Barack Obama

Bookmark this page to stay up to date on ThePhoenix.com's latest coverage of Barack Obama. ThePhoenix.com endorsed Obama prior to the Massachusetts Democratic Primary. Columnist and political consultant Steven Stark has been covering the horse race in his Presidential Tote Board column since February of 2007, and also in an accompanying blog. In March of 2007, Stark was among the first to predict, while Hilary Clinton was still firmly ahead in the polls, that the odds favored an Obama nomination. In September 2007, in a widely-circulated essay, Al Giordano cursed Obama for making him (and other dyed-in-the-wool radicals) care about presidential politics again, while offering an eerily prescient examination of Obama's revolutionary fundraising techniques. More recently, Steven Stark examined the Obama camp's cautious approach to the DNC, and argued that the convention could actually hurt Obama's visibility. ThePhoenix.com's David S. Bernstein is in Denver covering the Democratic National Convention. You can follow his live updates, Talking Politics blog posts, and columns at our Election 2008 homepage.

Latest Articles

It's time Obama moved vigorously to advance gay and lesbian rights
If you are gay or lesbian, or if you care about realizing social justice, you must be wondering when Obama is going to turn his attention to the fact that one in 10 of the nation's more than 230 million adults are second-class citizens.
By EDITORIAL | June 24, 2009

Human rights watch

Acknowledging, and punishing, torture
Last week, on the heels of anti-torture panels and protests in Portland, Washington DC, and elsewhere, the Justice Department told the nation that it would have to wait a few more days before information about American torture policies and practices is made public.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 24, 2009

Tiananmen 2.0?

The Iranian uprising; plus, Yoon disses the BRA
The presidential election stolen from Mir Hossein Mousavi was not really an election at all. It was a sham, an elaborate beauty contest produced by the Islamist theocracy that holds the real power in Iran. The mullahs pick the candidates and the outcome.
By EDITORIAL | June 17, 2009

Bad blood at 'PRO

Trouble at Salty's Shack. Plus, firefighters burn their bridges and Esserman's bad attitude.
The ongoing Hatefest at Salty's Joint has hit the Urinal, with an absolutely ridiculous story alleging that veteran Rhode Island radio hand, Ron St. Pierre, inadvertently "assaulted" John "The Journalist" DePetro with an 8x11" sheet of paper loaded with a dangerous metal staple.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | June 17, 2009

Debating the Middle East muddle

Global Politics
US military aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan is being wasted and should be redirected to the police and moderate non-violent groups working for education and the rule of law, according to two Middle East experts who spoke Sunday at the Community Church of Providence.
By STEVEN STYCOS | June 17, 2009

Supreme court

Maine senators playing major role in Sotomayor confirmation
Next month, Congress will begin confirmation hearings to decide the fate of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the 55-year-old Bronx native whom President Barack Obama nominated last month to fill retiring Justice David Souter's spot on the nine-member bench.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 17, 2009

Cicilline, the firefighters, and the politics of protest

Citywatch
It is, on some level, hard to pick any winners in the li'l Rhody's latest battle royale.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 17, 2009

Under attack

Civil liberties' limits grow
Recent decisions by President Barack Obama and Maine Governor John Baldacci have dampened progressive hopes that the Republican-inspired war on civil liberties might be winding down.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 10, 2009

Summer people

Artists have long visited Maine, too
Ever wonder why there is so much professional-level art made and shown in Maine, a state with a total population less than that of many minor cities? One answer is that following the fame of people like Winslow Homer, creative types flocked to Maine, often to artists' colonies.
By KEN GREENLEAF | June 10, 2009

Free and easy

10 cash-free ways to make summer not suck
With a beach season approaching in which most people will be squeezing quarters till the eagles fart, it's fair enough to ask aloud, "Is this going to be the worst summer ever ?"
By CHRIS FARAONE | June 11, 2009

Bridge to nowhere

What's in a name? Plus, a curious consultant, and bashing Obama.
The Department of Transportation has taken quite a few knocks in this space over the years. So to try to offset that, spurred by the story in the June 8 Urinal about the Pawtucket River Bridge, let us throw them a compliment: they do a hell of an artist's rendering.
By PHILLIPE and JORGE | June 10, 2009

Fixing Boston Schools

Three new ways of thinking
The race to elect a new mayor of Boston has been in progress for several weeks, and at last there are indications that the candidates are capable of intelligent thought — at least about improving the city's public schools.
By EDITORIAL | June 10, 2009

Sotomayor's mixed message on free speech

Freedom Watch
Minutes after President Barack Obama announced that he was nominating appellate judge Sonia Sotomayor for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, battle lines were drawn on the pre-scripted questions of "post-racial" America.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | June 03, 2009

Right-wing terror

The murder of Dr. George Tiller
Conservatives scoffed in April when the Department of Homeland Security warned that the United States could face another wave of homegrown attacks.
By EDITORIAL | June 03, 2009

The blessing of abortion

Pro-choice provocateur: Meet Cambridge divinity dean Katherine Ragsdale
Abortion is dominating the headlines — and giving new resonance to the radically pro-choice gospel of Katherine Ragsdale, dean of Cambridge's Episcopal Divinity School.
By ADAM REILLY | June 12, 2009

Judging the judge

Facing the facts of the Sotomayor nomination
Women may not yet have full equality, but Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the US Supreme Court proves we can compete with the big guys now. It also means that women accepting patronage (and every political appointment is patronage) have an equal shot at getting pounded in the process.
By Mary Ann Sorrentino | June 03, 2009

Justice prevails

Suttell's supreme nomination. Plus, no E-Z Pass, and a few big nights out.
Well, it's about time people in power began taking note of who Phillipe and Jorge support, just as we jettisoned Barack Obama into the presidency after endorsing him prior to the Iowa caucus.
By PHILLIPE and JORGE | June 03, 2009

Female Trouble

A shocking dearth of Republican female pols should have the party in a panic. So why doesn't it care?
Conventional political wisdom says that for a party to oppose a woman — or a women's issue — it's best to send out a female spokesperson.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | June 03, 2009

Interview: Roberto Benigni

TuttoDante, Benigni's one-man show
"Dante is talking to everybody, not just in the Middle Ages."
By JIM SULLIVAN | June 03, 2009

Mixed messages

Letters to the Boston editor, May 29, 2009
I’ve always thought it bizarre that an aggressively conservative, Republican-channeling TV network such as Fox would be so enthusiastic about featuring sex (and other sensationalism), but I guess they know their audience.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | May 27, 2009

Best in show

Making the picks at the Newport Film Festival
Tom Hall, the new artistic director of the Newport International Film Festival (June 3-7), had the usual hard time culling more than 600 submissions — some invited but most over the transom — down to 90 films — 17 narrative features (plus five Hollywood classics), 17 feature-length documentaries, and 56 shorts.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | May 27, 2009

On Sotomayor

A noble pick that highlights a political flash point. Plus, California's shame.
There is a pleasing symmetry to President Obama's nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.
By EDITORIAL | May 27, 2009

Legalize pot now

With support from the unlikeliest circles, this could be marijuana's moment
The Obama administration, already overtaxed with two foreign campaigns, made headlines this past week when the White House's newly minted director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy called for an end to the "War on Drugs."
By MIKE MILIARD | June 01, 2009

Fascism in the eye of the beholder

Letters to the Boston editor, May 22, 2009
You claim that Dick Cheney was George W. Bush’s number-one thug. But I would argue that Bush was Cheney ’s thug.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | May 20, 2009

Review: The Girlfriend Experience

Getting the business
Comparing prostitution with capitalism is about as old as the oldest profession itself.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 20, 2009

Men plus money equals mess

The financial crisis is a man-made problem. And it might not have occurred if we had listened to women.
Since Iceland is something of the epicenter of the global financial crisis — its government being the first to essentially go belly up — it's probably not surprising that the Icelanders have come up with the most novel and interesting theory as to what caused the meltdown. And they may be right.
By STEVEN STARK | May 14, 2009

Warming up to a green revolution

Action speaks!
President Obama's push for a green revolution has inevitably drawn comparisons to President Kennedy's famous call, 48 years ago, for a moon landing.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 13, 2009

Despot for attention

Plus, vote for Passoni
Former vice-president Dick Cheney has taken his torture tour all over the place in the past few weeks, waging an ongoing campaign to defend what the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation."
By EDITORIAL | May 13, 2009

Dodging shots

In politics, and with the media, it's the outcome, and not the intention, that matters. That's fortunate for Senator Susan Collins, who got lucky twice in the same week.
By JEFF INGLIS | May 06, 2009

Arlen the Family

Will Specter the Defector trigger a Democratic domination, or is his jump the sign of a growing moderate revolution?
So, Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. That's old news.
By STEVEN STARK | May 11, 2009

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[ART] Indonesia and the Zone of Attraction: Textiles from the Permanent Collection

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