The Afternoon News: Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 | Sojourners

The Afternoon News: Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011

CNN: Obama And The Politics Of Disappointment
All politicians disappoint their supporters. It is a relentless truth in D.C. They make pledges they can't keep, say things they don't mean, and encounter stiff headwinds in office that were just distant breezes on the campaign trail. The bigger their failed promises, the bigger the disappointment.
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THE ATLANTIC WIRE: What It's Really Like To Be A Poor Black Kid
After white middle-aged Forbes contributor Gene Marks described what he would do if "If I Were a Poor Black Kid," the Internet has done a total takedown of the tone-deaf piece, giving Marks a better idea of what the world for actual poor black kids is like.
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SLATE: Four Things That The New NBC/WSJ Poll Tells Us
The poll is here; the big, scary number for Boston is the one that pits Newt Gingrich against Mitt Romney in a two-man national race. Gingrich wins big, by 23 points. But there's so much more in here.
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THE ATLANTIC: What Do Low-Income Communities Need?
I just re-read Jason De Parle's American Dream and it drives home just how inadequate virtually every theory about what the poor need is--liberal theories about benefits and training; conservative theories about jobs and marriage.
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FOX NEWS: Tea Partiers to Beck: Race Claim for Gingrich Support Is Off the Charts
Glenn Beck is catching heat from the Tea Party movement that he helped champion -- and helped champion him -- after suggesting Tea Partiers who support Newt Gingrich over President Obama would do so only because Gingrich is white.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Taking America Down The Rabbit Hole
By framing everything as a fight, media encourages all of us to be combative in our interactions. To gain press coverage and political advantage, candidates take the bait. The result of this downward spiral is evident in the divisive politics of today: a surreal, Alice-in-Wonderland political landscape where everything is about winning the headline fight in today's 24-hour news cycle, and nothing worthwhile gets accomplished.
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