Wayne Barrett provides some important context for the Obama-Sharpton alliance:
President Obama’s extraordinary embrace of Reverend Al Sharpton last week has as much to do with the president’s antipathy for three other black leaders—Jesse Jackson, Dr. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley—as it does with any genuine White House enthusiasm for the controversial New York Read More
It’s not clear who at this point considers Anthony Weiner a candidate for mayor–his official withdrawal from consideration will reportedly come shortly–but someone is still taking him seriously.
At an endorsement meeting of the Kings County Democratic Organization last week at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club Read More
The late philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor had a “very nice, cordial relationship” with her son, Anthony Marshall, said Linda Gillies, longtime director of the now-defunct charitable foundation set up by Ms. Astor’s husband, Vincent Astor. “They spoke, they laughed together and they worked together.”
Yet, mother and son inevitably had their moments. Ms. Read More
City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who, in running for mayor, says the city must be "taken back from the billionaires," spoke at a breakfast this morning where he assailed wealthy businessmen who “failed” in the free market and are now lining up for federal bailout money.
“What we are doing right now doesn’t fully Read More
Six prospective Senate appointees are mentioned in Patrick Fitzgerald’s 76-page indictment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, though none of them are named.
Fitzgerald, at his press conference, said that this is because aspersions shouldn’t be cast on individuals whose names get dragged into recorded conversations, and that public finger-pointing should be focused Read More
Intern extraordinaire Bharat Ayyar listened to NPR’s Michael Martin interview David Paterson,who waxed poetic on NPR about his speech to the N.A.A.C.P. yesterday (where he was uncharacteristically outspoken about that New Yorker cover).
Today, Paterson talked about African-American leadership. Of the civil rights leaders, he said, “These people had to invest Read More
On a Sunday afternoon 21 Junes ago, James Worthy dove for an impossible loose ball and somehow swatted it to a streaking Magic Johnson, whose early third quarter lay-up ignited the crowd and signaled a decisive shift in momentum. From there, the home-standing Lakers, who had trailed the Celtics by five at halftime, breezed to Read More
When Bill Clinton pointed out yesterday, while talking about Barack Obama’s South Carolina victory, that Jesse Jackson won the state in 1984 and 1988, the former President got plenty of attention.
Clinton seemed to be encouraging the perception that Obama won because of support from black voters, and that his victory was more Read More
After speaking at Barack Obama’s watch party in Manhattan, I sat down with City Councilman Al Vann of Brooklyn, who compared this campaign to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, which Vann said he spearheaded in New York.
“The primary engine driving that campaign really was the black church,” Vann said of the Read More
