Politics

In 1964 the White House Fellows program was created to offer exceptional young men and women a one-year placement in offices at the highest levels of the federal government — after which, this new generation of leaders were expected to return “to work as private citizens on their public agendas.” This fall President Barack Obama…

Children looking out the window and waiting by the Christmas tree weren’t the only ones tracking Santa Claus on Saturday night. First lady Michelle Obama was doing the same. Answering an astounding 102,000 calls, the Santa trackers at NORAD, assisted by Michelle Obama, helped shatter a 56-year-old record of 80,000 calls. “It is wonderful to…

It’s a modern article of American faith: Metropolitan police departments have a history of conflict with their cities’ minority citizens, conflicts that suggest police agencies trade evenhanded justice for heavy-handed contact with the public. In the recent past, police departments in Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans have been taken to task for…

Ah, Sarah Palin, the gift who keeps on giving! Just when you thought that right-wing politicians couldn’t get any dumber than, say, the lamebrain governor of Texas, Rick Perry, along comes the former Republican vice presidential candidate to plumb new depths of vacuity. Becoming the most ridiculous conservative in the country is no small achievement.…

Finally, some common sense on Capitol Hill: Bowing to political pressure, House Republicans agreed to a two-month extension of a payroll-tax cut for 160 million Americans. The Washington Post reports that in exchange for supporting the 60-day extension, Republicans secured minor concessions from Senate leaders, who had already gotten their own two-month deal passed. President…

In the fall of 1980, at a religious-right gathering in Dallas, conservative activist Paul Weyrich griped about fellow Christians who held the notion that all U.S. citizens should vote. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” he said plainly. “Elections are not won by a majority of people; they never have been, from the beginning of…

Andrew Taylor of the Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama urged the top leaders of Congress Wednesday to first pass a short-term extension, while promising to work with lawmakers on a full-year measure. The president called House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in an effort to end…

Recent discussions of poverty have revealed themselves to be, in fact, coded conversations about race. When Newt Gingrich talks about poor kids having no work ethic and Donald Trump agrees, they discuss poor kids interchangeably with black or inner-city youths. For years politicians, policy wonks and others have used “disadvantaged,” “underprivileged,” “inner-city,” “urban” and “poor”…

Written by Fahima Haque African-American clergy and civil rights leaders will announce their decision to join the Occupy movement, starting a subproject called “Occupy the Dream” on Wednesday. As Occupy D.C. flourishes, more participants join the cause. Jamal Bryant and Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. will join the clergy in their efforts with the “Occupy the…