(The Root) — Next to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the most widely touted African-American speaker at this week’s Republican National Convention is a man best known on the national stage for his passionate support of President Obama at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. What a different four years can make. In 2008, then-congressman…

(The Root) — Oprah Winfrey recently admitted that she received some of the most vitriolic and racist criticism of her career for supporting Ellen DeGeneres when she came out as a lesbian in 1997. Winfrey had guest-starred on the well-known episode of DeGeneres’ sitcom in which the comedian let the world in on her sexual…

(The Root) — This week Republican Senate candidate and current Missouri Rep. Todd Akin made what many consider to be a career-ending comment. While defending his no-exceptions position on abortion, the congressman dismissed the issue of pregnancies caused by rape by saying, “If it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut…

(The Root) — Shortly after it was announced that Rep. Paul Ryan would join the Romney ticket as this year’s Republican vice presidential candidate, I wrote a piece titled,  “What We Know About Paul Ryan and Blacks.” Well, I recently learned of another significant addition to this list. As reported on Twitter by CNN’s Pete…

(The Root) — When it was recently announced that there would be female moderators at a presidential debate for the first time in two decades, many women cheered. But that cheering was short-lived among many women of color. The reason? Because while this year’s presidential debates represent a giant step forward for women in terms…

(The Root) — Every time President Barack Obama has waded into a racially tinged controversy, he has suffered a swift political backlash — particularly among white voters. His support among this demographic slipped below 50 percent for the first time after he voiced his concerns over the treatment of Harvard professor (and editor-in-chief of The…

(The Root) — The Olympics and presidential elections have more in common than we sometimes acknowledge. Both take place every four years. Both are fiercely competitive. Both cost a great deal of money and take years of sacrifice and preparation to make it to the finish line. International eyes watch both competitions out of curiosity…

(The Root) — So far we know this about Rep. Paul Ryan: He is a congressman representing Wisconsin, he’s a budget hawk and he is now the soon-to-be Republican vice presidential nominee. We also know that he has no problem attacking President Obama. (His remarks on Saturday included the quip (which I’m paraphrasing), “I have…