Politics

By Krissah Thompson Since becoming the incoming chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus this week, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) has stressed the need for the caucus to chart its own course. Cleaver said he recognizes both the need to support President Obama and that the agendas of the black caucus and the White House sometimes conflict. “The CBC has had disagreement with every…

It’s time for Charlie Rangel to go. After a tumultuous ethics trial that he walked out of, a House committee has recommended that Rangel be censured by the House of Representatives for almost a dozen ethics violations. Yet the Harlem congressman clings to the seat he’s held for 40 years and continues to plead for…

Vogue magazine has placed First Lady Michelle Obama on the top 10 list of best-dressed ladies. Obama’s sense of sophisticated, accessible style and undeniable grace have officially put her in the category of fashionista. The other “fashion divas” who made the list include Sarah Jessica Parker, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Liya Kebede and Alexa Chung.…

Perhaps Fox News has forgotten that the full title of President Obama’s book is Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters. Otherwise they might think before running the headline “Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed U.S. General.” Of course they’re talking about Chief Sitting Bull, whose tribe defeated General George Custer in the…

The New York Times has said that, by storming out of his House ethics trial Monday, Rep. Charles Rangel chose to avoid a public airing of the embarrassing charges against him and to instead make his case “in the court of public opinion.” But as Al Sharpton and others point out, Rangel has already done…

The Atlanta Post is reporting that Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Susan Sher, will be stepping down next year and returning to Chicago. Another Chicagoan, Tina Tchen, who is the White House director of public engagement, has been mentioned as a potential replacement, but no decisions have been made on her replacement as of yet.…

By Ariana Eunjung Cha and Brady Dennis State attorneys general and the country’s biggest lenders are negotiating to create a nationwide fund to compensate borrowers who can prove they lost their home in an improper foreclosure, state and industry officials said. The fund would present a solution for both sides, helping banks avoid lengthy and…

Five years after Hurricane Katrina tore the roof off of Dorothy McClendon’s Biloxi, Miss., home, sending a deluge behind its walls and upending the ramp required for her wheelchair, she is expecting to receive her share of a multimillion-dollar allotment of housing-rehab funds that the Bush administration had tried to divert into expanding that coastal…

MSNBC is reporting that President Barack Obama has awarded the Medal of Honor to Salvatore Giunta (jee-UN-tah) on Tuesday. That makes the 25-year-old Iowan the first living service member from the Iraq or Afghanistan wars to be so honored. Seven others have received the award posthumously. Obama called Giunta a solider who is “as humble…