Politics

As states grappled with ways to reinvigorate the flagging public education system, charter schools were offered up as an attractive alternative: a way to break outside the mold and offer the kind of innovative learning environment and accountability for results that is more often associated with private schools. Some critics fear that this alternative is…

Throughout first lady Michelle Obama’s trip to Africa, The Root will be running selected press pool reports. FLOTUS POLL REPORT 1 — WED, 6/22/11 Johannesburg — Speaking from a Soweto church thrust onto the front lines of the fight against apartheid, first lady Michelle Obama urged young South Africans to conquer hunger and AIDS and…

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will face a stiff political challenge Wednesday in presenting his plan for a gradual end to the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. His prime-time address must remind a skeptical electorate and a concerned Congress that the country’s longest war remains worth fighting — and funding — for…

Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes (pdf) — the largest employment-discrimination suit ever filed in the United States — reflects precisely the kind of overreach that makes so many of the decisions by the court’s five-member conservative majority sweeping and regressive. It’s not as though experts expected that a majority of the…

To put the hypocrisy of Republicans into context when it comes to Libya, it’s worth pointing out that two of the congressmen joining Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s suit to stop President Barack Obama’s prosecution of the ongoing NATO action in Libya’s civil war — North Carolina Reps. Walter Jones and Howard Coble — both backed…

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama will announce Wednesday his decision on how many troops to withdraw from Afghanistan next month, concluding a process of consultation with his advisers and commanders that will set the military course for the rest of the war. Administration officials said that final numbers, while still to be determined,…

The White House is reporting that first lady Michelle Obama’s official trip to southern Africa kicks off this week. Her visit will focus on youth leadership and education and will include meetings with key figures in the anti-apartheid struggle.  The first lady will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa and Gaborone, Botswana. During the trip,…

In other news: Charles Blow Remembers His Father.

As I vowed when The Root inaugurated this column, there ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough to keep me from delving into the foibles of the political right wing. Thus, at considerable risk to my mental health, I subjected myself to the entire two hours of…