Republicans Wonder How to Sell a Toxic Brand

Hoping to re-brand their declining party, a group of prominent Republicans recently launched a national “listening tour,” presumably as an exercise in market research. They would like to know why voters—and especially younger voters—increasingly reject the G.O.P. They want to “ask the American people what their hopes and dreams are” while engaging in a “wide-open Read More

The Challenge of This Tough Job Market

I have been talking a lot to my students about the job market many of them will face this May. Believe it or not, this is mostly a good news story.  One of my jobs at Columbia University is to direct and teach in the environmental policy programs at the School of International and Public Read More

Who Are These Republicans Talking To?

Here’s a dirty secret about Ronald Reagan: he never would have been elected president if he hadn’t been running in 1980.

For their own good, Republicans, who have turned worship of the 40th president into their unofficial religion (my favorite moment of last summer’s G.O.P. convention was when a video tribute to Read More

Who Are These Republicans Talking To?

Here’s a dirty secret about Ronald Reagan: He never would have been elected president if he hadn’t been running in 1980.

For their own good, Republicans, who have turned worship of the 40th president into their unofficial religion (my favorite moment of last summer’s G.O.P. convention was when a video tribute to Read More

What Republican Rift?

The G.O.P. is at war with itself. Or so we're told.

Unaccustomed to their new minority status and unsure how to handle a Democratic president with enormous popularity and considerable legislative momentum, Republicans are dividing themselves into opposing camps, each convinced that a different formula will return them to glory.

This, at least, is Read More

What Republican Rift?

The G.O.P. is at war with itself. Or so we’re told.

Unaccustomed to their new minority status and unsure how to handle a Democratic president with enormous popularity and considerable legislative momentum, Republicans are dividing themselves into opposing camps, each convinced that a different formula will return them to glory.

This, at least, is the Read More

Jindal Gestures for President

Bobby Jindal is interested in running for president in 2012. We know this not because he has said much about the matter—on Sunday's "Meet the Press," he provided all of the customary non-answers—but because of his words and actions on another subject.

Jindal, who will deliver the Republican response to Barack Obama's address to Congress Read More