presidential politics

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Obama's an Ideologue and a Pragmatist

 Obama's an  
 Ideologue and 
 a Pragmatist 
Ross Douthat
Dec 26, 2009 10:35 AM CST

Obama's an Ideologue and a Pragmatist

Which explains why it's still hard to get a fix on him

(Newser) - Depending on the day, President Obama might be derided as a Marxist radical, a corporate pawn, or pretty much anything in between, writes Ross Douthat. A year into his term, nobody can quite get a political fix on him. Why? "Because he’s an ideologue and a pragmatist all...

Dylan: Obama Will Be Best Prez He Can Be

(Newser) - Barack Obama will be “the best president he can be,” Bob Dylan tells the Times of London, though he has “no idea” if Obama will actually be good at the job. “Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as...

Enquirer 'Catches' Cindy McCain in Tryst

Tabloid says wife cheating for years on GOP candidate

(Newser) - The National Enquirer says it has caught Cindy McCain “passionately” locking lips with a long-haired, “washed-up ‘80s rock musician” type. The tabloid revealed its “world exclusive” spy photos—admittedly grainy—of the pair at a 2006 music festival in Phoenix. A Huffington Post reader shed doubt...

AP Poll: It's a Dead Heat
 AP Poll: It's a Dead Heat 
Oct 22, 2008 6:20 PM CDT

AP Poll: It's a Dead Heat

(Newser) - Not all the polls are going in Barack Obama's favor. An AP-GfK survey says John McCain has closed the gap with Obama after the last debate by gaining voters among whites and those earning less than $50,000. The poll has the race at 44%-43% in favor of Obama, a...

This Election Isn't Change, It's More of the Same: Didion

(Newser) - The striking thing about this election season isn’t how different it’s been from years past, “but precisely how similar,” Joan Didion writes for Salon. "Time got wasted in the familiar ways," she laments. The country is in the grip of a startling transformation, but...

Winning on the Web, Obama Turns to Xbox Advertising

Billboard in online racing game marks another first for Dem's campaign

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s campaign has been lauded for its online efforts, but in the race to make high-speed connections with voters, the Democrat has taken another “new media” leap, placing a campaign billboard inside an Xbox 360 online racing game. While politicians have promoted themselves online before, this is...

Obama Wins in a Landslide Among Schoolkids

(Newser) - Barack Obama may be pulling slowly away from John McCain, but he's the overwhelming choice among the pre-K through 12th grade set. In a Scholastic poll, 57% of 250,000 students picked the Dem, USA Today reports. And don’t write it off as youthful inexperience —the poll has...

McCain's Down, But Not Out
 McCain's Down, But Not Out 
OPINION
Oct 14, 2008 10:00 AM CDT

McCain's Down, But Not Out

History shows that McCain can surge

(Newser) - With Obama pulling well ahead of the Straight Talk Express, "the 2008 campaign seems poised to enter its Harry Truman phase," writes Walter Shapiro in Salon. But a November comeback isn’t out of the question. Shapiro runs down four factors that could push McCain into the White...

Mudslingers Today No Match for Jefferson
Mudslingers Today No Match for Jefferson
ANALYSIS
Oct 13, 2008 3:23 PM CDT

Mudslingers Today No Match for Jefferson

Dirty campaigning has always been a feature of American democracy

(Newser) - The 2008 presidential race is getting rough, but the combatants look well-mannered compared to mudslingers of the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson was called an “infidel” and an “unbeliever,” while John Adams was accused of possessing a “hideous hermaphroditical character.” Although “everybody always assumes there...

Tech Tools Gauge Politicians' Spin

Technology analyzes speech, voice and facial expressions to help researchers read politicians' lips

(Newser) - Want to know if John McCain and Barack Obama are stretching the truth? Speech, voice, and facial recognition technology is helping researchers determine just that, New Scientist reports. Analyzing words from 150 speeches from the presidential election, one researcher found that Obama used much higher “levels of spin” than...

The Bromance of Mac & Graham
 The Bromance 
 of Mac & Graham 
OPINION
Sep 5, 2008 4:50 PM CDT

The Bromance of Mac & Graham

SC senator plays eager foil to Republican nominee's quirks

(Newser) - “While most politicians collect allies, McCain collects followers,” Eve Fairbanks writes in the New Republic, and there’s no better example than Sen. Lindsey Graham, McCain’s “sidekick” and foil in the nation's most prominent “bromance.” McCain’s top stump surrogate is no stranger to...

Obama: 'Presumptuous' Nominee
 Obama:
 'Presumptuous' Nominee
Opinion
Jul 30, 2008 9:18 AM CDT

Obama: 'Presumptuous' Nominee

Holds court in DC as though he were already elected

(Newser) - Barack Obama isn’t the president yet, but no one seems to have broken that news to Barack Obama. The Democrats' presumptive, and increasingly "presumptuous," nominee spent yesterday cavorting about Washington as though he already owned the place, writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Obama met with...

GOP Parodies Obama's Facebook Page
GOP Parodies Obama's Facebook Page
Jul 30, 2008 1:00 AM CDT

GOP Parodies Obama's Facebook Page

'Barackbook' highlights candidate's controversial 'friends'

(Newser) - The GOP is lampooning Barack Obama's popular Facebook page with something it calls Barackbook. The fake Facebook clone features a frowning Obama whose status reads "hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November," Wired reports. In addition, the imaginary FriendFeed highlights controversial figures associated with the candidate,...

Judaism's Black Converts Growing Part of US Mosaic

More African-Americans switch religions even as Obama seeks to renew connection

(Newser) - The number of African-Americans converting to Judaism is growing, the Christian Science Monitor reports, at a time when Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to renew what was once a strong alliance between the groups. Politics, though, plays a small role; "Obama's candidacy, African-Americans choosing to be Jews ... is all...

No More Navel-Gazing; Go After McCain
No More
Navel-Gazing;
Go After McCain
OPINION
Jul 16, 2008 8:00 PM CDT

No More Navel-Gazing; Go After McCain

Obama must make the race be about GOP failures, not himself

(Newser) - There are two races for president this year, Michael Tomasky writes in the Guardian, “a race about Barack Obama and a race about what the GOP has done to the country.” And Obama would be well served to turn the focus to John McCain, whose recent gaffes have...

6 Maxims for Navigating the VP Search
6 Maxims for
Navigating the
VP Search 
GLOSSIES
Jul 2, 2008 2:10 PM CDT

6 Maxims for Navigating the VP Search

Media often miss behind-the-scenes political intrigue

(Newser) - While pundits stoke the frenzy around potential vice-presidential candidates, they rarely see what actually happens behind the campaign curtain. In Men's Vogue, Lloyd Grove offers six maxims to help make sense of the "veepstakes" hype:
  • Presidential hopefuls seek input from several quarters to curry favor, though most of it
...

Daytime TV as Campaign Stop
 Daytime TV as Campaign Stop 
ANALYSIS
Jun 3, 2008 2:26 PM CDT

Daytime TV as Campaign Stop

'Low-info' voters, soft-pedaling hosts want personal details

(Newser) - You know where they stand on gas prices, but what about pantsuits and family pets? Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama are making the rounds of daytime talk shows and celebrity gossipfests, courting "low-info" voters—those mostly white, working class, and undecided folks who haven't been paying much...

Political Cartoons No Longer Front and Center

Power of the pen left behind in 20th century

(Newser) - Political cartoons remain, but they lost front page power and heft long ago, says U.S. News & World Report. Cartoonists like Thomas Nast could once sway elections—Ulysses S. Grant credited Nast's pencil to helping him win the presidency—but the ranks of full-time pen-and-paper satirists have thinned to...

Clinton Camp Calls Obama Plagiarist
Clinton Camp Calls Obama Plagiarist
Feb 18, 2008 6:48 PM CST

Clinton Camp Calls Obama Plagiarist

He says same of her, but admits he 'should have' credited lines

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of plagiarism today over a speech he gave two nights ago, the Swamp blog reports. Obama retaliated by hitting Hillary with five instances of her robbing his words, including "Yes, we can" and "Bring this country together." But the Illinois senator later...

Religion Remains Flashpoint With Huckabee

GOP candidate sounds off on creationism in schools, Romney's Mormon faith

(Newser) - A month before the Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee reacted with frustration when asked if creationism should be taught in public schools, the AP reports. Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has said he does not believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, said his personal views on religion...

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