Political coverage
Health care reform in the balance
The margins are so tight that a single vote could decide it, here or there. The number of formally undecided Democrats is dwindling by the hour, but still, no-one can be certain if the legislation will pass.
A bipartisan show of hands
For seven hours, Democrats and Republicans maintained the pretence of bipartisanship, knowing full well that agreement is impossible. President Obama was determined to show that he is taking the opposition’s ideas seriously. His opponents were keen to demonstrate that they could be reasonable. No amount of platitudes could disguise how entrenched their positions have become.
More tea, anyone?
The opening day account on Fox News sounded a suitably defensive note. “Don’t let anyone tell you this is not a big deal,” reporter Carl Cameron said. “If this gathering is unimportant and this movement is a mirage, why are its detractors so upset and its participants so upbeat?”
The state of Obama
“Democrats nationwide should be on notice,” wrote Republican Senator John Cornyn. “Voters are prepared to hold the party in power responsible for their reckless spending.” Democrat Evan Bayh agreed. “If you lose Massachusetts and that’s not a wake-up call, there’s no hope of waking up,” he said. The midterm elections in November seem awfully close.
Carter cries racism
The role of an elder statesman, free from the constraints of seeking political office, is to say the unsayable. When Jimmy Carter suggested that “an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man,” he was articulating a belief, commonly held in left wing circles, that his party would rather disown.
Torture: Obama opens the box
Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to conduct “a preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated” during interrogations was immediately attacked from both sides. House Minority Leader John Boehner called it “more of a witch hunt designed to satisfy political allies than a strategy to keep the American people safe.” Human Rights Watch Director Tom Malinowski wrote that “an investigation that focuses only on low-ranking operators would be, I think, worse than doing nothing at all.”
Election night in Chicago
Theodora Rose wept beneath her baseball cap. The mascara ran down her face as she pumped her fist in the air. “You have to have lived through what I’ve lived through to feel it,” she said.
The Democratic Convention
They gave out the flags at three o’clock, one for every person in the stadium. I told the woman thanks, but no thanks, I’m not American. “You are tonight,” she said.
Swing state road trip
Barack Obama cannot lose. Living in New York, watching cable news and obsessively checking poll results has convinced me of this. Predicting a landslide from diverse, middle-class Brooklyn has been shown to be foolish. I took a road trip across states that matter.
Palin’s convention
In Saint Paul, men wore Ronald Reagan t-shirts declaring “my heroes have always been cowboys.” The image of a young John McCain standing in front of his jet fighter was a distilled manifesto.
