Bob Burnett

Six months before the November 6th presidential election, Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by three percentage points. The most common explanation for the closeness of a race that should be Obama's to lose is the weak economy. Another explanation is the polarization of electorate: the right has solidified behind Romney...

More than a year after a tsunami swamped the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plants, the radiation peril continues -- reactor 4 is teetering on the edge of collapse, which would force the evacuation of one-third of Japan's population. The meltdown at Fukushima parallels the meltdown of the US economy.

On March...

Now that it's clear Barack Obama will be the 2012 Democratic nominee for president and Mitt Romney the Republican nominee, we'll probably hear from a prominent third party candidate. He or she will promise to end the savage partisanship that characterizes US politics -- pledge to bring us together, save...

With the departure of Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney is sure to win the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination. His campaign has turned its focus to President Obama. The first week of April, both Obama and Romney spoke to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Their speeches previewed what we're likely to...

It's clear that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will survive the GOP version of The Hunger Games and become their 2012 presidential nominee. The richest and most radical presidential candidate in modern times, Romney offers a retrograde vision for America and a surprising set of weaknesses.

Romney's a plutocrat leading...

The Hunger Games movie had a multimillion-dollar weekend opening and seems destined to be the most successful film of the year. Which is remarkable because it's a political movie set in a not-too-distant America and expresses themes that are familiar and disturbing.

The Hunger Games was published...

One of the most surprising aspects of contemporary Republican politics has been their across-the-board attack on women's health services and women's rights. Rather than an isolated misogynistic program, these attacks should be viewed as one part of a conservative agenda to role back gains made in the sixties.

Recently, MoveOn...

HBO's splendid movie Game Change tells the story of Sarah Palin's rise and fall as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential contest. It provides insight into the GOP's identity crisis that's produced this year's demolition derby in the Republican primaries.

Game Change...

Oil prices are escalating and Americans soon may pay $5 for a gallon of gasoline. This grim fact has not escaped the notice of politicians. America's latest energy crisis has prompted heated rhetoric from Republicans and Democrats. Here are four lies that have been bandied about.

1. The gas crisis...

Rather than move forward, Republicans wants America to return to the fifties. They've resurrected Cold War themes: plutocracy, patriarchy and militarism. Plutocracy: Today's GOP wants America to be run by the 1 percent. Patriarchy: Republicans regard American women as second-class citizens, who should have no access to birth control. Militarism:...

After Rick Santorum's surprising victories in the Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri primaries, many observers wonder if he has a chance to wrench the Republican presidential nomination away from Mitt Romney. Santorum does have a chance, but he's not a winning candidate, someone who can unite the fractured GOP base.

Are we in the middle of a Class War? Billionaire Warren Buffett thinks so, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." Most Americans agree; a recent Pew Poll found "Two-thirds of Americans...

This year's Super Bowl program contained a commercial "It's Halftime in America", featuring Clint Eastwood. Initially this seemed to be a public service pep talk for the nation, then a promo for Detroit, and it turned out to be a Chrysler ad. The commercial outraged Republicans....

The outcome of the 2012 presidential election will depend upon voters' perception of the US economy and the jobs market. Republicans have labeled Obama a failed president, claiming he could have done more to create jobs. In the GOP response to Obama's State of the Union, Indiana Governor...

In January of 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense that galvanized colonist support for American independence. 236 years later, Barack Obama presented his own forceful version of common sense in his third State-of-the-Union address.

Since last May, Republican presidential candidates have engaged...

2012's dominant political will be jobs and income inequality. Recent studies suggest that we add social mobility to the list: an American born into poverty is increasingly unlikely to be able to move up and out.

In his classic essay, "The Lost Art of Democratic Narrative,"

After Rick Santorum's surprising showing in the January 3rd Iowa caucuses, many observers asked, "Why didn't Mitt Romney win? What explains Santorum's late surge?" The answer lies at the core of contemporary Republican politics: they don't have one candidate that appeals to their fractured base.

A recent

January 1st marked the beginning of the transformative year predicted by the Mayan Calendar. Whether or not you believe that on December 21st a cataclysmic event will occur, you can agree that on November 6th there will be a monumental presidential election to determine whether U.S. democracy...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens wrote describing the period before the 1789 French Revolution. For America's rich, the 1 percent, 2011 was the best of times; for everyone else, the 99 percent, it was the worst of times.

The worst:...

It's been 168 years since Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol to illustrate the horrific living conditions of the English poor and promote the true nature of Christmas. If Dickens were still alive, he'd be compelled to update his tale.

On Christmas Eve, Bob Cratchit comes home from work and...