Barack Obama

Barack Obama Is the Last American Transcendentalist

Barack Obama Is the Last American Transcendentalist Barack Obama Is the Last American Transcendentalist

The former president’s preternatural optimism is still powerful—and contagious. But is it justified?

Aug 21, 2024 / D.D. Guttenplan

Joe the Plumber Visits Israel

Joe the Plumber and His Afterlives Joe the Plumber and His Afterlives

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who died on Sunday, seemed like a footnote to the 2008 presidential campaign. But he was an augur of things to come.

Aug 29, 2023 / Chris Lehmann

Former Treasury secretary and current Harvard professor Larry Summers listens to remarks during a discussion on low-income developing countries at the annual IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, April 13, 2016, in Washington, DC. / AFP / Mike Theiler (Photo credit should read MIKE THEILER/AFP via Getty Images)

Larry Summers and the Crisis of Economic Orthodoxy Larry Summers and the Crisis of Economic Orthodoxy

The establishment’s repeated failures are creating room for heterodox ideas.

Jun 16, 2023 / Jeet Heer

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, talks prior to a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, D.C. in 2013.

The Convenient Myth of “Humane” Wars The Convenient Myth of “Humane” Wars

How America hides the human toll of its military machine.

Jun 5, 2023 / Norman Solomon

Barack Obama smiling and speaking at an Atlanta rally in support of Senator Raphael Warnock.

Barack Obama’s Politics 101: Ridiculing Republicans Works Barack Obama’s Politics 101: Ridiculing Republicans Works

The former president is still the ablest campaigner the Democrats have, as his takedown of Herschel Walker’s vampire-vs.-werewolf rumination proved.

Dec 6, 2022 / John Nichols

Barack Obama Is Wrong to Oppose Expanding the Supreme Court

Barack Obama Is Wrong to Oppose Expanding the Supreme Court Barack Obama Is Wrong to Oppose Expanding the Supreme Court

There is too much at stake—and too little time left—to give in to the former president’s caution on this issue.

Oct 21, 2022 / Mondaire Jones

President Barack Obama and then-President-elect Donald Trump smile before the 2017 inauguration.

Off the Record: Barack Obama on Donald Trump Off the Record: Barack Obama on Donald Trump

A newly declassified press conference shows the former president’s prescience—and his blind spots.

Oct 3, 2022 / Jeet Heer

Rohit Chopra

When Critical Race Theory Met the CFPB… at a Toyota Dealer When Critical Race Theory Met the CFPB… at a Toyota Dealer

Like CRT, disparate impact theory is a right-wing target—and a powerful tool for fighting racism in lending.

Nov 1, 2021 / Tom Gogola

Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh

Bernie Sanders Backs Canada’s Left Rival to Justin Trudeau Bernie Sanders Backs Canada’s Left Rival to Justin Trudeau

The New Democratic Party and its dynamic young leader, Jagmeet Singh, score a cross-border endorsement.

Sep 20, 2021 / Column / John Nichols

Rahm Emanuel

Making Rahm Emanuel Ambassador to Japan Would Be a Sick Joke Making Rahm Emanuel Ambassador to Japan Would Be a Sick Joke

Nominating the foul-mouthed former Chicago mayor is an insult to Japan—and a clear indication that Black lives don’t really matter.

Aug 24, 2021 / Robert L. Borosage

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