David Corn
David Corn is the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine. Prior to that he was the Washington editor of The Nation magazine for twenty years... moreHuffington to Obama: Get Urgent, Now!
On Friday, after President Obama issued a Rose Garden statement on the economy and said that he'd be "discussing" new economic initiatives in "the weeks ahead," a liberal journalist tweeted, "nothing says 'fierce urgency of now' like the last three months." It was a well-timed dig at the Obama (who has often quoted Martin Luther King Jr.'s reference to "fierce urgency of now") for being less than exertive concerning the economy in previous weeks. Though in the coming days, Obama would propose expanding certain business tax breaks and establishing a $50 billion infrastructure improvement ...
Campaign 2010: Hill Dems Getting Steamed at Obama?
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . That's the sound of a time bomb on Capitol Hill that may soon explode. As the final stretch of the 2010 congressional elections is about to start -- Labor Day weekend is the traditional kickoff for campaign season -- Democrats are increasingly upset at the Obama White House. For weeks, President Obama, whether on vacation or not, has been not been publicly focusing on the only issue congressional Democrats care about: jobs. This week, Obama devoted most of his time to Iraq and the Middle East process. "None of that is going to drive our base to the polls in ...
Obama's Iraq War Speech: Why?
Why is Barack Obama giving a speech on Iraq? To mark the end of U.S. combat missions in the nation George W. Bush invaded over seven years ago, the president on Tuesday night will deliver a high-profile address from the Oval Office. Speeches from the Oval Office are usually reserved for the most pressing and profound matters of a presidency. And this partial end of the Iraq war -- the United States will still have 50,000 troops stationed there -- is a significant event. It demonstrates that Obama has kept a serious campaign promise: to end this war. But with the economy foundering -- many of ...
Obama and the Economy: An Exertion Gap?
Next time Gallup or a major news outfit conducts a poll, here's the question I'd like to see asked: Do you believe that President Obama and the congressional Democrats are working their butts off day and night to turn around the weak U.S. economy? Polls routinely ask respondents if they trust or approve of how the president and members of Congress are "handling" the economy. In a recent survey, no one scored well. Only 45 percent trusted the congressional Democrats to do a good job on the economy; 43 percent said the same of the Republicans; and fewer people -- 41 percent -- approved of ...
'Ground Zero Mosque': A Conservative Undermines His Own Crusade
Should a fellow appointed to a federal commission created to promote religious tolerance overseas be a member of the opposition to the Cordoba House project, which has been dubbed the "Ground Zero mosque" by its critics? Leonard Leo, one of Washington's little-known but influential insiders, is a longtime conservative activist and a top official of the Federalist Society, a right-wing legal outfit. During the George W. Bush administration, he was one of a quartet of conservative power brokers dubbed the Four Horseman, who held daily conference calls to shape judicial strategies for the White ...
Where Are All the UFO Photos?
Okay, where are all the UFO pictures? And the UFO videos? In recent years, the world has exploded with photographic and video equipment. There are about 5 billion cellphones in circulation throughout the world -- many, if not most, equipped with still and/or video cameras. (The number of mobile broadband subscriptions will probably top a billion globally this year.) And there are millions, if not billions, of easy-to-use video cameras in circulation, as well as billions of still-picture cameras. Essentially, billions of people are able to snap or otherwise shoot the least bit interesting ...
Elizabeth Warren or Bust!
I've been out of Washington for a little while -- escaping the heat and the disheartening politics. I've even managed to go for more than a week without tweeting (with a few lapses). But it's hard to escape people who want to talk about what's happening back within the Beltway. What's edifying is discovering what folks outside Washington focus on. Those of us who follow politics and policy for a living often have numerous matters on our to-watch lists; recently, that roster has been long, including Afghanistan, extending the Bush tax cuts, the coming congressional elections, the Colorado ...
Campaign 2010: GOP Strategy Should Be, Silence is Golden
Don't stop me if you've heard this before--for it's my theme of 2010: the Republicans ought to stop talking. I've made this point several times in the past few months. But the GOP keeps serving up reminders--and ammo--that they're not listening. With the economy still anemic--and perhaps even teetering on the edge of a second dip--the Republicans are poised to take full advantage of a political tradition: the party that doesn't control the White House almost always picks up seats in Congress during the first mid-term election. This year, polls show that there are lots of disaffected voters ...
Rand Paul in Kentucky: Campaign 2010's Most Important Senate Contest
The other day, I was wondering which of the 37 Senate races underway at the moment is the most important. The one in Nevada? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could be booted out of the top Senate position by former Republican state assemblywoman Sharron Angle, a Tea Party darling who has called for phasing out Social Security, who has scolded out-of-work workers seeking unemployment benefits as "spoiled," and who is doing all she can to avoid taking questions from mainstream reporters. Or is it the Illinois race? This contest features two weak and flailing candidates; Republican Rep. Mark ...
Prepping for 2012, Newt Gingrich Dusts Off His Old Playbook
The other day an associate of Newt Gingrich surprised me: He told me there's a 97 percent chance that Gingrich will run for president in 2012. Really? I replied, with a laugh. Yes, he said seriously. He noted that he had recently spoken to the former Republican House speaker and had picked up a he's-going-for-it vibe and that, more telling, he had seen that Gingrich was surrounding himself with veteran political operatives who would only likely flock to Gingrich for a presidential bid. Then on Thursday, Gingrich delivered a speech at the American Enterprise Institute -- one with a highfalutin' ...
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