by Daniel Drezner
Cass's hosannasObama's AIDS day speechAdam Nagourney's NYT front-pagerObama's policy websiteEmily Oster's intriguing idea that AIDS might be the wrong disease to attack in Africabecause of poor health and transport infrastructures in sub-Saharan Africa,
Cass's hosannasObama's AIDS day speechAdam Nagourney's NYT front-pagerObama's policy websiteEmily Oster's intriguing idea that AIDS might be the wrong disease to attack in Africabecause of poor health and transport infrastructures in sub-Saharan Africa,
During a lengthy interview just before the midterm elections, Mr. Obama portrayed himself as part of a new generation of political leaders. Asked whether he detected a void in the Democratic presidential field, Mr. Obama replied that he sensed a mood of "Do we want to get beyond the slash-and-burn, highly ideological politics that bogged us down over the last several decades?"Obsidian Wings post from last month
Mr. Obama went on to say that he admired former President Bill Clinton for trying to bridge a centrist course between Democrats and Republicans. But he did not shy away from pointing out Mr. Clinton's weaknesses--as someone who came of age in the 1960s, and all the debates about Vietnam service, drug use and sexual conduct that went with it, issues that continued to play out, sometimes with Mrs. Clinton in a supporting role.
"Although his instincts were right on target, and I think, intellectually and pragmatically, he understood that America wanted to move beyond those categories, in some ways he was trapped by his biography," Mr. Obama said. "Some of what I say, I think, is facilitated by the fact that I'm less rooted in some of those arguments."