NFL, NASCAR and America

So the Divisionaries continue to divide… It’s true that NASCAR has only had 4 black drivers in its history, notably one being a black woman. Yet, the popularity of the sport fades in the light of Football. Where 64% of Americans claim to be fans. Break that down to 73% of men and 55% of […]

Time Magazine Cartoon

Sorry, We’re Booked, White House Tells Obamas

By Helene Cooper Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama met Barack Obama’s campaign plane in Colorado on Nov. 1. (Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times) Updated | 3:12 p.m. CHICAGO—The White House has turned down a request from the family of President-elect Barack Obama to move into Blair House in early January so that his daughters […]

Meanwhile in Chicago

Posted by michaelscherer The Good Governor Blagojevich is back on the job, per the Chicago Tribune. [Spokesman Lucio] Guerrero said Blagojevich is back at work in the James R. Thompson Center and has met with staff to discuss the state budget and short term loans to help alleviate some of the state’s money pressures. Guerrero […]

A Gay Jesus and Catholic Art

“Corpus Christi” is a play written by an Irish Catholic named Terrence McNally, first performed on Broadway in 1998 and revived for two weeks in October. It is a controversial interpretation of the life and work of Jesus Christ, so it can be considered a part of the crazy-quilt reality of living as a Catholic […]

Barack WHO?

Posted by Karen Tumulty After Sarah Palin got fooled by a prank call from “Nicolas Sarkozy,” you can see why a politician would be skeptical: WASHINGTON (CNN) –A Florida congresswoman – convinced she was being prank-called by a Barack Obama sound-alike – hung up on the actual president-elect Wednesday. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was told […]

More Palin ‘Accessories’ Spending Revealed

By Michael Luo Gov. Sarah Palin wearing Cole Haan boots in October. Clothing and other items the Republican National Committee purchased for her caused a stir during the campaign. (Photo: Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press) Look for more “campaign accessories” bought on behalf of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in tomorrow’s end-of-cycle financial report filed by the […]

Obama’s ‘Dream Team’

By Michael Falcone Barack Obama in May, 2008. (Photo:Doug Mills/The New York Times) Besides their impressive resumes and political star-power, a few of President-elect Barack Obama’s top cabinet choices have something else in common — hoop dreams. Though these days Eric H. Holder Jr., Susan E. Rice and Gen. James L. Jones, may be more […]

Michelle Obama geneaology off-limits

A surviving shack along road once known as Slave Street on a South Carolina plantation. Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather, who was born around 1850, lived as a slave, at least until the Civil War, on the sprawling rice plantation. (Tribune photo by Alex Garcia / November 22, 2008) by Frank James Michelle Obama’s roots can be […]

A Handpicked Obama Team for a Shift in Foreign Policy

Damon Winter/The New York Times Barack Obama’s national security team is to include, from left, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant. By DAVID E. SANGER Published: November 30, 2008 WASHINGTON — When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it […]

President-elect: ‘You can call me Barack’

Posted November 26, 2008 5:15 PM Veronica Lewis bows for President-elect Barack Obama, and his family, from left, Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha, 7, (hidden) Malia, 10, distributing Thanksgiving turkeys at the food bank at St. Columbanus Catholic Church on the South Side of Chicago today. (AP Photo by Pablo Martinez by Mark Silva On the […]

Thanksgiving Camp David-style

by Mark Silva Free-Range Roast Turkey. Cornbread Dressing. Cranberry Sauce. Sautéed Green Beans Morelia Style Gazpacho with Spinach Salad. It’s the Gazpacho that gives it away: These are the fixin’s for the Thanksgiving table today at Camp David, where President Bush has retreated with his family for the holiday. An overcast, wintry pall settled over […]

Obama Transition Statement on Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai

Onlookers stand at the site of a bomb blast in Mumbai Nov. 26, 2008. (Reuters) Obama Transition chief national security spokesperson Brooke Anderson condemned the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, on behalf of the president-elect, saying: President-Elect Obama strongly condemns today’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and his thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their […]

Feminism and The Three Arguments Against Gay Marriage

By Michael Scherer Arguments against gay marriage tend to fall into three broad categories: it is a threat to tradition (the idea is historically not sanctioned; the bible does not approve); it is a threat to children (kids will learn about homosexuality in school, confuse gender roles, or even become gay themselves); and it is […]

Fix Pick: Brooks on the Transition

New York Times columnist David Brooks is reassured by the people with whom President-elect Obama has chosen to surround himself. (By Linda Davidson — The Washington Post) Amid the chaos of Cabinet picks and the whirl of White House staff announcements over the past week, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. That […]

The Inauguration: Planning Team Taking Shape

By Katharine Q. Seelye Barack Obama began preparing for his transition to the White House several months ago, and formally established his transition office right after his election. But the team planning his inaugural, set for Jan. 20, is just starting to take shape. One person who is expected to play a prominent role on […]

Trending Away From the GOP

By David S. Broder Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page B07 The deeper one digs into the returns from this past election, the more portentous the results seem. This Story Trending Away From the GOP 5 Myths About an Election of Mythic Proportions Watch Where You Walk, Mr. Obama I know the dangers of deciding too […]

Auto execs testify as legislators try for deal

By John Crawley and Kevin Drawbaugh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. auto executives went to Capitol Hill for a second day on Wednesday to argue their case for $25 billion in aid as legislators proposed changes to help a bailout pass Congressional and White House muster. The day’s hearings, before the House Financial Services Committee, got […]

Mission Endeavour

(Update: 8:25 p.m. EST) Space Shuttle Endeavour lit up the sky at the Kennedy Space Center as it launched tonight, racing up the east coast of the United States on its way to orbit Seven astronauts are on board.  Their flight is scheduled to run just shy of fifteen days. By space shuttle standards, the […]

Obama, like Lincoln, ditches ideology

by Frank James Liberal supporters of President-elect Barack Obama’s who thought he was one of them should ready themselves, for they are about to be Greeleyed. Horace Greeley, for those who don’t or remember know their history, was the stridently abolitionist editor of the New York Tribune who in August 1862 wrote an open letter […]

The Moose Stops Here

By FRANK RICH Published: November 16, 2008 ELECTION junkies in acute withdrawal need suffer no longer. Though the exciting Obama-McCain race is over, the cockfight among the losers has only just begun. The conservative crackup may be ugly, but as entertainment, it’s two thumbs up! Over at Fox News, Greta Van Susteren has been trashing […]

Obama Delivers First Democratic Video Address

By Michael Falcone From now on it will be the weekly “Democratic Radio Address” in name only. President-elect Barack Obama, capitalizing on his successful use of multimedia technologies during the campaign, delivered his message on Saturday using video as well as audio. It may seem like a political no-brainer in the age of YouTube, but […]

Palin Soaks Up Media Spotlight

ABC’s Kate Snow reports: Bill McAllister is suddenly a very busy man.  As spokesman for the Governor of Alaska, his role was pretty much taken over in an instant last August — the moment Governor Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain’s running mate.  The McCain campaign quickly selected a brand new team of communication […]

Change ahead on environment under President Obama

By Rocky Barker | Idaho Statesman Western Democrats and environmentalists will have more influence on federal land decisions in Idaho and the West under President Barack Obama. Decision-makers will defer more to scientists on resource issues and spending priorities will shift toward protecting land, fish and wildlife, Democrats said Tuesday night. But there is a […]

Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani

Tuesday November 11, 2008 The most detailed and fascinating explication of Barack Obama’s faith came in a 2004 interview he gave Chicago Sun Times columnist Cathleen Falsani when he was running for U.S. Senate in Illinois. The column she wrote about the interview has been quoted and misquoted many times over, but she’d never before […]