 |
1. New York’s last issue provided a sweeping history of America during Barack Obama’s presidency, as told by the president himself as well as many of those who helped set the nation’s course — VicePresident Joe Biden described Congress’s debt-ceiling brinkmanship, Bernie Sanders discussed the failures of financial reform, Glenn Beck lamented the shortcomings of the tea-party revolution — and a host of keen cultural observers, including Stacey Schiff, Andrew Solomon, Mark Lilla, James Gleick, Andrew Sullivan, Sam Lipsyte, Rebecca Traister, Liz Meriwether, and Frank Rich (“Obama’s America,” October 3–16). “You think magazines are dead, and then you see pure magazine making like this and you remember how great they can be,” tweeted Joel Lovell of This American Life. “As much about how quickly life changes as politics,” tweeted Metro Morning’s Matt Galloway. “Even as a Canadian, reading this is like reading a well annotated diary of my 20’s.� Surreal, insightful, humbling,” tweeted @alexgpaterson. “Worth reading all the way,” tweeted @ dr_know. “Laced with wit, respect and frustration in equal measure — which I think is fair.”
 |
2. The issue also featured Jonathan Chait’s in-depth interview with the president, a complete transcript of which was made available online, where it generated a particularly voluminous response (“Five Days That Shaped a Presidency,” October 3–16). Readers responded to the president’s assertion that “I don’t ever want to get to the point where we’re that comfortable with killing. It’s not why I wanted to be president, to kill people.” The Intercept’s Ryan Devereaux and Alex Emmons thought that “Obama’s critique of Congress — that it doesn’t seem to care enough to rein in the drone program — is both on point and ironic, coming from him. Far from encouraging Congress to weigh in, the Obama administration has actively fought Congress’s attempts to even get basic information about drone strikes. The White House, for instance, refused to show the legal memos authorizing the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki to Congress until 2014, when Obama nominated the memos’ author to become a federal judge, and a group of senators threatened to hold up the confirmation until they could read the memos.” Most readers responded to the interview with deep admiration for the president, as well as preemptive wistfulness that he’ll no longer be in office. “The eminent reasonableness of this man is something I will sincerely miss,” tweeted the Daily Beast’s Daniel Summers. “Substance, poise, thoughtfulness. Gonna miss him,” tweeted @dangaristo. “I wish every American would read this,” tweeted @ davidcowan. “Perhaps that would mitigate the tragic dysfunction of party politics.” @ theintlfiles summed up the general response: “Barry O.,” he tweeted. “My man.”
3. “In the 2012 race they asked me, if I could have any one wish, what would it be? And I said, to have a Republican Party,” said Joe Biden in his interview with Jason Zengerle for the issue, which was also available in an extended version online (“It’s Like Older Brother, Younger Brother,” October 3–16). “It was considered a gaffe — it was no gaffe. I genuinely meant it. Think about it. Nobody can speak for the Republican Party. Nobody. So with whom do you negotiate?” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie was particularly struck by this sentiment. “This Q&A with Biden is great, especially his last answer,” he tweeted, “which gets to the core of US politics today.“ “Absolutely chilling, that answer,” responded @TheCorollary. “You can’t have a functioning democracy with only one coherent political party.” Many readers were surprised to hear that Biden called Paul Ryan to encourage him to take the job as Speaker of the House, and amused that he jokes that “his biggest problem is that he reads too much Ayn Rand.” “It probably applies to all literate GOPers,” tweeted @ Z_Everson. Most were left with an appreciation for the vice-president’s enduring candor. “Let’s take a second to remember that Joe Biden helped us get marriage equality earlier than we might have otherwise,” tweeted @lauraolin. “Two things about this interview with Biden,” tweeted @ thebestjasmine. “1.) he kept talking well after the reporter gave him an out to finish. And 2.) His description of his working relationship with Obama is great.” “Can’t imagine ever appreciating a president/VP combo again in my lifetime as much as Obama/Biden,” tweeted @chrisremo. “Total class acts.”
4. “[Obama] is more progressive, I think, than Hillary Clinton is. He’s more conservative than I am,” said
former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in his interview with Franklin Foer — also made available in a fuller version online (“Triumph of the Oligarchs,” October 3–16). On Twitter, @Real_Food disagreed. “He has no factual basis for claiming Obama is more progressive than HRC.” “On domestic policy I’d say she’s more progressive,” responded @Major_Healy. “But more hawkish on foreign policy.” “Sure,” wrote back @Real_Food. “But since Sanders’ primary focus is domestic policy, this statement seems surprising.” “This is what frustrates me with respect to Sanders and my generation,” tweeted @_tw33tz_. “They received this as Sanders singling out HRC as especially bad, not as Sanders being uniquely removed from the rest of the party ideologically.”