Alter: The Country is Heading Leftward | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008

Obama’s Lucky Streak
Jonathan Alter 6/27/2009 12:00:00 AM
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is smart, handsome, principled—and no longer a political threat to President Obama in 2012. After going AWOL and admitting to an extramarital affair in Argentina, the now resigned chairman of the Republican Governors Association and oft-mentioned presidential candidate is political toast. But Sanford's pain is Obama's gain. By my count, Sanford is no less than the 10th horndog whose comeuppance has benefited Obama. This happily married president always seems to get a piece of the action.
The GOP’s 'No' Problem
Eleanor Clift 2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM
Every president comes in like Barack Obama saying they're going to change the way Washington works, and Washington changes the way they work. The question is can Obama play the inside game with all its compromise and crassness and like Ronald Reagan still maintain his bond with the American people.
CAPITOL LETTER
A Risky Strategy
Eleanor Clift 1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM
Have the Republicans no shame? After swarming around President Obama like adolescent girls swooning over the Jonas brothers, getting their picture taken with him and accepting his invitation to a White House cocktail party, every Republican in the House still voted like Rush Limbaugh instructed them to—registering a big fat "no" on Obama's stimulus plan. It was their way to signal solidarity with the GOP base and its talk-show mouthpieces. But stiffing a popular president in the middle of an economic crisis risks further marginalizing a party already on the ropes.
CAMPAIGN 2008
Oral Exam, Part II
9/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
McCain's expression of "respect" and "admiration" for Senator Obama was generous and refreshing. His criticism of Republican failures and excesses during the last eight years was necessary and convincing—who believes that McCain was happy with Republican leadership in that period? And his overarching theme of reform—fighting for average Americans against entrenched interests in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt—is exactly the message he needs to drive home.
Making the Most of Mom
Howard Fineman 8/23/2008 12:00:00 AM
On the trail, Barack Obama barely mentions his Kenyan father or his father's family. In town halls, commiserating about everyday struggles—health care, education, jobs—he'll say, "I have an experience about that," and then launch into a tale drawn from his upbringing. He was reared by a "single mom" who sometimes relied on food stamps, he says, and by her parents: a grandpa who fought in World War II and a grandma who worked at a defense plant. Diligent and unassuming, they built a comfortable-enough life for him in Honolulu. "My story is your story," he says.
The Editor’s Desk
Jon Meacham
Last Friday afternoon, only hours after winning the Iowa Democratic caucus, Barack Obama was sitting in a teacher's small office at Concord High School in New Hampshire when Richard Wolffe arrived for an interview. "His senior aides David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs stood to the side working their BlackBerrys," Richard says. "Obama was nursing a big steel travel mug full of tea. He couldn't have slept more than three hours, and his voice was even scratchier than it was when I saw him with Michelle on his bus on Wednesday evening in Iowa."