Columnists: Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin

Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist known for never letting the political elite forget their job is to represent taxpayers. He started his career with The New York Times as a housing reporter and then City Hall bureau chief. He was the editorial page editor at the Daily News, where he directed a series of reports on the Apollo Theater that won the Pulitzer. A series documenting abuse of farmworkers earned the board the Polk Award. In 2000, he was named executive editor of the News and returned to column writing in 2004.

Latest Columns

• Mitt refuses to lose

  On Oct. 3, I raised a question here that reflected President Obama’s strong momentum and Mitt Romney’s apparent readiness to accept defeat.  “Are you a good loser, Mitt?” I wrote.  I have my answer. I’ve gotten it so...   October 21, 2012

  From Local

• Obama and Romney's jokes at Al Smith dinner are a welcome break from bitter campaign

  Only in America. In the grubby world of the campaign yesterday, there was no let-up as supporters and surrogates kept the bitter battle going. But inside the grace-filled glitter palace of the Waldorf-Astoria last night...   October 19, 2012

  From Local

• Rom’s blow for leadership staggers Comeback Kid

  It’s the future, stupid. If the test of last night’s showdown is whether President Obama was more aggressive and energetic than he was in the first debate, then he wins the Comeback Kid award. But if the standard is who...   October 17, 2012

  From Local

• Dems finally go bonkers

  After enduring three days of outlandish claims and grievances about American life at the Charlotte convention, I wrote that “something shocking is happening to the Democratic Party.” Five weeks later, I must amend the...   October 14, 2012

  From Local

• Bombastic blather will fool no one

  Told ya so. President Obama should have pulled a Joe Girardi and benched Joe Biden long ago. Hillary Rodham Clinton would have knocked last night’s debate out of the park and probably won the election for the Democrats....   October 12, 2012

  From National

• Finding O in ‘contempt’

  With so many reports coming out of the White House that President Obama views Mitt Romney with “disdain,” let’s assume they’re true. Now let’s ask why the president has such contempt for his opponent. The first...   October 10, 2012

  From National

• Bam is ‘left’ bewildered

  It’s a given now that Mitt Romney performed brilliantly in the first presidential debate, but some less-than-obvious benefits are still emerging. Beyond predictable poll bounces and fund-raising jumps, an added gain is...   October 07, 2012

  From Local

• This one’s the game-changer

  The big question going into last night’s debate was what Mitt Romney had to do to change the course of the campaign. My answer was simple: Romney had to win the debate. He did. Clearly and resoundingly. Romney aced the...   October 04, 2012

  From National

• Mitt, it’s nothing to smile about

  Forget it, Mitt. You don’t stand a chance. David Letterman is against you. The gang on “The View” is unmovable. Polls show you’re behind everywhere. And get this — Americans predict in a landslide that you’ll lose...   October 03, 2012

  From National

• Hello, you've reached the president. I'm never here.

  In Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 3 a.m. television ad in the 2008 primary campaign, we heard the sound of a ringing phone and saw sleeping children. In ominous tones, a narrator warned that “something is happening in the...   September 30, 2012

  From Local

• O’s missing word: ‘terror’

  That was a perfectly fine speech Barack Obama gave at the United Nations yesterday. Perfectly fine, except that he has been president for the last four years. Perfectly fine, except that terrorists murdered our...   September 26, 2012

  From National

• Dunce-capping our students

  Normally, I would be alarmed if the government started a file on me. In this case, I’m flattered — sort of. A report called “The Goodwin Column Cases” came after I published teacher complaints that principals forced...   September 23, 2012

  From Local

• Koch my drift, Bam?

  Think of it as Ed Koch 3.0. It means Barack Obama can expect a New York headache any day now.  The Democrat and former mayor led the charge to elect a GOP congressman last year to protest Obama’s policy toward Israel,...   September 23, 2012

  From Local

• The truth can set Mitt free

  Under the prevailing definition of a gaffe — accidentally telling the truth — Mitt Romney is guilty, guilty, guilty. The only surprise is that he knew the truth all along and kept it to himself. A tape from a May fund...   September 19, 2012

  From National

• O the apologist

  According to President Obama’s narrative, the murder of four Americans in Libya is a story of “senseless violence” provoked by an anti-Islam video. According to his Praetorian Guards in the media, the story is how Mitt...   September 16, 2012

  From Local

• Bums away, Andy!

  Imagine you are one of Shelly Silver’s handpicked protectors. Assume the Assembly speaker appointed you to the state ethics panel with a wink-and-a-nod understanding that you would do his bidding and shield him from...   September 12, 2012

  From Local

• Dems’ Dear Leader plotting our grim future

  The system is rigged. America is unjust. Opportunity is dead. You didn’t build that.  Dammit, where’s mine? Oh, and Republicans are the people who rigged the system. They’re trying to take away your rights to vote, to...   September 07, 2012

  From National

• Bill’s brilliance shows O’s flaws

  Charlotte —It must have been an oversight when Democrats initially omitted God from their platform. After all, speakers in the big hall have treated the stage like a pulpit and taken turns spewing fire and brimstone at...   September 06, 2012

  From National

• They got it covered – up

  In Sunday’s column, I mistakenly attributed to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman comments made by an outside lawyer in the sexual-harassment case rocking Albany. I regret the error. However, I definitely do not regret...   September 05, 2012

  From Local

• They got it covered – up

  In Sunday’s column, I mistakenly attributed to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman comments made by an outside lawyer in the sexual-harassment case rocking Albany. I regret the error. However, I definitely do not regret...   September 05, 2012

  From Local

• Delightful ‘feud’ for thought

  The late, great sportswriter Red Smith once was asked why people go to a baseball game and read about it the next day. It’s simple, Smith said, “people go to spectator sports to have fun, and then they grab the paper to...   September 04, 2012

  From National

• Shhh hits the fan for Albany Dems

  My, my, see how they run. The chance that a little sunlight will shine on Albany is causing a lot of scurrying in the top ranks of the Democratic establishment. The finger-pointing and run-for-your-life atmosphere...   September 02, 2012

  From Local

• The arrival of Mitt the man

  TAMPA, Fla. — He did it, he really did it. Mitt Romney became human. And presidential.  On the most important night of his political life, Romney finally opened up about himself. He talked of his parents, his early...   August 31, 2012

  From National

• Tough act to follow – but Rom better do it

  Tampa — Forced to share the spotlight with Tropical Storm Isaac and amid some grumbling that Tuesday’s speeches were somewhat less than the doctor ordered, the Republican convention desperately needed a jolt of energy...   August 30, 2012

  From National

• Romney’s ‘make or break’ moment

  Two stories about Mitt Romney. In a conversation last year, a pair of former colleagues from his private- equity days were effusive in their praise of Romney’s intelligence, dedication and skills.  But there was...   August 26, 2012

  From Local

• Press pussies soft on O

  In its otherwise glorious history, the Oval Office has suffered its share of scoundrels. Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon, to name just two, certainly left distinctive stains. Yet Barack Obama’s conduct puts him in a...   August 22, 2012

  From National

• Just the ‘thing’ to beat Obama

  A political maxim holds that you can’t beat Somebody with Nobody. It largely explains why Mitt Romney was having trouble going head-to-head against President Obama.  The incumbent is a much more skillful and confident...   August 19, 2012

  From Local

• Safety first, ask questions later

  During a lunch with Mayor Bloomberg early in his first term, the conversation turned to police officers facing life-or-death decisions. When I offered that veteran cops like to say they’d rather be judged by 12 of their...   August 15, 2012

  From Local

• The plan truth: Mitt was on ropes

  Until yesterday, nobody ever accused Mitt Romney of being bold. The poster boy for caution, Romney leaped way outside the box for the most important decision he will make as a candidate. By picking the youthful and...   August 12, 2012

  From Local

• Get a spine, Quinn

  He who straddles the fence gets splinters. Change that “he” to a “she” and you have the case against Christine Quinn. The council speaker is trying desperately to be all things to all people. She believes she can become...   August 08, 2012

  From Local