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.

For the past eight years, the right has been better at working the refs. Now the left is learning how to play the game.

America's great newspapers have staffs that range from 50 percent to 70 percent of what they were just a few years ago.

One of the many, many salutary aspects of Barack Obama's impending presidential nomination is the sea change his victory marks in the battle for the mind-set of the American foreign policy establishment.

As a parent and a citizen, I'll take a Bill Gates (or Warren Buffett) over Steve Jobs every time. If we must have billionaires, better they should ignore Jobs's example and instead embrace the morality and wisdom of the great industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

As with almost every significant aspect of the Bush presidency, its handling of 9/11 was a catastrophe from start to finish.

The war on terrorism was a bait and switch operation.