Politics

My sister and I live in Lake Wylie, S.C. in a house sandwiched between two Republican families. Normally, proximity to people of a different party is not even a blip on our emotional Richter scale, especially when the people are our dear friends. But this is the first election year I have lived in a…

On a recent morning, a normally hidden employee of the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” stepped into the spotlight and made a bold confession. The security guard, whose nickname is Big Boom, had not voted in all of his 53 years. He explained that he had never registered or voted because he could not read. He…

Since January, excitement has been building around this historic presidential campaign. But now our nation faces a crucial test as Election Day approaches—some states now have strict identification requirements for voters, a move that could stymie the anticipated growth in political participation. Whatever the motive for the tougher voter requirements, public officials, civic leaders, activists…

If John McCain isn’t the next president, it won’t be for lack of trying—he’s called Barack Obama everything from a terrorist to a socialist. And yet, with a week to go, it is increasingly clear this election is Obama’s to lose. Which leaves McCain with one last tried-and-true tactic: Steal the thing. For all the…

Obama supporters are fond of threatening to move to Canada if their candidate loses. Republicans looking for a similar retreat, if things don’t go their way, can find a fitting escape in Mad Men. The brilliant AMC cable series, whose season finale airs Sunday, portrays a fantasy world, a Leave it to Beaver, Norman Rockwell-inspired…

The end of this presidential campaign is giving me fits. During the day, I believe Barack Obama might just win this thing. At night, I’m scared sleepless that he might not. See, I’m a passive-aggressive pessimist when it comes to the fulfillment of the American dream. I can put up a good front, but deep-down…

If there was ever any doubt about Sen. Barack Obama’s ability to connect with the American people, as his strategically brilliant campaign has shown he’s capable of doing, that doubt should soon be put to rest, in the wake of a personal tragedy now facing the Democratic nominee—the same tragedy faced by millions of Americans…

I have been living outside of the United States for the better part of five years. So imagine my surprise when I returned in September, to find that we are now making Americans prove that you are a “real American.” It is no longer enough to just have a valid passport and driver’s license, or…

“Would black people riot if Sen. Barack Obama didn’t win the election?” That was the question a white man in Memphis recently asked a racial reconciliation group with which I am involved. After five years of being a columnist for the daily paper in Memphis, I wasn’t surprised by the absurdity of his query. Many…

On Election Day, the relationship between Jewish-American voters and Barack Obama will be like a big midterm in a graduate course on coalition politics. It’s a trust walk between the Democratic Party’s two most reliable constituent demographics and a test of the bond between two minority groups that have marched arm-in-arm at times and feuded…