As national security advisor, she doesn't have to be a natural diplomat with a gift of politesse. She has to be smart, analytical, articulate, and hard-working. And she has to have the confidence of the president. Which she clearly does.

Romney missed a big opportunity last week when he so foolishly and shallowly attacked President Barack Obama after the attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt.

I suspect that historians will look back on the post-9/11 period and find much of it to have been a fundamental distraction from America's deeper interests.

Assuming that Hillary Clinton still wants to be president, after a breather from years of frenetic activity, first as a presidential candidate and then secretary of state -- she is playing a long game. And the geopolitical pivot to the Asia Pacific is a central part of it.

For Mitt Romney, the convention provides his latest attempt to re-introduce himself to the American people. But what's that old ad tag line? "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." It's not a Don Draper line but it sounds like it ought to be.