Politics

“I freed a thousand slaves,” Harriet Tubman famously said. “I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” With a black man occupying the White House, and the nation grappling with a wrenching recession, and celebrating the contributions of African Americans to this nation’s history, this seems an opportune moment…

The devastating earthquake that has destroyed Haiti’s capital has aggravated the already catastrophic economic and political conditions of the country’s history. As a Haitian put it: “Tout ayiti krazé”—the whole country is no more. Beyond the utter terror, pain and loss that is overtaking the population, and the horrifying cries for help from under piles…

Call them kidnappers. Call them good Samaritans. Call them unwitting victims to a political drama staged by the beleaguered Haitian government. Call the 10 American missionaries under arrest for taking 33 children out of earthquake-ravaged Haiti what you will, two facts—rarely mentioned in news media accounts—are indisputable: All of the detained members of the Idaho-based…

Last month, Michelle Obama announced that she hopes to make a deep and lasting policy impact by spearheading an initiative to reduce childhood obesity. Knowing our first lady, she’ll move beyond kids and also make it her business and her legacy to get everybody, adults included, to slim down and shape up. Is Michelle speaking…

Like many, I have consumed reports of Haiti’s devastation these past few weeks. Like many, I have been saddened by the suffering and loss of life—the stunning vulnerability of an entire nation of people. But I have also found myself disappointed by the media’s depictions of Haiti’s plight. In both subtle and vulgar ways, a…

Of all the striking utterances that Sarah Palin delivered during her speech to the National Tea Party Convention on Sunday, none is more worthy of analysis than her claim that, as our president, “We need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.” The charge is puzzling on several levels—but…

The city of New Orleans scored a double victory over a single weekend; it elected a mayor who could be a unifying force and its NFL team won the Super Bowl. Almost five years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, the two events portend better times for a town that has struggled to…

It’s interesting how some numbers don’t make the news. Friday’s announcement that unemployment in the U.S. had dropped to 9.5 percent was welcome, even if the gains turn out fragile or illusory. Most of the early news stories left out an even bigger number: black unemployment at 16.5 percent, black male unemployment a whopping 17.6…

The employment statistics for January are out—and the jobless rate for America now sits at 9.7 percent. While the country lost 20,000 jobs last month, this figure is a slight improvement over December’s rate of 10 percent, and a five month low. The United States gross domestic product grew by a healthy 5.7 percent in…

This is it. The election of Barack Obama may be the last, best chance for America to salvage our mortally wounded political system.  Most rational politicians and commentators from both parties know that the legitimacy of the American political system is at a dangerously low ebb in the eyes of most of the public.  Pressured…