Mistakes, after all, are endemic to foreign and military policy given the unpredictability of events and the difficulty of securing reliable information in a place like Iraq.

Warren Buffett pays taxes on a smaller percentage of his billions in income than his cleaning lady.

While history never repeats itself, political patterns do.

Liberals do not appear to address potential solutions with anything like the far right's aura of God-given self-confidence.

Americans get mad as hell with reasonable frequency but quickly return to their families and sitcoms.

To become informed and hold government accountable, the general public needs to obtain news that is comprehensive yet interesting and understandable, that conveys facts and outcomes, not cosmetic images and airy promises. But that is not what the public demands.

Few progressives would take issue with the argument that, significant accomplishments notwithstanding, the Obama presidency has been a big disappointment.