Politics

Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) has finally been confirmed to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency after months of filibustering by Republicans, who claimed that the North Carolina Democrat didn’t have enough experience. Democrats argued that Republicans were using the stall tactic to undermine the president, who nominated Watt some seven months ago to head the…

“Handshake-gate” took an even stranger twist as John McCain compared President Obama’s two–second handshake with Cuban dictator Raúl Castro to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s handshake with Adolf Hilter at the start of World War II, the Washington Post reports. “It gives Raúl some propaganda to continue to prop up his dictatorial brutal regime, that’s…

Some years ago I initiated a research program on African identity at the Human Sciences Research Council, which is the largest government-funded social science research institution in South Africa. The highlight of the program was a series of lectures by author and playwright Wole Soyinka, professor and The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. and…

With all the chatter and excitement surrounding New York City’s black first lady, Chirlane McCray, you’d think it was verboten to talk about anything else when it comes to Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. To hear the pundit class talk, you wouldn’t think de Blasio was elected—you’d think his wife was. Which is just fine—if all…

Last weekend, faithful Tea Partiers were surely thrilled to see Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Ryan strut their stuff at the Washington, D.C., summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council. But the conservative pressure group, which has sponsored startlingly reactionary legislation around the country to loosen gun restrictions and clamp down on voting rights,…

Anyone who can somehow remember way back to the olden days—May 1, 2011, to be exact—knows that President Barack Obama is quite capable of delivering a stand-up routine, dressed in black tie and smiling in front of a bunch of journalists, while at the same time a team of Navy SEALs crosses the Afghanistan-Pakistan border—on…