For me, the iconic image of the Great Recession -- encompassing the corporate largesse and irresponsibility, as well as the resulting widespread discontent of this period -- is one that I've conjured up in my head from news reports of former Lehman Brothers CEO, Dick Fuld, knocked out cold and...

A noticeable and unnerving trend has taken shape in the lead-up to this year's British national election: with an influx of advisors and consultants who made their mark on the American national political stage -- including former Kerry campaign manager, Bob Shrum, and former White House communications director, Anita Dunn...

This is a follow-up to a piece I wrote for Huffington Post back in August in which I took aim at cable news shows for their lack of on-air diversity, particularly with respect to the average age of guests and to ethnic make-up. Here, the attack resumes once more.

When Rachel Maddow plowed her pick-up truck into the gates of the predominantly white and male country club that is cable news this time last year, it was a reminder of the growing need to encourage on-air diversity. Over the course of the next few years, with the blogosphere serving...

Serious questions are being raised over the Secret Service's ability to successfully carry out their mandate. In a new book by Ronald Kessler, democracy's protective cloak of trained agents are shown to lack both the modern mentality and resources needed to tackle the ever-broadening spectrum of threats that they must...

The London School of Economics is an inconspicuous series of academic lecture halls and classrooms that sit within a busy enclave in England's capital city. Adorning the walls of its main administrative building are the pictures of the School's past Nobel Prize winners. It is a long wall. With few...

At a Rock the Vote awards dinner in 2005, then-Senator Obama spoke to a packed house at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. He cut a presidential figure on the stage, beautifully mobilizing the English language to take the audience back to the era of the civil rights movement....

With the election and inauguration of Barack Obama, the White House has reclaimed its place as an intellectual playground for some of the most capable minds in the country. It is in keeping with this tradition that I propose a permanent addition to the White House staff: a historian-in-residence. Sure,...

After eight years of acting on gut instinct and ignoring the tide of public opinion, George W. Bush is coming to recognize the extent to which his Administration has damaged the country. Marking this recognition is a concerted effort by the White House to stage an all-out defense of Bush's...

George W. Bush will leave office on January 20th with one of the lowest approval ratings in American presidential history. "History will judge me," he says. Fair enough. Truman did not fare much better with public opinion in 1952. Consequently, historians and political commentators have been quick to draw parallels...

With recent polls reflecting a shift in the mood of the American electorate, the McCain campaign finds itself in an uphill battle going into the final stretch. Yet, over here in Europe - where I am studying at the London School of Economics - the question on the minds of...