blogging the beltway

(The Root) — For the last few weeks, America has been told to brace itself for what is being billed as one of the biggest threats to hit the country in years: the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. A brief overview of some recent fearmongering headlines: “Obamacare Is Really, Really Bad for You,…

(The Root) — Between the ongoing diplomatic crisis in Syria and the conservative war currently being waged on Obamacare, it would be safe to assume that President Obama’s biggest fears extend far beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But according to his own words, that assumption would not necessarily be correct. Unbeknownst to the president, a microphone…

(The Root) — There’s a saying in the news business: Dog bites man is not news. Man bites dog is. By that metric, Rush Limbaugh saying something outrageous or racially inflammatory is not necessarily shocking news. But the fact that his recent outrageous and racially inflammatory statement about Obamacare is not the most outrageous thing…

(The Root) — Republican nominee Mitt Romney was criticized for repeatedly reinforcing the notion that the GOP was out of touch. His references to the “47 percent” — the percentage of Americans he believed would support President Obama no matter what because they were essentially government freeloaders — not to mention the custom elevator constructed…

(The Root) — The Republican National Committee has been working to shed the GOP’s image as a party that is not welcoming toward people of color. And for months Republican grassroots activists and local leaders have been the party’s biggest obstacles to its rebranding efforts, doing more to destroy the Grand Old Party’s image, particularly…

(The Root) — When New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused Democratic front-runner Bill de Blasio of running a “racist” campaign because his campaign featured his black wife and biracial children prominently in ads, the mayor ultimately did more to help his least favorite liberal candidate than hurt him. The ensuing backlash gave de Blasio’s telegenic…

(The Root) — On Tuesday night, President Obama delivered one of the most important policy addresses of his presidency. Citing the horrors of the Holocaust and other human rights tragedies, the president laid out the case for why he has proposed military intervention in Syria. At the moment, military action now seems unlikely. After Secretary…

(The Root) — After five years of nonstop bad news regarding black unemployment,  the Obama administration was finally able to celebrate some good news last month, or so it seemed. In July African-American unemployment dipped to 12.6 percent, a small but significant change from June’s 13.7 percent unemployment rate — and substantially lower than the…

(The Root) — When I first saw the headline about a GOP elected official in trouble for an inappropriate gaffe involving fried chicken, I immediately thought, “I already read this story.” Then I realized that the name of the elected official mentioned in the story was different from the one in the previous story I…