NEWSWEEK Cover: The Thinking Man's Guide to Populist Rage

22 Mar 2009 17:42 Africa/Lagos

NEWSWEEK Cover: The Thinking Man's Guide to Populist Rage

Newsweek Looks at Perils of Populist Rage in a Series of Essays

The Best Way To Respond is To 'Treat Americans as Partners in the Grand Enterprise of Governance,' Writes Michael Kazin

Robert J. Samuelson, Eliot Spitzer, Rick Perlstein, Robert H. Frank, Joel Kotkin Look at Whether Populism is Threat to Capitalism or Opportunity

NEW YORK, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- At its core, populism in the United States remains what it has always been: a protest by ordinary people who want the system to live up to its stated ideals - fair and honest treatment in the marketplace and a government tilted in favor of the unwealthy masses, writes Michael Kazin in an essay in the current issue of Newsweek. "The best way for big men, and big women, to respond to such protests is to try to do what is moral, as well as popular -- and treat Americans as partners in the grand enterprise of governance."


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090322/NYSU001 )


Kazin, an author and professor of history at Georgetown University, writes that as Congress and President Obama rush to balance solidarity with a new wave of populist anger alongside the need for smart policy during a crisis, "they might reflect on how well previous politicians fared at the task. History does not repeat itself. But sometimes it does hum a familiar tune." Kazin's essay is one of several that make up the March 30 cover package "The Thinking Man's Guide to Populist Rage" (on newsstands Monday, March 23). The package examines how populist rage, while it can be cathartic, can also lead to bad decisions. But it can also present opportunity. In the cover package:


-- Author Rick Perlstein writes that populist anger in America is the
anger of dispossession. "That's how most Americans are thinking now
about the bonuses paid to feckless financial engineers," Perlstein
writes, adding that we "do not like to reward those who do not
produce." He writes that the meltdown is complex as is the decision
making. But if it happens only in "antiseptic back rooms, government
experts negotiating with corporate experts, proud to tune out the
public's righteously simplifying indignation, those policies will
fail... Take away taxpayers' sense of ownership stake in an issue
(especially, as with AIG, when taxpayers literally own the company)
and their rage will not go away. It festers ... And that's when the
'bad' kind of populism -- the hateful kind; the violent kind; the
demagogic kind -- can flourish."

-- Newsweek Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes that great
reform waves often proceed from scandals and hard times and that the
outcome of the present populist backlash may not be benign. "The
parade of big companies to Washington for rescues, as well as the
high-profile examples of unvarnished greed, has spawned understandable
anger that could veer into a vindictive retribution... If companies
need to be rescued from 'the market,' then why shouldn't Washington
permanently run the market? That is a dangerous mindset. It justifies
punitive taxes, widespread corporate mandates, selective subsidies and
more meddling in companies' everyday operations."

-- Author Robert H. Frank writes that anger over the AIG bonuses is
spilling onto a broader range of targets. "And unless we're careful,
we'll shoot ourselves in the foot. Even before AIG's moment in the
spotlight, angry populists had begun calling for executive pay caps at
20 to 25 times the average American worker's salary. If applied to the
financial-industry executives who steered the economy into the ditch,
such caps would be defensible." There are also many executives in
other industries whose pay, at least in hindsight, was vastly greater
than any reasonable measure of their value added. "Yet any broader
effort to cap executive salaries would do more harm than good."

-- Chapman University presidential fellow Joel Kotkin writes that
populism is far from dead and "represents a force that could shape our
political future in unpredictable ways... The critical issue facing
the new administration is finding useful ways to channel this
disenchantment." He writes that populist rage creates the political
support for taking far bolder steps against Wall Street. "A good first
step would be to allow the TARP - backed giant banks to come under
some sort of federal control, or bankruptcy process, effectively
wiping out the holdings of the financial malefactors and decimating
any hopes for future bonuses."

-- Former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, writes that "anger-fed
populism now is no better a policy compass than libertarianism
masquerading as capitalism was during the Bush administration. This
may become evident all too quickly as public rage -- generated by the
catastrophic risk-taking of many Wall Street traders -- is fanned by
Washington legislators desperate to make up for their own decade of
neglect." He writes that the economic cataclysm we are living through
now is the consequence of 30 years of intentional destruction of the
rules needed to keep capitalism on track. "Just as democracy needs
rules or it descends into anarchy, so capitalism needs rules to guide
the behavior that becomes wealth creation. What we should be seeking,
and what has not emerged from the cacophony of Washington, is a
principled guide to the intersection between government and the
market."

(Read all essays at www.Newsweek.com)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190341- Michael Kazin essay

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190349 - Rick Perlstein essay

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190347 - Robert J. Samuelson essay

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190348 - Robert H. Frank essay

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190346 - Joel Kotkin essay

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190345 - Eliot Spitzer essay

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Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: Jan Angilella, +1-212-445-5638, of Newsweek


Web Site: http://www.newsweek.com/

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NEWSWEEK Cover: What Bush Got Right

In the August 18-25 double issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 11): "What Bush Got Right." Fareed Zakaria assesses what President Bush has done right in American foreign policy that his successors might choose to emulate or continue. Plus: the jingoism of Chinese who return to the homeland after living overseas; Fannie, Freddie and the subprime mess that might have been avoided; an interview with T. Boone Pickens; and videogame players no longer on the margins of the industry. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 08/10/2008

10 Aug 2008 16:05 Africa/Lagos

NEWSWEEK Cover: What Bush Got Right

Fareed Zakaria Looks At President Bush's Successes In American Foreign Policy; 'Blanket Criticism Of Bush Misses An Important Reality'

The Foreign Policies In Place Now 'Are More Sensible, Moderate And Mainstream. In Many Cases The Next President Should Follow Rather Than Reverse Them'

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- A broad shift in America's approach to the world is justified and overdue, writes Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria in the current issue. President Bush's basic conception of a "global War on Terror," to take but the most obvious example, "has been poorly thought-through, badly implemented, and has produced many unintended costs that will linger for years if not decades. But blanket criticism of Bush misses an important reality."


(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080810/NYSU004 )


He writes that for "whatever reasons and through whichever path, the foreign policies in place now are more sensible, moderate and mainstream. In many cases the next president should follow rather then reverse them."


Zakaria examines the administration's successes in American foreign policy, while also noting its failures, in the August 18-25 cover "What Bush Did Right" (on newsstands Monday, August 11). "The administration that became the target of so much passion and anger -- from Democrats, Republicans, independents, foreigners, Martians, everyone -- is not quite the one in place today. The foreign policies that aroused the greatest anger and opposition were mostly pursued in Bush's first term: the invasion of Iraq, the rejection of treaties, diplomacy and multilateralism. In the last few years, many of these policies have been modified, abandoned or reversed. This has happened without acknowledgment -- which is partly what drives critics crazy -- and it's often been done surreptitiously. It doesn't reflect a change of heart so much as an admission of failure; the old way simply wasn't working."


He writes: "Consider as a symbol of this shift Bush's appointment of the World Bank's president. His first choice for the job was Paul Wolfowitz, an arch neoconservative with little background in economics. But by the time Wolfowitz was forced to resign and the post opened up again, Bush realized that he needed a less ideological choice, and he picked the highly qualified and respected Robert Zoellick. Where Dick Cheney was once the poster child for the administration, today policy is being run by Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, Stephen Hadley and Hank Paulson -- all pragmatists. Change has not extended to all areas, and in many places it's been too little, too late. But that there has been a shift to the center in many crucial areas of foreign policy is simply undeniable."


All this is not meant as a defense of George W. Bush, Zakaria writes. He offers this corrective "because we cannot go back to 2001. The next president will inherit the world as it is in 2009. He will have to examine the Bush administration's policies as they stand in January 2009 -- not as they were in 2001 or 2002 or 2003 -- and decide how to accept, modify and alter them. There was a U.S. president who came into office convinced that everything his predecessor had done was feckless, stupid, ill-informed and venal. He rejected and tried to reverse everything that he could, almost as an article of faith. Before he had even examined the policies carefully, he knew that they had to be changed. The base of his party was delighted by his clarity and fighting spirit.


"That president, of course, was George W. Bush. His decision to blindly repudiate anything associated with Bill Clinton is what got us into this mess in the first place. Let's hope that the next president, no matter how much he despises Bush, will take a careful look at his administration's policies, America's interests, and the world beyond and do the right thing for the country and its future."


http://www.newsweek.com/id/151731


(Read the cover story at www.Newsweek.com )


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CONTACT: Jan Angilella of Newsweek, +1-212-445-5638


Web site: Newsweek


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Nigerian Fools Who Think They Can Fool God

Description:
Critical Commentaries and Essays with Humourous Anecdotes on the Nigerian Society, Focusing on Education, Romance, Marriage, Religion, Politics and other matters.

ISBN: 978-1-4404-0128-2
Publisher: Nigerian Times International
Copyright: © 2008 Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Standard Copyright License
Language: English
Country: Nigeria
Edition: First Edition

Keywords:
democracy
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Listed in:
History

Newsweek Cover: Barack Obama, Race and Us

25 May 2008 16:10 Africa/Lagos

NEWSWEEK Cover: Obama, Race And Us

Despite Decades of Progress, Race Is Still an Issue for Many White Americans as Well as Some Democrats

Newsweek Poll Shows Misconceptions About Obama May Be a Hindrance to His Campaign but There Are Ways He Can Overcome Challenges

NEW YORK, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Barack Obama's success on the campaign trail indicates that the United States may be ready to elect its first non- white president. A recent Newsweek poll, however, suggests that although he is poised to secure the Democratic nomination, Obama is still facing problems winning over white voters. In the June 2 Newsweek cover package "Obama, Race and Us" (on newsstands Monday, May 26) a team of Newsweek correspondents offer an open memo to Obama, with suggestions on how he can overcome race issues and convince doubters, of all skin colors or backgrounds, that they will be better off during an Obama presidency than a McCain presidency.

Newsweek pollsters recently created a "Racial Resentment Index" to measure the impact of race on the 2008 election. White voters were asked a series of 10 questions about a variety of race-related topics, including racial preferences in hiring, interracial marriage, and what they have "in common" with African-Americans. About a third of these voters scored "high" on this index; 29 percent of all white Democrats did. Overwhelmingly, these Democrats are the ones most likely to defect to John McCain in the fall. (Among "High RR" white Democratic voters, according to the new Newsweek Poll, Clinton leads McCain by 77 percent to 18 percent, while Obama only wins by 51 percent to 33 percent.) Many Democratic voters in West Virginia interviewed by a Newsweek reporter on primary night, May 13, did not hide their animus towards Obama as a kind of exotic alien. Menina Parsons, 45, said she will not vote for Obama in the general election because: "I don't think he's real. I don't think he's American."

The letter points out that some commentators have said that his problem is not with race but rather with geography. The Daily Kos Web site recently posted a map that makes the point: the majority of counties in which more than 65 percent of whites voted for Clinton closely track Appalachia-the mountainous region running from upstate New York into the Deep South, where voters tend to be somewhat less well-off and less well-educated than in other parts of the country. But Appalachia is a big place, encompassing 13 states and he cannot afford to lose all those states and still win in November. Dee Davis, president of a Kentucky-based advocacy group called the Center for Rural Strategies, points out in a recent article on Salon.com that in June 2004, John Kerry trailed George W. Bush by the same 9-point margin in the same rural battlegrounds. "Your mission," Newsweek's letter urges, "is to not wind up like Kerry, who ended up losing the rural vote by 20 points." According to Davis, the reality "is that when Democratic candidates run competitively in rural America, they win national elections. And when they get creamed in rural America, they lose."

For other issues such as the questions over his patriotism, the letter suggests Obama take the high road. "The Internet has been a sluice for lies and distortions about your religion and background. It is widely and falsely rumored that you are Muslim (in the Newsweek poll, 11 percent of voters believe you are); that you chose to be sworn into the Senate using a Qu'ran rather than a Bible; and that you refuse to place your hand over your heart for the singing of the national anthem because, you are imagined to have said, 'the anthem conveys a warlike message.' You must confront this slur, with more force than you have shown so far." While Newsweek sees Obama's recent wearing a flag lapel pin as wise, it also suggests it would be helpful to be seen venerating his white mother and grandparents as well as his black father. "Your mother is a sympathetic figure, fighting to raise a child out of poverty ... Voters need to know that you are definitely not John Kerry, who was raised to wealth and privilege, an Ivy Leaguer educated, for a time, at a French boarding school."

The cover package also includes essays on how the issue of race might play out in the election:
Contributing Editor Ellis Cose writes, "That Barack Obama seems poised to become the Democratic nominee is certainly evidence we've arrived at a redefining moment in this nation's evolution. But that's not to say race has ceased to be of consequence." He adds that, "for years, most Americans have told pollsters they were prepared to put race aside when voting for a president. Some 94 percent of Americans (up from 53 percent in 1967) tell Gallup they would vote for a black candidate. But it's impossible to know what to make of that, since respondents routinely lie to pollsters when asked any permutation of 'Are you racially biased?'"

Harold Ford Jr., Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, writes that concerns about race in this election are overstated. He writes. "Do many rural or working-class people have questions about Obama? Sure. But these are less about race than about culture ... In the weeks and months ahead, he just needs to show that he respects them and understands the issues that matter to them ... Obama has run a first-rate primary campaign, energizing countless new voters. Now he's got to get off the big stage more often and meet with people where they work, play and pray ... He needs to earn their trust."

Richard Rodriguez, the author of "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" writes that America has become a mixed society. "There are millions of us in America who similarly belong to more than one race. There are millions of us who belong to contending races or religions or tribes." In this world, "the political necessity is for someone who might help us imagine lives larger than racial designations. A politician might win the day, if he or she were able to speak of the ways our lives are mixed."

Marjorie Valbrun, a contributing writer for TheRoot.com, writes about the low-grade war of words between black women supporters of Barack Obama and white women supporters of Hillary Clinton. "Black women's support for Obama is not just about race, just as it's not solely about gender with Clinton supporters. The problem is that, as both camps have appealed to their most loyal supporters, the divide has broken down along racial lines: all too many progressive white women now say they will have a hard time voting for a black man in November."

(Read cover story at http://www.newsweek.com/.)
Cover: Obama, Race and Us. http://www.newsweek.com/id/138611
Harold Ford Jr. http://www.newsweek.com/id/138511
Ellis Cose http://www.newsweek.com/id/138512
Richard Rodriguez http://www.newsweek.com/id/138513
Marjorie Valbrun http://www.newsweek.com/id/138514
Source: Newsweek
CONTACT: Brenda Velez of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4078
Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

Number of Surrogate Mothers on the Rise in the United States

The April 7, 2008 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 31), "Womb for Rent." Newsweek explores the often-misunderstood practice of surrogacy and the reasons why it is on the rise in United States, especially among military wives. Plus: the two sides of John McCain, the crusader and the pragmatist; Barack Obama's record and stance on affirmative action; why poor Afghani girls are becoming opium brides; and a review of Martin Scorsese's film, "Shine a Light" about the Rolling Stones. (PRNewsFoto/Newsweek) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES 03/30/2008

30 Mar 2008 18:07 Africa/Lagos


NEWSWEEK Cover: Womb for Rent

Number of Surrogate Mothers on the Rise in the United States

Controversy and Negative Stereotypes Do Not Deter Many Women from Helping Others And Themselves

NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire/ --

The concept of surrogacy is decried by conservative Christians, viewed as a form of prostitution by far-left feminists and debated by medical ethicists and lawmakers, but the practice is on the rise. For the April 7 Newsweek cover, "Womb For Rent" (on newsstands Monday, March 31), Senior Writer Lorraine Ali and Associate Editor Raina Kelley found more women than ever before are having babies for those who cannot. At the high end, industry experts estimate there were about 1,000 surrogate births in the U.S. last year, while the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology counted about 260 in 2006, a 30 percent increase over three years. But the number is surely much higher than this -- in just five of the agencies Newsweek spoke to, there were 400 surrogate births in 2007. The discrepancy in the figures stems from the way these births are counted.


For the High Resolution Photo: Click here


Newsweek discovered that many women who have turned to surrogacy are military wives looking to supplement the family income while their husbands are serving overseas. Several agencies reported a significant increase in the number of wives of soldiers and naval personnel applying to be surrogates since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. These women can earn more with one pregnancy than their husbands' annual base pay (which ranges for new enlistees from $16,080 to $28,900).


Military wife Gernisha Myers, 24, says she was looking through the local San Diego PennySaver circular for a job when she saw the listing: "Surrogate Mothers Wanted! Up to $20,000 Compensation!" The full-time mother of two thought it would be a great way to make money from home, and it would give her that sense of purpose she'd lacked since she left her job as an X-ray technician. She loved the feel of her belly with a baby inside, and that natural high that comes from "all those rushing hormones." Despite some negative reactions from her family members, Myers says she is "OK with it because I know I am doing something good for somebody else. I am giving another couple what they could never have on their own -- a family."


IVF clinics and surrogate agencies in Texas and California say military spouses make up 50 percent of their carriers. "In the military, we have that mentality of going to extremes, fighting for your country, risking your life," says Jennifer Hansen, 25, a paralegal who's married to Army Sgt. Chase Hansen. They live in Lincoln, Neb., and have two young kids, and Chase has been deployed to Iraq for two of the last five years. "I think that being married to someone in the military embeds those values in you. I feel I'm taking a risk now, in less of a way than he is, but still a risk with my life and body to help someone." Surrogate agencies target the population by dropping leaflets in the mailboxes of military housing complexes, such as those around San Diego's Camp Pendleton, and placing ads in on-base publications such as the Military Times and Military Spouse.


Military wives are also attractive candidates because of their health insurance, Tricare, which has some of the most comprehensive coverage for surrogates in the industry, and agencies may offer a potential surrogate with this health plan an extra $5,000. Last year military officials asked for a provision in the 2008 defense authorization bill to cut off coverage for any medical procedures related to surrogate pregnancy. They were unsuccessful -- there are no real data on how much the government spends on these cases. Tricare suggests that surrogate mothers who receive payment for their pregnancy should declare the amount they're receiving, which can then be deducted from their coverage. But since paid carriers have no incentive to say anything, most don't. The subject of Tricare surrogacy coverage is becoming a hot topic throughout the military world, and fiercely debated on Web sites such as militarySOS.com.


Another reason for the rise in surrogacies is that technology has made them safer and more likely to succeed. Clinics now boast a 70 to 90 percent pregnancy success rate -- up 40 percent in the past decade. Rather than just putting an egg into a petri dish with thousands of sperm and hoping for a match, embryologists can inject a single sperm directly into the egg. The great majority of clinics can now test embryos for genetic diseases before implantation. It's revolutionizing the way clinics treat patients. Ric Ross, lab director at LaJolla IVF in San Diego, says these advances have helped "drop IVF miscarriage rates by 85 percent."


There is still a lot that is not understood about the world of the surrogate. The culture still stereotypes surrogates as either hicks or opportunists whose ethics could use some fine-tuning. Even pop culture has bought into the caricature. In the upcoming feature film "Baby Mama," a single businesswoman (Tina Fey) is told by a doctor that she is infertile and hires a working-class gal (Amy Poehler) to be her surrogate. The client is a savvy, smart and well-to-do health-store-chain exec while Poehler is an unemployed, deceitful wild child who wants easy money.


To better understand them, Newsweek spoke with dozens of women across America who are, or have been, surrogates. What we found is surprising and defies stereotyping. The experiences of this vast group of women range from the wonderful and life-affirming to the heart-rending. One surrogate, Gina Scanlon, is the godmother of the twins she bore, while another still struggles because she has little contact with the baby she once carried. Some resent being told what to eat or drink; others feel more responsible bearing someone else's child than they did with their own. Their motivations are varied: one upper-middle-class carrier in California said that as a child she watched a family member suffer with infertility and wished she could help. Another working-class surrogate from Idaho said it was the only way her family could afford things they never could before. But all were agreed that the grueling IVF treatments, morning sickness, bed rest, C-sections and stretch marks were worth it once they saw their intended parent hold the child, or children (multiples are common with IVF), for the first time. "Being a surrogate is like giving an organ transplant to someone," says Jennifer Cantor, "only before you die, and you actually get to see their joy."


Read cover story on Newsweek


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