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3 Reasons Obama Should Keep His Libya Speech Brief
Tweet Share on Facebook March 28, 2011 Comment (8)President Obama announced late on Friday that he’d be addressing the nation tonight about the situation in Libya. The last time he gave a major speech was the State of the Union address, in which he spoke for over an hour, and before that, at the memorial service in Tucson, for over half an hour—a record as far as eulogies by presidents go. (Bush, Clinton, and Reagan all spoke to our country for an average of six to nine minutes during times of national tragedy, and the gold standard of elegies, the Gettysburg Address, clocked in at only two minutes.) You can see why I think there’s a good chance his speech tonight will go too long. Here are three reasons why he should keep it short:
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Time for Obama and Democrats to Act on Budget Deficit
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2011 Comment (19) -
What Congress Needs to Know About Funding NPR and PBS
Tweet Share on Facebook March 14, 2011 Comment (25)I appear fairly regularly as a political commentator on NPR, most often on Tell Me More, which is hosted by Michel Martin and produced in association with the African-American Public Radio Consortium. We often talk about current headlines and political developments that other news outlets are missing, and many times have gotten into what the impact will be on minority voters. The nice thing about NPR is that the culture there is one of respect, intellectual curiosity, and above all, thoughtful listening. There’s no shouting and no interrupting. This is not cable TV.
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's Fight Is About Who's in Charge
Tweet Share on Facebook March 4, 2011 Comment (58)This week closes the third week of the stalemate in Wisconsin, without a vote on Gov. Scott Walker's bill to limit collective bargaining by state public employee unions in order to solve the state budget crisis. The governor announced yesterday that 1,500 state employees would be laid off unless Democratic legislators returned to the state for a vote. The governor's new budget, unveiled this week, is a start at getting things back on track, if only the legislature could vote on it and avoid layoffs. But 14 Democratic state legislators are holed up at a hotel with a water park just over the state line in Illinois. Really? A water park?
