He stares out from Newsweek magazine. Yes, Barack Obama is everywhere. And the headline, “Black & White,” goes to the heart of what people try to avoid but can’t seem to escape when talking about him: race. That’s understandable in a country that’s been struggling to reconcile ideals with action for most of its existence. [...]

Was it wishful thinking, naivete or utter cluelessness? There’s no denying that during last week’s debate of Republican candidates in Columbia the needle on the applause-o-meter went wild at the mention of Jack Bauer. Bauer was U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo’s go-to guy when confronted by debate moderators with a hypothetical terrorist attack on the country. [...]

Every reporter and commentator who covered the recent Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library recorded how the candidates competed to wrap themselves in the Reagan legacy, without giving real thought to what it was. But most of the reporters knew or remembered little of the Reagan presidency. They should have done their homework, the [...]

It was one of those extraordinary moments we’ve come to expect. Public figures play out private dramas in front of cameras and microphones. Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has returned. The breast cancer she discovered in 2004 has recurred, this time in her bones. She faces a lifetime of treatment as she fights the disease. John Edwards [...]

Individual words and phrases are determining public policy and life or death in America. This is both weird and terrifying and something for the press to take note of and deal with. I have in mind one word and one phrase. The word is “makaka” and the phrase is “the war on terror.” Saying “makaka” [...]

As you drive past the bowling alley, off in a corner of a slightly forlorn shopping center in Orangeburg, S.C., it’s hard to imagine the scene in February 1968. Thirty-nine years ago, what started as a protest of segregation ended with state troopers shooting into a crowd of black students at S.C. State, killing three [...]

With the 2008 campaigns under way for the GOP and Democratic Party presidential nominations, two key questions have to be asked. One focuses on the news media in general and the other on the Iowa caucuses in particular. With regard to the news media, the question is: “Hey, why can’t you get the question right?” [...]

It is a wearying thought, but of course the 2008 presidential campaign already has been underway for some time. Quaint and long ago were the days when political campaigns were waged and covered only in the actual election years. More than 40 years of contemporary political campaign books essentially began with Theodore White’s first of [...]