As President Obama and his advisors debate a strategic change in the war in Afghanistan, it has become increasingly clear that this war has become a regional conflict that stretches into Pakistan, and even India and beyond. While the original rationale for the war was the elimination of a...

In the hours after the surprise announcement that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, the main argument seems to be whether the President -- and by extension America -- deserves the prize. After all, the argument goes, Obama has only been in office a few months, what...

The outbursts over the past month by Congressman Joe Wilson, Kanye West and Serena Williams have provoked much soul-searching in the media and the public in general about the level of civility in society. There are lots of theories about how rude and inconsiderate behavior has begun to permeate both...

R.J. Cutler's The September Issue and last year's The Devil Wears Prada have ripped the frilly veil off the $2 trillion global fashion industry, revealing it as the last bastion of a bunch of autocratic dinosaurs. Even for a dedicated non-fashionista like myself, it is shocking to see the iron...

While the media has been filled with images of raucous town hall meetings and "tea party" protests from right wingers, these are largely irrelevant sideshows. The real pitched battle is within the Democratic party -- a battle that could determine the future of the Democrats as the governing party. In...

Ted Kennedy held a special place in the hearts of my family, my friends and my generation. My father, Roger Hilsman, worked for President Kennedy in the early '60s when Ted was "the kid brother" who came to the Senate at the tender age of 31, only to be welcomed...

The debate over health care reform has rapidly morphed from a discussion of the risks and rewards of proposals to improve our health care system into a much larger, broader debate that has very little to do with health care. In town hall meetings and on cable networks, in blogs...

One of the first lessons that any politician should learn is to listen -- really listen -- to the voters. This is not as easy as it sounds, because voters are not like policy wonks. They don't list the pros and cons of specific pieces of legislation or weigh the...

I support a truth commission on torture. There are certainly sound moral and even political reasons to discover the truth about the outrageous abuses of the Bush era. While many people in the country -- including everyone in the White House -- would like the issue to go away, some...

No single issue that has fueled the flames of anti-Americanism in Pakistan more than the bombings of their country by our Predator drones. Since President Obama took office, there have been at least sixteen Predator strikes, which have killed about 160 people and led to widespread protests around the...

Sean Hannity's offer to undergo waterboarding for charity is almost too good to refuse. However, before we undertake any such extraordinary interrogation techniques (EIT's, for short) on the Fox talk show host, we should be sure to get some airtight legal opinions to make sure we won't run afoul of...

In late 1941, my grandfather, Roger Hilsman, Sr., was the US Commander of one of the southern islands of the Philippines that was attacked by the Japanese. Obeying the orders of General Douglas MacArthur, my grandfather surrendered his command and became one of thousands of Allied POWs in Asia. He...

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote about the American gospel of success, which encourages "middle-class people to strive, risk and make money." The economic downturn has caused a brief lull in the relentless American success drive, writes Brooks, "But if there is one thing we can be sure...

At a town hall event this week in Fort Myers, Florida, President Obama took an important step down the road to economic recovery. No, it wasn't a policy proposal that he made, or a thoughtful answer to a citizen's question, or even the announcement that his stimulus package had...

A silver lining amidst the dark clouds of financial gloom may be the unique opportunity to remake our economy in a way that provides opportunities for all Americans, not just the privileged few. The Hope Street Group, a bipartisan, volunteer policy organization dedicated to building an Opportunity Economy, believes...

During World War II, Americans were encouraged to buy "war bonds" to support the war effort. From Hollywood to Madison Avenue to Main Street there were bond drives that stressed our patriotic duty to invest in victory by buying US Savings Bonds. By the end of the war, nearly half...

Jonathan Alter's engaging and often startling book about the first hundred days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, The Defining Moment, is chock full of parallels to Barack Obama's transition and possibly Obama's first hundred days. The obvious similarity is the deep economic crisis that faced Roosevelt and now confronts Obama. Both...

In his press conference earlier this week, President Bush declared flatly that he would not discuss the issue of pardons, which may be a sign that he's considering issuing a lot of pardons, a few pardons, or hardly any at all. While no one knows for sure what Bush will...

Early in his campaign, Barack Obama said "I'm human and I'm going to make mistakes." But as the election campaign wore on and Obama racked up impressive victories first in the primaries and then in the general election, there was a growing feeling among his supporters and even some in...

As the Bush era draws to a tragicomic close -- with shoes being hurled at the American president -- it might be tempting to portray the Bush presidency in Shakespearean terms, as a tale of overarching arrogance and hubris that led to his ultimate downfall. In fact, the presidency of...