Economists may define "middle class" as the group whose income lies some distance from the mean family income (the average of all households) or the median income (the income level above which half of American families fall below and half above). But in the United States, as surveys over many...

One of the great character strengths of Barack Obama, and one of his greatest strengths as a leader, is his ability to treat people with civility and respect and to try to inspire others to do the same. We saw that in his speech on race in Philadelphia, in his...

President Obama has done his best to avoid discussions of social issues since the start of his campaign for the presidency. In so doing he has succeeded in staying on his central message: that what the American people need right now is not another politician exploiting cultural divides but someone...

Over 30 years have passed since the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s led to a severe recession and warned Americans just how vulnerable our economic and national security are because of our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Yet over three decades later, we still have no coherent energy policy...

In one sense, it isn't hard to see why the Republican Party seems to be coming apart at the seams. When you get caught gutting the regulations that had kept us for 70 years from another stock market crash like the crash of 1929 and another collapse of the banking...

While the President is off being the leader of the free world and trying to restore prosperity at home, someone needs to manage the blind trust of the Democratic Party before its assets dwindle like shares of Citigroup. President Obama's approval ratings have continued to break records, and with good...

The president's magnificent speech last night in honor of Abraham Lincoln did exactly what he has been needing to do, and did it artfully and disarmingly: to begin re-branding government as something other than, as Reagan branded it, "the problem, not the solution." Behind a memorable branding campaign is...

In the Presidential election, Barack Obama ran on two messages. One was a message of change, following eight years of a the most morally, administratively, and ideologically bankrupt administration in our nation's history, which has left our country in its most precarious state since the 1930s. The other was a...

Watching President Obama's interview on Al-Arabiya this week was striking in multiple respects, not the least of which, of course, was that an American president actually did an interview with an Arab network with a largely Muslim viewing audience -- and did it in the first week of his presidency....

For thirty years, Americans have absorbed the well-branded mantra of Ronald Reagan: Government is the problem, not the solution. They have absorbed it so well that it has literally become part of the fabric of their--and our--brains. "Government" is unconsciously associated with bureaucracy, failed programs, inefficiency, waste, socialism, and all...

The U.S.-Al Qaeda conflict appears to be showing some signs of slowing down, at least temporarily, as Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden agreed on terms for a cease-fire, putting a momentary halt to years of struggle between the two enemies that have left tens of thousands of innocent...

I couldn't help but smile watching President-elect Obama last weekend on This Week. He will clearly restore many things to the White House, not the least of which is a badly-needed third digit to the presidential IQ. Obama never seemed all that comfortable in venues like the Sunday...

As the dust settles from the remarkable election of 2008 and the Obama transition is in full tilt, it is worth taking stock of lessons learned so they can inform not only campaigns that follow but the way Democrats and progressives pursue their legislative agendas.

From the standpoint of...

After a sweeping electoral victory, Democrats today have much to rejoice. So do middle class Americans, who made clear with their votes that they could not afford another four years of a government asleep at the wheel that cost them a fifth of the equity in their homes...

With three weeks left to go, the election appears to be a battle of titans: anxiety pitted against anxiety. Anyone who still thinks campaigns are "debates on the issues" (e.g., whether the newly unveiled McCain economic plan is better or worse than the plan released the day before by Obama)--or...

It was Tuesday afternoon last week, and I was heading back from San Diego to the East Coast when I caught a piece of a speech on the economy by Barack Obama. I almost missed my flight because I couldn't walk away from it. My immediate response: This was a...

Democrats around the country have been growing increasingly anxious over the last week, and for good reason. If there was a clear message from Denver, it was reflected in the remarks of virtually every commentator on television after Obama's magnificent speech: "Wow, Obama can throw a punch." He needed to...

The Democratic Convention this year was simply stunning, with multiple-base hits by many of the players and triples or homeruns by all its superstars. It was bookended by two picture-perfect speeches. In the first, Michelle Obama accomplished exactly what she needed to: to make clear that she is a mother,...

In the presidential race of 2004 we had the Two Americas. In this year's race we have the Two Obamas: the one who has drawn repeated comparisons to JFK, RFK, and MLK, and the one who has drawn comparisons to Adlai Stevenson, Michael Dukakis, and John Kerry. Whether Obama will...

For years Democratic candidates have struggled with how to counter Republican stands that paint the world in black and white, readily summarized in brief, evocative phrases (e.g., "life begins at conception," "tax and spend," "cut and run"). A prime example is abortion, which has left Democrats outside the Northeast and...