With an unflinching speech, Barack Obama wagered his presidency on his ability to move an ambitious agenda through the Congress while stabilizing the economy and reducing the budget deficit. Perhaps responding to the criticism he has received in recent days, he tilted away from dire descriptions of the country's problems...

With the agreement between House and Senate negotiators on an economic stimulus bill, the young Obama administration won a hard-fought and much needed victory. The compromise, which cut the overall cost of the legislation to $789 billion, pared back items dear to both liberals and the business community. And it...

At some point in the evening, before all definitive results lit the electoral maps, television viewers across America understood that Barack Obama would be the 44th president and that Democrats would hold greater majorities in both the House and Senate. Now, the real work starts.

Sure, there were some surprises...