MEDIA LEAD SHEET/NOVEMBER 10, 2008 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, November 3, 2008). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078-Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com- Katherine Barna at 212-445-4859-Katherine.Barna@Newsweek.com-or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831-Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Read the issue and Web exclusives at www.Newsweek.com.
COVER: The Future of Affluence (p. 26). Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes in an adaptation from his book, "The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence," that the current economic crisis is one of a series of challenges that signal a future of slower economic growth. Our new economic era may lapse into a state of "affluent deprivation," which he describes not as actual poverty but rather a state of mind in which people feel poorer. "Whatever happens, the future of American affluence will be a state of mind as much as a state of production. So much of our national identity is wrapped up in economic progress that the failure to achieve it in palpable quantities would sap Americans' self-confidence," Samuelson writes.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166821
"But Words Will Never Hurt Me" (p. 32). Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe and White House Correspondent Holly Bailey report that President George W. Bush is taking personal attacks in stride. Bush, whose poll numbers now hover in the 20s, will leave office in January with perhaps the lowest approval ratings of any modern president. Bush bashing is nearly as popular among Republicans as it is among Democrats. Close friends and aides say he's not deaf to the fact that he has become an object of ridicule. But they say he also remains unshakably convinced history will see his decisions, on Iraq especially, as the right ones. The same air of self-confident resolve-reassuring to some, maddening to others-that allowed Bush to claim, during the 2004 campaign, that he could not name a single mistake he had made as president, now girds him in his final, difficult and somewhat lonely months in the White House.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166834
"The Change Agent" (p. 36). In an adaptation from his book, "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House," Editor Jon Meacham writes "As Americans go to the polls this week, they will be adding a new chapter to the long story of the modern presidency-a story that in many ways began with a man who is at once familiar and remote: Andrew Jackson." Meacham argues that, to an extent that is little understood or acknowledged, the modern presidency that will be inherited by either Barack Obama or John McCain has its roots in the Jackson years. Jackson, believing himself to be the only "direct representative" of the people, rewrote the script of American politics to give them a larger role in public life.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166828
"The New Mainstream" (p. 40). Orlando Patterson, author of "The Ordeal of Integration" and professor of sociology at Harvard University, examines what a victory for Barack Obama would mean for the problem of race in America. It would represent the completion of the process that began with Jackson, of mass democratic inclusion in American political life. But it would also underscore how little progress has been made in the private sphere, where as he points out, blacks and whites are more separate than they've been at any time since the late 1960s.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166827
"What Michelle Can Teach Us" (p. 42). National Correspondent Allison Samuels writes about Michelle Obama's influence as an African-American woman. With the lives of black women largely unexamined, Michelle Obama could change the image of African-American women usually found in magazines or on television. "For better or worse, Michelle will become a stand-in for us all. Just as she will have her critics, she will also have millions of adoring fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166857
INTERNATIONAL: "Taliban Two-Step: Can't Sit Down Yet" (p. 44). Special Correspondent Sami Yousafzai and South Asia Correspondent Ron Moreau examine the future of the war in Afghanistan and where talking to the Taliban fits in. "Everyone seems eager to talk peace in Afghanistan-except the only people who can turn the wish into a fact."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166825
"Spread the Wealth? What's new?" (p. 47). Jacob Weisberg, editor in chief of the Slate Group and author of "The Bush Tragedy," writes about the history of socialism and taxation and McCain's recent claims that Obama "believes in redistributing wealth." The problem with this charge is that McCain and his supporters favor redistribution too. Government redistributes wealth by its very existence "So long as you have a system of taxation and spending on public goods like education and roads, some people will do better out of the bargain than others. The real questions are whether public policy consciously tries to affect the distribution of wealth, and how much it tries to change it and in what direction."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166835
"Why it's Time for a 'Green New Deal'" (p. 49). Paris Bureau Chief Christopher Dickey and Special Correspondent Tracy McNicoll report on why a growing number of countries around the world are opening up to clean energy businesses and taking advantage of the lucrative possibilities that come with them. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have already taken up the cause of what United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called a "Green New Deal" that would rebuild and reshape the economy of planet Earth the way President Franklin Roosevelt's programs did during the Great Depression. "I know that some people may be saying that the difficult financial circumstances that the world now faces mean that climate change should move to the backburner of international concern," Brown said. "I believe the opposite is the case."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166859
BOOKS: "Why We Need to Call a Pig a Pig" (p. 58) Contributor Jennie Yabroff examines George Orwell's history and his influence in present times. "Today, the writer's name is invoked to describe anything involving surveillance, paranoia or even books about animals...Rather than describing surveillance devices, or pig farms, a more accurate application of the adjective would mean something that aspires to the lucidity and integrity of Orwell's writing. In that case, it would be the highest praise."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/166816
TIP SHEET: "Holiday Gift Guide" (p. 67). Tip Sheet compiles gifts for every budget and a holiday countdown to help plan ahead, from the best time to mail your Christmas cards, to the last date to send packages to members of the military deployed overseas.
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/default.aspx
# # #
