

Reihan Salam in Politico | 'Grand New Ideas are GOP’s Only Hope'

Communications — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:36:00 -0400

New America in the News:

In fall 2005, the Republican Party experienced a long, sleepless night. Concerned with Iraq, confounded by Katrina and cast into despair by Harriet Miers, party activists worried about the party’s future.

During this dusk, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam took to the pages of The Weekly Standard to urge Republicans to embrace the first light of a new era. How? By winning back working-class voters, or “Sam’s Club Republicans,” to use Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s phrase. In Washington, the article was widely read and well-regarded. The incomparable Michael Barone was so impressed he suggested that “numerous copies get over to the White House.”

Now, three years later, Douthat and Salam, both writers at The Atlantic, have expanded their article into a book, “Grand New Party: How the Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” They define working-class voters as “the non-college-educated voters who make up roughly half of the American electorate” and describe them as the swing voters. . .LINK

Sara Mead in Politico | "Hopefuls' Education Plans Show Divides"

Communications — Tue, 27 May 2008 07:28:00 -0400

New America in the News:

If McCain proposes an ambitious school voucher program, as he did in 2000, it will underline stark philosophical differences between the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates on education policy. . .

Clinton and Obama share many policy goals but often differ on the means to achieve them. For instance, both have committed to spending an additional $10 billion annually on programs for children under 5. That would mean doubling the current federal investment in early childhood education.

But their approaches diverge sharply. While Clinton has proposed universal pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, Obama would offer Early Learning Challenge Grants — modeled after an Illinois program — for states to use in a variety of ways.

“These proposals reflect two competing strains of thought in the early education advocacy field,” said Sara Mead, an education expert at The New America Foundation.

Clinton’s approach is largely favored by educators. Obama’s is preferred by most child care advocates, who “think universal pre-k is too late and insufficiently focused on poor kids, and we need to work to improve quality and access across the birth-through-5-year-old spectrum,” said Mead. . .

Full story here