Politics

OBAMA’S NOBEL MOMENT The brother can preach. U.S. President Barack Obama delivered another dazzling speech this morning as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that many Americans say he doesn’t deserve. In his far-reaching Nobel “lecture,” as the speech is called, the President acknowledged the controversy and said he could not argue with…

Way back in the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton argued that Barack Obama hadn’t the mettle to connect his inspiring rhetoric with actual reform, that soaring speeches are poor weapons for the Beltway battle zone. Her skeptical, tough-lady political persona was anachronistic in those pregnant times. But listening to Obama’s latest Big Speech Tuesday, on jobs,…

January 2009 “Prince” Joe Henry, 78, a Negro League all-star baseball player with Memphis Red Sox, Indianapolis Clowns and Detroit Stars died on Jan. 2. Sam “Bluzman” Taylor, 74, a blues singer-songwriter/guitarist, died Jan. 5 from complications of heart disease. On Jan. 4, Giselle Salandy, 21, Trinidad and Tobago’s unbeaten female boxer and winner of…

CAUCUS SLAMS OBAMA President Obama’s jobs speech yesterday got mixed reviews – as could be expected, with approval and criticism dividing largely along party lines. But one key constituent group – the Congressional Black Caucus – made it clear to the first African-American president that is was not happy. The President proposed a number of…

It isn’t often that Russians climb in bed with Rwandans. Yet, as the much-hyped United Nations climate summit convenes in Copenhagen this week, 56 world newspapers united against the growing threat of catastrophic climate change. An editorial urging global action to deflect the worst effects of fossil fuel dependence appeared in major news outlets, including…

The White House jobs summit may have provided some good photo-ops for the administration, but it must go beyond that and deliver jobs for the American people. With the unemployment rate still in double digits, it is time for government to do what government is meant to do: step in when private forces are inadequate…

Joel is trying. At 41, he’s never landed a full-time, permanent job. He got started early in the underground economy, selling drugs as a young man in the Bronx and Richmond, Va., which landed him in prison. He served his time and quit dealing a long time ago, but a criminal record sticks to you,…

– The Coup “Sneakin’ In” If you’ve ever slid past a long line of impatient partygoers at a packed Las Vegas club on Saturday night, you know how good it feels to get in. Whether you styled-off the bouncer with half a hundred or you were on the VIP guest list, there’s nothing like it.…

Often the true account of a major disaster cannot be told until years have passed. Rather than dim the memory, time often refreshes the search for the truth—and the listeners’ willingness to reject convenient “real-time” explanations and elisions. That was true of the lies eventually exposed about the government’s response to 9/11, and it happened…

President Obama, like Candidate Obama before him, has relied heavily on the Big Explainer of a political speech to get him out of any number of tough political spots, from Jeremiah Wright to the financial meltdown to the outrage over big bailout bonuses. These speeches have a signature architecture, which may be described as Obama’s…