From The Atlantic Monthly, can Obama rally the young, is McCain still a maverick, are the Clintons finished? Here are challenges to the assumptions that have shaped the campaign; and can Republicans find a way to compete on the Web? Reihan Salam wants to know. From n+1, over my dead body: Mark Greif on political theology of the GOP. Shankar Vedantam on 9/11, Iraq and the desensitization of the victimized. Johann Hari on how to tune in to both Muslims and the Deep South. How the religious right is trying to ruin sex for everyone: An excerpt from Sex in Crisis: The New Sexual Revolution and the Future of American Politics by Dagmar Herzog. CNN actually does have the best political news team on television — God help us. From Slate, here's a reader's guide to Bob Woodward's The War Within. Does it matter if controversial military columnist Gary Brecher, author of War Nerd, is really an overweight data-entry clerk from Fresno? From The Space Review, an article on market romanticism and the outlook for private space development. From the Brown Journal of World Affairs, a special section on space politics. From Seed, astrobiologist Jill Tarter and game developer Will Wright discuss model-making, the singularity, and the value of scientific revolutions. Brian Grene on the origins of the universe: A crash course.
