Obama ran a hard-edged and negative campaign against Romney, hoping to convince recession-weary voters that his rival was unworthy of the job.

At the start of his second term, one wonders less about Obama's fitness than his willingness: Why doesn't he do more to build and maintain the relationships required to govern in era of polarization?

It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic.

According to a Public Policy Polling survey, most Americans find lice and colonoscopies more appealing than Capitol Hill.

With gridlock the norm, Congress's approval rating is below 10 percent and the public has lost faith in its national leadership.

Blending hard-bitten realism with long-view optimism, Obama said that every 20 or 30 years brings a new cycle of pessimism in America.

Although we were never pals and occasionally butted heads, my relationship with Clinton and his wife, Hillary, made me a better journalist.

President George W. Bush won reelection in 2004 largely because he was seen as comfortable in his own skin, while rival John Kerry was viewed as a flip-flopping opportunist.

Obama might do well to remember that his fast rise from the Illinois state Senate was due in large part to an uncanny ability to make friends and find mentors.

I'm hearing echoes of Bill Clinton, circa 1996, in President Obama's reelection rhetoric.

For a man who has compared himself to Theodore Roosevelt and the nation's challenges to those of the Gilded Age, Obama put forward a tepid agenda.

I became the fractured shell of a mustard seed to dwell for an eye-blink amid a starburst galaxy of broken dreams.

Joint undertakings stand a better chance when they benefit both sides.

I did all kinds of things in order to earn a living.

Love is the natural occupation of the man of leisure.

I rant, therefore I am

Literature wasn't intended to be about perfect people, it was about flaws, very real and very deep human flaws.

People respond faster to you on a text than an e-mail. Why is that? Why will they ignore an e-mail, but get back to a text?

Donald Trump never apologizes for anything to anyone.

Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity.

A lot of times I talk to people, they say they don't trust the doctors, they don't trust the hospitals and that kind of stuff. Well, if you go to the hospital, you've got to trust somebody.