It's a minor holiday--but only Christmas gets more build-up. Partly it's the decorations. In the stores, all over people's porches and yards. It's when the weather really starts to turn, and that's like announcement music in the background of the days. Also, it's for kids--grown-ups pretend, so kids will have...

He's trying hard to make that case. As I write, there he is, leading by example on every Sunday morning talk show -- except the Crazy Channel. Which was an interesting choice, especially when coupled with his core message, repeated in almost identical language in every interview. Namely, that the...

The situation facing supporters of the public option going into this crucial month was made hilariously clear in this doozy of an anecdote from a recent Paul Krugman column. It seems that, at a recent town hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told Representative...

First off, I have no idea what the Obama administration should do to support reform in Iran. I try to keep up with events, I have read a couple of books, but I know what I don't know -- and that's enough about Iranian reality to make a judgment.

How smart is this move? How dumb are the true believers on the Republican Right? We shall see.

After months of trying to gain traction on something, anything, against the Obama administration, they finally had something going. The closing of Guantanamo problem and, even more effective, the possibility that Pelosi...

Mark Danner continues to serve us as the best source out there on the issue of "enhanced interrogation techniques." But his latest piece for the NYRB goes beyond informing us. It offers the most compelling argument I know of against Obama's "let's look forward not backwards" position. I have...

My guess right now is that ASU will fold and give Obama an honorary degree after all. But that would not be the best result for Obama on the political/cultural stage. It would be much better if they stick to their guns and, if they do, here is Obama's...

OK, so the heat is on Poor Tim, that's clear. Richard Shelby, that pillar of political rectitude, is leading the charge of the vengeful to secure his resignation. Like Boss Limbaugh, they are happy to see America fail if it means Obama fails--and that's practically Shakespeare's definition of tragedy....

As part of reaching out to Republicans, Barack might consider inviting Rush to the White House. He might say something like this: my schedule does not permit me to respond to your invitation to come down to your Florida studio for a debate. But, he could then say, it...

This "finding our voice" stuff is all well and good for a few true believers among fiscal conservatives, but the political calculus motivating most of the Republican party is--yet again--deeply cynical.

When even Joe Biden is admitting that the chances of failure for the stimulus packet are...

The temptation was always very strong and, before the Daschle kerfuffle, mounting speculation culminating in this starkly titled piece in the New York Times, suggested that it still is. This should raise red flags for all who wish Obama well because the risk to his administration on this...

In the '90s, the Clintons convinced me that the Democratic Party was in the tank for global capital, so I voted for Nader in 2000. Eight years of Bush convinced me that Democrats, bad as they are, really are better. So I've been for Obama, knowing he would govern from...

Ok, so Larry Kudlow is celebrating the Obama spike in the stock market in his inimitable Boys Gone Wild When Something Goes Up way -- and, in general, established conservatives, wise men and women in main stream media and government, are pantomiming gratitude for evidence of Obama's intelligent moderation....

I have been blogging ominously for months about American racism and how it could undercut Obama's lead in the polls come election day. I was wrong. Frank Rich was right. In his column today he claims his kudos--and he deserves them. I don't know what made him so sure...

For the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country...

Tonight I saw Chris Mathews speculating on the possibility that Colin Powell will endorse Barack on one of the upcoming Sunday talk shows.

It is encouraging to know that Chris just assumes that General Powell has some kind of race-transcending status in this country. Just because he was Chairman of...

OK, if you haven't heard about this listen up. Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley, the Godfather of modern American conservatism, just announced his support for Barack Obama.

This matters. A lot.

George Will and David Brooks haven't gone that far yet, but they are flirting...

Remember that moment during the Biden/Palin debate when she corrected him on McCain economic policy? Not Drill, Drill, Drill. No, she said, with that corrective index finger raised. It's Drill, Baby, Drill.

Actually, ludicrous though it seems, the difference makes a difference. There's the not too obvious sexual connotion...

John McCain was once an exceptional politician. He really was. He really was a maverick. He had real integrity. Much as any liberal might have disagreed with him on substance, his heroism as a POW was internally consistent with his political positions. Like, for example, his opposition to the Bush...

Forgive the spelling joke. But doesn't it look surprisingly natural? There's a reason for that.

Barack has been the ultimate fusion candidate, the maximum mix man in the age of the mix. But what was left out of Barack's mash-up profile was the white working class, urban and exurban....