Barack Obama

An art historian explains how portraits can convey so much more than mere likeness.

America loves pitting black intellectuals against each other, but today's activists need both Coates and West.

The nation's first African-American president was a disaster for black wealth.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' latest book preaches political fatalism. But black activism has always believed in the possibility of change.

Other presidents used their anger for a purpose — Trump just rages blindly.

On Barbara Lee and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.

In order to win universal health care, we have to understand what — and who — we're up against.

In dismantling Obamacare and slashing Medicaid, Republicans would strike a blow against signature victories for racial equality in America.

Why the president, who appears allergic to the logic of bureaucracy, keeps getting defeated by that humblest of technologies, the office memorandum.

Trump's election isn't cause for reassessing politics as we know it.

If Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan were transported to 2017, they would be shocked that the United States is considering an attack on North Korea.

Writers like Rick Perlstein miss the ways in which Trump’s rise is a story of discontinuity.

A smooth forehead suggests a hard heart.

Historians agree on the top three. Below that, there are fascinating trends in opinion.

The accomplishments of the first black president will be erased by a man who rose to power on slandering him.

Troy Davis' death at the hands of the state on Sept. 21, 2011, transformed Occupy and kindled Black Lives Matter.

As organized labor lost strength, the Democratic Party turned to professional-class voters to shore up its base.

The Obama library lands on Chicago.

The longest-running party in America has seen significant shifts in its ideological and geographic makeup.

Why do politicians reverse their positions?