Some thoughts on the meaning of the passage of yesterday's health-care bill. 1. It is without question a landmark bill, among the most far-reaching pieces of social legislation in our history. For President Obama to be able to have resurrected it in the midst of enormous public opposition and deep concerns among Democrats, especially in

Fox's Glenn Beck and Sojourner's Jim Wallis are dueling about the meaning of social justice and the Bible. Neither man will be mistaken for Reinhold Niebuhr. The dispute started when Beck, on his radio show, said, “I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you

My column on the Iraq war didn't sit well with my Politics Daily colleague David Corn. Those who have followed Corn's work over the years won't find that particularly surprising. But let's try to untangle his latest arguments. In his column responding to mine, in an effort to counteract my “triumphalism,” Corn writes: “But, of

That sound you hear is of Conventional Wisdom cracking on the Iraq war. A few weeks ago Vice President Biden stated that Iraq “could be one of the great achievements of this administration.” (That's right; one of the greatest achievements of the Obama administration.) Then last week came the much-commented upon Newsweek cover story, which

A Sunday New York Times profile on David Axelrod, perhaps President Obama's closest aide, contains this paragraph: In an interview in his office, Mr. Axelrod was often defiant, saying he did not give a “flying” expletive “about what the peanut gallery thinks” and did not live for the approval of “the political community.” He denounced

During the campaign there was a debate about who Barack Obama really was: a person of moderate instincts who, in order to rise up the political ladder, cast many liberal votes in his short career; or a person of deeply liberal beliefs who, during the 2008 presidential campaign, presented himself as non-ideological, pragmatic, and in

This is an eye-catcher: A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans, according to a new national poll. Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an

The Obama White House — having been battered for months by falling poll numbers, rising public opposition to its signature domestic initiative, massive defections by Independent voters, and election defeats in New Jersey, Virginia, and (especially) Massachusetts — is beginning to fray. The smooth-running Obama team we witnessed during the 2008 election is stumbling around

The resignation of Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana has sparked a debate about bipartisanship, ideology, and the institution of Congress. According to Bayh, “There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress, too much narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving. Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people's business is

Despite the significant problems faced by President Obama and Democratic lawmakers, it is often said that the Republican Party is still in a state of disrepair. The GOP is supposedly heading for a civil war between its base and moderates. It has no compelling national leader. Conservative activists are turning off the rest of the