Mandates are rarely won on election night. They are earned after Inauguration Day by leaders who spend their political capital wisely, taking advantage of events without overreaching.

Most Tea Party activists consider Obama a big-spending liberal. Some even question his eligibility to be president.

Election night is the easiest time to act like a grownup.

Sitting in the Oval Office, beneath a painting of George Washington, with a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. over his right shoulder and a bust of Abraham Lincoln over his left shoulder, Obama told 'National Journal' that the country's economic woes are deep and endemic.

Don't kid yourself. President Obama's decision to withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan before he stands for reelection is not driven by the United States' 'position of strength' in the war zone as much as it is by grim economic and political realities at home.

Don't stigmatize in a rush to explain inexplicable evil.

Palin seems to have forgotten that her poll ratings have plummeted since the summer of 2011.