Obama considers himself above deal-making and back-slapping, political necessities he often delegates to Vice President Joe Biden and other lesser sorts.

For a man who has compared himself to Theodore Roosevelt and the nation's challenges to those of the Gilded Age, Obama put forward a tepid agenda.

We're living in an era of unprecedented change, and I want to be a part of documenting it.

If acknowledging that racial misgivings and misunderstandings are still a part of politics and life in America, I plead guilty.

Obama might do well to remember that his fast rise from the Illinois state Senate was due in large part to an uncanny ability to make friends and find mentors.

American exceptionalism is the recurring character in the nation's narrative.

A concrete agenda and landslide victory might not even guarantee a president his mandate in a capital as polarized as Washington.