Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Of all the candidates’ stories, Ben Carson’s may be the most inspiring. He overcame the poverty of a Detroit slum to become director of pediatric neurosurgery at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. In 1987, Carson led a 70-member surgical team in separating Siamese twins who were joined at the back of the head. A speech at a … >>
The next US presidential election isn’t until November 2016, but the campaigning is well under way. Because neither the sitting president nor the vice-president nor the previous opponent is a candidate, new ideas and new faces have a shot at success. The last time this happened was in 2008, and it enabled a little-known senator named Barack Obama to rise … >>
John F. Kennedy was America’s first Catholic president. But in order to become that, he had to reassure people that the White House wouldn’t be taking orders from the Vatican. Rick Santorum hopes to become the second Catholic president. Although he’s far more Catholic than Kennedy pretended to be, he won’t have to reassure anyone. In recent years, Catholics have … >>