Politics

After months of media and suburban coffee-klatch speculation, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards confessed to fathering a love child with his ex-mistress, Rielle Hunter. In a statement released to NBC’s Today Show, the 56-year-old Edwards said, “It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she…

Fasten your seat belt. The Supreme Court’s horrendous decision lifting restrictions on corporate campaign spending sets the stage for an escalation of rough and tumble politics the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 19th century. Whatever chance President Barack Obama had of reining in the influence of lobbyists and influence peddlers has vanished. …

When Senator-elect Scott Brown becomes president, odds are some reporter will write a political tell-all called Game Change – Part Deux: The Race of a Lifetime…Again. It’ll be a behind-the-scenes look at Brown’s trailblazing campaign to “transcend” Obama and become the first “post-Obama” president—with firsthand insider accounts from people on the ground who made it…

Today marks the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. For the last 37 years, the case has remained in a constant state of controversy, with anti-choice activists using any vehicle available to chip away at the right to choose. The most recent manifestation was seen in…

Any Massachusetts voter who pulled the lever for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown in 2010 is on pretty firm ground. They didn’t want Obama then—and they don’t want him now. Voters who chose President Barack Obama but went for Brown in this week’s special election just canceled out their own…

The political world’s atwitter speculating about what the Democratic debacle in Massachusetts will mean for health insurance reform. But the rapidly diminishing fortunes of the Senate Democrats are already evident in a quieter, yet equally consequential policy debate: Whether—and how—Washington will ensure that Joe the Consumer gets a fair shake from the big banks. The…

As international aid pours in to provide relief from the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti, development workers and NGO professionals are beginning to fear what will happen once the media spotlight leaves the small island nation. But there is one person who has enough political clout and global recognition to ensure that doesn’t happen: Michelle…

In his first year in office, Barack Obama has been a very good president, both at home and abroad. The trouble is that in these difficult times, America does not need a very good president. It needs a great one. And, judging from his performance during his first year, when his popularity was at its…

Now the finger-pointing and ferocious spin-meistering begin. Why did Martha Coakley lose in her bid to replace Edward Kennedy as the senator from Massachusetts? Is this a referendum on the Obama administration and, particularly, on his health care reform proposal? Does this outcome bode major losses for Democrats in the 2010 congressional elections? First things…