Sridhar Pappu

Best of The Streak: Letterman’s Cronkite Turn

First appeared September 25, 2008
Forty years ago, in September 1968, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet offensive — which changed mainstream America’s view of the Vietnam War. In living rooms across the nation, Americans saw a gruesome display of how powerless the United States forces looked as they struggled to gain control over a millitary [...]

McCain and the New Opposition

No one likes to lose. But losing represents a chance to start again, to build something out of lessons learned and mistakes made. It provides the opportunity for new people to begin to mold the Republican Party in ways that senior leadership had resisted.

Obama: Promises to Keep

While Barack Obama’s win signals a new era of politics, it is one fraught with peril because so much is expected of the new president. He faces two wars, an economic system in crisis and an American public that has invested a great deal of faith in this one man to solve their problems.

Another View From the Obama Plane

For most of the summer and through the Democratic and Republican conventions, I spent a considerable amount of time traveling with both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama. And while I’ve remained in awe of the discipline of the Obama campaign — it’s stayed completely on message — and the efficiency of its operatives, I’ve [...]

Obama’s Slam Dunk?

As dynamic as Sen. Barack Obama is seen in the popular imagination, what has gotten him here today — 15 points ahead of Sen. John McCain in the latest Pew poll — is his and his organization’s ability to methodically achieve one goal, and then another.

A New Red Scare?

When the final chapter of this election is written in the books that soon will be on sale, I hope we feel shame.
Not shame in electing a president. But shame that we as a nation allowed certain members of the Republican Party to try to resurrect one of this country’s darkest hours — the reign [...]

The End From the Beginning for McCain

In the closing days of the campaign, the question I’m asked most frequently is: When did Sen. John McCain’s effort begin to unravel? My answer: “What date did he secure the nomination?”
From the very start, the McCain organization was flawed in its dealings with the traveling press corps. That may sound self-serving, but it’s an [...]

Cracking Ohio’s Political Code

Unlike previous Democratic presidential candidates, Obama has taken a cue from the state’s governor and freshman senator and launched an all-inclusive 88-county strategy with an unprecedented grassroots campaign. Ohioans have never seen anything like it.

Battleground, U.S.A.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio played a pivotal role in the last two presidential elections. With its primary concern — the economy — the nation’s primary concern, all eyes are sure to be on what its voters say on Election Day. But with charges of voter fraud swirling in the air, could the state be Florida 2008?

Cindy McCain’s Tax Returns … at Last

For months now, the media covering the McCain campaign have been clamoring for potential first lady Cindy McCain’s tax returns.
Well, the campaign that is so fond of releasing information late on Friday evening, driving my colleagues from the television networks berserk, has released her returns from 2006 and 2007, with 18 days left in the [...]