the browntable

Over at POLITICO, Nia-Malika Henderson writes a great bit on the different voices that belong to President Barack Obama: In January remarks about the economy, Obama made a reference to “American dreams that are being deferred,” a phrase black audiences understood without a citation as black poet Langston Hughes’. First lady Michelle Obama often cites…

Michael Steele apologizes to Rush Limbaugh for calling him what he is—an “entertainer” and a hack. As an informed friend points out: “I haven’t seen this much deference since GONE WITH THE WIND.” Tsk. Covers the White House and Washington for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.

Newly-elected Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele flew to Los Angeles over the weekend for The Tavis Smiley Festival (better known as the annual “State of the Black Union” conference)—the latest sign he is determined to tout the GOP to every black audience he can. He had pledged this during his campaign for the job,…

Washington, DC is closer than it’s been in memory to finally gaining voting representation in Congress. The Senate version of a bill that would turn Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton into a voting member of the House passed an important legislative hurdle on Tuesday, when 62 members voted to close debate on the matter, clearing the…

Why, when there are already well-established fabulists on the far right, do more and more of them compete for the same job? NATIONAL REVIEW’s Jonah Goldberg took a quick dig at Obama for starching high school drop-outs in his congressional address. Goldberg asks, “why is it okay to question the patriotism of high school drop-outs…

I can’t say I’ve ever read the whole budget, but it’s always fun to try—kinda like professing every Christmas that you’re gonna go back and read the whole Bible. Anyway, the digest Obama put out today isn’t even the whole budget, that’s not coming until April. But here’s the full text (and smartly designed cover)…

The White House led today’s rollout of its $3.5 trillion budget by making a big splash on health care—creating a $634 billion fund for health care reform, which the president called a “very substantial down payment.” It’s a bold choice, to be sure, but it’s both smart and unavoidable. By starting with the money, instead…

Yesterday, the East Room of the White House, the same chamber where Barack Obama held his first, sobering presidential press conference just a week prior, was transformed—hosting Stevie Wonder in concert, in advance of his receiving the 2nd annual Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Library of Congress. Obama is known to be a…

So, this morning I was listening to my local morning radio program, and a caller compared Gov. Bobby Jindal’s sing-songy delivery of the Republican response last night to Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) from 30 Rock (the two also appear to have the same barber). That’s probably a little unkind to Jindal, but it’s also pretty accurate…

Two distinct conversations on race have dominated this February, the first black history month with a black American president. One consisted of a steady stream of outrage over publication of a cartoon in the NEW YORK POST depicting a chimpanzee being shot to death. The other concerned a blunt and, some say, accusatory speech by…