On Monday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs lauded Elizabeth Warren as "a terrific candidate" to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: "I don't think any criticism in any way by anybody would disqualify her."

So why isn't the White House rushing to nominate her for the...

A month ago, when Tony Robbins was passing through New York, we met for a drink. In the course of our conversation, we realized that -- from our different perspectives -- we both had been thinking about a similar problem: how can people faced with enormous challenges carry on without...

This week, President Obama signed the financial regulation bill, Facebook signed up its 500 millionth member, and the Senate Judiciary committee signed off on Elena Kagan. But the news cycle was dominated by the media frenzy over Shirley Sherrod. BigGovernment.com turned the obscure USDA worker's tale of racial...

Some of my happiest moments -- as well as my most enriching and enlightening moments -- have come through travel. Which is why I'm delighted to announce the launch of our newest section, HuffPost Travel.

I still remember the excitement of my first trip out of Athens, when...

This week, the SEC settled its fraud case against Goldman Sachs for $550 million (Four days' worth of Goldman's 2009 revenues), without the banking giant having to admit legal wrongdoing or fire any senior executives. On the same day, Congress passed a financial reform bill that left Wall...

It's a terrible calamity that those in charge never should have allowed to happened, it's doing incalculable damage that will last for generations, and even as the destruction continues to spread, the government seems powerless to stop it.

No, I'm not talking about BP and the Gulf....

This was not a good week for those in the media who insist on looking at every issue using the exhausted left vs. right framing. First, Barney Frank and Ron Paul took to HuffPost, making the case that substantial cuts in the bloated defense budget must be a...

Whenever I speak about the future of media, I get the most positive reaction when I talk about the urgent need to create an online tool that makes it possible to instantly fact-check politicians and commentators as they speak (a bubble pops up, containing the actual facts supporting...

Happy 4th of July! This week, the House authorized an additional $30 billion to fund the war in Afghanistan. Any time the funding of jobs programs or unemployment benefits is raised, our leaders immediately go into sticker shock. But they don't bat an eye when it's time to sign the...

Well, President Obama has succeeded in bringing at least one soldier home from Afghanistan -- welcome back, Gen. McChrystal. Now if he can just hold true to his plan to begin bringing the other 100,000 or so home next year.

Before the president fired McChrystal, many wondered...

A rolling stone gathers no moss, and this week a loose-tongued General got steamrolled by a paper one. President Obama did the right thing in canning McChrystal. But his appointment of David Petraeus bodes very badly for the July 2011 withdrawal start date. Last week, Petraeus hinted as much, telling...

Tough to say who needs remedial PR training more, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who this week referred to those affected by the Gulf catastrophe as "the small people" or Texas Rep. Joe Barton who used a high-profile hearing on the Hill to apologize to BP and

I can still remember my reaction to certain works of art -- the first time I saw Mozart's Magic Flute at Covent Garden, the first time I saw Nureyev leap from the ballet stage and hang midway between heaven and earth, or the many times I stood in front of...

On Friday, I asked for suggestions for the five-word acceptance speech I should give at tonight's Webby Awards.

Your response has been tremendous: over 3,000 suggestions so far. Not surprisingly, Gulf-related references dominated, although there were a number of 5-word plays on the president's performance, tea parties, Arizona,...

After making a $209.8 billion profit since 2000, we're hearing talk about BP going bankrupt (the better to avoid fines and settlements, my dear), while the Chamber of Commerce is suggesting that taxpayers, not just BP, should be responsible for the cost of the Gulf clean up. Shades of the...

Monday night in New York, HuffPost will receive a Webby Award as the People's Voice Winner for Best Political Blog (thanks to everyone who voted for us). And congratulations to our great HuffPost team.

As is the tradition at the Webbys, award winners only get five words for their acceptance...

Watching the news, it's easy to conclude that "Yes We Can" has been replaced with, "Actually, On Second Thought... We Probably Can't." We can't plug the damn hole, we can't get rid of too-big-to-fail banks, we can't pass an adequate foreclosures bill, we can't pass an adequate jobs bill. The...

Isn't it interesting how so many Gulf state Republicans are anti-big government -- until they need its help? It's "big government for me, but not for thee." You know what they say: a Republican is just a Democrat who hasn't been the victim of a catastrophic oil spill yet. The...

The bracing reality that America has two sets of rules -- one for the corporate class and another for the middle class -- has never been more indisputable.

The middle class, by and large, plays by the rules, then watches as its jobs disappear -- and the Senate takes a...

Now, I'm a huge Paul McCartney and Beatles fan. But when I saw that the president will be hosting a concert honoring Sir Paul next week, my first reaction wasn't, "I hope they play 'Hey, Jude.'" Given the White House's decidedly tame response to the BP disaster (perfectly summed up...