COVER: The Thinking Man's Guide to Populist Rage (p. 22). Six essayists examine how populist rage, which can be cathartic, can also lead to bad decisions. But they also look at how it can present opportunity. Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes, "Great reform waves often proceed from scandals and hard times." The writers are Michael Kazin, who calls populism a protest by ordinary people who want the system to live up to its stated ideals; author Rick Perlstein; Samuelson; author Robert H. Frank; Chapman University presidential fellow Joel Kotkin; former governor of New York Eliot Spitzer and Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090322/NYSU001 )
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190341- Michael Kazin essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190349 - Rick Perlstein essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190347 - Robert J. Samuelson essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190348 - Robert H. Frank essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190346 - Joel Kotkin essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190345 - Eliot Spitzer essay
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190351 - Fareed Zakaria
POLITICS: "The Enemy of the Good" (p. 32). Contributor John Barry and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas report that while President Obama wanted to bring change to Washington and fight the old revolving-door culture, he's having trouble filling some key positions that require Senate confirmation. A super strict vetting process has weeded out or driven off some otherwise very qualified candidates. Staffing Treasury, at the center of the financial storm, has been a particular problem. It's the old law of unintended consequences: in order to satisfy a public desire for squeaky-clean government, elected officials have put at risk a more critical goal: dealing expeditiously with the financial crisis.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190355
NATION: "The Guard Who Found Islam" (p. 36). Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Dan Ephron reports on Army Specialist Terry Holdbrooks, who had been a guard at Guantanamo and converted to Islam after several conversations with an English-speaking Moroccan detainee. Holdbrooks' late-night conversations with the detainee, Ahmed Errachidi, led the guard to be more skeptical about the prison, he says, and made him think harder about his own life. He eventually embraced Islam, and Errachidi says other guards expressed interest too. As the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guantanamo, scenes are starting to emerge of surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. They reveal curiosity on both sides.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190357
INTERNATIONAL: "The Monarch Who Declared His Own Revolution" (p. 40). Middle East Regional Editor Christopher Dickey reports on the recent reforms in Saudi Arabia society at the hand of Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud. In the past few months and weeks, the king has sacked the head of the feared religious police and the minister of justice, appointed the highest-ranking female official ever in the country's history, and moved to equalize the education of women and men under the direction of a son-in-law who has been preparing for years to modernize the nation's school system. The question is how much he can accomplish before his death or dotage. Transforming Saudi society may be a task as overwhelming as that of creating Middle East peace. There are just as many factions hoping the king's efforts will fail, and just as much hard, incremental, unglamorous work to make sure the reforms stick.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190350
MEDICINE: "The Whole World is Watching" (p. 44). Senior Writer Claudia Kalb reports that while it was good news that President Obama lifted restrictions on embryonic-stem-cell research, six weeks earlier, a biotech firm in California called Geron was cleared to launch the first clinical trial of the treatment in human beings with spinal-cord injuries. This summer, the company plans to enroll the first of up to 10 patients in a clinical trial that everyone will be watching. While there is plenty of excitement from people with spinal-cord injuries and their physicians, there is also caution. The simple truth: even if all goes perfectly in the early stage of the trial, which tests for safety, no one with a spinal-cord injury is going to be cured any time soon.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190376
CULTURE: "The Zen of Cleaning" (p. 48). Assistant Editor Raina Kelley reviews a new book about how to de-clutter your life. Kelley admits that she buys too much stuff and was excited about reading "Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life" by Gail Blanke, a professional motivator. Her premise, namely that stuff is just "life plaque" holding us back from achieving our true potential, was thrilling. But Kelley found that cleaning, organizing and simplifying always ends up costing lots of money and time. She asks whether that time and money be used to more directly help a person reach their true potential? Therapy, time with friends and family, a graduate degree--they all seem much more useful than cleaning your closets.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190378
JACOB WEISBERG: "Curling Up With a Good Screen" (p. 49). Contributing Editor Jacob Weisberg writes about his new Kindle 2, and how much he enjoys reading off it. He writes that the Kindle "tells use that printed books, the most important artifacts of human civilization, are going to join newspapers and magazines on the road to obsolescence." But though the PC and the Internet taught us all to read on screens, they have not actually improved the experience of reading. And the device is not better than a printed book in all situations. And a transition away from the printed page should not lessen our appreciation and love for printed books. "Hardbacks these days are disposable vessels, printed on ever crappier paper, with bindings that skew and crack. In a world where we do most of our serious reading on screens, books may again thrive as expressions of craft and design."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190358
TELEVISION: "A Made-For-TV Mistake" (p. 56). General Editor Ramin Setoodeh reports on the upcoming biopic on MTV about Pedro Zamora, who appeared on MTV's "The Real World" in 1994, and was the first HIV-positive man to appear on a television series. He died on the day after his final "Real World" episode aired and he had become the public face of the disease. But the world could use another Pedro Zamora right now. HIV prevention has dropped off the cultural radar in recent years, thanks in large part to medical advances that have occurred since Zamora's death. The biopic "Pedro" could have been just what the doctor ordered. But the movie is so dull and disease-of-the-week derivative, it's not likely to have much of an effect beyond putting people to sleep.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190380
ARTS: "Revivals of the Fittest" (p. 58). Senior Writer Jeremy McCarter writes that the Broadway revivals of the two greatest New York musicals: "West Side Story" and "Guys and Dolls," are coming at a time when New Yorkers may need them the most. The chief novelty of the revival of "West Side Story" is that considerable chunks of it are now spoken and sung in Spanish and it works. "Guys and Dolls" should, by rights, be an even greater boon to a gloomy town. But in its choice of fake history over real history, its reliance on celebrity, even its mania for overbuilding, the revival embodies some of the less attractive values of boom-era New York, a chapter in the city's history that is closing fast. (Maybe this is why it feels so old.)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190197
