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Franken Named Minnesota Winner
By John Nichols
After weeks of Minnesota recount wrangling over the close contest between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party challenger Al Franken, the state canvassing board has certified Franken as the winner.
The canvassing board decision came Monday afternoon, after a final review of the tally, put Franken ahead by 225 votes.
The formal issuance of a certificate of election will not come for at least a week -- perhaps longer -- as legal challenges are sorted out.
(127) CommentsJanuary 4, 2009
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Most Valuable Progressives of 2008
By John Nichols
Progressives had more to celebrate in 2008 than in any year since the Supreme Court got into the business of stealing elections. The jubilant mood is dampened, of course, by the fact of a country is stuck in two military quagmires, ravaged by the most fearsome economic downturn in at least a half century and suffering from a serious case of Constitutional degeneration. Perhaps we have not yet reached an ideal champagne moment. But there is still good reason to toast the year's MVPs – Most Valuable Progressives.
Here they are:
MOST VALUABLE UNION: The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
(91) CommentsDecember 30, 2008
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Obama Should Engage Now for Middle East Peace
By John Nichols
An Israeli air assault on Palestinian targets in Gaza has taken an estimated 300 lives over the course of the past several days, and the death toll is mounting rapidly. Dozens of children have been killed, confirming that there is nothing "surgical" about these strikes.
Most U.S. media coverage portrays a simple struggle between Israelis on the one side and Gaza's Hamas militants on the other. This is the line that is being advanced aggressively by the Bush administration and that has effectively been accepted by President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, which is maintaining its "Bush speaks for the U.S. until January 20" line even as the crisis mounts. Following Bush's lead, Obama has refused to call for a more nuanced and effective U.S. response to an escalation of the Middle East conflict that Palestinian parliamentarian Mustafa Barghouti on Sunday described as the worst since the 1967 war in the region.
Obama and his aides should be openly counseling the Bush administration to use every diplomatic avenue to promote a ceasefire and, above all, to urge against an Israeli invasion and occupation of Gaza.
(140) CommentsDecember 29, 2008
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Eartha Kitt: An Anti-War Patriot
By John Nichols
Forty years ago, America's cultural icons expressed the frustratation of the American people with the failure of then-President Lyndon Johnson to end this country's undeclared war in Vietnam by boldly demanding peace.
The most respected newsman in the nation, CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, explained to a national television audience after the Tet Offensive that the war had gone horribly awry.
Singer Johnny Cash, whose music and style had made him a hero of blue-collar Americans, described himself as "a dove with claws" and began singing the anti-war song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream."
(77) CommentsDecember 26, 2008
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Celebrating a Christmas Truce and the Prospect of Peace
By John Nichols
On November 11 of this year – the 80th anniversary of that 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month when World War I ended – there was dedicated in Frélinghien, France, a memorial to the most remarkable event not merely of that particular conflict but perhaps of all conflicts.
The memorial recalls a soccer game played on Christmas Day, 1914, between men from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the 134th Saxon Infantry Regiment.
The Saxons regiment won the game 2-1.
(54) CommentsDecember 24, 2008
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A Christmas Pardon and the Making of a Unified Nation
By John Nichols
Seventy-five years ago this week, amidst all the demands of the New Deal moment that he was defining, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued a remarkable proclamation that had particular significance for Wisconsin.
The proclamation had was of practical significance to roughly 1,500 Americans.
But it had a symbolic meaning, not just for those individuals but for a nation that was still struggling to heal the divisions of a war that, while long ended, still strained the fabric of a nation that needed, desperately, to reconcile itself for the economic struggles of the Great Depression.
(7) CommentsDecember 23, 2008
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Obama's Wrong Turn on Trade
By John Nichols
Barack Obama's decision to nominate former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to serve as the next U.S. Trade Representative is deeply unsettling for those who hoped the president-elect would chart a new course with regard to trade policy.
Kirk's record is that of a free-trade absolutist who has embraced and defended the discredited positions of President Bush and former President Bill Clinton even as Americans have signaled their desire for policies that protect the interests of workers, farmers, communities and the environment in the U.S. and abroad.
Even more unsettling than the selection of Kirk is the abandonment by Obama of the candidacy of California Congressman Xavier Becerra to serve as his point-person on trade.
(55) CommentsDecember 19, 2008
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A Warrior for Workers
By John Nichols
When the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor decided in 2000 that it would stop giving "rubber stamp" backing to disappointing Democrats, the federation's dynamic leader at the time, Miguel Contreras, declared: "We've lifted the bar for endorsements."
"It's not enough to say you're for a minimum-wage increase and expect our backing," Contreras explained. "We want candidates who make a commitment to be with us on every vote, and to be with us on the picket lines."
The first candidate to leap the bar and secure the backing of the labor group was a California legislator named Hilda Solis, who was challenging incumbent Democratic Congressman Matthew Martinez.
(74) CommentsDecember 19, 2008
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A Cautious Farm and Food Pick
By John Nichols
The most telling Cabinet nomination that Barack Obama will advance once he assumes the presidency on January 20 -- and from a long-term standpoint perhaps the most meaningful one -- will not be his selection for secretary of State, secretary of Defense, Treasury secretary or attorney general. Obama, constrained by circumstance and the demands of official Washington, is set to fill those positions with predictable players from the usual D.C.-insider lists.
The pick that offers the most insight into where Obama will lead the country is his selection the most misunderstood position in the Cabinet: secretary of Agriculture.
The Department of Agriculture is, to be sure, misnamed. Ever since Abraham Lincoln evolved what had been a subdivision of the Patent Office and then a section of the Department of the Interior into an independent federal agency that the 16th president referred to as "the people's department," the department has been about much more than just farming. And that is only more so today, as the agency deals with everything from food safety and the spread of organic farming to buy-local food initiatives, rural development, food and nutrition programs in urban areas, and overseas aid.
(65) CommentsDecember 14, 2008
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What I Know About Jesse Jackson Jr.
By John Nichols
A lot of assumptions are being made with regard to Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
The Democratic representative from Chicago is, after 13 years in the House, earning the sort of attention accorded congressional leaders and presidential contenders. Unfortunately, it comes in the context of the scandal that has exploded around Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich stands accused of "hanging a 'for sale' sign" on the Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
(133) CommentsDecember 13, 2008
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