Reihan Salam: All Publications, Events and Press

Reihan Salam's book in Bloomberg News | 'Republicans Seek to Restore Reputation as Source of New Ideas'

Communications — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:51:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, two authors in their 20s who wrote Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, argue the party can woo such voters by championing tax breaks for families with children and promoting vocational education, while leaving much of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal intact. LINK

Reihan Salam on NBC Nightly News | 'GOP Youth Look for New Approach to Republican Party'

Communications — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:45:00 -0400

New America in the News:

MARIA MENOUNOS reporting:

Young Republican activists like Brian Smith say they are not giving up the fight for young voters who thus far have been crucial to Barack Obama's success.

Mr. BRIAN SMITH: What we find important--individual liberty, national security, you know, limited government--are still going to be the same, but the approach is going to be different.

MENOUNOS: Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, both 28, agree, they're among the youngest thinkers looking for that new approach to the grand old party, saying the old Republican message doesn't work today.

Mr. REIHAN SALAM: We can make government more responsive. We want you to have ownership of government.

MENOUNOS: Looking to re-cast the GOP message in new terms, these young Republicans want to secure the working class and pivotal new voters by focusing on kitchen table issues like tax breaks for young families as opposed to handouts, arguing government spending is OK as long as it's productive.

Mr. ROSS DOUTHAT: Conservative politicians have to readjust and move to address the challenges facing America today.

Mr. SALAM: If the Republican Party doesn't wise up and start talking about those issues that matter urgently now to young families, they're going to be extinct. LINK to video

RNC Event: America's Next Foreign Policy

Communications — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/03/2008 - 9:00am

Panelists will discuss the challenges the next president will face in building a new equilibrium in the Middle East.

The dialogue will moderated by Steve Clemons and will be advanced by four short provocations delivered by foreign policy experts.

Light breakfast fare and coffee will be served beforehand.

This event will be webcast LIVE at 9 am CDT/10 am EST on this event page for those unable to attend in Minneapolis.

Reihan Salam in Marketplace | 'McCain Must Focus on the Payroll Tax'

Communications — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Commentator Reihan Salam says some Republicans have lost touch with the economic anxiety of average Americans. He offers a suggestion for self-improvement. LINK to audio and transcript

Reihan Salam in USA Today | 'Grand Old Party Seeks Fresh Faces'

Communications — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:42:00 -0400

New America in the News:

None, though, has embraced the sort of radical change outlined in the book Grand New Party, which conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks called "the best single road map of where the party should and is likely to head." In the book, 20-something authors Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam of The Atlantic magazine argue that Republicans need to address growing economic inequality and working-class insecurity with subsidies for wages, child care and health care.

"Anything like this is going to take a decade," Salam said in an interview. LINK

Reihan Salam on NPR | 'Emerging Conservatives Discuss 'McCain Appeal''

Communications — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:
The Republican National Convention kicks off in St. Paul, Minnesota today with the GOP poised to take back momentum gained by Democrats at their National Convention last week in Denver. Author Reihan Salam, of the Atlantic, is joined by Laura Elizabeth Morales, of Young Conservatives of Texas, discuss emerging conservatives and what John McCain can do to persuade voters with his message. LINK to audio

Reihan Salam in The Denver Post | 'The Republican Party Gets Ready'

Communications — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:31:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Part of addressing different challenges includes making a pragmatic shift, says Reihan Salam, 28, who is part of the GOP's younger generation and co-author of "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream."

He contends family values should include kitchen-table economics. Acknowledging global warming isn't an embrace of liberalism, he says, but the first step in discovering solutions. Instead of lambasting entitlement programs or just denying that a problem exists, he adds, Republicans should find a way to make them better, less bureaucratic and more cost-effective. LINK

Reihan Salam in the Christian Science Monitor | 'Is the Republican Party in Peril?'

Communications — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:26:00 -0400

New America in the News:
One of the most talked-about books of the genre is “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.” The authors, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, young editors at Atlantic Monthly, assert that while the GOP has learned to speak to the cultural concerns of working-class whites, it has failed to address their economic unease. They propose a mix of wage subsidies for the working poor, a bigger child tax credit, and steps toward a universal healthcare system rooted in the free market. LINK

Here's How McCain Can Beat Obama to the White House

Articles — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:06:00 -0400

In January, I met a friend of mine to discuss his impending departure from Washington DC. He was moving to Chicago to join Senator Barack Obama’s budding presidential campaign. At the time, it was hard not to have an instinctive sympathy for Obama, not least because the Clinton campaign had by that point attracted many of the most loathsome careerists in Democratic politics. Among other things, we discussed the general election landscape. My friend, confident even then that Obama would win the Democratic nomination, was convinced that New York mayor Rudy Giuliani would be Obama’s toughest opponent in a general election. Despite the many skeletons in Giuliani’s closet, he… more

Reihan Salam's book in the New York Times | 'How Obama Reconciles Dueling Views on Economy'

Communications — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Even some Republicans have started to wonder whether the Reagan strategy on taxes has run its course. Earlier this year, two young conservative writers, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, came out with a book called “Grand New Party.” Their basic thesis is that the Republican Party, for all its successes over the past generation, has failed to cement its majority because of economics. If the party’s agenda continues to revolve around tax cuts that mostly benefit the well off, the book argues, Republicans risk allowing a generation-long Democratic majority, like the kind that ruled the country from F.D.R. to L.B.J. To avoid this outcome, the authors offer an agenda of what they call Sam’s Club Republicanism, focused on the working class. LINK

Reihan Salam discusses his book on WILL-AM | 'Grand New Party'

Communications — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Ross Douthat, Senior Editor at the Atlantic and Reihan Salam, Associate Editor at the Atlantic and a Fellow at the New America Foundation, discuss their widely acclaimed book Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream with David Inge. LINK to audio

Reihan Salam in the Associated Press | 'Pawlenty: GOP Must Lure 'Sam's Club Republicans''

Communications — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat lean heavily on it in their recently published book, Grand New Party.

In an interview, Salam defined "Sam's Club Republicans" as working class voters without a college education who are anxious about the economic future of themselves and their children and looking to government to help ease those concerns. Ignoring their needs would cost the GOP, he said.

"What's happening now is Republicans are in danger of losing the middle-class suburbs," Salam said. "When you lose those middle-class, working-class suburbs, you lose the country." LINK to Article

Reihan Salam's book in the New Republic | 'Family's Value'

Communications — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:
In their smart and fun new book, Grand New Party, Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam urge Republicans to spend trillions of dollars on policies to shore up working-class families. Several critics have pointed out that the Republican Party will likely remain much more interested in spending trillions of dollars on tax breaks for rich people. What's been less noticed is that Democrats could easily adopt much of the family agenda Douthat and Salam propose--and that, more than his opponent, Barack Obama already has... LINK

Reihan Salam's book in the Washington Post | 'McCain's Problem Isn't His Tactics. It's GOP Ideas.'

Communications — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:54:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, a pair of conservative authors decades younger than Gingrich and Norquist, argue in their new, much-hyped book Grand New Party that the time has come to "move beyond the Reagan legacy and the mindset of the current Republican power structure." They suggest plenty of proposals that many progressives would support, including a fairly ambitious and expensive national health-care plan, subsidies for entry-level jobs and more investment in infrastructure.

But while Douthat and Salam deserve credit for alerting fellow conservatives to the perils of staying the course, their embrace of a relatively activist government -- if adopted by the broader movement -- would shift political battles to a playing field on which progressives have a much stronger footing. Once conservatives concede that something like national health insurance is desirable, it becomes hard to discern what will remain of their Reaganite identity... LINK

Reihan Salam's book in Roll Call | 'Obama Makes Gains Among Workers Hurt By Bush Economics'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:33:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Much-discussed and deservedly praised, Grand New Party by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam paints a grim picture of working-class prospects, both economically and socially, under prevailing circumstances.

Instead of being a society where anybody can "make it," Douthat and Salam describe the United States as increasingly becoming an "inherited meritocracy" where the wealthy and well-educated get more so and those without education and skills get left behind and face a life of stress and insecurity... LINK

Reihan Salam on MSNBC TV's 'Race for the White House' | 'Breaking Down Obama's Vulnerabilities'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:
A Race for the White House panel featuring Gene Robinson, Chrystia Freeland, Rachel Maddow, and Reihan Salam debates: Where is Barack Obama weak politically and how effectively has the McCain campaign been capitalizing on those weaknesses? LINK to video

Reihan Salam on NPR | Young Conservatives Call For A "Grand New Party"

Communications — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The Republican Party has lost touch with its roots, say authors Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. They're hoping to fix that in their new book, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.

Salam says George W. Bush won the presidency by winning over "soccer moms" and then threw himself into a series of policy initiatives that his newfound base found largely irrelevant to their lives.

Salam says the American middle class is currently concerned about downward mobility and problems with the educational system — and that the Republican Party is not addressing those concerns. John McCain, the party's soon-to-be nominee for the presidency, hasn't helped matters because he's failed to articulate a vision about education, health care or jobs.

"He doesn't get it," says Salam. "I like his foreign policy, but he does not represent the future of the party."... LINK to audio

Reihan Salam in US News | 'Can McCain Create a 'Grand New Party'?'

Communications — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:30:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(USNews.com's Capital Commerce Blog)--I am currently in the middle of reading the fabulous Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. It's chock full of interesting economic ideas that Republicans can use to better appeal to working-class voters and families. Among them: massively expanding the tax credit for children, a "GI bill" of tuition tax credits for stay-at-home parents who want to get back into the workforce, and government investment in a better telecommunications infrastructure to boost telecommuting...LINK to blog

Whither the GOP

Communications — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
07/17/2008 - 6:00pm

On Thursday, July 17, the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative hosted a panel discussion for Grand New Party: How Republican’s Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat, Senior Editor of The Atlantic and Reihan Salam, a Fellow at New America and Associate Editor of The Atlantic. On the panel, along with the authors, were Frank Micciche from New America; Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor of the National Review; and Noam Scheiber, Senior Editor of The New Republic. Matthew Continetti, Associate Editor of The Weekly Standard, moderated the event. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video will be available at right.

Salam opened the discussion with a terse and pointed introduction, which set the pace for the rest of the discussion. He questioned the salience of the traditional issues of the Republican Party. The Cold War is over, democracy is spreading without government intervention, and marginal tax rates are already at their lowest level in years. The Regan era was largely successful. Now there is a new, young cadre of conservative thinkers who subscribe to the traditional ideological cannon – according to Salam this is Thatcher, Regan, and Hayek – but who think that in the present moment, policy needs to be innovative and bold.

The only self-described liberal in the conversation, Scheiber largely agreed with the policies laid out in Grand New Party. However, he suggested the policy prescriptions would be more apt for the Democratic Party. While a 21st century “silent majority” might exist, he questioned whether the GOP could feasibly adjust to this new base. The GOP, he said, always favors the affluent when its interests conflict with the middle class, as would likely be the case for implementing the Grand New Party agenda. Under President Bush and the GOP Congress, he noted, dividend taxes were eliminated and capital gains rates cut, but an increase in the child tax credit was jettisoned to reduce the package’s overall cost. Scheiber says Democrats have already established institutional mechanisms for promoting working class interests.

Salam said that this book presented ideas for a long-term shift in the party on a 10-15 year horizon. Douthat aptly noted that, by definition, any reform goes against trends. People thought no Democrat could reformed welfare or signed NAFTA, but Clinton did. The Democratic base was with Clinton on these reforms, Ponnuru added, even if the party higher-ups showed resistance. Now Republicans are in the same situation; the elites have retreated to Regan minimalism, forgetting that Reagan was never an ideologue, and instead pragmatically applied radical ideas. Douthat emphasized that his book hoped to change Republican focus, but not ideology. Conservatives have failed to focus on socioeconomic trends, he added, but their principles were still sound.

Salam said that the party needs to find themes that resonate more directly with voters. McCain’s focus on campaign finance reform and cap and trade does not stir people’s hearts. Family values, the panelists agreed, should be the backbone of Republican policy. Douthat claimed that the Republican base has always been open to the idea that there is good spending and bad spending, and spending on family values could have long term payoffs. Ponnuru agreed that Republicans are open to spending that will save in the end, noting that social conservatism is a rational response to economic stress. Douthat said that people want guns when they feel crime threatens their security, are prolife because their ethical values are threatened, and that while gay marriage has primarily a symbolic impact, again people are against it because they feel family values are threatened. Salam agreed that gay marriage is really about values surrounding child rearing. This new policy angle could bridge the gap between Republican economic and social philosophy, which have at times seemed ideologically disparate.

-Tyler Ibbotson-Sindelar, Research Intern for the Next Social Contract Initiative

Reihan Salam on WTOP | Interview: Discussion of 'Grand New Party' and the U.S. Presidential Election of 2008

Communications — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:21:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Fellow Reihan Salam interviewed with WTOP anchors Dimitri Sotis and Bob Kur to discuss his popular new book 'Grand New Party.' Link to Audio