If President Obama is serious about not letting the biggest mistake of his first term become the biggest mistake of his presidency, then he should consider the possibility that the communication strategy that got him into office doesn't work very well for him in office.

For most people, civility translates to quieter, measured and (one hopes) thoughtful discussion (vs. the raised voices and uncomfortable feelings we associated with what we've come to think of as uncivil behavior).

Even if this election ends in a victory for the president, it's worth examining whether embracing our biases (and re-enforcing them by surrounding ourselves with people and media that confirm them) is ultimately good for us as individuals, party loyalists or citizens of the nation.

Mitt Romney can't say we're all in this together because all of his policy prescriptions are about doing it alone. This is what turns on the liberal base, but it's also a positive message to swing voters looking for hope again.

President Barack Obama's campaign has decided to fight fire with fire -- a decision that may just burn a hole in our democracy. Ask the president hims...

President Obama sounds glum, but he's right on schedule. It was at this point in Carter and Clinton's presidencies, late in their third year, that both presidents began singing the blues.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- A friend of an old friend on Facebook this weekend characterized Saturday's shooting as, "a good way to get rid of Democrats." How...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's words and goals have remained uncannily the same, from the bone-chilling steps of Illinois' Old State Capitol where ...

Here are the ten sources behind the most memorable lines of Obama's address.

King argued that it was the distorted state of the most fundamental conception of American political and social economy that was, in and of itself, responsible for social and economic injustice.

The Greek classics are no longer simply food for ivory tower intellectuals, but are entering the mainstream of society and politics, as food for thought, as the tools for living "an examined life."

Debates are won by the candidate who presents the most compelling and persuasive character. If I can convince you I'm an honest, straight talker, you'll believe what else I say. If I can't, you won't.

You can't debunk a myth by verbally repeating it. This is actually very basic stuff, so it is surprising that neither Obama nor his team understand it.

Everyone now is focused sharply on Obama's rhetoric, specifically having to do with verbal focus: Self- or other-directed, exclusive or inclusive, "I" or "you"?

There's one wall that Barack wants to pull down that I think needs to be affirmatively left in place, or, to be more precise, reconstructed: the one between church and state.

The speech is a brisk, affecting affair. There are big cheers when Obama talks about nuclear disarmament and dealing with climate change, but the crowd's response to "defeating terror" is noticeably muted.

Is the McCain campaign borrowing from Hillary Clinton? Consider the similarity between her remark from last March and a McCain spokesman's response to Obama's speech in Berlin.

The association of Obama with Kennedy was due, in large part, to their shared oratorical talents. This week's Berlin speech makes that association even more pertinent.

We're seven weeks from the biggest speech in a generation by any figure in American politics. If you can be there in person, go. Take your children. It's an event you'll remember the rest of your lives.

As Barack Obama's town hall meeting stretched into its second hour, it was clear the candidate wasn't anywhere close to finishing. Obama had given an...