Hikes in the debt ceiling - without any political demands from the opposition party - had been routine until President Obama took office.

As President Obama is inaugurated for a second time, the biggest political surprise is that gun control is now key to his political legacy.

If you're a black kid, you're going to have hell in your life.

When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

If you get the U.N. to say we're going to solve the Syrian problem, if you get the Russians involved in a productive posture, you are making progress, but the Republican core says no strategy or failed strategy.

I'm not a predictable black liberal.

Murders with guns are the No. 1 cause of death for African-American men between the ages of 15 and 34. But talking about race in the context of guns would also mean taking on a subject that can't be addressed by passing a law: the family-breakdown issues that lead too many minority children to find social status and power in guns.