Anything may be possible in America, but a Palin presidency is virtually implausible.

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

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.

With gridlock the norm, Congress's approval rating is below 10 percent and the public has lost faith in its national leadership.

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.

It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic.

By nominating Chuck Hagel to be his Defense secretary, President Obama is putting forward an aloof contrarian who doesn't suffer fools - a striving politician who considers himself above politics.