The American Prospect Online

Michael Dannenberg in the American Prospect | 'Another Student Loan Crisis?'

Communications — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:19:00 -0400

New America in the News:
"The vast majority of our schools report a very small number of students who still need loans at this time," says Richard Doherty, who heads the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. According to an August AICUM poll, 70 percent of their members have had less than 15 students experience difficulties in obtaining private loans. Only a "tiny percent" reported over 50 students with similar problems.

To be honest, says Doherty, the notion of a student loan "crisis" was "perhaps overplayed" by the media.

Michael Dannenberg, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, agrees. "People were running around, saying the sky is falling, that kids are going to go without federal student loans, but the DOE never said that," says Dannenberg. "Quite the opposite. Because, in truth, there never was a real crisis for students when it came to federal student loans."

"There was, however, a real crisis for some lenders who weren't able to access capital at the same low rates they'd been used to," he adds. LINK

Did Hillary Crack the Working-Class Code?

Ron Tang — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:29:00 -0400

The tragedy of Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency is that only after she had effectively lost the Democratic nomination did she find a language and message that gave people a reason to vote for her beyond the claim that her nomination was inevitable. By that point, though, the day-to-day proxy war with Barack Obama was so relentless that even her supporters may have missed the subtle argument and language that could be her lasting contribution to progressive politics.

While Clinton was winning primaries in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky, much attention was paid to the reasons that white working-class… more

What Does Not Change

Ron Tang — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:50:00 -0400

The presidential primary process, over the years since Eugene McCarthy "won" New Hampshire by losing it in 1968, has evolved into such an elaborate analysis of expectations and sequence that, this year, it has finally imploded on itself. Every other Tuesday brings a new analysis of whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama has done better or worse than expected, is closing the gap or widening it. New measures are invented weekly -- this week, a version of the popular vote that excludes four states, but includes the invalid primaries in Michigan and Florida seems to have taken hold in the… more

Israel At 60

Ron Tang — Fri, 09 May 2008 08:53:00 -0400

I don't often, or ever really, write about my own relationship to Israel or how I ended up there, but I'll make an exception for its 60th anniversary.

My relationship with Israel started at the time of the ‘good' Iraq war. You remember, the Iraq war whose ambitions were limited to ensuring continued access to Kuwaiti oil -- not the contemporary trifecta effort to own the oil, change the regime, and transform the region.

In January of 1991 I was working in London as the political officer of the Union of Jewish Students, arguing Israel's case on campus (and attempting to do… more

What's the Matter With Bitterness?

Ron Tang — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:42:00 -0400

Behind the controversy over whether Sen. Obama's description of rural Pennsylvanians as "bitter" about their economic circumstances was condescending, there is another argument, one that's been lurking, unspoken, since the beginning of the Democratic campaign. It's a debate about the legacy and meaning of the last 16 years of the Democratic Party, and both candidates have said some highly provocative things, putting cards on the table that they've been holding for months.

First, Sen. Clinton. In the "Compassion Forum" Sunday night, she tried to depict Obama as comparable to the last two defeated Democratic nominees: "Large segments of the electorate concluded… more

Don't Spend Your Tax Rebate!

Ron Tang — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:41:00 -0400

The IRS was so confident in the legendary observation of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. that “taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society” they chiseled it above the entrance to their Washington D.C. headquarters. Still each year Tax Day makes incumbent politicians uneasy -- especially at times when recession fears mount and fall elections loom. This year this perilous combination spurred them on to take prompt and bipartisan action. Who wants to be accused of sending families their tax bill as economic growth slows and hardship spreads?

The bipartisan prescription to jumpstart the economy was to deliver over $100… more

A Middle East Report Card

Ron Tang — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:52:00 -0400

Condoleezza Rice has just completed her 14th Middle East visit in 15 months and her third since the Annapolis Conference.

The Annapolis effort is scheduled to last one year, wrapping up at the end of the Bush term, but with four months gone, the scorecard makes for predictably depressing reading. Economic conditions and freedom of movement in the West Bank have, if anything, deteriorated -- settlements are expanding, not a single outpost has been dismantled, and Israelis and Palestinians are less secure. Leaders on both sides -- Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas -- have been kept alive politically (and that admittedly… more

Goodbye, Mr. Penn

Ron Tang — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:12:00 -0400

I suppose I should feel vindicated that Mark Penn's downfall as "Chief Strategist" of Senator Clinton's presidential campaign came on a question of conflict of interest involving one of his other elevated titles, that of "Worldwide President and CEO" of the public relations giant Burson-Marsteller.

After all, a little over a year ago, I noticed that the Burson-Marsteller website featured a division promising "a comprehensive communications approach for clients when they face any type of labor situation," which is a polite way of saying, if your company has one of those nasty unions demanding fair pay or benefits, we can make… more

What Next for Gaza?

Ron Tang — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The last week has been a period of grace, of partial freedom for the 1.4 million residents of the large open-air prison also known as Gaza. Last Wednesday Hamas activists apparently blew up the border barriers between Gaza and Egypt, and by morning it was a free for all. Gazans, used to being blockaded into 360 square kilometers, turned the Egyptian border towns of Rafah and El Arish into an impromptu and unlikely shopping mall/holiday resort. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of Gazans streamed into the Egyptian Sinai to stock up on basic goods and supplies, to… more

The Myth of Moroccan Democracy

Ron Tang — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:37:00 -0400

Earlier this month Morocco, one of America's closest Arab allies, held national elections. Touted as a bold step toward democracy, the vote was closely watched in the West. But the elections, rather than proving a success, have raised difficult questions about the future of Moroccan democracy and highlighted the flaws in America's approach to democracy promotion.

In the lead-up to the polls, analysts painted the contest as a test of Islam's political strength. Islamists had risen to power in Iraq, Palestine, and Turkey; and many wondered whether Morocco would be next.

The main Islamist organization in the country -- the Justice and… more