Politics
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Quote of the Day: President Barack Obama on Race in America
Read a transcript of the president’s speech in its entirety here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Van Jones on His Transition From Obama Insider to Outsider
(The Root) — Van Jones is the co-host of CNN’s recently revived political-debate program, Crossfire. Back on the air after it was canceled in 2005, the show will put him at the center of what the network says will be “America’s great debates.” But he’s no newcomer to strong political views. Jones, who got his…
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Preach, Michelle: 5 Things We Want to Hear From the First Lady
(The Root)—In less than three months, President Barack Obama will celebrate the anniversary of being sworn in for his second term as president. Although many conservatives are looking ahead with anticipation to the end of his final term in office, many liberals are looking ahead with the hope that in his final years as commander…
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Obama Was Told Health Care Website Was Working
Turns out that President Obama was just as shocked as the rest of America that the Healthcare.gov website wasn’t working. He was told that the site would be fully functional — even as private contractors and some administration knew the site had failed early testing, a senior White House advisor said Sunday. The Los Angeles…
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Harry Belafonte Compares Koch Brothers to KKK
Beloved singer and activist Harry Belafonte put both feet down in the paint on Sunday when he compared the Tea Party-supporting Koch brothers to the KKK, the New York Post reports. Belafonte, 87, was warming up the mostly black congregation at the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem to introduce democratic mayoral front-runner, Bill de Blasio.…
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Obama's 5-Year Mark: More Hits Than Misses
(The Root) — Exactly five years after his election, it’s a tough time to take stock of Barack Obama’s legacy. In the same week in which he’s had to defend Obamacare’s difficult rollout and that saw his approval rating drop to a low of 42 percent, Forbes magazine is now piling on by ranking Obama…
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Sweet, Memorable Photos of the First Family
(The Root) — Five years ago, The Root launched to deliver news and analysis focused on the issues of black Americans and the greater Diaspora. However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t put our conception into context. The creation of our site in January 2008 was in large part because of the success of Barack Obama’s campaign…
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Why Obamacare Is Good for Poor Whites
(The Root) — The Republican Party has done a masterful job distorting the facts about Obamacare. From its inception to the official launch, members of the GOP and conservative talking heads have twisted a tale of lies about the Affordable Care Act with the clear aim to undermine both the policy and the president. The…
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The Abolitionist Behind the Gettysburg Address
(The Root) — In the Gettysburg Address, which Abraham Lincoln delivered 150 years ago this month, he declared that the Union fought to defend “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Americans soon claimed this phrase as the definitive description of their democracy and have celebrated it as such ever since. Yet…
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Success for Kentucky's Copy of Obamacare
(The Root) — From its initial inception to the official launch, members of the GOP and conservative talking heads have fought the Affordable Care Act. But millions of impoverished Americans and the working poor do not have and cannot afford health insurance coverage. This is especially the case in the 26 states that opted out…