Politics

By Lauren Williams Kaya Henderson, the interim chancellor of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), has inherited a complex legacy from Michelle Rhee, who resigned her post Oct. 13. Nationally, Rhee’s sweeping changes to schools in the nation’s capital made her a leader in the education-reform movement. Locally, many of those reforms, particularly performance-based teacher firings — 165…

By Jon Jeter First, the day: It was a brilliant autumn morning 15 years ago Oct. 16 when nearly a million black men assembled peacefully and purposefully on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to talk, show our mutual support and urge one another on. An almost cloudless sky, I remember, was bluer than reality;…

By Cord Jefferson In Bill Clinton’s now infamous 1994 introduction to the youth of America, he took center stage at a Viacom-sponsored young-voter forum and was asked if he wore boxers or briefs and if, were he gifted a second chance, he would inhale pot. Today, at an event hosted by MTV’s Sway Calloway and…

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…