Opinion: What Exactly Do Republicans Believe in Besides Trump?

Featured at Roll Call

When my parents were good Republicans — my mother a party activist, in fact — the label meant something entirely different than it does today.

It was the party of Lincoln, imagine that, and the GOP tolerated differences with a tent that was indeed big. You could be pro-civil rights and fiscally conservative, a working-class African-American family in Maryland, then, as now, a mostly blue state, and there was someone such as Republican Sen. Charles Mathias. With his streak of independence and loyalty to principle, he could represent you, your party and even those who didn’t vote for him.

But what does the GOP stand for in 2017? The answer, of course, is President Donald Trump, a man who changes positions and then contradicts himself.

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Jun082017 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: African-American Women Call Out the Democratic National Committee

Featured at Roll Call

We crave the hard-to-get while ignoring the one who has stuck with us through thick and thin. In a letter to the DNC chair, a group of black women — activists, community leaders and elected officials — has accused the Democratic Party of falling into that too-often-true cliche. Who can blame them?

Shades of “Moby-Dick” in the narrative that took hold after the party’s 2016 losses, with white working-class males replacing the elusive white whale of Melville’s imagination. Will the results for the Democrats be just as tragic as Captain Ahab’s if the party doubles down on that strategy for election cycles to come?

 

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Jun012017 TAGS: , , , ,

Opinion: Democrats May Be Too Optimistic About 2018 Gains

Featured at Roll Call

The redrawn congressional districts in North Carolina turned out to be too racially driven for a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives — with Justice Clarence Thomas siding with the majority.

Who’d have thought it?

But the fact that it’s arguably a toss-up, in some judges’ reasoning, how much the Republicans in the state legislature used race or pure partisan advantage while doing their dirty work highlights how difficult it will be for Democrats to retake the majority in the House — Trumpian scandals and a proposed budget that hurts many in the GOP base notwithstanding.

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May252017 TAGS: , , , , , ,

Opinion: Trump Policies on Voting and Criminal Justice Quietly Move Country Backward

Featured at Roll Call

While the Trump administration is in a state of perpetual turmoil, some of its promised policies are proceeding as planned. Support from a Republican Congress is softening with each cringe-worthy headline about slips, leaks and feuds; still, its members, mindful of the president’s loyal base, are proceeding with caution.

And when you step back from the chaos, don’t expect to see any progress on other issues — such as voting rights and criminal justice reform — that once promised a bit of bipartisan cooperation.

 

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May182017 TAGS: , , , , , ,

Comey’s Memo, Trump’s Russia Meeting

Featured at WCCB Rising

Charlotte, NC — There is controversy on two fronts at the White House. According to a memo, President Trump allegedly asked then FBI Director James Comey to end the bureau’s investigation into then National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The latest allegations come on the heels of reports that the President also shared classified information with Russian leaders during an Oval Office meeting last week. Members of the House Oversight Committee say they are willing to subpoena documents of any conversations between Comey and Trump if they are not handed over by May 24th.

Russia President Vladimir Putin is also offering to turn over to Congress records of President Donald Trump’s discussions with Russian diplomats in which Trump is said to have disclosed classified information.

Lawmakers on both aisles are pressing for more answers.

WCCB Political Contributor, Mary C. Curtis offers more perspective on the drama and chaos in Washington.

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May172017 TAGS: , , , , ,

Opinion: The Obama Effect — Pros and Cons for Republicans and Democrats

Featured at Roll Call

Barack Obama, the charismatic former president, can cause a scene just by walking into a coffee shop, as the rapturous crowds in usually blase New York City demonstrated at one of his cameos. So as he gently re-entered the public and policy eye this week, it’s no surprise that he could throw both Democrats and Republicans off balance — though of course for very different reasons.

 

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Apr272017 TAGS: , , , ,

Opinion: In North Carolina, the Good and Not-So-Good News

Featured at Roll Call

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s North Carolina, so, of course, the good news is followed by that pesky dark cloud every time.

You would think everyone in the state would welcome the end of the long saga over House Bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill, which was repealed recently in a compromise. That bill, which had compelled people to use the bathroom that corresponded to the gender on their birth certificates, also said cities could not follow Charlotte’s lead and enact their own anti-discrimination ordinances or a minimum wage and much more.

 

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Apr132017 TAGS: , , , , , , ,

Opinion: Not So Fast, Democrats. You Had a Good Day, but Now What?

Featured at Roll Call

As the Republican Party has learned, it’s much easier to be the party of “no” than to actually have a plan to lead. So while Democrats are celebrating a GOP in disarray, the party out of power needs a message and a plan.

Understandably, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosicelebrated as the GOP’s new-and-improved health care plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act failed. But long term, she must truly want to experience a return to the speaker’s post. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer knows just how to rile Donald Trump, his fellow New Yorker. But he still has to call Trump Mr. President.

So what happens the morning after the party, when all that remains are empty champagne bottles and a headache? f

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Mar302017 TAGS: , , , , ,

The GOP and White Evangelicals: A Forever Match?

Featured at Roll Call

Will a health care proposal that could toss “the least of these” off its rolls cause divisions between evangelicals uncomfortable with a close relationship with the Republican Party and those who feel just fine with the political association?

A shared anti-abortion stance, with the promise to appoint like-minded judges, has so far helped to keep the link between evangelicals and the GOP strong. But strains — along policy, generational, and racial lines — are showing within conservative faith groups, despite agreement on core beliefs.

 

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Mar162017 TAGS: , , , ,

Is There a Reward at the End of the Democrats’ Long Slog?

Featured at Roll Call

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The HKonJ protest this past weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina, may have been the largest such event, but it wasn’t the first time that thousands, with causes as diverse as the citizen-marchers themselves, showed up. For 11 years, with messages for both Republicans and Democrats, the faithful gathering at Historic Thousands on Jones Street have persisted.

There is a lesson for the dissatisfied, new to activism, who are now crowding town halls and filling the streets: Victories may never come, or may be incremental, at best. Each goal accomplished could be followed by a setback.

Are the protesters of 2017 in it for the long haul?

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Feb162017 TAGS: , , ,
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