I was in Washington this past weekend attending a board of trustees meeting at Howard University. I did not attend any of the events during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual awards dinner. After I heard about President Barack Obama’s speech, I was glad I didn’t attend. I did, though, have occasion to talk with [...]
(Speech Delivered August 16, 2011) It is good to be in Martha’s Vineyard, and it is good to be back in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Twenty years ago I was settling into my second year as governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The country and the world were getting used to having a black American [...]
The U.S. government can now meet its obligations. A deal has been struck between Democrats and Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. The crisis we have been forced to live through these past few weeks has been averted — for the time being. Yet this is no time for a celebration. Everyone in Washington [...]
It appears Barack Obama wanted to downplay the significance of America’s Libyan military action — the nation’s third simultaneous Middle Eastern conflict — so he held back making a major national address about the rationale, broad strategy, and definition of success in this theater of conflict. That was a mistake, and I am happy he [...]
Over the past few months watching the agenda from the leaders in Washington, I have thought back to 1983 with more frequency as the days have gone by. That year I was running in my last election for the Virginia Senate before seeking my first statewide office two years later … but I haven’t been [...]
“I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for. I’ve been told that I voted for a man who was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class and I’m waiting sir, I’m waiting. I still don’t feel it yet.” That was the [...]