COVER: The Confidence Game (p. 18). Senior Editor Jonathan Alter writes that every day seems to bring bad news, with more on the way, and the nation is in a pessimistic mood. Although Obama is popular and refreshing, he is still well short of transformative. "For all of the legislative achievements of his first month in office, Americans have not yet had their faith in the future restored," Alter writes. Despite Obama's initial stumbles, which include mistakes in cabinet selection, Alter believes President Obama has a good chance of restoring confidence and pulling America back from the brink. He writes, "My take on Obama...is that he has a firm grasp of the psychological and substantive challenges of the presidency. Equally important, ever since his 2008 campaign proved that he possesses a superior sense of timing."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185800
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090222/NYSU002 )
LIVING POLITICS: "Paging Doctor Zeke" (p. 23). Senior Washington Correspondent Howard Fineman profiles oncologist Ezekiel Emanuel, brother to White House chief of staff Rahm and Hollywood agent Ari, who has just taken a key role advising the budget direct, Peter Orszag. "In the view of the health-care industry, Zeke is a fundamentalist. He favors guaranteed care for everyone through a system of government vouchers; national boards, he says, should help decide which treatments work most effectively. Costs should be funded by a dedicated national value-added tax."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185801
ECONOMY: The Reeducation of Larry Summers (p. 24). Senior Editor Michael Hirsh and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas profile Larry Summers, Obama's top economic adviser. Summers has gone from being part of the government that got out of the way of the markets in the freewheeling days of the late 1990s to become the man mainly in charge of the immense government bailout. Summers's greatest test will be persuading Congress to vote for "entitlement reforms" -- i.e., cutbacks and/or higher taxes on Social Security and health benefits for the poor and elderly. Summers plans to urge the president and Congress to venture into an area where politicians have long feared to tread, the so-called third rail of politics. "Necessity requires it, he says -- if the United States cannot curb its spending and debt, interest rates will soar and the economy will plunge once more."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185934
ECONOMY: The Stunted Economic Stimulus (p. 28). Contributing Editor Robert J. Samuelson writes that the $787 billion economic stimulus program is deeply disappointing, given that the expectation is for the package to focus exclusively on reviving the economy. "The case for a huge stimulus, which I support, is that it's insurance against the possibility of a devastating downward economic spiral," Samuelson writes. "If the economic outlook is as bleak as Obama says (and it may be), there's no reason to dilute the upfront power of the stimulus. But that's what Obama's done." The stimulus package offers only modest relief. Postponed spending weakens the economic benefit. By using the stimulus for unrelated political and policy goals, Obama mandates delays. This is not a quick stimulus.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185852
INTERVIEW: "To Pack a Real Punch" (p. 40). Newsweek international Editor Fareed Zakaria interviews Alex Molinaroli, the president of power solutions at Johnson Controls, which will supply the battery for Ford's first plug-in electric vehicle. "The automotive companies' being in a crisis [means] now's the time for a disruptive technology. Before, I don't think they could afford to retool, and they weren't motivated to retool. The automotive industry has now moved beyond trying to protect the old technology, to a place where they want to be a part of the solution. Now it's a race."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185797
HEALTH: "Anatomy of a Scare" (p. 42). Senior Editor Sharon Begley reports that the study that linked childhood vaccines to autism set off a panic that is still affecting families today, even though the research didn't hold up. "Scientists and government officials who defended the safety of childhood vaccines were not shy about attributing the fears to the science illiteracy of the public and the fearmongering of the press," Begley writes. However, by this time mistrust of the scientific establishment had mushroomed into something decidedly ugly and the antivaccine campaign began to have an effect. "As parents postponed vaccinating their children, or refused vaccines entirely, children were suddenly catching preventable diseases, and some were dying." An overwhelming majority of vaccine and autism experts were convinced that parents were putting their children at real risk over a phantom fear. "It is bad enough that the vaccine-autism scare has undermined one of the greatest successes of preventive medicine and terrified many new parents. Most tragic of all, it has diverted attention and millions of dollars away from finding the true causes and treatments of a cruel disease."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185853
"A New Mission for the NAACP" (p. 48). Contributing Editor Ellis Cose writes that though the NAACP marked its 100th anniversary this February, in recent years there have been times when even supporters of the venerable organization have questioned its role in the modern world. Benjamin Jealous, 36, named to the top job last May, is the youngest NAACP CEO ever and has taken over at a time when some Americans question the need for not just the NAACP but for all the civil-rights groups, now that we have an African-American president. "[Jealous] hopes to make the association matter in a way that it has not for a long time: as an irresistible voice for progressive change...His more visible, more aggressive NAACP will spawn a new mass movement, mobilizing support for wider health-care access and quality jobs." Those are big dreams for an organization that many have long thought of as irrelevant.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185805
CULTURE: "Her Cups Runneth Over" (p. 52). Contributor Eliza Gray writes about the 50th anniversary of Barbie and the two new books coming out about her creation. Robin Gerber's "Barbie and Ruth" and Jerry Oppenheimer's "Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel" give two different accounts of who they claim is responsible for Barbie's creation, but they are in total agreement about their subjects' shared passions: Barbie dolls and large breasts. "In her half century of existence, Barbie has become something of a Rorschach test for views about modern feminine identity. Either she's a sunny, self-confident, good-time girl...or, more commonly, she's the original bimbo, a relic of postwar paternalism that teaches its young owners to worship at the altar of blond hair, peach skin and formidable cleavage atop a waistline the size of a pinkie ring." With the creation of Barbie, America's toy chests have never been the same.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/185788
/PRNewswire -- Feb. 22/
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