Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are bracing for a fresh request from President Obama for another massive round of spending to shore up the nation’s faltering financial system, which could send the total price for the bailout soaring toward $1 trillion. So far, Congress has approved $700 billion for the financial system rescue. The first half…

Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines has written a spot-on ode to the black preacher for The Daily Beast. While it’s easy to pooh-pooh the political machinations of high-profile clergy like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Raines focuses on the recently-lionzed Joseph Lowery. Though Ta-Nehisi Coates is moderating some heated back and forth…

“The president of the United States is black. Literally, not figuratively, not in some socio-psycho-political sense. But dark skin, black wife, black children. His name is Barack Hussein Obama, and despite the fact that it was a worldwide spectacle witnessed by billions or that the oath of office was administered twice, there is still a…

Huffington Post better watch what they write about the youngest White House kid, Sasha Obama, from now on. Michelle Obama Watch (MOW), a blog dedicated to reporting on anything and everything about the new First Lady, jumped on Huffington Post’s case after it posted an article on it’s 23/6 site calling 7-year-old Sasha “sassy.” This…

Over at Mother Jones, Debra Dickerson has a powerful and insightful essay on why the age of President Barack Obama means that “Class is the New Black.” Her thesis seems to rest on the idea that the heretofore invisible black middle class—which comprises some 40 percent of the US African-American population—has had mainstream exposure for the…

In the hate-to-say-we-told-you-so category, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn has vowed to hold up Eric Holder’s nomination to be attorney general because he’s scared Holder will prosecute Bush functionaries for torturing people. Holder, who would be the first black AG, refused in his nomination hearings last week to say he wouldn’t pursue prosecutions. After days…

What a brave new world we really do live in, where formerly obscure African American political figures decide the fates of wealthy scions of former presidents—or maybe not. Announcing Thursday morning that she has withdrawn her name from consideration for appointment to fill New York’s vacant U.S. Senate seat, Caroline Kennedy has surely spared herself…

The Buzz has hardly been able to get anything done. Since this video of the First Dance hit YouTube and The Daily Beast, it’s been on repeat all day. If you haven’t seen it twenty times, stop what you’re doing and watch the electricity between our president and first lady. All in attendance at the…

During MSNBC’s live coverage, Keith Olbermann asked, “Is the White House ready?” Hard work begins in earnest Wednesday for President Barack Obama, but governance won’t be the first family’s only impact on American life—yesterday the Negro National Anthem made a joyous comeback while the Obama girls’ inaugural outfits crashed the J. Crew website. It was…

They came in droves from all across the nation to get to inauguration, and when the big day arrived the expected happened — pandamonium. Wall Street Journal got wind of how public transit couldn’t accomodate all the people who headed to the National Mall before sunsrise. And CNBC has a view of the “sea of…