I don't really care how or why Obama got to the right place on gay marriage. I'm just glad he got there.

Elections are about the future. And the GOP will not win a campaign focused on the past.

At some point he has to show that he has a vision of a better way. He can't just say 'The future is bleak, follow me.' Because no one will.

As in nature, politics abhors a vacuum. Without a strong voice for more moderate leadership, the Tea Party is filling that vacuum.

Debates require a lot of hard work and preparation. If you try to wing it, it shows.

Outside events can change a presidential campaign, a president, and the history of the nation: the Iranian hostage crisis, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the downing of the helicopter in Mogadishu, Somalia, the suicide attack on the USS Cole, and, of course, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

A messy participatory process is representative democracy at its best.