A year ago, in a very different October, as we hurtled toward a historic election, I wrote a post titled On November Fourth, the Netroots Should Be More Than an Afterthought:

In the final days of the campaign, the netroots, whose ranks (and influence) have swelled since 2004, will...

The news that President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize is sure to set off another round of praise, hand-wringing, scorn, awe, judgment, jealousy, pride, and so much more.

One thing is certain: Barack Obama is a singular figure in our lifetimes. And as such, he is a touchstone...

Three things have been crystal clear during this entire health reform debate:

a) President Obama will sign a bill at some point
b) He'll make serious compromises to do so
c) Many people will be dismayed by (a), (b), or both

Perhaps the anti-reform forces will manage to...

Let me start with a caveat: I've consistently believed that a) President Obama will end up signing a health reform bill; and b) the punditocracy will give him credit for pushing it through, thus shoring up his sagging poll numbers.

The crucial question is whether it ends...

Last February, I wrote a post about President Obama versus the conventional wisdom machine, arguing that "the assumption the new presidency would transform the political process, usher in an era of unprecedented citizen empowerment and decimate the old conventional wisdom-making machinery, has been undermined by the reality of entrenched...

Conservative columnist and cable news pundit Amanda Carpenter posted a telling observation on Twitter: "It's remarkable all Palin had to do is say death panels in a Facebook statement to make the President on down start talking about them."

The Daily Show has a snarkier take: "You know...

I don't get it. Why do Democratic leaders need to use the term "un-American" to characterize their political opponents in an op-ed about health care?

Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.

Un-American?

Yes, insurance companies...

Democrats and progressives are clearly rattled by how quickly the right has come out of the gate in the much-anticipated August health care battle.

Zandar, keying off Josh Marshall, explains:

Josh Marshall considers the health care town hall ambushes by the teabagger crowds and asks: "Folks...

In the swirling mass of news coverage and opinion-making on the issues of the day (Gates arrest, health care reform, birthers, etc.) we're seeing the convergence of various anti-Obama attack lines. In addition to the racial undertones of the birther movement, one theme gaining traction on the right in light...

Questioning the media's priorities is a full time occupation for online denizens -- and an undeniably important one, as media coverage shapes our views. The complex tensions between the press and online commentariat, the symbiosis between content producers and consumers, newsmakers and opinion-makers, the gradual morphing of one into the...

The New York Times blares: In Health Care Fight, Defining Moment Nears for President. It's the "Waterloo" talking point, promulgated by Republicans, seized upon by the White House, and echoed by the punditocracy and online commentariat.

It's false.

Some form of health care reform may pass --...

I live in downtown Manhattan, within a few blocks of the new Goldman Sachs World Headquarters and the (still) aching hole that was once the World Trade Center. The latter is a site where time stopped and the world gasped, where the unthinkable happened and heroes laid down their lives;...

I don't post with the aim of being contrarian, but lately I've found myself swimming against the tide of Democratic/progressive conventional wisdom. I questioned the strategy of elevating Rush Limbaugh's profile and engaging him from the White House podium; I criticized President Obama's Cairo speech for being tepid...

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...