Politics

It may be a while before we learn whether the agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling really is as awful as economists like Lawrence Summers fear, but one thing about it is certain. The Tea Party’s remarkable victory reminds us that a radical splinter group can seize control of the issues and impose its…

Michael Isikoff of MSNBC is reporting that a mystery company that pumped $1 million into a political committee backing Mitt Romney has been dissolved just months after it was formed, leaving few clues as to who was behind one of the biggest contributions yet of the 2012 presidential campaign. The existence of the million-dollar donation…

The annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists kicked off in Philadelphia yesterday. I’m on my way for the umpteenth time, because I’ve had a proprietary attachment to the organization. But this year I have more than the usual trepidations I’ve had over the years. I’ve worried about the balance between substance and…

This week, after achieving a political milestone with the cliff-hanger on the debt-ceiling crisis, President Obama can now face a personal milestone: He turns 50 on Aug. 4. For any man reaching 50, this midpoint in life is rife with emotions. First and foremost, there is the reality that no matter how young you feel,…

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan was probably right last week when she wrote that “nobody loves Obama” anymore. In last week’s Gallup poll, the president’s approval rating dropped to a George W. Bush-like 40 percent. While Obama probably still has at least a 50-50 chance of winning re-election next fall, if he does, it’ll…

I, like many of you, probably spent more time than I really wanted watching political “leaders” in Washington free-fall to a decision on our nation’s debt. As I listened to the partisan excuses, whines and outright misrepresentation of what triggers a “default,” it occurred to me that all of the drama and general posturing by…

Barack Obama turns 50 on Thursday. Been there, done that, had the big birthday party. He was born in 1961, and like the president, I was also born in the slice of years between the very late 1950s and mid-1960s. We fall between the cracks of the baby boom generation and Gen X. We missed…

In the past few days, news of Rosa Parks’ “near-rape” has rippled through the media — in part because of a “newly found” six-page document in her own hand from the late 1950s, revealed by Guernsey’s Auctioneers. There are two problems with how the story is playing out, however: the casting of Parks as victim…

Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post warns that the debt clock ticks toward default as the nation’s leaders haggle over a deal. While it is good news that there is a framework for a debt deal, the dramatic events of Thursday night is a reminder that it ain’t over until it’s over. If the anger of progressives or…