Barack Obama

Forget hope and change; victimization is in. Dropped by the president and dismissed as a racist by many Americans, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright still draws crowds with his sometimes crotch-grabbing, always riveting soliloquies about black oppression. The former pastor of Barack Obama drew thousands last week to the 8,000-member Empowerment Temple in Baltimore City. Overflow lots at the church were filled, and five blocks on either side of the massive stadium-like stucco building in Park Heights - a part of town where Orthodox Jews mix sometimes uneasily with blacks - were wall to wall with cars.

Maybe what this country needs on the Supreme Court is a real politician or at least a sensible political scientist or two. Perhaps they would help the court's majority understand how it has allowed unlimited big-donor money to contaminate and almost destroy our politics. The infamous Citizens United decision -- which permits corporations and individuals to flood election campaigns with torrents of cash through super PACs as long as they are independent of candidates' formal organizations -- has invited some of the worst abuses of negative campaigning.

Barack Obama made himself a one-term president last week by telling ABC, "I think that same-sex couples should be able to get married. " Up till now, he was politically savvy, saying his position was "evolving. " But in repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he revealed to sophisticates where he stood. Another clear signal was Mr. Obama's refusal to allow the Justice Department to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman.

Barack Obama made himself a one-term president last week by telling ABC, "I think that same-sex couples should be able to get married. " Up till now, he was politically savvy, saying his position was "evolving. " But in repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he revealed to sophisticates where he stood. Another clear signal was Mr. Obama's refusal to allow the Justice Department to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman.

Last election, Barack Obama presented himself to the people as the reincarnation ofMartin Luther King Jr.. This election, he seems to have re-invented himself as an apostle of Christ, claiming at the National Prayer Breakfast last week that his economic policies are in line with Jesus' teachings. He has thus gone from the laughable to the blasphemous. Not only does President Obama pale in comparison to King, but does he really think that Jesus sanctions his anti-life policies of contraception, homosexuality and abortion?

President Obama has the talent to say things that are demonstrably false and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring. When asked a couple of weeks ago whether he thought the Supreme Court would uphold ObamaCare as constitutional or strike it down as unconstitutional he replied: "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of...

Sen. Barack Obama is finally coming into focus. For a while now, the Obamaphiles have insisted that their candidate represents a profound break with the past. No more culture wars. No more "relitigating the 1960s," in Mr. Obama's own words. But what about relitigating the 1980s? There's always been a certain cultural lag time to Barack and Michelle Obama, a kitschiness that's been hard to pinpoint. But I think I've got it: They're self-hating yuppies straight out of the 1980s, which was to the Obamas what the 1960s were to the Clintons.

Apparently, it comes as quite a surprise to some people that Sen. Barack Obama is black. I'm driven to this realization by the response to a recent column in which I referred to the senator as African-American. Many people wrote to correct me on that. Among the most memorable was a guy who said: "I heard his dad was a radical Muslim from Africa and his mom was a white atheist from Kansas City. If that be the case, wouldn't he be half a black man and half a white man? If he's a half-breed, shouldn't you do a correction?"

Here is the beauty of this country: With the right gimmick, you can make some dough off anything, even when the economy stinks. The other day, for instance, I am in Glauber's candy store in Lutherville, one of the great places in northern Baltimore County, staring at a display of milk-chocolate Barack lollipops and Obama in the Box candies. "We can't make them fast enough," says the woman behind the counter. I look again at these things. There is the smiling face of the next president of the United States etched onto 1.4 ounces of mouth-watering rich, dark chocolate that sells for $4.95 a pop. Oh, it's a beautiful thing.

She's not Obama Girl, but Cheryl A. McLeod may be the essence of the national phenomenon generated by Sen. Barack Obama. She's got the wardrobe and the record to prove her commitment. At the end of July, the Ellicott City resident set out by bus for Denver and a weekend training session for Obama convention volunteers. She thinks of the 2,000-mile, 39-hour trip (one way) as her chance to take part in changing the nation's political system, in behalf of a candidate who is the embodiment of that change.

As devotees of Barack Obama know all too well, qualities that made him so attractive as a candidate - an affinity for subtle arguments, a tendency to carefully weigh his options - have at times proved less useful in his role as president. That carefulness has been read as indecisiveness. The subtle arguments have sounded, to some ears, like hedging. In response, the president has simplified his rhetoric. The nuances of the 2009 Cairo speech about relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world have given way to chest thumping over killing Osama bin Laden.

If you have a college student in the family - or an interest in presidential politics - by now you've probably heard that the interest rates on Stafford student loans are set to double on July 1 unless Congress takes action. President Barack Obama has been touring college campuses this week asking that rates be held to 3.4 percent. As one might imagine, this is a message that has some traction with young voters, a crucial bloc for Democrats, and the reception at places like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where the president has taken his message, has been warm and welcoming.

President Obama has the talent to say things that are demonstrably false and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring. When asked a couple of weeks ago whether he thought the Supreme Court would uphold ObamaCare as constitutional or strike it down as unconstitutional he replied: "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of...

Every week on the lecture trail, I meet progressives who are demoralized and/or infuriated by Barack Obama's performance as president. They insist that they will not work for him again or even vote for him. Many have signed petitions saying as much. They are finished with President Obama. I have criticized many of Mr. Obama's policies. But my progressive friends and allies are overlooking three things: (1) Many of them played a disastrous role in the 2000 election, preventing the Gore administration that should have been; (2)

Thank you for enunciating my thoughts exactly in your editorial "Death by drone" (March 9). I would think a vast majority of the people voted for Barack Obama as a repudiation of the disastrous Bush-Cheney administration. But President Obama, like his predecessor, is trying to usurp power I would argue rests with the legislative branch. I would never have guessed that Attorney General Eric Holder would make some convoluted but lame excuse for denying U.S. citizens due process. Mr. Holder at his press conference gave a great impersonation of Dick Cheney.

Last election, Barack Obama presented himself to the people as the reincarnation ofMartin Luther King Jr.. This election, he seems to have re-invented himself as an apostle of Christ, claiming at the National Prayer Breakfast last week that his economic policies are in line with Jesus' teachings. He has thus gone from the laughable to the blasphemous. Not only does President Obama pale in comparison to King, but does he really think that Jesus sanctions his anti-life policies of contraception, homosexuality and abortion?

For weeks leading up to the November election, Alison Velez Lane spent evenings and weekends volunteering for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, even traveling across state lines to help sway voters. "[It] gave me great hope. It showed that Dr. King's dream for me to live in a world where I am not judged by the color of my skin but the 'content of my character' is alive," said the Baltimore attorney. Lane, 46, also felt a personal connection to the candidate. "President-elect [Obama]

Is there more to unite Americans than to divide them? As we argue ourselves into a fever about Iraq, global warming, free versus fair trade, values, immigration, safety nets versus self-reliance, wealth and poverty, the place of religion in our affairs, the definitions of family, and all the rest, the question gathers like storm clouds over our politics. Are "we the people" still "a people"? Or is that just a Pollyannaish wheeze that lost whatever mythical significance it may have had in the rising arguments over whether George W. Bush stole the presidency or Bill Clinton defiled it, whether homosexuals should marry, or whether Christ would have driven an SUV and voted GOP?

Regarding your "Romney Rivals Beat Obama to the Punch," I feel that Mitt Romney is President Obama's only real competition. The Republican candidates in this election are not very good and make mindless comments that make them seem less worthy of being the president of the United States. The one thing that I do not like about Mr. Romney though, is that he flip-flops. He changes his mind too many times; one moment he is pro-something and then the next minute he is anti- the same thing.

I have had enough of political bullying. What candidates are doing and saying to each other is tantamount to character defamation and harassment, both of which are against the law. I am a retired teacher mentor. I substitute, provide professional development for teachers and mentors and enjoy working in a school setting. We are all there for the same reason - student achievement and success in the real world. But the adults in the real world who want to be president are misbehaving.