Americans need to find a way to heal the divisions in this diverse and bitterly divided country.
Presidential campaign
Posted inNews & Opinion
The media, the candidates, and the future of politics
What will this presidential campaign teach our children? What do we want them to learn from it?
Posted inNews & Opinion
Is Hillary Clinton ‘qualified’ to be president?
Partisan politics aside, what do we think are the qualifications for president? And does Hillary Clinton have them?
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ENDORSEMENT: For a just future: Barack Obama
In a very real sense, this year’s presidential election campaign has taken place in an artificial setting, the state of the nation viewed through tinted glasses, significant problems and challenges glossed over or ignored. It’s as if voters and candidates caught those problems, briefly, in their peripheral vision and then blinked, turned, and the problems […]
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Energy conservation ignored in debate
Early in Tuesday’s presidential debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney got off on a tangent that wanted to be a discussion of energy policy. Instead, it was a mess. Arguments were mangled and facts were pushed over into a corner somewhere. As they tried to out-coal and out-natural gas one another, neither candidate was particularly […]
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Debate #2, part 2: Romney’s affirmative-action fib
Well, well, well…. Remember the debate segment last night where Romney bragged about seeking out qualified women to serve in his administration when he became governor? Not true, says our sister alt-weekly, the Boston Phoenix. When Romney was asked last night what he would do to help women achieve pay equity, Romney adopted a tactic […]
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Debate #2: Just how smart is the average voter?
Three-quarters of the way through last night’s presidential debate, I figured the debate was over — and that Mitt Romney was headed for the White House. I feel a little better about the event this morning; most of the media analysis I’ve read this morning is calling President Obama a clear winner in the debate. […]
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Week ahead: campaign finance filings; Brooks-Slaughter and Romney-Obama debates
Congressional candidates have until midnight tonight to turn in their quarterly reports, which will tell us how much money they’ve raised who they’ve raised it from. The reports can also give us some idea of who supports a candidate, and how that candidate may vote if put into office. In the 25th Congressional District race, […]
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Debate 1: Obama’s awful night
Holy cow! What on earth was wrong with Barack Obama last night? He seemed distracted, distant, and unprepared. As a thousand commentators have noted, Mitt Romney gave Obama plenty of openings for an aggressive stance, but he ignored them all. And instead of going on the offensive, he stayed on defense too much, lunging for […]
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I’m not finding comfort in the polls
The presidential polls are all over the lot right now; every time it looks as if a trend is developing, something else happens. This morning, Real Clear Politics is giving President Obama a poll average of plus 4 percent. But Rasmussen, which tracks likely voters, continues to show a much closer race – a tie, […]
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Try voting for a change
My parents, Fred and Phyllis Hare, never missed an election. In the 1950’s and 60’s, they were typical of their friends in the little village of Owego, New York, near the Pennsylvania border. They believed that citizens have a duty to vote and that those who couldn’t be bothered had a duty to keep their […]
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One nation indivisible?
For diehard Republicans and Democrats, the political conventions probably provided a lot of excitement. But I’m left with a real sense of unease, and not just about the economy or the outcome of the November election. I’m really, really worried about where we’re headed for the foreseeable future – and whether we can manage to […]
