Politics

The 2012 election season is now under way, and President Barack Obama’s strategy for winning a second term is emerging. Instead of reprising the messianic movement that swept him into the White House, he will reinvent himself as “Give ‘Em Hell” Barry, an impassioned leader railing against do-nothing Republicans if they oppose the $447 billion…

As President Obama’s chief trade adviser and negotiator, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk also has the tricky task of promoting free trade at a time when soaring unemployment has Americans anxious to protect U.S. markets. The challenge doesn’t rattle Kirk, who empathizes with public suspicion — even arguing that “people have reason to be angry”…

It’s that time again: Eight Republican presidential candidates take the stage tonight for the fourth GOP debate. MSNBC will broadcast the debate, co-hosted by Brian Williams of NBC News and Politico editor-in-chief John F. Harris, live from the Reagan Library at 8 p.m. ET. Join The Root’s Washington reporter, Cynthia Gordy, on Twitter @TheRoot247 (hashtag:…

David Espo of the Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending Thursday night to get Americans working again. Republicans offered Tuesday to compromise with him on jobs — but also assailed his plans in advance of his prime-time speech. The president will…

So suppose we did it? Suppose we Talked About Race as so many say we do not? Desmond King and Rogers Smith have just said, to great acclaim, that neither major party has wanted to talk about race much since the 1970s. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley’s Poverty Tour is nominally about the poor, but…

The builders of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial at the National Mall had to pay $761,160 for the right to use King’s words and images, according to financial documents obtained by the Associated Press. The money went to Intellectual Properties Management Inc. — a foundation controlled by King’s youngest son, Dexter. Another…

The president chose Labor Day to promise to challenge Republicans on jobs. Addressing a large crowd of union members in Detroit, Obama promised to put a jobs program before Republicans this Thursday. “We’re going to give them a plan and say, ‘Do you want to create jobs? … Show us what you’ve got.” Last Friday’s…

Fifty-seven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the standard of “separate but equal” in our education system was one that is fundamentally unequal — and, moreover, is un-American, unconstitutional and immoral. In the nearly 60 years since the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, we have seen incredible progress. But we…

The last month has been about the worst in Barack Obama’s presidency. For the third time in the last year he got left naked at the poker table by Republicans as Eric Cantor walked off with his Bears hat in the debt ceiling negotiations, his resident haters are running around the country telling his base…

The Associated Press is reporting that Democrats are tiring of President Obama’s concessions to the GOP on matters large (tax cut for the wealthy) and small (timing of jobs talk). President Obama has yielded to House Speaker John Boehner in a string of concessions that have unnerved Democrats and emboldened Republicans. A chorus of Democratic…