Nelson: A tale of two Gores
Al Gore somehow managed to be dealt a straight flush — a booming economy, a world at peace, and a popular administration in which he served as vice president for eight years — and play it into a losing hand.
Michael Nelson
Columnist
Michael Nelson is contributing editor and columnist for The Daily Memphian, the political analyst for WMC-TV, and the Fulmer professor of political science at Rhodes College. His latest books are “Clinton's Elections: 1992, 1996, and the Birth of a New Era of Governance" and “The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2018.”
There are 110 articles by Michael Nelson :
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May 2019
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Opinion -
Opinion Nelson: When it comes to voting legislation, I’m about to make you mad
Tennessee should enfranchise ex-cons and regulate voter registration drives.
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April 2019
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Opinion Nelson: Former Channel 5 reporter Basil Hero offers lessons from the moon missions
Aware that the clock was ticking toward the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing this July, Basil Hero decided in 2017 to turn his lifelong fascination with space travel into a book.
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Guest Columnists Nelson: How to fight recidivism with great books
The parole board was blown away when a woman who had spent 25 years behind bars, and who was a member of the great books group at West Tennessee State Penitentiary, quoted Herodotus in answer to a question about how she now defined success.
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Opinion Nelson: For Democrats in the Mid-South, the presidential election starts now
Democratic presidential contenders will be all over this region in the months leading up to the Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi primaries. None of them has a prayer of winning electoral votes, but all three states will be sending delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.
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Opinion Nelson: A battle near Memphis 157 years ago changed the face of war
The horrors of the battle fought at Shiloh April 6-7, 1862, made it clear that the weaponry of war had far outstripped the Napoleonic-era tactics taught at West Point.
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March 2019
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Opinion Nelson: Remembering MLK50 on the Eve of MLK51
A bland marker erected near the midpoint of an almost century-long celebration of Nathan Bedford Forrest in Memphis now has a new companion marker. It describes the grotesque nature of Forrest's "business enterprise."
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Opinion Nelson: Want to win, Democrats? Then reclaim Bill Clinton
The combination of global peace, domestic prosperity and political moderation kept Clinton’s second-term job approval rating in the 60 percent-plus range even as his personal approval rating went down. Voters were right on both counts.
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Guest Columnists Nelson: There’s still time for Tennessee to hit pause on medical marijuana
Because the legalization movement has made marijuana sound healthy, more people are using it. Daily intake nearly tripled from about 3 million users in 2005 to more than 8 million in 2017.
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Opinion Nelson: Steve Cohen’s push for impeachment is doomed
Trump is going to be on the ballot in 2020. By the time an impeachment process got under way, voters would already be casting ballots in Iowa and New Hampshire. Let the American people take care of removing Trump if that’s what they want.
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February 2019
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Opinion Nelson: Ernest Withers – flawed but no less a hero
Ernest Withers, the famous Memphis photographer, was also Ernest Withers the informant, a man whose life illustrates Martin Luther King's description of man's dual nature.
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Opinion Nelson: Why Mississippi needs a new state flag
E Pluribus unum is our nation’s traditional motto. Conservatives are drawn to the unum – the unity – in that motto. Liberals often prefer the pluribus – the diversity. Wouldn’t it be great if all our flags allowed us to put aside the pluribus among us and experience the unum?
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Opinion Nelson: Here’s hoping the Memphis Express make it
If history is any guide, the new Memphis Express professional football franchise will do fine. The big question concerns the league, the new eight-team Alliance of American Football.
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January 2019
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Opinion Nelson: 1978 Democratic midterm convention could tell us something about 2020
What effect would a serious intraparty challenge to President Donald Trump’s re-nomination have on his chances of being elected for a second term? -
Opinion Nelson: Memphis author – me! – pens book about first two years of Trump
Over the past two centuries, presidents almost always have become more effective and less influential during their first two years in office. President Donald Trump has defied these patterns.
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Opinion Nelson: It’s time to bet on MATA
Legalizing sports betting could ultimately mean more buses, more drivers, more frequent service, more routes and more shelters for waiting passengers in Memphis and Shelby County.
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Opinion Nelson: Law, politics – and girls’ basketball – in Tennessee
“In the entire history of girls’ high school basketball in Tennessee, no one had ever seen a uterus lying on a basketball court.” -
Opinion Nelson: Mid-South politics – here’s what’s coming in 2019, part 2
Michael Nelson offers his take on sports betting in Tennessee; the Mississippi governor's race; and why Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn face some interesting times in Washington.
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December 2018
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Opinion Nelson: Mid-South politics – here’s what’s coming in 2019, part 1
Whether in Memphis, Mississippi, Tennessee or Washington, politics in 2019 promises to be more interesting than usual in an odd-numbered year. -
Opinion Nelson: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and a movie that’s not about Bill Clinton – except it is
Go figure: a Christmas week movie called “Vice.” -
Opinion Nelson: Some Civil War monuments need to go, others ought to stay, and still others should be built
There are Confederate monuments, and there are Confederate monuments. -
Opinion Nelson: The Mid-South is getting redder; the rest of the South is not
Now that November is behind us, where does the Mid-South stand politically? -
Opinion Nelson: How Tennessee got it right during the ‘in-between time’ – and the City Council should get it right in our time
Keel Hunt is a Nashville guy, which is why his fascinating new book about Tennessee politics, "Crossing the Aisle: How Bipartisanship Brought Tennessee to the 21st Century and Could Save America," is a lot more Nashville than Memphis.
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November 2018
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Nelson: Democracy = rule by the people; gerontocracy = rule by the old people
I’m 69, so maybe the P.C. crowd will give me a pass when I ask: What’s with all the geezers dominating the world of politics and government? -
Nelson: Overton Park and how the good guys finally won
With a new master plan for Overton Park in the works – the first in 30 years – what better time than now for Brooks Lamb’s new University of Tennessee Press book “Overton Park: A People’s History” to appear in Memphis bookstores?
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