President Obama made it clear on Tuesday that America is no longer in the business of selling-out the legacy of our Founders and the mandates of the Constitution for the sake of a little bit of extra security. Patriotism should never again be defined as the speed and vigor by which our liberties are abandoned. Rather, the perpetual rejection of the "false choice between our safety and our ideals" is the sort of heroic patriotism our Founders intended. At long last, we finally have a president who's smart enough and wise enough to get it.
I cannot help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who 47 years ago stood on steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke of his dream. Tuesday, that long-awaited, long-fought-for dream of equality was realized.
Each of us is called to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America." It is a challenge that we can not afford to ignore.
Yes, Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei received acting nominations. But The Wrestler -- one of the fiercest, most moving, most resourceful independent entries of the year -- was shut out in the major categories.
When Obama climbed from his limo to greet crowds assembled outside the National Archives and Navy Memorial, he followed the suggestion of the Memorial's designer William Conklin.
I just returned from D.C. feeling like David Blaine returning from his 58-hour entombment in a block of ice: I'm cold, I lost some friends, and I gained an impressive case of PTSD.
Dealing with Hamas or the Taliban doesn't mean that if Obama talks to them they will roll over. It means that the use of force alone cannot work and that ignoring them won't make them go away
Icelanders don't have the culture of crowds. There are no subways, no train stations, so Facebook has made a great social impact and has played a vital role in the days since the economic crash.
The president was vague about what the mission to Antarctica would entail, but he did indicate that it could take "up to four years."
I spoke with Mayor Bloomberg about the incoming Obama administration and the news that Hillary Clinton had been sworn in as the next Secretary of State.
The sea of joyous humanity on the Mall in Washington gave us a snapshot of what a million people looked like. It gave us some inkling of the sheer size of what was perhaps humanity's greatest crime.
There is no need to applaud Mr. Bush, but no need to boo him, either. He was our own doing, after all, and anyway, we are, perversely, in his debt.
Apart from a generally more open approach to executive transparency and accountability, I have four specific policy recommendations.
Community health centers are open to patients with Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and those who have no insurance at all. No one who walks in is turned away because he or she lacks payment.
Let me be blunt. Let me be blunt like Harry Truman was blunt: Comparisons between Truman and Bush are nonsense.
As we start a new era, President Obama has asked us to reshape our destiny.
What can a good Republican say about the week that has unfolded? I'm not sure. But speaking as an American, all I can say is that I'm damn proud to be a part of this great republic.
The magnitude of Obama's popular and electoral-vote victory means that we have seen the end, for now, of the politics of illegitimacy.
It would be an audacious hope to make every school in America as good as Sidwell. It's the key to a literate and scientifically literate society that can change the world for generations to come.
