If Democrats nominate Clinton, young voters will permanently be disenchanted with the Democratic Party and cripple our election prospects for decades (and don’t get me started on the Black vote). But if Democrats nominate Obama, frustrated women may stay home and likewise severely hamper Democratic efforts in the general and subsequent elections. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Colin Powell’s been saying some awfully nice things about Barack Obama, and making much of his stance as an undecided voter. Some are wondering if an endorsement could be in the works. Much as I like Obama and want to see good things happen to him, that would be a very bad move for Powell’s reputation.

No world-beater, of course, but most under-rated President?

A few days ago, I wrote a post on what I termed “quiet injustices” — things that pretty clearly implicate questions of ethics and morality in our society, but yet rarely seem to bother us. My main example was D.C. disenfranchisement. Another is felon disenfranchisement (after their sentences have been served). Neither, I think, is in any remote way justifiable, and neither are particularly salient political issues. But the more I think about it, the more I question whether even...

FM 3-24 is the Army and Marines’ counter-insurgency manual. It was written in part by one Sarah Sewall, who is now an adviser on the Obama campaign. In the Weekly Standard, Dean Barnett, not seeming to know this, blasts her along with Samantha Power as embodying “dovish idealism” in the course of his critique of the “Obama Doctrine.” It’s a lot of juvenile giggling over “climates of fear” (because serious people know that fear distracts us from the...

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these. –Ovid, 43 BC – 17 AD Every once in awhile, I look out on the world and marvel at where we are. The pace of technological improvement, and humankind’s ability to adapt to it, is nothing short of amazing. My roommates are all science majors, and sometimes I grill them to explain to me how these things works. But I’m on Spring Break now, and they’re not around. Which means I return to my default position of...

The Harvard Law Review has a short, accessible review of Clarence Thomas’ memoir, and how it explains some of the inconsistencies in Thomas’ originalism. I add some brief thoughts here.

Did a Jewish gathering really boo that statement? What does that say about us?

The middle games today were fantastic. My friend from Georgetown is mysteriously missing — yesterday, she was very eager to mock me for the Duke game…. - How about Stephen Curry? Shut down entirely in the first half, he came alive in the second to lead Davidson in a thrilling comeback over Georgetown. - You know what that game reminded me of? The one between Louisville and West Virginia a few years back — where WV was shooting the lights out of the building but the Cardinals hung...

We’re into round two now, but still some tremendous action (though I admit I missed some to watch the boxing match tonight — welcome back Joel Casamayor!). - I hate to be right in this case (I’m a lifelong Duke fan), but I was: Duke died by the three. You miss fifteen straight three-pointers, and bad things will happen to any team. - Duke also got totally out hustled. Great game by West Virginia’s Mazzulla off the bench. - Finally, the odds that senior Duke forward DeMarcus...

Isn’t today kind of what March Madness is all about? Drama and big upsets galore. I’ll admit that I have a pre-existing bias towards the early rounds. Three games on at all times, folks you’ve never heard of stepping up huge, and teams like Siena are still in it. But today was really a great day for basketball. - Even with all the drama and upsets, the moment that made me happiest came during the UMBC – Georgetown match-up. UMBC has a 5′8″ guard, Jay Greene who...

It’s that most wonderful time….of the year! Sporadic thoughts from Day One of the tourney: - I feel bad for George Mason. I really do. There defense actually played pretty well against Notre Dame. They just couldn’t shoot to save their life. Every roll and every bounce went against them. It was really kind of tragic. - It won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be cool if Duke won the tourney after its fright against 15th-seed Belmont? We could have a tournament champion who was...

This is Barack Obama’s NCAA bracket. Would it be entirely cruel and irrational of us to pick it apart for political motivations. Yes, obviously. Will that stop us? Hell no! Have at it in the comments. UPDATE: I didn’t realize it was cut off — here’s a link.

Native John Cole: Now I don’t want to throw the state under the bus (since that is so fashionable these days) because I love it here so much, but anyone who is surprised by this simply is not paying attention. Racism is alive and well in central PA, SE Ohio, and much of WV. What Carville said about central PA (it resembles Alabama) can be said about the regions I discussed, and it was why I was able to say, when I was a Republican, that most of the racists I have met in my lifetime were Democrats....

An expansion on my previous post — this one explaining strains of Black Conservatism that are not separatist (such as Clarance Thomas’) and how they fit within the overall paradigm, as well as the difference between Black Conservatism and conservatives who are Black.

Like anyone who wants America to still have an economy tomorrow, I support the government’s intervention to head off disaster in the Bear Stearns fiasco. But I admit discomfort, for this seems to be precisely the type of governmental assistance that I hear many people decry when it’s proffered to the less fortunate. We give it to Bear Stearns — even though they were reckless and irresponsible, even though their predicament is primarily of their own making — because they “matter”....

About a year ago, I penned a post entitled “Taking Thomas Seriously”, about the particularly political ideology held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In it, I noted that both liberals and conservatives misunderstood Thomas’ orientation because the tried to map him onto “standard” (White) political categories. Thomas is a conservative, yes, but specifically he is a Black Conservative, which is a very particular philosophical tradition that does not perfectly...

The theme being people fleeing human rights abuses in Iran being treated like dirt when they try and get asylum in the west. Today’s variation: a 19-year old gay teenager who likely will be deported back to Iran (where his boyfriend was executed for Sodomy) from Great Britain because Iran does not “systematically persecute” homosexuals. But he’s breaking the law, dammit!

Guess where he’s begging to be released from?

Honestly, what’s the world coming to when “Socialized Medicine” doesn’t scare people anymore? Incidentally, the first time I ever heard the term “socialized medicine”, it was in a text book discussion of the Polio Vaccine — specifically, where Eisenhower-era Republicans objected to distributing the vaccine for free on that grounds. So that may be why I don’t find the term as scary as most.

Over furious Republican objections, the House of Representatives passed contempt citations against Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten for their refusal to testify in front of House committees. Republicans threw every procedural tactic in the book to stop the vote, including finally walking out in protest. But tempers really flared when a GOP representative called for a dilatory procedural vote in the middle of a memorial service for Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA). Apparently, House Democrats had called the chamber...

Tennessee State Senator Doug Henry’s lamentation about the state of rape law wins him my “Creeper of the Day” award.

Back in the day, I noted the absurdity of anyone railing on Obama’s “lack of experience” while giving anything but scorn to Rudy Giuliani. Alas, Hizzoner’s brilliant campaign strategy (”1.Lose state after state by resounding margins. 2. ? 3. Victory!”) somehow foundered, so that rule is now moot. However, we have a replacement: neither John McCain nor his supporters get to complain about Obama’s supposed lack of specificity, or his supposed lack of policy...

I don’t think anyone could have foreseen that the Democratic race would remain this close after Super Tuesday. Even with MSNBC calling California for Clinton (with only 15% counted — did we not learn something from Missouri?), it’s difficult to say that anyone truly “won” the day. Clinton, to be sure, won some big-ticket blue states tonight: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and probably California, plus Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. But even though...

A bill has been introduced in the Maryland legislature to legalize gay marriage. Its passage is hardly-ensured, but it isn’t dead in the water either. If it gets through, Maryland will be the first state to legalize gay marriage strictly through the democratic process — a massive symbolic victory and an important step in the fight for equal rights. Here’s hoping my state comes through.