NYT: Michael Tomasky, Liberal of the 'Lost Generation,' Senses a Shift

Liberal of the 'Lost Generation' Senses a Shift
By ROBIN TONER
Published: May 9, 2006

WASHINGTON, May 8 — Michael Tomasky, 45, describes himself as part of the "lost generation of liberals," who came of age under Ronald Reagan and spent much of their adulthood under a conservative ascendancy.

Now, Mr. Tomasky says, he senses, "potentially," a shift in the paradigm — something more than a drop in the poll numbers for President Bush and the Republican Congress.

"For the first time, really, since Ronald Reagan came on the scene, elements of conservative philosophy are being discredited to larger numbers of Americans," Mr. Tomasky said in an interview at the offices of The American Prospect, the 16-year-old liberal monthly that he edits.

And that, Mr. Tomasky said, creates an opening for Democrats "to jump back into a debate they've avoided since Ronald Reagan about what they actually stand for at the end of the day."

All of which prompted Mr. Tomasky to write an essay for the May issue on the "common good," the liberal tradition that, he argues, is the perfect antidote to Mr. Bush's "ownership society." Since then, blogs on the left and the right have debated the ideas....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/09/washington/09tomasky.html