Jul 31 Gwen’s Take: The third term myth By Gwen Ifill In his final speech to the African Union this week, President Obama addressed corruption on the continent. And then he mentioned, in what seemed an offhand fashion, the one thing that he had to know would rankle his critics back… Continue reading
Jul 24 2016 politics: The need for unwelcome intrusions By Gwen Ifill For voters, the unexpected should be seen as welcome. Any presidential hopeful has to be aware that no path is smooth; no ambition easily attained. Continue reading
Jul 17 Gwen’s Take: Who do these candidates think they are? By Gwen Ifill For me, by far the most eye-opening revelation in the early stages of this 2016 campaign is the sheer breadth of diversity in the field. Count it up. Two women. Two Cuban Americans. One African American. Candidates hailing from California… Continue reading
Jul 03 Gwen’s Take: How we see each other … and how we don’t By Gwen Ifill The U.S. Census has officially concluded that the majority of Americans under the age of 5 are children of color. Yet we still live in a world where our continuing tugs of war over identity periodically explode into incomprehensible violence… Continue reading
Jun 26 On flags, forgiveness and fairness: Charleston lessons By Gwen Ifill If there is one question I get every time I speak to young, aspiring journalists, it is this: How do you keep your opinion/bias/emotion out of the story you’re covering? My answer has been pretty straightforward: Keep an open mind,… Continue reading
Jun 05 Gwen’s Take: A blacksmith and a gamer walk into a bar … What you didn’t know about the 2016 candidates By Gwen Ifill In my business we’re often criticized for focusing too heavily on the horse race nature of a political campaign. This is often a fair and just criticism. We do it because it’s easy, and because sometimes it’s fun. Here’s the… Continue reading
May 29 Why polls are ridiculous … until they’re not By Gwen Ifill The Republican race is taking shape! The latest poll conducted by Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University says so. But with so many numbers to digest, here’s why it’s all so ridiculous. Continue reading
May 15 Gwen’s Take: Politics through a glass, darkly — trade edition By Gwen Ifill Is Washington transparent? Certainly not. Are all lawmakers friends, even within their own parties? No way. So it helps to have a glossary when you listen to them speak. Continue reading
May 08 What is political correctness really? By Gwen Ifill Filters are good. They stop us from saying what we shouldn’t when we are cut off in traffic — especially when there are kids in the car. Ideally, they remind us that we should look up the facts before we… Continue reading
May 01 Gwen’s Take: Ask me anything By Gwen Ifill I have turned this week’s Take over to you, gentle readers, in a new, irregularly recurring feature I believe I’ll call “Gwen’s Bingo.”… Continue reading