Stories by Marie Cocco

Marie Cocco is a prize-winning syndicated columnist on political and cultural topics for The Washington Post Writers Group. She is a frequent commentator on national TV and radio shows. subscribe to Marie Cocco's feed

The Great Challenge of Our Time: Re-Creating America's Great Middle Class

Posted on: Oct 14, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

In her final column, Cocco writes that we face "hard political tasks. But being pushed further down is harder, still. Because no one knows where the new bottom lies."

The Tragicomic Health Reform Hearings -- At Least Michael Moore Has Lots of Fodder

Posted on: Sep 29, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

I'm counting on Moore to find some humor in all this. Otherwise what we have here is a tragedy that's worth a good cry.

'Centrist' Dem in the Senate Offers a Health Care Proposal George Bush Would Love

Posted on: Sep 22, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

The Baucus proposal includes a tax intended to dupe the public into thinking it soaks the rich. In truth, it would stick it to millions in the middle class.

Why We're Fighting a Trade War with China Over Tires

Posted on: Sep 17, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Obama's decision impose higher tariffs on Chinese tires is a measure to protect fair trade and the living standards of American workers.

Don't Laugh at Crazy Cheney -- He Represents the Dangerous Thinking of Many Powerful Conservatives

Posted on: Sep 3, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

It's tempting to think of Dick Cheney as a cranky old men stirring up controversy to sell books. But Cheney must not be underestimated.

Did Obama Screw Up by Not Offering a Plan for Health Reform?

Posted on: Aug 18, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

The president's hands-off approach to reform has backfired, as overhaul of the health care system falls prey to wrangling in Congress.

If the Economy's So Much Better, Why Are Stores Giving Away Stuff Practically for Free?

Posted on: Jul 30, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Staples is selling school supplies for a quarter. That doesn't seem like a good sign.

We Should Focus on What Health Care Reform Will Look Like, More Than When It'll Happen

Posted on: Jul 22, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Why have we zoomed in on the "health reform timeline" narrative?

If Only Walter Cronkite Had Left His Integrity Behind

Posted on: Jul 20, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

The greatest sorrow in marking Cronkite's death is recognizing that the media has replaced his wisdom with pontification.

Cheney's CIA Secrets: We Must Fight to Get the Truth

Posted on: Jul 16, 2009, Source: Washington Monthly

The scary part is how little we know about the Bush Administration's clandestine plans.

The GOP's Pathetic Wailing Against Sotomayor's Confirmation

Posted on: Jul 13, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Sotomayor will be confirmed. But the drama stirred up by Republicans reveals some interesting things about race in the age of Obama.

Hundreds of Thousands of Workers Will Lose Unemployment Benefits Soon

Posted on: Jul 9, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Workers laid off early in the downturn are soon to be left without the basic sustenance of an unemployment check.

Unprotected Sex: Abstinence Education's Main Accomplishment

Posted on: Jul 1, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Teens are having more condomless sex than they did in the 1990s. It's time for science-based sex ed, not moralizing.

Warning: Health Care Lobbyists Are Winning the Battle to Screw All of Us

Posted on: Jun 17, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Lobbyists sense that their chances of protecting big insurers, drug companies, medical specialties, technology companies are improving.

Nasty Ads and Shady Campaign Contributions Take Over Judicial Races

Posted on: Jun 11, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

With 39 states now electing judges, the threat to impartial justice is frightening.

The Right's False Rhetoric on Abortion

Posted on: Jun 5, 2009, Source: Truthdig

The murder of Dr. George Tiller cannot be smoothed over with a speech.

Packing Heat in Our National Parks: How Did We Let the Gun Fanatics Get Their Way?

Posted on: May 25, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Our national parks are among the safest places in America. So against what, exactly, are the proponents of the new gun law defending themselves?

Time for a Truth Commission

Posted on: May 18, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

The United States government must at last hold accountable the architects of the torture calamity

President Obama, We Want the Truth About the Bush Administration

Posted on: Apr 29, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Confronting our own misdeeds is a measure of our character. And yes, the whole world is watching

The Health Care Industry and their Capitol Hill Protectors Are Sabotaging Our Chance for True Reform

Posted on: Apr 23, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

So far we have "reformed" the health insurance system by reinforcing precisely what's wrong with it.

Brutal Law Strips Afghan Women of Rights -- Where's the Outrage?

Posted on: Apr 2, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Afghan President Hamid Karzai just signed a law consigning the women of Afghanistan to lives of terrible repression.

How Bush and Co. Broke the Law to Keep Women from Using Birth Control

Posted on: Mar 26, 2009, Source: Truthdig

Political operatives and ideological helpmates of George W. Bush broke the law to keep birth control away from women -- particularly teenagers.

Obama, Your Treasury Secretary's Plan Stinks -- Assume Responsibility and Take Care of It

Posted on: Feb 13, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

One reason Obama won is that the public had more than its fill of a disconnected president. Let's see him get his hands dirty and take care of this.

Why Was Obama MIA When Geithner Pitched the New Bailout?

Posted on: Feb 13, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Obama owes us some hands-on involvement, even if that means his hands get dirty with an unpopular program for the nation's most despised industry.

What Would a Ginsburg Vacancy Mean for the Supreme Court?

Posted on: Feb 11, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

The Supreme Court's only woman justice is battling pancreatic cancer.

How Much Should Obama Work with Republicans?

Posted on: Jan 22, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Few traditions are as annoying as the worship of bipartisanship, for it ignores the fact that sometimes one party gets things disastrously wrong.

Obama to Continue Bush's Tax-Cutting Orgy?

Posted on: Jan 7, 2009, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Who can seriously argue that a family still earning an income of up to $200,000 is enduring such economic hardship that it, too, needs a tax cut?

Guess Which Corporate Suits Did the Most to Wreck the Economy? Men.

Posted on: Dec 29, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

America doesn't have enough women business executives for them to be visible, let alone destroy the economy.

Republicans' Opposition to Detroit Bailout Is Union-Busting of Another Kind

Posted on: Dec 17, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

I still underestimate the peculiar genius conservative Republicans show in exploiting dire, even tragic, situations to wield a partisan cudgel.

Obama's Health Care Reform Plan Is Based on the Clintons' Failed 1990s Model

Posted on: Dec 3, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Look only to the Detroit automakers' current economic straits to understand why.

America Out of Work

Posted on: Nov 26, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Unemployment is soaring and it may be March before we feel the first dollar of an Obama recovery plan.

Cigarette Consumption Down 28 Percent in 10 Years

Posted on: Nov 25, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

It's hard to believe that as recently as 2000, people could smoke on planes.

Where Are the Female Arnold Schwarzeneggers?

Posted on: Nov 20, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Unlike Ah-nold, no woman will ever burst into high political office without a lick of experience. And women with credentials don't fare much better.

It Is Going to Be a Wal-Mart Christmas

Posted on: Nov 18, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Wal-Mart is the only store where hard-squeezed consumers can afford anything, and so it keeps posting big profits amid the retail bloodbath.

Campaign Finance Reform Is More Important Than Ever

Posted on: Oct 22, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

It's time to restore some common sense to the presidential campaign finance system -- before we don't have any system at all.

The Fallacy of the 401(k)

Posted on: Oct 13, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

401(k)s are the contemporary version of the get-rich-quick scheme. They place retirement in the shaky hands of the market.

Sarah Palin Is the Pet Rock of Politics

Posted on: Oct 1, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Palin is a cultural oddity that many Americans value little except as an object -- one that absorbs every projection of the national imagination.

The Candidates Need More Than a Patchwork Approach to Health Care

Posted on: Aug 27, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Though Obama's health plan is far better than McCain's, it still only tinkers around the edges. What we need is a system overhaul.

What Should Hillary's Role Be After the Convention?

Posted on: Aug 26, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

It is usually the job of the party nominee to build unity once a vanquished rival has conceded. Unless the loser happens to be a woman.

The Pinched Middle Class Is Ditching Target for Wal-Mart

Posted on: Aug 25, 2008, Source: Washington Post Writers Group

Money is on the mind of voters as they see their paychecks shrink from inflation, their jobs threatened and their middle-class dreams diminished.

Pages