This discussion of Obama’s lack of popularity in the South, and the role that race plays, touches on two points that are commonly overlooked in our public discourse. The first, which can’t be repeated enough, is that racism is not an all or nothing proposition. The subtle (and even many not so subtle) influences of [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Barack Obama'
Just About States’ Rights, Honest
June 16th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics
Tags: Barack Obama·Barry Goldwater·Monica Potts·political ideology·racism·Rand Paul·tea party·the South·William F. Buckley
55 Days and Counting
June 13th, 2010 · No Comments · AS, Arts and Entertainment, Politics, Supreme Court
Obama is going to outline his plan to hold BP accountable on Tuesday, even though we all know BP will just weasel its way out of paying for much of the damages a la Exxon 2008. Happy 55th day of this horror, everyone.
- AS
Tags: 55 days·Barack Obama·BP·disaster·Exxon·oil·oil spill·Supreme Court
White People
May 4th, 2010 · 1 Comment · AS, Technology
If you ever go back and watch a movie you’ve taped off TV in the 80s, you’ll be shocked at how little racial diversity there was in advertising back then. Just about every TV ad featured a happy, white, big-haired 80s couple, often with obligatory son, daughter, and golden retriever. I don’t mean to suggest [...]
Tags: Apple·arugula·Barack Obama·Edward Kennedy·fabric softener·health care reform·iPad·latte·Macintosh·New York Times·Paris·race·rich people·Stuff White People Like·Wall Street·wealth·white people
Hypocrite!!!
March 30th, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Law and Justice, Politics
Nothing delights politicians, talking heads, and activists more than being able to accuse their opponents of hypocrisy. I myself love having the opportunity to cry hypocrite. Often, such charges are warranted because partisans are willing to abandon long-term principles to score points in the short-term. But charges of hypocrisy are often themselves a product of [...]
Tags: Barack Obama·George W. Bush·health care·health care reform·hypocrisy·Jimmy Carter·Jonah Goldberg·Patriot Act·protest·racism·right-wing hysteria·Tea Parties·the Constitution·The Corner
Health Care’s Winning Season?
March 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments · AR, Politics, Sports
Every year about this time, I start talking myself into believing that this will finally be the year that the Pirates have their first winning season since I was 10 years old. I even have a pathetic exercise where I go through the starting lineup and the rotation, and imagine the best-case scenario stat line [...]
Tags: Barack Obama·Democrats·Harry Reid·health care·health care reform·hypocrisy·Mitch McConnell·Pittsburgh Pirates·reconciliation·Republican obstruction·Republicans
In Defense of the Somehow Controversial Position that Getting Rid of Teachers is not the Way to Improve Schools
March 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment · AR, Labor, Politics
Last week, the Central Falls School District in Rhode Island decided to fire its entire high school teaching staff of 93 people. The decision was made under pressure from state and federal to turn around failing schools, and after the District failed to come to terms with the teachers’ union over compensation for extra duties [...]
Tags: AFT·Arne Duncan·Barack Obama·Central Falls·education·poverty·teachers' unions·union-busting·unions
Imagining Scenarios In Which I Support Sarah Palin or John Edwards (again) for President
February 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · AR, Politics
Often times, when reading poll numbers or looking at election results, I have to face the fact that my obsession with politics and rabid partisanship makes me different from most Americans. Particularly difficult to accept, though, is my recent realization that I’m more insanely partisan than the modern Republican Party.
DailyKos recently commissioned a poll to [...]
Tags: Barack Obama·John Edwards·Republican idiocy·Republicans·right-wing hysteria·Sarah Palin
The State of the Union. . . Depends on Mitch McConnell Growing a Conscience
January 28th, 2010 · 1 Comment · AR, Politics
My expectation going into last night’s State of the Union address was that the President would be bold and combative in tone, but timid and capitulatory in substance. In other words, that he would renew his call for victory on major issues like climate change and health care, but dramatically redefine what victory means in [...]
Tags: Barack Obama·climate change·gay rights·health care·health care reform·jobs·Mitch McConnell·Paul Krugman·Republicans·State of the Union
Where Right-Wing Hysteria Meets Reality
December 14th, 2009 · No Comments · AR, Politics
Over the past year, ACORN has taken on nearly mythical status in the deranged minds of the Tea Party crowd. ACORN has been imbued with the power to steal elections (even elections in which the organization has no involvment) and figures prominently in Glenn Beck’s chalkboard exposes of the vast left-wing conspiracy. Far from being [...]
Tags: ACORN·Barack Obama·community organizing·conservative logic·Glenn Beck·Mickey Mouse·right-wing hysteria·voter fraud
Helpful Advice
December 1st, 2009 · No Comments · AR, Politics
In the spirit of Lisa Simpson, I implore President Obama not to wear his Nobel Peace Prize as he announces tonight that he will send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
-AR
Tags: Afghanistan·Barack Obama·Bob Herbert·Lisa Simpson·Nobel Peace Prize