Donna Brazile

A white-boy attitude is 'I must exclude, denigrate, and leave behind.' They don't see it or think about it. It's a culture.

I've had to step up when I was Al Gore's campaign manager. I had to make significant changes as we moved from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee.

I denounce Donald Trump for not denouncing the kind of vitriol, the kind of violence that he has perpetrated with his angry rhetoric, and he knows exactly what he is doing.

We march on toward the realization of the American Dream. We are not diverted by those who would deny opportunity based on what we look like or where we came from or who would deny equality based on who we love.

We march on because all lives matter, not to be judged by the color of their skin.

The walk from Selma to Montgomery that turned into Bloody Sunday leaves us with a strong reminder of how much those before us gave for basic human rights.

It is easy to fall into despair thinking about all that is wrong with the world. The joys seems so small in comparison. Internet videos of cats riding Roombas just can't compete with a father talking about how his dead 13-year-old son had wanted to be a pilot.

If you want your checkbook to follow your heart, make a donation to those doing work you support.

When I was growing up, our nation was partitioned: Blacks were segregated by law in the South and largely by custom in the North, though it, too, had segregation laws. Our best universities had quota systems. Many white communities had real estate covenants to keep nonwhites out.

As the civil rights struggle progressed, Americans responded to the justice of the cause, shedding layers of the crusty armor that shielded the white majority from contact with its large black minority. There are layers left. It feels so much better to be on good terms with one another.

The grand jury system - not just in Ferguson, but nationwide - needs a hard look. Millions feel that officers who are trigger-happy are handed a license to shoot - based not on facts, but on stereotypes the officers carry.

Before Hillary-bashing became its own thing, she was subjected to the standard-issue woman-bashing used on every powerful woman in Washington.

Women in Washington - and in positions of power anywhere - should be subjected to the same criticisms and held to the same standards as men. That does not include the assumption that any successful woman has attained her position through flattery, feminine wiles, or her ability to provide maternal comfort to a more powerful man.

Due process policies such as tenure are put in place to protect good teachers from being fired without cause. They aren't there to protect 'bad' teachers.

Over the years, I've worked for and alongside the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association. That's because I am proud of our public school teachers - including my niece who teaches down in Louisiana - just as I am proud of our nation's education system.

Democratic candidates who run from President Obama in red states where he is unpopular are making a big mistake. Their holding Obama at arm's length deprives voters of a clear choice at the ballot box.

As a longtime political operative, I know firsthand how a vote here or a vote there can make a huge difference in a close election.

Voting shouldn't be a challenge. It should be as easy and accessible as possible. We shouldn't require forms of ID that folks don't have. We shouldn't restrict days or hours that allow working people a chance to both do their job and exercise their democratic right, and we damn well shouldn't be throwing up new obstacles midstream.

As Democrats, we believe in giving every eligible citizen the opportunity to vote - whether it's early because they can't take off work on Election Day or absentee because they might have plans to be out of town.

Our democracy relies on participation, and we've never done better by excluding folks.

As Americans, we are proud that we are a country that people run to, not from.

Obama has a strong record on immigration enforcement, outdoing both Republican and Democratic predecessors. He has deported over 1 million immigrants, focusing on those with criminal records. As documented by many nonpartisan sources, by 2011, Obama had reduced illegal immigration crossings to net zero.

Congressional opposition to immigration reform or emergency funds doesn't stem from any philosophical objections or differences of principle. It stems from a calculated, petty, selfish rejection of anything Obama proposes.

In modern politics, polls often serve as the canary in the mine - an early warning signal of danger or trends. But polls can also be used to wag the dog - diverting attention from something significant.

America is inundated with polls. We need a term for being swamped with polls. I would say 'poll-arized,' but that's already in use to describe our political divisions.

No one remembers how the American people responded day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month about the decisions that Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower made during the most dangerous decades in American and world history. But we know now that they did what was right, and we honor them for it.

I think that five, 10, 50 years down the road, we'll be honoring President Barack Obama for ending two wars, stopping the economic hemorrhage and, yes, reducing the number of uninsured. And the polls won't matter.

Our public portrayal of fathers has shifted during my life. TV fathers have 'evolved' from real people like Sheriff Andy Taylor, Beaver's dad Ward Cleaver and Heathcliff 'Cliff' Huxtable, to cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Seth MacFarlane's caricatures in 'American Dad!' and 'Family Guy.'

Today's fathers are having a rough go being kindly portrayed in the media. Thank God, we do we have President Barack Obama for a national model. He both dotes on and takes a firm loving hand to our first-family daughters.

It's true you never know the full depth of a parent's touch in your life until they're gone. Even if you cared for them in their old age, there's never a way to prepare yourself for the death of a parent.

If you're a girl, you're always Daddy's little girl. You're vulnerable, no matter how worldly or sophisticated or strong you'd become along the way. My dad Lionel let me know how proud he was, even as he kept me from being too big for my britches.

I shudder to think what Republican presidential contenders will say in a 2016 primary to win over voters who think Eric Cantor isn't conservative enough.

Hillary Clinton, because she's the Democrats' presumptive 2016 front-runner, has become the target du jour. Frankly, I don't know how public figures get through it.

Maybe Drudge is more entertainer than reporter. I imagine he enjoys baiting the mainstream media, then watching it look foolish when his story is debunked.

Placing limits on carbon pollution from power plants is about ensuring that we have clean air to breathe and communities that are safe to live in. Carbon pollution limits are about defending families who have borne the heaviest burden of the main pollutant that is driving climate change.

Hurricane Katrina was the storm of the 21st century. It devastated an area the size of Great Britain. More than 1,800 Americans died. Three hundred thousand homes were destroyed. There was $96 billion in property damage. I served on the Louisiana Recovery Authority. I saw Congress write one big check and then skip town.

We can be thankful President Barack Obama is taking aim at one of the prime causes of climate change and extreme weather: air pollution. The EPA's carbon pollution standards are the most significant step forward our country has ever taken to protect our health by addressing climate change.

Maya Angelou was the voice of three generations. Her poetry spanned our journey, chronicled our hearts and documented our struggles as we moved from the orations of Martin Luther King to the presidency of Barack Obama.

Integrated schools help students achieve academic success in the present and personal success in the future.

Students of color who attended integrated schools in the decades immediately following Brown were more likely to graduate high school, go to college, earn higher wages, live healthier lifestyles, and not have a criminal record than their peers in segregated schools.

School integration did not come to be the day after the Brown ruling was issued. Progress took years, and it took passion, strength, and courage from a large group of committed individuals.

Sixty years after Brown v. Board of Education, it's time for us to take a hard look at the separate and unequal conditions that still exist in our schools and our communities and rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity for all.

Yes, President Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, but a hundred years later, the Republican Party wasn't Lincoln's. Richard Nixon became president by courting Americans upset by integration, intentionally fueling the racial divide.

The biggest problem for the Republican Party has never been its primary calendar, its campaign tactics, or a lack of trainings. The party's biggest problem is what it believes, what it says, and how it governs.

Democrats have pushed for equal pay for women because we know that when women succeed, America succeeds.

When a campaign doesn't go my way, I always take a step back, look at the facts, and try to figure out what we could learn from that experience.

Democrats believe that when more people vote, it's not just good for our party; it's good for democracy.

Low turnout in off-year races is always a challenge for Democrats. Many of our voters require information and must be contacted way ahead of Election Day - and reminded of what's at stake.

In order for President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden to be moderates, they just have to present themselves between the extremes of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's isolationism and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's hawkishness - the difference between living in a cave or conducting ourselves so that we're in need of one.

By definition, conservatives struggle with change.