Posts by Anne Taylor Fleming

The president-elect has raised the expectations for all of us, patriotic expectations, moral expectations, expectations of what it means to be a citizen. But as Obama raises expectations, he must also lower them. There are going to be sacrifices involved. That’s the trick.

The Alaska governor represents a new sort of female politician. Instead of Hillary’s Rodham Clinton’s out-policy-wonking the boys, Palin offers anti-elite common sense.

Former President Bill Clinton organizes global giving. But is his ego getting in the way of supporting Sen. Barack Obama? On charity, Paul Newman set an example.

VP hopeful doesn’t have Reagan’s “Aw Shucks” charm, but she plays the small-town America, nostalgia card well.

Gov. Sarah Palin’s a middle-class hockey mom, but does that really qualify her to be vice president?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed her one-time opponent Sen. Barack Obama as a Democratic candidate, but not as a man.

What what she thinking?
That’s the question that continues to haunt the painful saga of John and Elizabeth Edwards. Not that she loves him and stayed with him after he confessed to having an affair (and possible lust child; though whether he told her about that we don’t know).
If we have learned one thing watching Bill [...]

Exits are hard.
When to leave. How to leave. Should you leave them laughing? Or crying? Or both? Should you be sentimental but dry-eyed? Self-celebrative but self-deprecating? No question, quitting the game is a tough moment, especially when and if it all comes down to the wire, and you are being nudged out not just by [...]

She can’t seem to stop.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is still making the grueling campaign rounds in hopes of what? Some miracle, some last-ditch suicidal revelation or gaffe from the other side? Is she, in fact, even thinking anymore? Or is she just going on trussed-up rote—hair coiffed, colorful jackets and smile in place—the daily ritual [...]

We like always to think of it as a virtue, the head-down, tortoise-beats-the-hare tenaciousness that exemplifies the admirable victors, the artists, the lovers, and — yes — the powerful, who persist in their goals long after the fleet and fleeting have taken their seats. Which, of course, brings us to Hillary Rodham Clinton. [...]