SATISFACTION, PRIDE OR DELIRIUM?

January 20, 2010

In light of the current economic climate the question regarding African American support for President Obama is bound to come up.  It’s the anniversary of his first full year in office, we prognosticators expecting it.  But, it’s an even more poignant question amid the very racialized national conversation taking place – from gawks at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “gaffes” to nauseating outrage at bigotry on tap from the likes of commentator Rush Limbaugh and evangelical zealot Pat Robertson. 

THE GRAND SET UP(?)

There's a hunger for the full cake, a "Great Society" redux where some in the White House are oddly convinced (in defiance of history) that war can be maintained during domestic economic crunch.  Certainly, the argument of inheritance from the previous Administration (and, perhaps, the Gatsby-like bubble boom of the Administration before that) is a strong one.  We don't discount that. But, in the end, President Truman's buck-stopping dogma rules the day.  What ultimately matters is how this President responds to it.

Getting Gamed on the Public Option

On health care reform, many pundits—driven by the hype of the "town hall" rage—assume the debate is really a debacle. Strategists on the left scratched heads with frustration, puzzled by the White House failure to carry out a "public option" movement through use of 2008 campaign tools. But could this have been the game all along—reforming insurance rather than reforming it all?

Using Jackson as a Mass Distraction

Few folks on appear hot or bothered over the Supreme Court's recent assault on once untouchable relics of the civil rights movement. When pointing out the SCOTUS decision on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act or the infamous reverse remix known as Ricci v. DeStefano, most folks look at you in a spat of bewildered angst: "Your point is?"...

Going In-Sanford in South Carolina

Republican South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, infamous stimulus naysayer and presidential aspirant, has been missing since Thursday. Let's just keep it one hundred and call it what it is: Sanford got "touched in the head," as the old folks used to say....

The Politics of Obama's "Jump-Start" for the Economy

As the signature Obama legislation, the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, gets moving across the country, how much are workers benefiting? Clearly, the government's maddening, multi-trillion-dollar intravenous shot in the arm will provide some cushion for anxious workers and the unemployed in some areas. We're already seeing signs of it—stuck in traffic as clogged commuter arteries suggest the 'shovel ready' gigs are spreading....

GM Bankruptcy is Killing Us Softly

Conventional discourse on the state of the economy appears to veer off the crusty core of the issue: We're undergoing a significant re-configuration, if not a total transformation of the way we make a living, exist, eat, clothe and house ourselves. All these will change in ways unfathomable during the 1990s age of innocence—reflected in the financial catastrophe of the present. That's an uncomfortable subject for most Americans...