Politics

The president just wrapped up a live town hall conversation with young voters that covered a wide range of topics, including education, bullying, homosexuality and the incarceration of black men. They asked some tough questions, including one from a man who bluntly asked, “Why should we still support you?” If you saw it, tell us…

It’s been astonishing to read the near-universal agreement among leading legal ethicists and Supreme Court watchers on the view that there is nothing untoward or even problematic about the emergence of Virginia Lamp Thomas — wife of Justice Clarence Thomas — as a Tea Party leader, even after Mrs. Thomas publicly denounced the president of…

By David Swerdlick Sometimes President Barack Obama gets it right. He was all over Chile’s February earthquake. When the news broke, he was on the White House lawn pledging support for the recovery. He was there for miners killed in a West Virginia coal mine collapse. He recruited former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W.…

By Eugene Robinson At a high-spirited rally in Philadelphia on Sunday, President Obama challenged the mostly black crowd to defy pundits who purvey the conventional wisdom. “They think, ‘Oh, well, Obama’s name is not on the ballot; maybe they’re not going to turn out,’ ” he said, referring to African-American voters. “You’ve got to prove…

It has mostly fallen under the radar, but President Barack Obama was looking out for homeowners last week when he decided to use a pocket veto to stop a bill that might have paved the way for more home foreclosures. Obama has only used the pocket veto — when a president refuses to sign a…

By Joel Dreyfuss As the clock ticks down to the crucial midterm elections, the Obama administration and the Democratic Party are paying attention to a group of voters who often feel neglected. Black voters are getting love from the president and party they haven’t seen since 2008. Blacks have remained the president’s most loyal supporters, registering…

Critics of President Barack Obama have plenty of political fodder, both legitimate and unfair, to knock the administration during these pressing times. However, one of my biggest disappointments with the Obama White House so far does not have its origins in Obamacare or the failed stimulus package.  Instead, it stems back to the promise that…

by Nia-Malika Henderson What a difference a year makes. In 2009, Forbes magazine ranked First Lady Michelle Obama the 40th most powerful woman in the world. But this year she grabbed the top spot. To get there, Obama leapfrogged over her billionaire pal Oprah Winfrey; took out Beyoncé, who sang for the Obamas’ first dance at the…

Lawrence Ross is the author of the Los Angeles Times best-seller The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities. His newest book, Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses, is a blunt and frank look at the historical and contemporary issue of campus racism on predominantly white college…