Politics

  • Health Care Reform: A Pissed-Off Nation

    Media outlets have gingerly approached the question of whether the virulent and over-the-top town hall meetings over health care are thinly disguised venting sessions in which right-wing whites express their frustration and sense of dislocation over the election of the first black president. Following quickly on the heels of the out-in-left-field, birther conspiracy theorists, the…

  • Say Uncle, Mr. President

    It’ll take President Barack Obama more than a couple of town hall appearances to get his health care reform proposals back on track because health care isn’t the only thing that needs tweaking—he needs someone on the team to help him figure out how to get his mojo back. Obama has aides for every occasion:…

  • Madison and the White House, Through the Memoir of a Slave

    WASHINGTON — In 1809, a young boy from a wealthy Virginia estate stepped into President James Madison’s White House and caught the first glimpse of his new home. The East Room was unfinished, he recalled years later in a memoir. Pennsylvania Avenue was unpaved and “always in an awful condition from either mud or dust,”…

  • Um…Isn't the Public Option Kind of the Point?

    From the NY Times: The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama’s call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate. The “public option,” a new government insurance…

  • What the U.S. Can Do for Congo

    Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent trip to Africa included a noteworthy visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a brief stop at Goma, the epicenter of the violence in the east. Clinton’s stopover marked a significant departure from previous U.S. policy with Congo. Her visit, undoubtedly the highest-level visit by an American dignitary ever, represents…

  • Where’s the Beef in Africa?

    On Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo—part of a seven-nation tour of sub-Saharan Africa—a flurry of attention focused on her sharp reply to a local student who seemed to question her role as chief diplomat of the United States. All the attention overshadowed the substance of…

  • VIDEO: Michael Vick Schools the Youth

    The road to redemption.

  • Photo: And He Thought His Air Force One Jacket Was Cool

    From Getty: U.S. President Barack Obama (L) struggles to present the Medal of Freedom to Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow – High Bird (R) during a ceremony at the White House August 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. The Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States. Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow – High…

  • VIDEO: 13-Year Girl Kills Step-Grandfather

    Obviously, this is way bigger than milk, at least one would hope that is the case. That being said…yikes, man. YIKES.

  • But My Best Friend Is Black!

    During the presidential campaign, then-Sen. Joe Biden made an off-the-cuff observation that his rival, then-Sen. Barack Obama was “… clean …” and “… articulate …” Then Don Imus slurred the Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team. Then the managers of the Valley Swim Club banned black campers from swimming at their pool. And let us not…