May 13th, 2012
It was a “profile in courage” moment from the American president, but one loaded with political risk.
Consider the fact that just the previous day the citizens of North Carolina voted to ban same-sex marriage and all forms of civil unions by a 20-point margin, enshrining unequal treatment in their state constitution.
This has not been an unusual result when it has been put to the voters — more than 30 states have taken the same step, while in the half a dozen states where marriage equality is legal it has been achieved via state legislatures or judicial decision. Read More…
April 29th, 2012
It’s been one year since Osama bin Laden was killed. I don’t imagine I’ll ever be as happy again to hear that someone was shot in the face.
Revenge, justice, call it what you will, but it felt good, like a hinge of history finally closing, a bookend to a decade spent with images in our minds of the twin towers imploding.
I was three blocks away in New York on 9/11, working as a speech writer at City Hall and spent the next three months writing eulogies. So yeah, this was personal. But the horror was personal to everyone with a heart and a head. Read More…
April 3rd, 2012
It sounded like the dialogue from a bad spy film.
“This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
“I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.”
But in fact it was a exchange between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, accidentally caught on an open microphone as they discussed apparently deadlocked talks on a missile shield – and it quickly lodged itself in the American presidential campaign debate. Read More…
February 13th, 2012
President Obama’s re-election strategy is focused on portraying himself as the defender of the forgotten American middle class. And, writes John Avlon, there are signs that this strategy is succeeding.
For the first time since the short-lived boost after the death of Osama bin Laden, a majority of Americans now approve of Obama’s job performance. He is beating the battered, but still presumed Republican nominee, Mitt Romney in a new Washington Post/ABC poll. Read More…
