Politics

While the greatness of American democracy is celebrated by Obama and McCain, the rest of the free world is squinting and tilting its head at our version of egalitarianism: staggeringly expensive political campaigns, a questionably representative two-party system, a confusing and misleading electoral college and laws (and tricks) that continue to disenfranchise minorities. It also…

There are some people who like to make it harder than necessary for others to vote. Voter-caging practices have already taken hold in this election. It was rumored that the Michigan GOP planned to use a list of foreclosed houses to bar those residents from voting. But with the way these things work, the damage…

It has taken a frightening flirtation with global economic collapse, but even George W. Bush seems to have exhausted his blind faith in the almighty market. “I’m sure there are some of my friends out there saying, I thought this guy was a market guy; what happened to him?” the president posited last weekend—while proposing…

Michigan is once again one of the crucial states that could determine the outcome of this election. There will be a lot of strategizing between now and November. We want answers to our battered economy and our record foreclosure rate. We want to know about health care and the survival of the middle class. At…

And now it’s breath-holding time for South Africa, as the nation comes to grips with the sudden, shock-and-awe removal of its president Thabo Mbeki by his own party. Mbeki’s credo for the continent was ‘African solutions for African problems.’ Even as he applied the doctrine next door in Zimbabwe, a South African solution to the Mbeki…

I’m sick of folks yapping about how Barack Obama needs to do a war dance on John McCain’s head. Sure, McCain and his GOP allies are telling lies and appear to bear no cost for repeatedly doing so. And, yes, the Democrats’ response has been, to say the least, lame and tepid. I understand; it’s maddening to…

It’s easy to ignore the ho-hum routines in a city like Washington, D.C.—a town that hosts conferences and conventions of some sort every single day, four or five times a day, it seems. But a town-hall meeting at this week’s 30th Annual Conference and Exposition of the National Black MBA Association offered timely insight into…

The National Organization for Women’s recent endorsement of Barack Obama ordinarily would not be such a big deal. Even though the organization endorsed Hillary Clinton in the primaries, it makes sense that the group would channel its energy to the Democratic nominee. Still, with all the tension around gender and race that spilled over during…

The Republican Party has finally found the outer edge of political cynicism; it’s located in Macomb County, Mich. Operatives there have figured out an upside to the foreclosure crisis roiling black neighborhoods: It enables mass voter-registration challenges and thereby offers a powerful opportunity to suppress the vote in Democrat-leaning districts. An enterprising journalist for the…

I am ready! When asked, I will not blink! Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly submit to you the next vice president of these United States, moi. Hey, a week ago, that would have been ludicrous and laughable. But in the wake of Gov. Sarah Palin’s titanic interview on ABC last week, this doesn’t seem that…