The Obama era
In the crucible of history Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now lives in Jamaica. This is the Tenth in his new series on the Obama era. I don’t know about you, but for this columnist the most mesmerizing image of Tuesday’s historic inauguration didn’t involve Barack Obama. It began with [...]
In the Obama era
‘Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive’ It all seemed to be happening last week, in DC and beyond, and little of it was good. As Newsweek’s Howard Fineman wrote: “The rhythms of January are all wrong.” There was that sad and grasping loser, Roland Burris, appointed by impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich [...]
In the Obama era
Israel in overtime Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now lives in Jamaica. This is the ninth in his new series on the Obama era. He will soon be the most powerful man in the world. So it’s understandable that, mere days into Israel’s massive attack on defenceless Gaza, US media [...]
The two Americas
Some years ago, in what was not a confession but a roughneck’s boast, GW Bush declared that he didn’t read the papers. But the defining moment of his presidency, to this columnist, was those seven minutes on 9-11 during which, having been told that America was under attack, the President remained sitting there in that [...]
In the Obama era
Obama: From poetry to prose Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now resides in Jamaica. This is the eighth in his Sunday Stabroek series on the US presidential election. In American politics it was a year like no other: the year of a long, long Demo-cratic primary season — protracted by [...]
In the Obama era
The shoes seen around the world We live in extraordinary times. On 9-11, more than one observer, watching on television the Twin Towers collapse, in surreal slow-motion, in mushrooming clouds of concrete dust, later reported being struck by the thought that he or she had just witnessed, in real time, an event about which, thousands [...]
In the Obama era
Obama’s inner circle Clearly he means to hit the deck running. (Some say he’s running already.) At any rate, within a month of his historic victory, President-Elect Obama — goaded rather than distracted by the threat of America’s economic collapse and the Mumbai attacks — had announced his main White House staff and cabinet appointments. [...]
In the Obama era
Keeping him safe’ Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now lives in Jamaica. This is the third in his new series on the Obama era. Back in June, when Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, the Secret Service placed concrete barriers around his block. On November 5 they moved the barriers three [...]
In the Obama era
The first Leader of the World? Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now lives in Jamaica. This is the second in his new series on the Obama era. On November 4, a white Oregon businessman was travelling in In-donesia, from Borneo to Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. Everywhere he went, he reported, [...]
In the Obama era
A child of the islands Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now resides in Jamaica. Today he begins a new series on the Obama era. We know him in these parts; he’s a child of the islands — in his case Hawaii and Indonesia — just as we are; and that [...]
The race for the White House
The dayworld and the nightworld So it’s here at last, ‘the most important election in our lifetime,’ after a gruelling campaign from which, however, few could look away for long, since moment after moment seemed filled with such significance, both for the US and the world. It’s a campaign that has wound up pitting two [...]
The race for the White House
A dramatic spike in support for Obama Last week, in a gun store in West Virginia, sales abruptly went through the roof. Residents had heard that ‘the Muslim’ was going to be the next president of the US and was going to ban the sale of handguns. In Florida, a middle-aged white Obama supporter, helping [...]
The race for the White House
Against ‘cockiness’ In an election season that’s seen enough historic moments to satiate a Wagner, it’s noteworthy how suddenly and how often ‘The Narrative’ has turned. Last week’s column (written on the Friday), in which this columnist asked why, with all the signs favouring Obama, no US commentator had yet ‘called’ the election, landed in [...]
The race for the White House
The Bradley effect By the polls, it should already be over: Obama is leading McCain nationally by a ‘washout’ 6 points, and Electoral College vote tallies (EVs) suggest he’s unassailable. With 270 EVs required for victory, the two leading aggregate pollsters, RealClearPolitics and Pollster.com, both put him already over the top. (Between ‘Solid’ and ‘Leaning’, [...]
The race for the White House
Obama pulling away Wayne Brown is a well-known Trinidadian writer and columnist who now resides in Jamaica. This is the twenty-seventh in his Sunday Stabroek series on the US presidential election. One minute into his first response to moderator Jim Lehrer’s first question in the first presidential debate, John McCain invoked Winston Churchill. (The reference [...]