Recent Stories
Women have a civilizing influence on Congress
‘Is it possible that Congress would get more done if there were more women in Congress?” President Obama asked recently. Then he answered: “I think it’s fair to say. That is almost guaranteed.”
Obama's secret weapon emerges
Team Obama trotted out its secret weapon for the fall campaign the other day. To quote an email message sent to supporters by deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, that weapon is "you." Put another way, Obama is depending again -- as he did in 2008 -- on a vast army of volunteers bound by online social networks.
Women are still waiting
Here’s a tale of two photographs distributed recently by news agencies. In one, two sailors embrace on a pier in Virginia and exchange the traditional “first kiss” as one of them completes an 80-day sea voyage. In the other, two Marines in full battle gear walk patrol in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province. All four of the soldiers are women.
Romney needs more compassion
But an election is not a business school seminar, and in politics, a balance sheet is not the only measure of success. Voters want a candidate who has a heart as well as a brain; they are looking for compassion, not just calculation. And that’s why Romney has to fear the workers of Marion.
Where’s the prince charming?
We were talking to a group of senior Republicans recently about the election, and here’s the essence of what they said: Damn it. We should have gotten Chris Christie or Mitch Daniels or Paul Ryan to run.
Frank proof that neatness isn’t everything
In 1964, two years after graduating from Harvard, Barney Frank went to Mississippi as a civil rights worker. That August, at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., a group of blacks calling themselves the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party asked to be seated as the state’s official delegation.
Candidates need to speak up for kids
Here’s something you don’t hear the presidential candidates talking about: the increase in poverty in America. On President Obama’s weekly trips to swing states and in what seems like daily debates among Republican candidates, it never comes up that the numbers of poor and hungry people in this country are growing and that too many of them are children. And if no one is talking about that fact, you can be sure no one is acting on it, either.
Posturing obstructs era of smart government
Whenever natural disaster strikes, the nation’s governors always have the same response. Where are the Feds? When will help from Washington arrive?
Reforms offer economic boost
The economic news remains dreadful: Stock markets, credit ratings and consumer confidence are all plunging. Worse yet, the administration has few tools available to reverse the trend. New stimulus spending is politically impossible, and interest rates are already at rock bottom.
