Elaine Kamarck

May 11, 2007

"How Blair Modernized the U.K."

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"...[H]e began to modernize the British Labor Party. His first big move as party leader was to repudiate the infamous Clause 4 of the Labor Party platform, a section calling for national control of industries. In doing so, Blair signaled to his party and his country that the links between them and their socialist past were history.

May 2007

The End of Government . . . As We Know It: Making Public Policy Work

Book

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

In the last decades of the twentieth century, many political leaders declared that government was, in the words of Ronald Reagan, "the problem, not the solution." But on closer inspection, argues Elaine Kamarck, the revolt against government was and is a revolt against bureaucracy—a revolt that has taken place in first world, developing, and avowedly communist countries alike.

To some, this looks like the end of government. Kamarck, however, counters that what we are seeing is the replacement of the traditional bureaucratic approach with new models more in keeping with the information age economy.

November 12, 2006

"Democrats Have Two Years to Show Americans They Mean Business on War, Health and Reform"

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"Americans gave George W. Bush six years in which to match his actions to his words. He didn't. They won't be so patient next time around."

Fall 2006

"The Gathering Storm"

Journal Article, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, issue 2

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

One year after Katrina, what if it’s not just once in a lifetime? Making sense of our disaster-prone future.

June 2006

"Give "Competence" Another Try: This Time it Might Work"

Magazine or Newspaper Article, The Democratic Strategist, (A Journal of Public Opinion & Political Strategy)

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"In the 1988 presidential election, Michael Dukakis was pilloried — rightly — for running a soulless campaign whose message consisted of the phrase, “It’s not about ideology, it’s about competence.” But times change. That was before the Federal Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina so overwhelmed us with its incompetence that America was humiliated before the world. The response to Katrina, however, was only the most dramatic in a long series of government failures, from the planning of the war in Iraq, to the failure of the occupation, to the design of the Medicare prescription drug policy...."

April 25, 2006

"Dems Try to Overcome 'Katrina Brain'"

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

The New Orleans hurricane relief efforts are giving a party stunned by losses a chance to revive.

March 17, 2006

An Endless Shelf for Library Books

Op-Ed, Boston Globe

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

March 13, 2006

"'Fortunate Sons' Should Have to Serve"

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"...the unarmored Humvees that patrolled the streets of Baghdad and caused so much death and injury to the troops would likely have been replaced quickly with armored cars designed to patrol insurgent territory if 'the daughters of, say, President Bush and Bill Clinton had been patrolling the streets of Baghdad with, say, the son of the CEO of the New York Times.'"

February 16, 2006

"Cut FEMA Loose from Red Tape"

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

In wake of Katrina, agency needs to have independence restored

February 8, 2006

"Put up Your Dukes, Democrats"

Op-Ed, Newsday

By Elaine Kamarck, Lecturer in Public Policy

"Now that another election year is upon us, the fear of Rove is back — even though corruption, cronyism and Katrina have combined to erode the Bush administration's popularity. Some Democrats are so freaked by the past they are arguing that members of the party should stay away from one of the biggest issues of the day: the Bush administration's domestic spying operations."