Upon his death in 1982, John Cheever was hailed as one of the preeminent American writers of his time. Obituary writers eulogized his sweet ardor for the gloriously ordinary. Time honored him as “A Celebrant of Sunlight.” The Boston Globe praised his ability to spread delight, and declared, “In a world of Calibans, John Cheever

By now almost everyone agrees the numbers are staggering. Since Barack Obama took his oath of office around 11 weeks ago, he has proposed a $3.6 trillion budget, which will create a deficit this year of almost $1.8 trillion. This amounts to 12.3 percent of the GDP, up from 3.2 percent in 2008 and 1.2

In the matter of just 50 days, a fissure has widened into a split; the split has become a gap; and the gap is becoming a gulf. I have in mind the extraordinary contradiction between what President Obama says and what he does. Consider a partial list, starting with earmarks. During the campaign, Obama said,

Among the claims that modern liberalism likes to make is that, unlike conservatism, it “cares for the poor” and pursues policies that make that sentiment real. This claim, already weak (see liberal opposition to welfare reform and school choice), is about to grow weaker still. We have in mind President Obama's proposal to limit tax

Barack Obama has been President for just over three weeks. But even this early into the Age of Obama, we can, I think, make a valuable assessment on where things stand. On the plus side for Obama, by later this month he will have achieved, in almost record time, a huge legislative victory: passage of

In the wake of Iraq's recent provincial elections, it is instructive to consider how many once-settled judgments now have to be significantly, and in some cases fundamentally, revised. Perhaps most important is the one declaring that the effort to spread liberty to the Arab Middle East was a fool's errand, that the cultural soil of

Two political figures dominated the final months of the 2008 presidential campaign. One was the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. The other had been unknown to all but 670,000 Americans only a few minutes before she was first introduced by the Republican nominee, John McCain, at a rally in Ohio on the Friday before the Republican

We are in the midst of a political phenomenon. It is fairly extraordinary, and perhaps beyond anything we have seen in our lifetime. Our new president, Barack Obama, is not only the head of government; he has become a cultural symbol with rock-star appeal. I know people — lifelong Republican voters — who at one

As George W. Bush spends his last few hours as President, many of us who worked for him and deeply admire him are filled with mixed feelings. It is hard to see him leave the scene with approval ratings hovering at 30 percent, with the nation clearly weary and ready to turn the page. All

The Bush presidency was a successful one and will be viewed so over time. The primary responsibility of the president is to keep American citizens safe. By that standard alone, President Bush has achieved success. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when virtually everyone assumed we'd be hit again, Bush put the United States