First, let’s start by laying to rest a myth: There is no such thing as an “Obama phone.” The federal program that provides free phone service to the nation’s poorest residents dates back to the administration of Ronald Reagan. Over the years, the biggest change has been to allow the program, called “Lifeline,” to provide […]

When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, many pundits and political observers were eager to expunge the nation’s brutal and long-running history of stark racial oppression. They spoke of a “post-racial” society freed from the divisions of tribe, healed of the deep wounds that ached and bled along the color line for centuries. Even […]

Rena W. is a 35-year-old small business owner — the co-owner, actually, of an Atlanta hair salon. She works hard but doesn’t make enough money to purchase health insurance. A mother of three, Rena has high cholesterol and hypertension. Last month, she suffered a mini-stroke, a calamity that brought confusion, a brief bout of aphasia […]