The idea that America elected a black man to be its president forty years after it declined to allow Martin Luther King Jr. to stand on a balcony without getting shot still maintains its power to awe and inspire.

The Republicans find their faith imperiled by Barney Frank's marriage. There is always a shadow on the wall, a monster in the closet, a mysterious rustling in the teeming underbrush of the conservative Id.

Optimism....is neither weak nor naive. It can be tough and pure and earned just as clearly as any brooding existential despair.

It's better to be black than gay because when you're black you don't have to tell your mother.

The perfect lover is one who turns into a pizza at 4:00 A.M.

According to the people who dearly would love to throw him out of office, Barack Obama was elected to be 'above politics.' He wasn't elected to be president, after all. He was elected as an avatar of American tolerance. His attempts to get himself reelected imply a certain, well, ingratitude.

Ronald Reagan was a dim hack who did horrible damage to almost everything he touched.