Blending hard-bitten realism with long-view optimism, Obama said that every 20 or 30 years brings a new cycle of pessimism in America.
At his best, Obama promised to work with Republicans to reduce the deficit in a way that honors both individualism and community.
A dose of humility goes a long way in life and in politics.
Got good news and bad news for you, Mr. President. The good news is that Chief Justice John Roberts just saved your legacy and, perhaps, your presidency by writing for the Supreme Court majority to rule health care reform constitutional.
Somebody must be up and somebody must be down. Trouble is, campaigns are messy, subtle creatures that don't follow convenient narratives.
Like a cowboy saddling a bucking stallion, Republican leaders tried to tame the Tea Party while riding it to victories.
Election night is the easiest time to act like a grownup.
Clearly, the Obama presidency hasn't wiped out racial prejudices.
The 2016 presidential election is ripe for the emergence of a game-changing political leader who either dramatically reforms one of the existing parties or mounts an independent bid.
If Mitt Romney is vanilla, Chris Christie is three hefty scoops of Rocky Road topped with whipped cream, Red Bull, and gravel.
In Washington, compromise has become a dirty word.
It's a bit unfair to accuse Obama of dividing the nation when the facts show that it already is.
'Argo,' 'Lincoln,' and 'Zero Dark Thirty,' three films honored with Best Picture Oscar nominations, lionize their Washington-anchored protagonists as crafty, competent, and virtually incorruptible.
AP promoted me to the White House beat because I knew Clinton, his family, friends, and staff better than anybody in the national press corps. Those contacts helped me break a few stories and get my career in Washington jump-started.
Andrew Jackson was the first president to claim that the desires of the public overrode Congress's constitutional prerogatives. Virtually every president since Jackson has claimed the mantle, even while lacking two ingredients of an electoral mandate: a landslide victory and a specific agenda.
With gridlock the norm, Congress's approval rating is below 10 percent and the public has lost faith in its national leadership.
White House operatives went to great lengths to show Obama shifting focus from wars abroad to domestic issues at home.
We're living in an era of unprecedented change, and I want to be a part of documenting it.
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt faced adversities that, in their times, seemed impregnable. Great presidents overcome great odds.
The fact that Obama is getting criticism from the left and the right might reflect his understanding of the underlying political dynamics.
Since declaring that she would not serve in a second Obama administration, Clinton has dismissed suggestions that she will run in 2016.
Political reporters and political professionals rushed to judgment against Romney because we crave clear, unambiguous story lines.
Perhaps we should wait until his second term begins before carving Barack Obama's face in Mount Rushmore. Is that asking too much?
Palin seems to have forgotten that her poll ratings have plummeted since the summer of 2011.
Obama ran a hard-edged and negative campaign against Romney, hoping to convince recession-weary voters that his rival was unworthy of the job.
