Politics

According to the Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll, Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012. Really. That  assessment carries over into the nation at large, which is similarly divided over whether Obama should be a one-term president. A real Democratic challenge…

The annals of black Chicago politics read like a political thriller, full of intrigue, backroom deals and untimely deaths. The mayoral race has been a pivotal factor in determining who holds political power in black Chicago since the 1987 death of Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor. At that point, African-American politics became splintered…

Barack Obama needed hip-hop in 2008, and, well, today not much has changed. Historically, a candidate who relies on the youth vote ends up on the losing side. But two years ago, Obama’s youth-oriented campaign proved triumphant. In fact, Obama did what many thought would be political suicide: He made it a priority to connect…

Political satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert drew tens of thousands this Saturday to their semi-serious event, “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.” Staged on the National Mall with the Capitol as a backdrop, the rally opened with performances by Cat Stevens, Ozzy Osbourne, the Roots and John Legend and included an appearance by…

From The Daily Show to the doughnut shops of America, it looks an awful lot like 2008 all over again — and not just because 1,000 candidates are actively engaged in heated debates across the nation in the quest to control Congress in January. It is because once again, Barack Obama of Illinois is working…

The line moved by the administration of George W. Bush — on torture, on civil liberties, even on what constitutes competence for a presidential candidate — has had long-term and perhaps permanent effects on our political landscape. Case in point: that administration’s takeover and dismantling of the finest civil rights law-enforcement organization in the country:…

This is Part 5 of The Agenda: What Obama Has Done for You, a series of articles looking at President Barack Obama’s record on issues that affect blacks. The history of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is a long one, and it’s inextricably linked to the suffering of African Americans. Founded in…

It is always a good time to talk about racism and poisonous images pumping through the mass-media pipeline. What is most interesting is the traditional but unpredictable source of the trouble. Whenever critics point at Tea Party posters of Barack Obama as a witch doctor or as a garishly dressed pimp attending a ball at…

This is Part 4 of The Agenda: What Obama Has Done for You, a series of articles looking at President Barack Obama’s record on issues that affect blacks. There is perhaps no issue more important to the black community’s success than education. Few things — health care included — can practically guarantee a life filled…

Florida’s Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, now the “independent” U.S. Senate candidate, trails the official Republican candidate, Marco Rubio, by six points, and political forecasters in the state now predict a Rubio victory. Kendrick Meek, the state’s first black Democratic candidate, is given no chance at all. Every poll since Labor Day has him with no…