Obama's openness is a welcome change from his predecessor, who went all the way to the Supreme Court to hide the RSVP list for a single policy meeting. And transparency is intrinsically good, since in a democracy, very little government activity is legitimately secret.

Ari Melber

Categorized in : Good Change Democracy Welcome

A healthy corporation acts on the interests of its stakeholders and customers.

Ari Melber

stakeholders acts corporation healthy

In American politics, there's a recurring fantasy, nurtured by the press, about 'courageous' politicians who do the right thing against their political interest. But really, isn't it even more encouraging when the right thing has just become good politics?

Ari Melber

do-the-right-thing more good politics

It's never a good sign when extremism becomes the norm.

Ari Melber

sign never good extremism

Honestly, anchoring the news on a nightly basis is the hardest job I've ever taken on.

Ari Melber

anchoring job hardest news

I started freelancing, writing op-eds and book reviews, one at a time. I then got the opportunity to write recurring freelance pieces for 'The Nation' magazine, focusing on how the Internet was changing politics.

Ari Melber

internet politics opportunity time

Like any extraordinary power, surveillance provides temptations for abuse, such as tracking political opponents and journalists.

Ari Melber

like abuse political power

Corporations, like nations, do not have friends. They have interests.

Ari Melber

like corporations friends nations

The modern GOP has perfected this cyclical deficit outrage ritual. Republicans run up the tab when they control the White House, then scream about deficits when Democrats win - insisting that 'serious reform' means cutting only Democratic budget priorities.

Ari Melber

control win serious white

The Bush administration opened several lines of attack against the rule of law and the integrity of an independent Justice Department. The scandals are so famous that they've been reduced to shorthand: Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, NSA, Attorneygate.

Ari Melber

rule-of-law law justice integrity

'House of Cards' is full of hypocrites, some ashamed, many proud. There is no silver lining here, no appeal to a just system that is temporarily thwarted by corrupting forces.

Ari Melber

ashamed proud house cards

There's a lot of hip-hop that's oriented toward a progressive view of America because it's oriented toward a civil rights progress and a critique of the power structure.

Ari Melber

hip-hop view progress power

Like any good lawyer, I'm going to maintain a confidentiality of advice offered in confidence.

Ari Melber

good confidence lawyer advice

The president's powers are always open to being questioned by the co-equal branches of government.

Ari Melber

being always government president

Iowa is especially critical for underdog and cash-strapped campaigns, because the caucus system relies on grassroots organizing, enabling candidates with time for retail politicking to beat better-funded rivals. So underdogs usually seize on the state.

Ari Melber

beat because underdog time

TV is still a 'push' medium - we are broadcasting into any home or business with basic cable, and depending on what's happening in the world, we have a wider audience, from news junkies to very sporadic viewers. On TV, you want your reporting to be valuable to that entire audience and be relevant.

Ari Melber

you business home world

One of the great things about 'The Cycle' is that we have a wide set of topics - news, culture, music, and sports - and every week, we have several authors of new books on, which often injects literature, history, technology, business, and science into our show as well.

Ari Melber

music technology sports history

I get up with an old-school alarm clock.

Ari Melber

alarm get up clock

Thieves don't usually make good therapists.

Ari Melber

make good thieves therapists

That's the problem with precedents. Even the extreme ones tend to get repeated.

Ari Melber

extreme even get problem

Political operatives don't tend to be existentialists. They do know, however, that if a supporter doesn't vote, then his or her opinion does not make a sound - or a difference.

Ari Melber

know vote opinion political