As President Obama ushers in a new era of good feeling, allow me this potentially discordant note. As we finally stop torturing people, can we please start humiliating sleazeballs? Bring back stocks -- the ancient punishment wherein a criminal's head and hands where placed through a piece of wood, immobilizing them. Bringing back stocks might restore a commodity that's in even shorter supply than hope: Shame. Those who shamelessly and shamefully ripped off our country, bankrupted our economy and tarnished our national identity? They need to be shamed.
Hand it to Hillary Clinton. She's managed to sum up the bold new direction of US foreign policy into a bumper-friendly catchphrase: smart power. Sufficiently vague, the phrase is remarkable for its meaninglessness.
Caroline Kennedy may yet be a factor in American politics. Obama would love it for his own reasons -- and so would the powerful political franchise that Ted Kennedy helped build.
Gillibrand is a pro-gun, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat, which is the name moderate Democrats gave themselves so people stopped confusing them with Republicans.
Obama's new Orders are a bold start, but more detail is required, dangerous loopholes must be shut off permanently, and other parts of the Bush administration's dark legacy need to be swiftly addressed.
President Obama has shown us how we can strengthen our national security without undermining our ideals. On Tuesday we witnessed history, and now we are witnessing fundamental change.
Interrogators are lauding President Obama for signing an executive order that will shut down secret CIA prisons and place the use of coercive interrogation techniques completely off limits.
Destroying our natural heritage will do nothing to solve our energy challenges for the long-term, which to me, is even more reason to act.
No, it's not about your local gas station not getting a loan from its bank to keep it in business. It is far more insidious. It's about hundreds of millions of TARP dollars being spent on oil speculation.
Obama (correctly, I think) sees the press representing two things that are clear obstacles to his ambitious plans: official Washington and a trivia-obsessed media culture.
Following Tuesday's Official Swearing-In and Wednesday's Swearing-In Unplugged, the White House this morning announced the swearing-in schedule for the rest of the month.
Change has come to America. Well, sort of. On "K" Street - home to Washington's most powerful corporate lobbyists - it's business as usual.
What's it like to be a muse to famous artists? What is it like to inspire creativity, to have people study your body, the way you move, the tilt of your head?
Scanning Michelle Obama's post-election coverage makes it seem that the importance of being First Lady is about sleeveless dresses and puppy breeds. It isn't.
Holbrooke's policy of engagement or what Hillary Clinton is calling a "robust" foreign policy agenda suggests that Foggy Bottom will figure prominently in the early days of the First 100.
Drug overdose now ranks as a leading cause of preventable death, second only to motor-vehicle accidents. Accidental overdoses killed more Americans last year than did firearms.
The problem with Guantanamo was never about its bricks and mortar. The problem with Guantanamo is that its very existence stains and defies the moral fiber of our great nation.
Obama has issued an executive order to shut down the prison. That alone is not enough. An executive order can be changed -- easily.
Come on, Chuck. What a tone-deaf way to start your White House stint -- just awful and hopefully not a sign of things to come.
