Politics Jun 18 Gwen’s Take: Covering the Oil Disaster As President Obama struggled to assert control over what seems to be an uncontrollable situation, I had the chance to assess the unspooling oil disaster dilemma this week by talking to folks living with it, and folks watching from afar.
Politics Jun 11 Gwen’s Take: Unconventional Wisdom I am frequently wrong. Now there's an admission you won't hear that often from someone who makes a living in Washington. But this most recent round of primary results reminded me of all of the times I have assumed…
Politics Jun 04 Gwen’s Take: The Perils of Ambition, and Does Obama Have Any Coattails? On a hot summer day in 2008, I visited the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham with the man who thought he was going to be Alabama's first African-American governor. The time seemed right for an ambitious young lawmaker…
Politics May 28 Gwen’s Take: The California Governor’s Race I was strolling through the town square in the pretty, precious town of Mill Valley, California, last weekend, reporting on California's gubernatorial race, when I realized I might have to change my mind about politics. Only a few weeks ago,…
Politics May 21 Gwen’s Take: When Washington Insiders Become Outsiders Every few years, national politics seems to get a jolt. Tuesday's elections in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas proved once again how Washington insider status can be a two-edged sword. One man's experience can be another's complicity - especially in times…
Politics May 14 Gwen’s Take | The Blog Wars: To Fight or Not to Fight? I am frequently asked if I think journalism is doomed. I happen to think it's not. We'll always need to know more; we just may have to find new ways to learn and alternate platforms from which to tell the…
Politics May 07 Gwen’s Take: The Politics of Panic It felt as if everyone was rushing to the ramparts this week. From Times Square to the Gulf Coast to Greece and Wall Street, the world has seemed positively out of breath. Part of the reason, of…
Politics Apr 30 Gwen’s Take: ‘Washington Rhetoric: The Decoder’ Emotion. Fear. Guilt. Racism. These drivers, according to former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, are the four horsemen of a rhetorical apocalypse that stops things from getting done in Washington. "Those are the four things I find in my time…
Politics Apr 16 Gwen’s Take: Debating the Debate I got a lot of mail this week, almost all of it online, and much of it angry. The reason? I tried to tell both sides of a story. The occasion was our PBS NewsHour "Spotlight Series" in Tampa, Florida.
Politics Apr 09 Gwen’s Take: Looking Anew at the Rise of President Obama When The Washington Post asked me to review David Remnick's new book "The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama," I quickly said yes. As someone who spends my days trying to peer inside, through and around national…