With an unemployment rate of 9.4% and an economy still perceived as dragging, President Barack Obama will have little choice but to focus his State of the Union address on "jobs, jobs and jobs" as a central theme of every policy message, grand announcement or administration proposal put forward on...

I can't help but wonder why folks are so afraid to call the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona an act of terrorism.

The fear of the "T" word seems almost palpable in describing the gruesome events that took place this past Saturday. There is little explanation or reasoning for the...

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's (R) ill-timed gaffe is the somewhat typical and, some could say, contrived reaction to it. I'm not certain if the pundit class enjoys excoriating those who manage to reflect on race or whether they simply use these moments as a...

To the sour-tasting disappointment of many who were relying on it, the Senate failed to pass the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibustering block of the DREAM Act, with Republicans promising not to expect much in 2011. Democrats could only muster 55 votes while the White House stood by...

This past week found politicians playing with matches.

There is no other way to put it when the unemployment benefits of two million jobless Americans hang in the balance. Already, those on the mild comfort of knowing they can snap at least a few hundred cheddar a week for food...

Throughout 40 years of public service, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) never thought it would come down to this: finding himself in the well of the House floor, publicly chewed by his peers in a humiliating 333-79 censure vote. Rangel, a vaunted legislator deeply steeped in the workings of the House,...

In the past two weeks, one could make the argument that African American politicians are somehow under siege.

With Republicans headed into a majority, the four Congressional Black Caucus Members lose Chairmanships over powerful House committees. Eighteen will give up subcommittee Chairs. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) barely held...

What wasn't said during the Keith Olbermann debacle the other week had little to do with the fact that Olbermann clowned himself into a corner of ideological hypocrite. Let's forget for a moment that his show is mad predictable or that you know what he'll say or what his guests...

Conventional wisdom would dictate that all things political look good for Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele.

As the GOP's first African American Chair, Steele now holds the honor of presiding over one of the most successful electoral cycles for the party in generations. Republicans have not witnessed a wave...

I'm not particularly fond of the notion that a talk show host - even a comedian - feels familiar enough with the President of the United States to call him "dude." But, that's just me. Old school to the degree that it's difficult not to call veteran colleagues in my...

The constant theme heard in the firing of Juan Williams is that "it was coming" -- National Public Radio was aiming to do this all along. This leaves the whole affair abundantly odoriferous and foul, and leaves in my mind the scent of something staged. Most observers of the fiasco...

Public rancor directed at government workers is a bit confounding. It's on all levels: state, local, federal. Much of this particular election cycle has been spent bashing the government worker, blaming civil servants for everything from budget calamities to impending Greece-like insolvency which will afflict our kids in a not-so-distant...

In recent months, Democrats have pulled a respectable amount of political capital to energize the African American vote, their most reliable voting bloc to date. At crunch time, mere weeks before Election Day, the reserves are called in to activate an almost ancient network of Black politicos and party activists...

Typically, should White House public mole extraordinaire Bob Woodward openly chew on Washington rumor, there's a good chance it's talked about in circles to which the rest of us have little access. Such is the case with recent chatter over the future of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and where...

Stomach-punched into depression by that bruising Republican primary for Delaware's open U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Mike Castle (R) chewed on an independent write-in bid for the general election. The name-brand Delaware politician - who also served two years as Governor - refused to endorse the new school Tea Party upstart-turned-GOP-nominee...

There is a familiar tune that comes up every competitive election cycle: if Democrats are - at that moment - in charge or hold a majority in a particular legislative setting (let's say Congress), the African American political establishment with its accompanying Black body politic grows very nervous.

Thinking...

When Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) dropped his press conference bomb on the political universe, announcing that he was stepping away from city hall for good, the first name that popped up as a replacement was White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. That seemed natural, given Emanuel's public hints....

Some Republicans, joined by a chorus of conservatives brandishing their newly acquired "Tea Party" credentials, appear to have a fascination with doomsday scenarios. It's not enough that many engineer their own hearty implosion. The latest is a bizarre love affair with the government shutdown, something we haven't seen...

As much as the enlightened, historically correct bunch of us would hate to admit, Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally was a masterful stroke of PR genius. Beautifully staged, well-orchestrated and, more importantly, organized. One message was clear: any advertisers mulling withdrawal in fear of boycott catcalls should think twice -...

Perhaps one of the more eloquent and official retrospectives resulting from the Shirley Sherrod incident was White House Press Secretary Robert Gibb's reflection:

" ... I think we live in a culture that things whip around, where people want fast responses, we give fast responses. I think everybody...