Here is Caitlin Flanagan at The Atlantic: No constitutional scholar or judge has ever questioned the American right to skip a spouse’s annoying work thing. Has anyone ever had a good time at one of these horrible events? You’re clutching […]
Barack Obama
Barack Obama on megachurches
If you read some commentators and scholars, evangelical megachurches are places where Christian nationalism, patriarchy, white supremacy and a bunch of other ominous things happen. They might even try to evangelize you! It seems like Barack Obama is trying to […]
Obamacare enrollments nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021
According to The Washington Post, the Affordable Care Act is not only working, it is “working brilliantly.” Here is a taste of the Post‘s editorial page: The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a big reason why. It […]
Twenty years after his breakout speech, Obama is back tonight
Barack Obama is speaking at tonight’s Democratic National Convention. Twenty years ago, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, Obama delivered his breakout speech at the DNC in Boston. About three weeks before the 2004 convention, Obama was driving between Springfield […]
Barack Obama on Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race
#44 on #46: Joe Biden has been one of America’s most consequential presidents, as well as a dear friend and partner to me. Today, we’ve also been reminded — again — that he’s a patriot of the highest order. Sixteen […]
Scholars: Trump is the worst president in American history.
Here is the top 20 from the “2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey.” Obama and Ulysses S. Grant are on the upswing. Andrew Jackson and Calvin Coolidge out of the top 20. The bottom three: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, and […]
On the “poverty of anti-wokeness”
Over at Compact, writer Geoff Shullenberger reviews five books on “wokeness.” They are: Frederik deBoer, How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement Richard Hanania, The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics Yascha […]
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”: A short history
Over at Black Perspectives, historian Nico Slate reflects on the history of this famous phrase with a short analysis that spans from Theodore Parker to Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama and beyond. Here is a taste of his […]
Ron DeSantis wrote a book about the founding fathers
The full title is Dreams From Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama. Historian David Waldstreicher read it. Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: History works for Ron Desantis as an argument. It would […]
Is it better to be a vampire or a werewolf?
Obama!
Episode 45: Election Day 2004
The Christian Right gets George W. Bush another term. Episode 45: “Election Day: 2004” dropped today. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: If you like what you […]
Episode 35: “Mr. Keyes Goes to Illinois”
Barack Obama gets a challenger in the 2004 Illinois Senate race Episode 35: “Mr. Keyes Goes to Illinois” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above have access to new episodes of this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: […]
Obama enters the current debate over voting rights
Here is Obama at USA Today: When I spoke at John Lewis’ memorial service two years ago, I emphasized a truth John knew better than just about anyone. Our democracy isn’t a given. It isn’t self-executing. We, as citizens, have to nurture and […]
Colin Powell: “What if Obama WAS a Muslim?”
RIP Obituary. This October 2008 is a nice window into Powell’s politics:
President Joe Biden responds to the DACA decision
Yesterday a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program, or DACA, is illegal. DACA is Barack Obama’s 2012 program that protects the so-called “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as […]
What Obama and Biden thought about Trump’s election
Over at The Atlantic, Caroline Mimbs Nyce interviews Edward-Isaac Dovere, author of the upcoming book Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Trump. Here is a taste: Initially, President Obama seemed pretty restrained when commenting on the 45th […]
Obama on UFOs and aliens “When it comes to aliens, there are some things I just can’t tell you on air”
This is hilarious:
Obamacare sign-ups surge
Here is Margot Sanger-Katz and Sarah Kliff at The New York Times: Nearly one million Americans have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage during the first 10 weeks of a special open enrollment period the Biden administration began in […]
Episode 3: “The Audacity to Hope”
Barack Obama’s pastor is known for three sermons. In this episode, we put them in historical context. Episode 3: “The Audacity to Hope” (our fourth episode) dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this brand new narrative […]
Chicago’s DuSable Museum is getting Kamala Harris and Barack Obama hate mail
Here is Patrick Elwood at WGN-TV: The president and CEO of the DuSable Museum of African American History went public Tuesday with news of a series of threatening letters that began after the Capitol insurrection and shortly before the Biden/Harris administration took […]