With leaders such as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, what's there to worry about? Did you see them in their highly anticipated first debate? Didn't you feel reassured that the nation's financial crisis soon will be in good hands? Not! Instead of a demonstration of their leadership qualities, we saw two men keeping their fingers to the wind. On ...

The media have been raking John McCain over the coals the last couple of weeks, accusing the GOP presidential nominee of being dishonest or even lying in his campaign ads. They're especially angry about an ad the McCain campaign has been running, which accused Barack Obama of supporting a bill when he was a state legislator that mandated comprehens...

Perhaps I had not been paying attention, but now that I'm in the midst of writing a series of columns on the Latino contributions to North American society, I see a history column everywhere I look. When Sen. John McCain reminded us that a Latina daughter of migrant workers is just as "American" as a boy whose ancestors were on the Mayflo...

When it became John McCain's turn to bat in the contest to win the Hispanic vote, the senator from Arizona took a good swing at the "bola." But he got a base hit when he needed a home run. "We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential," McCain said in his accepta...

From time to time, political conventions can be consequential. And for Republicans, 2008 might be such a year. It turns out that the angst over Barack Obama can only keep Republicans competitive. John McCain's compelling story? It can only persuade independents to take a look. What then? Well, in the end, it's idealism that excites the American vot...

Last Thursday evening at the Democratic National Convention, presidential nominee Barack Obama tried to score a political touchdown on the 50-yard line at Denver's Invesco Field. Instead, he won the all-time governmental convention award for the best over-the-top political spectacle of sight, sound, speech and pyrotechnics — complete with sup...

When they come to the barrios to seek the Hispanic vote, Democratic Party leaders tell us anything we want to hear, especially about their plans to fix our broken immigration system and to grant some kind of amnesty to the 12 million illegal immigrants already living here. But when they address a national audience, as they did from their convention...

When they begin their journeys, their intentions are usually good and genuine: They seek personal political empowerment so they can help their people. But something happens to many Hispanic community activists on their way to gaining that power. In order to move up the ladder, they often are forced to cut deals with the political establishment and ...

"Sickly. Weak. Feeble. Pick your choice." So began a Washington Post story about John McCain's presidential campaign almost exactly a year ago. "The one-time front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination has disappointing poll numbers and deathly results from the second quarter of fundraising. His failed effort to push thro...

I hate to rain on John McCain's parade right after he trounced Barack Obama at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church forum, for which I heartily applaud him, but McCain's trial balloon consideration of a pro-choice running mate demands a response. The prospect of an Obama presidency is so horrifying that many conservatives have temporarily put aside thei...