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November 02, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Political e-mail—Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
If you’re a regular reader of this space, you know that I frequently lament the phenomenon that is politics-by-e-mail.
October 26, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Roundup week: Johnson, AEA and partisan punditry
It’s roundup week – the time when we hit a variety of topics.
October 19, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Ivey’s attack on Davis goes beyond puzzling
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis this week rolled out his “Taxpayer Protection Plan,” which he says will save Alabamians an estimated $664 million a year.
October 12, 2009
Jennifer Foster: The moral imperative in health care debate
Let’s talk about health care as a moral imperative. I’ve watched the back-and-forth over the last few months between a local pastor who writes a regular column for the Religion page and various folks who have responded to what he’s said about the issue.
October 05, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Think critically about campaign promises you hear
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Johnson this week became the first candidate to sign a pledge to return more gasoline tax money to Madison County for road funding.
September 28, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Consider the words, not just the speaker
Let’s play a little game. You’ve undoubtedly heard about the way newspapers, especially daily newspapers in midsize and large markets, have been shedding staff members by the dozens to try to cut expenses.
September 21, 2009
Jennifer Foster: D.C. rife with politicians, statesmen in short supply
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) rolled out his health care proposal this week to much fanfare and attention … well, from the media, anyway.
September 14, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Finally, Obama shows the way on health care
In this space last week, I offered a list of things President Obama should do in his speech to Congress to help right the health care debate that went so wrong this summer.
September 05, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Righting health reform from A to Z
President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to try to get a handle on the health care debate that is roiling the country and starting to spiral out of control.
September 02, 2009
Foster: Ted Kennedy, paradoxes and partisanship
America bid its final farewell Saturday to U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.
August 22, 2009
Jennifer Foster: How to clean up the health care reform mess
Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a big project that has become a big mess?
August 10, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Forgive the mobs; they’re just fed up
After U.S. Senate leaders announced they wouldn’t move on health care reform until after the August recess (news, by the way, that was a welcome relief to millions of Americans, including yours truly), the White House political apparatus mobilized like the well-oiled campaign machine that it is, targeting those who oppose the current version of health care “reform” now working its way through Congress as obstructionists who oppose reform generally.
August 03, 2009
Jennifer Foster: What we can learn from Gates-gate
After Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at Gates’ home following a call about a potential burglary in progress, I knew race would be involved.
July 27, 2009
Jennifer Foster: This health care reform not what nation ordered
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement Thursday that his chamber won’t take action on health care reform until after the August recess was more a confirmation than breaking news.
Democratic congressional leaders have spent the last three weeks trying to keep their fingers in the dam of growing public skepticism and intraparty squabbling over the details of the plan. One of three Republican senators working to forge a compromise on the issue left the table this week, convinced Democratic leaders weren’t interested in listening.
July 20, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Sotomayor hearings offer little surprises
U.S. senators on the Judiciary Committee this week opened confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and began their public review of her record.
July 13, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Blue Dogs barking on health care reform
On Election Day last year, the only thing getting more attention than the complete Republican collapse in Congress was the election of America’s first black president.
July 09, 2009
Jennifer Foster: As you celebrate, think about the meaning of freedom
Freedom. What does it mean to you?
June 29, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Obama’s mixed signals on Iran are telling
As Iranians continued to protest their disputed presidential election this week, President Obama said at a news conference Tuesday that the U.S. is “appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days.
June 15, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Balance is key to prescription for health care reform
President Obama and congressional leaders took the first real steps this week toward converting 20 years of campaign promises on health care into public policy.
June 08, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Obama’s success depends on converting words into reality
President Obama made good on a campaign promise this week and spoke to the Muslim world from within the Muslim world.
June 01, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Search for clarity will make Sotomayor’s hearings must-see TV
America, meet Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In nominating her to the Supreme Court Tuesday, President Obama emphasized her personal story, her vast experience and past bipartisan support. He didn’t say it, but it’s just as important: She would bring badly needed gender and ethnic diversity to the Court.
May 26, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Councilman Dowdell’s actions continue to be puzzling
I just don’t get the Rev. Arthur Dowdell. Fresh from ripping the scab off of racial wounds by unilaterally removing decorative Confederate flags from the oldest cemetery in Auburn, the city councilman has now proclaimed that city officials should redraw ward lines to get more black residents on the City Council.
May 18, 2009
Jennifer Foster: This Obama flip-flop in best interest of American people
In a stunning about-face this week, President Obama decided that his administration will fight the release of more photographs related to allegations of torture by members of the U.S. military, after all.
May 11, 2009
Jennifer Foster: New Republican Party looks a lot like the old one
The National Council for a New America was all over the news this week.
May 04, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Specter’s switch illustrates two big problems in politics
It’s not often that one event encapsulates all the big things wrong with politics in Washington.
April 27, 2009
Jennifer Foster: High court grapples again with race-based preference policies
The national tug of war between affirmative action and reverse discrimination wound its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
April 20, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Not everyone who disagrees with you politically is your enemy
You can learn a lot from a tea party. Organizers meant the parties, held nationwide on Wednesday, as a visible demonstration of taxpayer anger with massive government spending and mounting federal debt.
April 13, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Red-light cameras an important tool that saves lives
My parents offered plenty of instruction, pointers and tips when I was learning to drive. Most valuable, however: “Never be the first car through an intersection.”
April 07, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Political labels convenient, but voters beware
A fellow blogger this week asked readers to list “progressive politicians (or progressive folks who might/should be persuaded to run for office).”
March 30, 2009
Jennifer Foster: Cardin’s plan a good start but needs work
U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) jumped into the fray over a new business model for the American newspaper industry this week with his introduction of The Newspaper Revitalization Act.
