La Vanguardia

Neoliberalism Comes to Domestic Policy

Articles — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Understandably, Europeans think of George W. Bush as a president focused on foreign policy. In the three years between al Qaeda's attacks on the United States and his re-election, Bush invaded two countries, reworked America's global alliances, and brought to crisis the traditional relationship across the North Atlantic. It is unlikely that he would have been re-elected without the air of perpetual crisis that his foreign policy brought to the recent presidential campaign.

In 2000, however, Bush was elected as a candidate of domestic policy. His major achievement in the year before September 11, 2001 was slashing… more

After the First Debate

Articles — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0400

John Kerry is caught in a pragmatic dilemma. George W. Bush is reciting a philosopher's dilemma. After the first debate, the American presidential election is not much closer to resolution.

First, Kerry's dilemma. American politicians -- especially presidential candidates -- face three strictures. First, they must not show a hint of pessimism. Second, they must not admit that the United States might be in the wrong. Third, they must maintain that every problem has a solution.

Kerry is smart enough to know that the disaster in Iraq may not have a palatable solution, that the United States was wrong to go… more

Fools, Drunks, and the United States

Articles — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0400

It is necessary to begin by noting the fraudulence, even the criminality, of the analysis that follows. I will explain at the end.

That said, something remarkable began to happen after the first presidential debate last Tuesday. Democratic common sense began to reassert itself. Whether it will hold through the election is another question.

The last turning point of this sort came after the revelation in the spring of torture at Abu Ghraib prison. At that time, democratic decency -- cousin to democratic common sense -- reasserted itself. The Bush administration and its allies in Congress… more