Articles and Op-Eds: 2008

Articles and op-eds by New America fellows and staff are available below. To jump to another year's archives, please use the links at right.

Rewrite the Script

  • By
  • Amjad Atallah,
  • Daniel Levy,
  • New America Foundation
December 31, 2008

As of Tuesday evening, Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip, an area only twice the size of Washington DC, and the world's most densely populated territory, counted at least 380 dead Palestinians, including scores of children and over 800 wounded, four dead Israelis, and one dead Egyptian soldier. Demonstrations against Israel and the United States took place in Turkey, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, the Israeli occupied West Bank, throughout Europe - and even in Israel itself. Demonstrators targeted Arab governments too, notably America's ally, Egypt.

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The New New Media

  • By
  • Tim Wu,
  • New America Foundation
December 31, 2008

The first time Jonathan Zittrain gave a speech on the future of computing, he greatly surprised his audience. The year was 1985, and Zittrain was a magazine columnist and the "system operator" of an online forum for users of Texas Instruments computers. As a leading figure in the community, Zittrain was invited to speak at a big convention in Chicago. The surprise was that Zittrain had recently turned fifteen. No one had ever met him in person: when he was appointed system operator, sight unseen, he was thirteen.

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States Seeking Bailout Bucks Should Disclose as Much as Big Three

  • By
  • Frank Micciche,
  • New America Foundation
December 31, 2008

Even before President Bush announced that billions of dollars in aid from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Recovery Program will soon flow to America's automobile manufacturers, a third wave of relief-seekers was already washing up on the shores of the Potomac.

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Pay for View Won’t Buy You True Love

  • By
  • Gregory Rodriguez,
  • New America Foundation
December 29, 2008

I thought it would be the other way around, that my tastes would become more refined as I grew up. But I confess that the older I get, the more stupid movies I watch. I mean, the other day I sat through Adam Sandler’s “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” on pay per view. Was it good? Not really. But it made me chuckle a few times, and it was cold outside and, most important in this economy, it was only $3.99.

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The Pragmatist

  • By
  • Christopher Hayes,
  • New America Foundation
December 29, 2008

In case you haven't heard, Barack Obama is a pragmatist. Everybody agrees on this. Joe Biden, accepting Obama's nod as VP at his unveiling event in Springfield, Illinois, called him a "clear-eyed pragmatist." Describing Obama's rise through Chicago politics, the New York Times stressed his "pragmatic politics," while the Washington Post's David Ignatius refers to "The Pragmatic Obama," and one of Obama's most trusted confidantes, Valerie Jarrett, told USA Today, soon after his election-day victory, "I'm not sure people understand how pragmatic he is. He's a pragmatist.

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Hamas Has Been Targeted Since It Was Elected

  • By
  • Nir Rosen,
  • New America Foundation
December 29, 2008

Again the Israelis bomb the starving and imprisoned population of Gaza. The world watches the plight of 1.5 million Gazans live, on television. The western media justifies it. Even some Arab outlets equate the Palestinian resistance with the might of the Israeli military machine. None of this is a surprise. The Israelis just concluded a round-the-world public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, gaining the collaboration of Arab states like Egypt. The international community is guilty for this latest massacre.

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The Clash Of Huntingtons

  • By
  • Reihan Salam,
  • New America Foundation
December 29, 2008

Samuel P. Huntington, one of the most creative social scientists of our time, died this Christmas Eve. In 1950, when Huntington began his long tenure at Harvard's government department, there was a great deal of optimism about our capacity to solve social problems.

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Obama's $10 Billion Early Childhood Education Pledge

  • By
  • Sara Mead,
  • New America Foundation
December 28, 2008

Advocates for early childhood education are understandably excited about their prospects under President-elect Barack Obama's administration. During the campaign, Mr. Obama pledged to increase federal early education spending by $10 billion annually.

Currently, the two largest federal early childhood programs, Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, spend about $12 billion annually combined. A $10 billion increase would almost double that investment.

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Call Off the Immigration Hunt

  • By
  • Jorge Castaneda,
  • New America Foundation
December 27, 2008

There are myriad claims to Barack Obama’s attention, and the list will only grow before Jan. 20. But immigration reform and, more immediately, putting an end to the outgoing administration’s unfortunate and inhuman immigration enforcement policy should be high on the president-elect’s list.

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Riding Shotgun

  • By
  • Nir Rosen,
  • New America Foundation
December 26, 2008

I’m in the driver’s seat of a 2.5-ton armoured truck somewhere west of Baghdad in December 2007, navigating a main supply route used by the American military. Next to me is a Lebanese private security contractor named Abu Layla, who is monitoring the roadside for potential bombs. Suddenly, we get ambushed – a “contact,” as contractors call a violent encounter with Iraqi insurgents, sectarian fighters or al Qa’eda. I hit the panic button on the dashboard, and our signal alerts the nearest US military unit.

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