As you may recall, Truman was extremely unpopular when he finally left Washington in 1953, thanks largely to the Korean War. Today, however, he is thought to have been a solidly good president, a 'Near Great' even, in the terminology of those surveys of historians they do every now and then.
Thomas FrankEvery city is either vibrant these days or is working on a plan to attain vibrancy soon. The reason is simple: a city isn't successful - isn't even a city, really - unless it can lay claim to being 'vibrant.'
Thomas FrankCorruption is uniquely reprehensible in a democracy because it violates the system's first principle, which we all learned back in the sunshiny days of elementary school: that the government exist to serve the public, not particular companies or individuals or even elected officials.
Thomas FrankDuring the financial crisis and bailouts of 2008, it probably occurred to very few average people that we were entering a period of hardship for billionaires.
Thomas FrankThere is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Galleryโs version of the Barack Obama โHopeโ poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obamaโs Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyistsโ Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration.
Thomas Frank