Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
It may be the biggest myth in American politics: the well-oiled Kennedy machine. Well-oiled it was in 1960, when old Joe Kennedy was paying for it and running it through Bobby. But the machine has stumbled ever since, especially on the presidential stage. Bobby Kennedy’s run in 1968 got off to a bad start. He…
How did David Young suddenly emerge as the leading candidate for Democratic Party chair? Here’s the story from one party insider: Governor Perdue was supporting David Parker, a long-time party activist who has wanted to be chair for years. But Chairman Jerry Meek didn’t like being told what to do. He reminded the Governor that…
Last week President Obama’s ‘favorable’ rating was an eye-popping 70% and after the last week of canonization it may now be 90% and rising. But there are shoals in the waters. Tuesday, during his inaugural, the president proclaimed, “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,”…
I’d like to know if one day last week President Obama woke up and said, The day before I’m inaugurated I’m going to paint the walls in a homeless shelter to encourage public service. Or if, instead, someone in his campaign said, We’ve got a great idea for a photo-op – then invited the press…
When John Edwards was running for Senate in 1998, the N&O did a story about how little money he had raised from the state’s business community – and how much then-Senator Lauch Faircloth had raised there. Sam Hunt, ex-DOT Secretary to Governor Hunt, was quoted as saying the road to the Senate ran through the…
Let’s extend the Obama-Lincoln comparison. Carter finds it troubling. But it’s legitimate given their roots, their inexperience and their unlikely rise to the White House. Of course, we can’t know now whether Obama will be remembered as a great President – or an awful one. Certainly, expectations are higher for him today than they were…
Of course I give President Obama (I love the sound of that) an A+ for his speech. As Carter said in his post, Obama may not match Lincoln as a President (who did?), but he comes close as a writer. Obama’s rhetorical skill is more than an exceptional way with words and a sensitive ear…
All this talk about Obama being Lincoln is getting downright troubling – either our new president’s contracted a bad case of idol worship, or this is a ploy to wrap himself in the cloak of Lincoln because he’s gotten into the business of presidential myth-making even before he’s taken the oath of office. I don’t…
Throughout the transition, I would catch a glimpse of Obama on TV with a graphic reminding me he is President-elect. Every time, I was surprised again. And I am still amazed he carried North Carolina. But I wonder how long the racial honeymoon will last. How long before bigotry reenters the political debate, at least…
Carter Wrenn and I are moving to Substack. That’s where you’ll find our blogs in the…
The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My…
A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack…