Come next January, we will have a president who was born outside the continental United States. A man who knows the tropics will command the Army of the North. Either the Hawaiian-born Barack Obama or the Panama Canal Zone’s John McCain will hold the nuclear football and the authority to lead our millions of soldiers and sailors, Marines and airmen into battle. 

He will inherit command of more than 130,000 ground troops in Iraq and a contingent of nearly 30,000 spread throughout Afghanistan. Conventional wisdom says that McCain is the more experienced candidate in international and military affairs, due to his military background and years in the Senate. That is true. It is also true that George W. Bush has more experience with Category 5 hurricanes than any other president of the United States, but such experience is of little comfort to the people of New Orleans.

Playing a politician in Batman movies could become Mayor Matt Driscoll’s next secret identity

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

You may recall reading that the Syracuse New Times, standing on long-held principles, is not sending any correspondents to the Olympic Games in Beijing. The principles in question have nothing to do with the dispute over China’s human rights record. They are twofold: one, we forgot to budget money for a trip to China; and two, we don’t have a regular sports section.

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

Is Barack Obama just a political candidate or is he the leader of a genuine mass movement? It is the rare public figure who can be both. Nelson Mandela is one of the few names to come readily to mind, and it is no insult to Sen. Obama to state the obvious: He is no Mandela. 

As Obama shifts to the center in order to compete with John McCain, progressives grow concerned that his compromises may undercut the message of change that gave his candidacy legs. He is making the shift from inspirer to compromiser, from party leader to one who would lead a nation, and it makes his progressive friends understandably nervous.

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

You can’t leave it to Carmelo. Jim Boeheim isn’t going to make a stink. And Lopez Lomong is going to be far too busy trying to be the fastest runner he can be. Central New York’s famous Olympians are working on bringing the gold back from Beijing. 

That is as it should be. No one should expect the Olympic athletes to take the lead in promoting human rights. That should be the job of the political leaders, most especially the man who likes to call himself the Leader of the Free World. Instead we are now soon to be treated to the spectacle of the president of the United States happily participating in China’s coming-out party without so much as a mention of its occupation of Tibet, treatment of workers at home or suppression of political dissidents. It didn’t have to be this way.

Improve the Food Stamp program by eliminating unhealthy foods from the eligible list

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

The Food Stamp program is one of the most successful social service programs ever devised. It is also a testament to the value of political compromise in a democracy. It is not just a social welfare program to help hungry Americans; it’s also a program to aid farmers by boosting demand for their products.

politics, poop and pistols

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

Nobody stops to thank the road crews. You can’t, really, because you’re busy trying to squeeze by and not run one of them over, and you’re really mostly thinking about how the road work is keeping you from getting where you have to be or want to be, or which way you’re going to go next time to avoid it.

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

The year was 1980. The setting: a bar in New York City. An inebriated crowd begins to chant “Nuke Iran! Nuke Iran! Nuke Iran!” We knew the drill. It was time once again to hustle my Iranian-born future brother-in-law out the side exit. 

At the time, 54 Americans were being held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, and being Iranian in this country was something like wearing a Yankees cap at Fenway Park.

Public servant pay raises should be linked to the good, and bad, fortunes of their municipalities

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

Last month public outrage spilled into the streets, or at least onto the shoulders of the interstate, when the Syracuse Common Council agreed to boost the salary of the mayor to $115,000. Since 1994, the mayor of Syracuse had been forced to make ends meet with an annual paycheck of $84,388. Councilors felt that they had to increase the wage to keep pace with what other mayors in the region receive.

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

Last month public outrage spilled into the streets, or at least onto the shoulders of the interstate, when the Syracuse Common Council agreed to boost the salary of the mayor to $115,000. Since 1994, the mayor of Syracuse had been forced to make ends meet with an annual paycheck of $84,388. Councilors felt that they had to increase the wage to keep pace with what other mayors in the region receive.

By Ed Griffin-Nolan

Something big is gone. Tim Russert was a force of nature, an upstate ambassador, an unusual American presence who could speak to the powerful with the voice of working-class Buffalo. 

In a country that proclaims itself fed up with partisanship, Russert’s passing became one of those rare moments when the political elites seemed to see something more mighty, more important than themselves, and paused to honor him. In a political climate where everyone cries out for civility while going for the jugular, Russert insisted on doing his job with grace and a smile. He knew how to behave.