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WASHINGTON -- We may be reaching an inflection point, the moment when the terms of the political argument change decisively. Three indicators: An important speech by Rep. Paul Ryan, the increasingly sharp tone of President Obama's rhetoric, and the success of Occupy Wall Street in...

WASHINGTON -- The Republican establishment is said to have grave qualms about Gov. Rick Perry. Here's the problem: There is no Republican establishment. It squandered its authority by building up the tea party's brigades and then fearing them too much to do anything to check their...

WASHINGTON -- You have to ask: If unemployment were now at 6 percent, would President Obama be getting pummeled for not having us back to full employment already? The question comes to mind in the wake of the Libyan rebels' successes against Moammar Gaddafi.

WASHINGTON -- Perhaps I should thank the current crop of Republican presidential candidates for providing me with an experience I never, ever expected to have: During this week's debate in New Hampshire, I had a moment of nostalgia for George W. Bush. Let me say quickly that this...

Every man has a father and Binyamin Netanyahu's is worth knowing. He is Benzion Netanyahu, born 101 years ago in what was soon to become Poland and living now in what has become Israel. He is a historian by profession, the author of a mammoth and well-respected book on the Spanish...

WASHINGTON -- Richard Nixon espoused what he called "the madman theory." It's a negotiating approach that induces the other side to believe you are capable of dangerously irrational actions and leads it to back down to avoid the wreckage your rage might let loose. House Republicans...

WASHINGTON -- Welcome to the war over E2I2. The great budget battle of Bill Clinton's presidency was waged around a slightly different set of initials, also inspired by the "Star Wars" character R2D2.

WASHINGTON -- In light of the history-shaking events on the streets of Cairo, it's not surprising that a truly remarkable development slipped through the news cycle with barely a nod. On a unanimous voice vote recently, the Senate passed a resolution co-sponsored by John Kerry and...

WASHINGTON -- Be ready for the paradoxical phase of Barack Obama's presidency. Many things will not be exactly as they appear. Paradox No. 1: Because over the next two years he can't get sweeping, progressive legislation through the Republican-led House, Obama will be doing far more...

WASHINGTON -- The slaughter in Tucson hasn't shaken us out of bad political habits. Instead of promoting a sober conversation about the dangers of violent political talk, it has reinforced divisions between left and right.

WASHINGTON -- Edmund Burke, one of history's greatest conservatives, warned that abstractions are the enemy of responsible government. "I never govern myself, no rational man ever did govern himself, by abstractions and universals," Burke wrote.

WASHINGTON -- Was 2010 American liberalism's Waterloo?

WASHINGTON -- At the beginning of 2009, the choice before Democrats who controlled the 111th Congress was whether they would enact historic legislation, even at the risk of their majority, or whether they would play it safe. They gave the safe option a pass, with two results: This...

WASHINGTON -- Will the tea party sell out for a mess of pottage in the form of a ban on earmarks? That's one possibility. But another is that this embrace of a purely symbolic approach to deficit reduction is a sign that the tea party's central goals may lie elsewhere -- in an effort...

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calmly assessing the political cyclone that routed her Democratic majority and will, at least temporarily, force her to vacate one of the best offices in the city, with its inspirational view of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. She...