For many political observers on both sides of the aisle the Senate, in particular, has become a study in dysfunction: a place where a lethal combination of ego and tradition make it nearly impossible to get anything done.
Obama is right to focus on identifying where the intelligence system failed and fixing the shortcomings
Obama may have the Senate's approval, but he remains a long way from signing a bill.
The U.S. President's desire to end the wars he has inherited must be backed by peaceful transitions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Let's all stop comparing Sarah Palin and Barack Obama's poll numbers. The election is too far off for them to mean anything.
(complete article)It is high time we ended the dangerous fiction that America is at 'war' with a tactic.
(complete article)One year after the American presidential election it is too soon to judge Barack Obama's administration a success or failure, but the progress he has made in restoring the country's international reputation is significant, and praiseworthy.
(complete article) It is time for a more honest discussion in the US about what, exactly, getting out of Iraq means.
(complete article)Washington's dominant narrative concerning the 'surge' is, at best, incomplete and in many ways flat-out wrong. Using it as a guide for policy in Afghanistan is a serious mistake.
(complete article)Appearing on five Sunday talk shows Barack Obama took time to discuss Afghanistan. The conclusion? Our strategy remains very much a work in progress.
(complete article)The rest of the rich world - and much of the not-so-rich-world - takes universal health care for granted. Why is America different?
(complete article)From the Weekend Review Section: Ted Kennedy was among the last of a vanishing breed of U.S. Senators.
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One might think the health care debate is a purely domestic issue - holding no importance for the Middle East. Nothing could be further from the truth.
(complete article)What was most surprising about Hillary Clinton's Iran comments was the lack of reaction they elicited here at home.
(complete article)Michael Jackson was a star in his time. Whether he remains so, only time will tell. (complete article)
Does Robert McNamara's career - and his fate in the decades after he left government - hold any lessons for his successors in the Bush and Obama administrations?
(complete article) The US president is probably best described as a figure of the centre-left who believes the country is drifting in his direction.
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Right now Iran looks like the worst sort of crisis: the kind where everyone agrees that the US needs to do something despite the fact that, realistically, there is not much it can do. (complete article)
Tomorrow, US President Barack Obama is scheduled to be in Cairo to deliver what is billed as a major address to the Muslim World. What can, or should, he say? And how might it be received? (complete article)
Is US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a villain? Someone directly responsible for America's Bush-era torture policies? A figure who should now be brought down in an act of collective catharsis? In a word, no; though one could be forgiven for thinking otherwise after the media coverage of the last week. On the basis of the current evidence Pelosi surely bears a measure of responsibility for Washington's moral failings of the last seven years. It is, however, a comparatively small share. (complete article)
Until last week there remained a hope, however faint, that a thoughtful and conciliatory new president might be able to convince Republicans of his goodwill and change Washington's tone. Then, on Friday, Justice David Souter announced his retirement from the US Supreme Court. By Monday morning it was hard to avoid the conclusion that, despite US President Barack Obama's best efforts, the GOP is not interested in reconciliation and is not going to be brought round. Why, you may ask, should this be of interest to readers outside the United States? Because the retreat of Democrats and Republicans to their respective political trenches means that foreign policy is apt to become merely another ideological battleground. This is especially problematic in the case of the Middle East - a region likely to present Obama with some of his toughest choices; including several that may put him at odds with his own party. (complete article)