The explosion of Palin-bashing (and yes, it's bashing, justified or not) across the political spectrum reminds me of a campaign that happened a lifetime ago. Back then, Hillary Clinton reprised her role as the political world's favorite target. Attacking her was elevated to an art form; participants of all stripes...

When my nephew was six or seven years old, he composed a short poem which still gives me chills -- he had no idea what it meant (or maybe he did) and I have no idea how he wrote it, but it's as deep and dark as anything I've read:

I've praised President Obama's discipline and focus, his calm demeanor. He is a thinker, reflective. He considers all angles of a problem. And he is chronically pragmatic.

There's nothing wrong with pragmatism - it's a precious commodity in a tumultuous world - but like anything else, too much of...

It's worth noting that with all this triumphant talk about the Twitter revolution in Iran -- especially when it's about a lesser-of-two-evils candidate -- we can't summon a fraction of the energy and passion to save abused, raped and battered women across the globe. Nor can we muster...

NOTE: This is my latest post for Consider This News, a new site I've launched with conservative blogger Patrick Hynes focusing on news and newsmakers.

As with any new phenomenon, a wave of curiosity, criticism, mockery, and adulation follows. The Twitter meta wave is cresting.

I know many will gush over President Obama's Cairo speech and I'm likely swimming against the tide of the media and my fellow Democrats and progressives. But reading the transcript, I was struck by two things:

1. Aside from a few platitudes, it is disappointingly weak on human rights and...

The establishment approach to counter-terrorism is based on an implicit assumption that there is a fundamental difference between the death and destruction caused by terrorist attacks and that caused by crime, hunger, disease and other such threats.

This unspoken assumption is used to justify the suspension of rules and...

Over the past four months there have been a series of flare-ups between the Obama administration and the progressive activist community, centered mainly around the new administration's willingness (or lack thereof) to reverse Bush-Cheney's radical excesses in the realm of civil liberties, secrecy, detainee treatment, interrogation, and counter-terrorism.

Ever...

Two recent events got me thinking about the online progressive community's achievements since 2000 and how that community is perceived in various quarters of the political and media establishment. The first is Paul Krugman's appearance on the cover of Newsweek -- Krugman is part of the online community insofar as...

Each of us has a story.

My father, who passed away in 1999, was a dirt poor Lebanese kid who taught himself English, worked his way over to America (doing odd jobs including shining shoes), and got into Columbia's PhD program. He married my mother, a Barnard student, then quit...

The World Health Organization's World Report on Violence and Health estimates that over a million people lose their lives to violence and millions more are injured and maimed every year. The report states that violence is "among the leading causes of death among people aged 15-44 years worldwide, accounting...

I don't buy into this 'brilliant' strategy of elevating Rush Limbaugh in the hopes that it will tarnish Republicans.

Focus relentlessly on the disastrous Bush presidency to tarnish Republicans, yes.

Overturn every single illegal and unconstitutional Bush-era policy and show the country and the world that we're reclaiming...

A striking fact about the current political environment is that despite the ground-breaking Democratic victory on November 4th - whose seeds were planted by progressive online activists - the new administration is dealing with an oddly familiar political brew: the "liberal media" mantra is rekindled, conservative talk...

The Washington Post looks at the meaning of bipartisanship in the Obama era:

The uncertainty over just how the new president defines bipartisanship traces back to the campaign trail. When Obama called for an end to "broken and divided politics," his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), and others...

I hate flying. I do it anyway, but I hate it. I've done it a lot, out of necessity. I did it during my music business days, criss-crossing America and Europe on tour. I did it when I lived in Beirut and flew in and out of the war zone...

If you get your political news online, it's hard to miss the controversy over Rick Warren's planned delivery of the Inaugural Invocation. The progressive community is outraged and one important venue where criticism is being voiced is the transition hub, Change.gov.

A quick glance at the discussion page yields...

Yesterday I attended an Internet and Politics conference convened by Harvard's Berkman Center. Berkman's mission is to "explore and understand cyberspace; to study its development, dynamics, norms, and standards." I was on a panel to discuss various aspects of online mobilization. I relayed some of my experiences working with...

The pyramid of Internet political functions consists of message (communications), money (fundraising) and mobilization. Atop that pyramid sits communications. Message drives money and triggers mobilization. Devoid of a compelling message to spur their use, the most advanced web tools will lie fallow. The impetus to use technology is always external...

Before I get to the story in the headline, a brief preface:

Like so many of you, I've had the incredible privilege of being part of election 2008, first as Hillary Clinton's Internet Director and then - as part of Hillary's team - doing everything possible to help elect Barack...

As a Democrat who left one career behind in 2001 and made politics my new one after Bush was elected, who vowed to fight every wrong-headed policy foisted on America by the Bush administration, I feel a profound debt of gratitude to Sen. Obama and his family, his campaign, his...