Even if President Barack Obama doesn't deliver the change he promised, at least he could restore basic oversight in key financial areas.

The need was highlighted by a story out of Cleveland last week. On Friday, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. regulators seized the AmTrust Bank, the fourth-largest U.S. bank or...

During the Civil War and Reconstruction era -- best described as our "Second American Revolution" -- the political parties marched in virtual lockstep, in consistent, rigid opposition to the other. Democrats steadfastly resisted the Republicans' organic program for a new nation, including the Homestead Act, the land-grant college program,...

Sen. Russ Feingold has called the glut of unlimited campaign contributions nothing more than "legalized bribery." And who among his legislative colleagues deserves to be hit with this denunciation? "Not me," say Max Baucus, the largest single recipient of health industry funds, and Joe Lieberman, the senator from Aetna Insurance,...

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly called for expanding the war in Afghanistan. Be careful what you wish for.

The bells of Afghanistan echo the Vietnam War. Like then, we have a powerful military establishment linked to civilian foreign and defense intellectuals clamoring for an expansive military adventure...

Two front-page New York Times (August 25, 2009) stories appeared concerning our treatment of alleged terrorists and past practices of torture. First, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the naming of a special prosecutor to investigate the long-ignored, long-suppressed, and now much redacted Inspector General's report of the Central Intelligence Agency's...

On August 17, President Barack Obama made the obligatory presidential pilgrimage to the conclave of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, this time on Senator John McCain's home turf. The speech, carried live on the cable networks, captured a VFW audience often surly and seemingly uninterested in the president's remarks. But...

President Richard Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the revelations of his "abuses of power" and obstruction of justice. For his involvement in criminal activities, Nixon earned his unique epitaph: an unindicted co-conspirator.

As the nation watched events unfold from 1972...

How do we remember history? Time diminishes our memories of details and spear carriers. Thirty-five years ago, as Richard Nixon prepared to resign, we readily recited the real-life cast of all the President's men: Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Dean, Kleindienst, Colson, Liddy, and Agnew. Today, their memory has all but vanished,...

The President has chosen Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. Of the reported finalists, she appears to be the easiest choice for confirmation. Sotomayor has the "right" gender, ethnicity, and experience; nevertheless, we can expect the Republicans to mount an "ideological" opposition, perhaps less strained for this nomination, but in...

Congress is broken. The framers of the Constitution, building on nearly six centuries of parliamentary experience, situated Congress at the heart of the American constitutional system. Representative government was believed to be the purest, and yet workable, means of self-government. For the past twenty-five years, however, Congress has made a...

By Stanley Kutler

President Barack Obama dramatically changed course twice on May 13 when he announced he would not release photos of American military personnel "abusing" detainees, reversing the Pentagon's statement on April 26 that it would comply with a court order--with the president's own prompt and emphatic support for...

Since US supreme court justice David Souter informed President Barack Obama of his intention to retire from active service, media speculation has percolated over a likely successor. The great majority of names floated have been women, many of whom had also been mentioned earlier, considering justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's recent...

CONDI OWES RICHARD NIXON AN APOLOGY
Stanley Kutler

Condolezza Rice is stealing Richard Nixon's lines. Thanks to the miracle of video tape, we had a peek at her teaching performance at Stanford. Responding to a student's query on President George W. Bush's approval of torture, she said: "....

Since Barack Obama's inauguration, the media have cast their reporting under the catchy title of "The First 100 Days." CNN has even designated April 29 as "Report Card Day." Only a fool would expect to know anything about a president's legacy a mere 100 days in.

Since Barack...

We're Paying Congress for This?

By Stanley Kutler

Great crises and problems often have become the subjects of extensive congressional investigation and oversight. Congress has made prominent inquiries into, for example, the Civil War, the Reconstruction, the "money trust" in the Progressive Era, the banking follies of the 1920s and...

Understanding the Constitution sometimes is like interpreting the Talmud. Two scholarly readings bring forth three opinions. Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution is rather straightforward: "Each House shall be the judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualification of its own Members. ..." The rest of the sentence involves quorums...

The New York Mets have announced their new stadium will still be called Citi Field. According to news reports, Citigroup will pay the Mets a trifling $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights to their new ballpark. Small change. The Mets added that the government bailout of Citigroup...

The times are unprecedented. Not since 1861 have we watched the last gasps of an outgoing administration with such anxiety. Then the nation was concerned with drift and inertia; now we watch for further ideological mischief.

Republicans were aghast in 2001 to discover that President Bill Clinton's staff allegedly...

Thomas Friedman, the one-time eloquent cheerleader for the Iraq War, a liberal voice who deemed it realistic to rid the world of Saddam Hussein, notwithstanding the loss of a useful buffer against Iran to the rest of the Western world. Oh, those heady days of Iraqis greeting us with flowers...

Just after midnight on election day the good folks in Dixville Notch, NH gave 15 votes for Barack Obama, while John McCain garnered only 6. Their first-in-the-nation vote told us what we needed to know and offered a portent for shifts across the country. George W. Bush won there...