Politics

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…

When former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder first pitched the idea of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden swapping jobs in 2012, it sounded like a ridiculous stunt. It still sounds like a stunt, but it’s starting to sound a bit less ridiculous. The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward upped the ante this…

When radio host Earl Caldwell put on-air questions to me on New York’s WBAI-FM Friday about the upcoming trial of five U.S. soldiers charged with the wanton killing of three Afghan civilians, I measured them against the horrors of the My Lai massacre and the widespread — and unreported — killing of hundreds, if not…

Since this article was written, the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been repealed. In January 2011 the article was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. During the recent heated debates on Capitol Hill about repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” former Army Sgt. Tracey L. Cooper-Harris sent a poignant letter to President Barack Obama…