If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan

Historians will likely give Obama credit for steering the country away from the brink of economic collapse in 2009.

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.

In times of tumult, voters are likely to forgive a president, if not reward him, for compromises made in service of solutions.

A presidential debate is a job interview. And voters look for certain traits in people applying to be president.

Obama still has work to do with the vision thing. Convincing voters that he has a credible, practical plan to turn the nation around is a process, not a speech.

Say what you want to say about the rest of his presidency, including his tone-deaf response to Katrina and a war waged in Iraq on false pretenses, Bush connected with Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 because he looked as frail and unforgiving as we felt.