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Terence Samuel

Terence Samuel is a Prospect senior correspondent and the author of The Upper House: A Journey behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate, published in May by Palgrave Macmillan. Follow him on Twitter.

Recent Articles

How Van Jones Will Help Win the Health-Care Fight

The resignation of Obama's green-jobs czar is a primer on the right's political warfare tactics -- those preparing to defend health-care reform should take note.

Terence SamuelSep 10, 2009
(AP Photo)

President Barack Obama's week began with the setback of green-jobs czar Van Jones' resignation from the administration. It ends with the president buoyed by a sense that he has retaken control of the health-care reform debate and reversed the chaos that beset him and his reform plan in August.

Barack Obama, Explainer-in-Chief

Republicans have been able to confuse the issue, but their chances of killing health-care reform remain slim. All Obama has to do is lay out the facts.

Terence SamuelSep 04, 2009
(AP Photo)

Mr. President: You're right; they're wrong, and don't you forget it.

There is some good news for President Barack Obama on health-care reform: No one of consequence is seriously arguing to kill it outright. Despite all the sound and fury of the summer town halls, to be against health-care reform is still not a winning position with the American people.

It is important for the president to keep this bottom-line calculus -- that he is on the right side of this issue both morally and politically -- at the top of his mind when he returns from vacation to a chorus of depressing reviews about how badly August turned out for him and the prospects of health reform.

A President in Need of a Break

Birthers, Blue Dogs, Glenn Beck, and beer -- all of these things have spelled a bad week for Obama. Now, it's time for a vacation.

Terence SamuelJul 30, 2009
(White House Flickr/Pete Souza)

The House is scheduled to start its summer recess at the end of next week. The week after that, the Senate leaves, and then President Barack Obama heads to Martha's Vineyard with his family for a two-week vacation that ought to dampen the noise coming out of Washington. Can everybody say "Amen"? We all need the break, but the president, maybe, most of all.

The Dick Cheney Diversion

Cheney's re-emergence in the media spotlight can only make Obama look good.

Terence SamuelJul 17, 2009
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Next Monday, Barack Obama will mark his sixth month in office. While he remains very popular with the country that fell in love with him in 2008, some of the novelty is beginning to wear off. The latest Diageo/Hotline Poll records a nine-point drop in Obama's job approval rating, falling from 65 percent in June to 56 percent in July. Some of that is a natural decline in the popularity of a man who had to make the transition from political superstar to manager of one of the most desperate economic recoveries in recent memory. Obama went from being something historic to having to do something historic -- and that shift will cost you.

Palin on Prime Time?

Sarah Palin may be well suited to the small screen, but she was never White House material.

Terence SamuelJul 09, 2009

Sarah Palin is not running for president, and it's because she, like most Americans, knows she should not be. But she's not leaving the spotlight yet.

We are about to see the flowering of a bright celebrity media career. We will likely to learn, in the next few weeks, that the soon-to-be former governor of Alaska has signed a big television contract with a cable network that will make her rich enough to meet all important financial demands for the rest of her life.

I find it interesting that a woman whose failures as a national politician were based in her inability to establish credibility with voters, could find success by reinventing herself as a media personality, convincing millions of us that she has something interesting to say every night.

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