Politics
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Without Obama, Clinton Could End Up Like Gore
Although we’re all still sort of pretending that it remains to be seen whether Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016, she recently gave the most definitive confirmation she has to date of her impending candidacy. No, she didn’t say the words “I’m running for president,” but she publicly criticized President Barack Obama, and…
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Why Diapers Matter When It Comes to Personal Responsibility and Poverty
The term “personal responsibility” has long served as one of the favorite rallying cries of conservatives. Want to rile up an audience? Shout about how lack of personal responsibility among the poor is hurting hardworking, taxpaying “real” Americans. As a testament to the outsized role “personal responsibility” has long played in debates about poverty, it…
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What Are Black Politicians Doing—or Willing to Do—About Police Killing Black Folks?
It’s the question bound to come up when an unarmed black person gets gunned down, choked or beaten by a power-tripping white cop with a loose trigger: What are black politicians gonna do about it? And, to the consternation of folks asking, the answer is not as black and white as they’d like it. Although…
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Black Female Candidates Face Different Challenges—Some of Them From Black Voters
Black women are often the backbone of political campaigns—making calls, managing offices and registering voters. And we show up at the polls. In the last two presidential elections, the turnout percentage of African-American women was greater than all other demographic groups. In Virginia, for instance, Gov. Terry McAuliffe owes black women, in particular, for his…
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Obama Should Take More Vacation, Not Less
It’s that time of year again—the time when many take summer vacation, and the time when many will criticize President Barack Obama for doing so. I’m not one of these critics. In fact, I may be one of the few people in America now genuinely convinced that the president should take more vacation time, not…
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Army Set to Dismiss More Black Officers Than White
The Army is prepared to dismiss 550 of its 17,000 majors, with black officers bearing more of the brunt of the cuts than any other ethnic group, according to Army personnel documents, USA Today reports. Records show that 10 percent of black majors are being let go, while 8 percent of Latino and 5.6 percent of…
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Calif. Senate Wants to Make Sure Students Learn About the 1st Black President
The California state Senate is attempting to make sure that students learn about the meaning of Barack Obama’s presidency long after his two terms in office. On Thursday it approved a bill by a 30-1 vote that would encourage schools to give lessons about the historic nature of Obama’s status as the United States’ first black…
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Both Sides of the Aisle Back Bob Johnson’s ‘Rooney Rule’—and That’s a Good Thing
These days, a conservative expressing public support for Obamacare is considered controversial. But a conservative expressing support for the idea that racial inequality still plays a significant-enough role in society that we need policy remedies to address it? That may be considered politically suicidal. But Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone black Republican…
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Obama Praises US-Africa Leaders Summit
President Obama concluded the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on Wednesday by praising it as “an extraordinary event” that has the potential to be “a forcing mechanism for decisions and action,” the Washington Post reports. He added that the gathering of U.S. officials and nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington, D.C., “will be a…
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Russians Project Laser Image of Obama Eating Banana on US Embassy in Moscow
President Barack Obama hasn’t been getting a lot of love in Russia these days, and reinforcing that message, protesters projected a racially charged image onto the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Monday as he celebrated his 53rd birthday, the Huffington Post reports. The image, which was projected by laser beams, depicted Obama in a birthday hat with…