Politics

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…

As some of you have already noticed, we have installed a new system on The Root to manage reader comments.  It should make it easier for you to log in and to comment on articles that appear on the site. You will be able to log into The Root with either your Root log-in or…

NEW ORLEANS—Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu appears to have routed five major challengers in today’s mayoral primary, riding extraordinary biracial support to claim a rare first-round victory.  With 90 of the city’s 366 precincts counted, Landrieu had 64 percent of the vote, according to WWL-TV. His closest challenger, businessman Troy Henry, had 15 percent, according to the…