Politics

  • Obama to Sign 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' on Wednesday

    President Barack Obama will sign the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” on Wednesday. The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe asks what’s next now that the controversial law has been repealed. Although it is not clear how long it will take to undo “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” military leaders are preparing for the full integration of…

  • Why Is the Black Abortion Rate So High?

    Read the latest news about blacks and abortion on The Root. Ryan Bomberger was born of a rape nearly 30 years ago. He is alive today because his biological mother made a choice, he says, to put him up for adoption rather than have an abortion. He is grateful, though he realizes the choice was…

  • Is President Obama Abandoning the Palestinian Cause?

    Much has been made of President Obama’s recent tax-cut backtrack, but the most disheartening White House move actually played out far away from Capitol Hill. Buried within the news cycle was the announcement that the United States would no longer press Israel to stop West Bank settlement construction as a precondition for continued peace-process negotiations…

  • Sources: Waters Ethics Probe Derailed by Infighting

    By R. Jeffrey Smith and Carol D. Leonnig A lengthy House investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has been derailed by infighting within the politically charged ethics committee over errors in building a case against her, according to congressional sources with direct knowledge of the probe. The probe, opened in 2009, dissolved this fall and…

  • Nancy Pelosi: House Wrecker

    People want to put a lot of blame for the current conditions of the nation — from the bad economy to the heightened partisanship — on Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. There is certainly a level of truth to that, but perhaps not as much as one would think. In a few weeks,…

  • President Obama Signs Tax Bill

    The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama signed into law the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade Friday. The law will extend Bush-era tax cuts for another two years in an effort to boost the tepid economic recovery. In remarks before signing the bill, Obama called it “a substantial victory for middle-class…

  • Extension of Bush-Era Tax Cuts Passes Congress

    Despite the hue and cry by House Democrats about how much the wealthy benefit from the tax plan President Obama brokered with the GOP, the bill overcame Democratic opposition in the House late last night. It will be signed by the president as early as today. Congress approved the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade…

  • A Hard Sell for a Tax Plan Under Siege

    Update: The tax-cut bill passed the House late Thursday. Its next stop is the president’s desk. As President Barack Obama’s controversial tax-cut proposal was temporarily pulled from a vote in the House on Thursday, the White House trotted out Jason Furman, deputy director of the National Economic Council, and Gene Sperling, counselor to the treasury…

  • Closing Cabrini-Green

    Sometimes, moving is a happy event. Sometimes it’s not. Last week, when Annie Ricks and five of her children left the 11th-floor apartment in the dilapidated, 15-story high-rise complex where she has lived for the past 22 years, it was a media event. And Ricks, the last tenant in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green public housing project,…

  • President Obama and Jarrett to Meet With Black Leaders

    President Obama and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett will meet with members of the National Policy Alliance today. The alliance is made up of 10 member organizations, including Blacks in Government, the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association and the National Caucus of Black School…