Prospect's December issue: Hoping for audacity

Despite his lofty rhetoric and the frenzied excitement surrounding his campaign, Obama is no radical; argues Michael Lind in this month's cover story, Obama's policy proposals have been modest, and his movement so far has been a personality cult, not a true movement with a substantive agenda, Lind says—but extreme events can force politicians to be bold, and the new president now has a chance to redefine American liberalism.

Plus, Prospect experts weigh in on what Obama means for the future of America. Beltway insider Martin Walker looks at how Obama's gang will change Washington society, and Thomas Wright, a democrat foreign policy analyst, says that an Obama presidency might mean a better transatlantic relationship, but only if Europe keeps its end of the bargain—which will be a challenge.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Derbyshire talks to a number of leading black American thinkers about the future of America's fraught racial politics: is this the beginning of a brave new post-racial era—or the opposite? And Prospect's James Crabtree looks at what Obama might do for the economy; the warring ideological factions within Democratic party have declared a truce for the moment, but it is unlikely to hold.

Also, exclusively online this month, ABC's foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto argues that Obama will struggle to make friends in the middle east, Erik Tarloff dissects the Republican's Palin problem and Stephen Boyle explains why the congressional Democrats might turn out to be Obama's own worst enemy.

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