Here is a long and remarkable AP piece about how Obama’s victory has opened the door on new definitions of black identity. Many blacks are quoted trying to come to terms with the new reality of acceptance, and talking about…
First two names on New Republic’s Obama’s power list are David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel who supported Hillary till June 4, the AIPAC convention, then jumped, and obviously suffered no consequences. Some guys have all the fun. TNR points…
I find Andrea Mitchell of NBC oddly charming. She is unpretentious, straightforward and racked by insecurity, which I always find appealing, so long as you’re not grabbing my arm. She works hard, she’s smart, and she doesn’t pretend to be…
but The New Republic is suddenly deeply relevant again. Here’s its O-List, a list of Obama’s braintrust, advisers, good friends. I’m sure this is somewhat prescriptive–i.e., if I read it closely, I bet I could find many a hidden memo…
Everyone who reads this blog knows what a blurb is, right? It’s an endorsement on the back jacket of a book. J.J. Goldberg, editorial director of the Forward, and a kind and thoughtful guy, blurbs Avraham Burg’s important new book,…
Richard Silverstein got a translation of the Maariv article about Rahm Emanuel’s father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, and says that it reports that his brother was killed by Arabs in Jerusalem when the doctor was about 7 years old. Silverstein: Thanks…
Tonight on Hardball, Chris Matthews read from Newsweek’s inside account of the McCain campaign and said Sarah Palin reportedly balked at meeting big “donors,” saying she thought that this was a “corrupt” practice. The story’s not up yet on the…
Former Palestinian advocate John Whitbeck argues that Obama’s apparent obeisance to the Israel lobby–appointing Emanuel– means that he will put off the “core” issue of American foreign policy till the second term. By then it will be too late to…
The other day I complained that Obama’s election-night speech didn’t show any of the personal authenticity of his first book, Dreams From My Father, and a friend sent me this link to Kansas City writer Jack Cashill’s theory, now wild…