During a November 25 press conference, then President-elect Obama promised "a new spirit of ingenuity," declaring that the "old ways of Washington simply can't meet the challenges of today and tomorrow," and that "just because a program, a special interest tax break, or corporate subsidy is hidden in this year's budget does not mean that it will survive the next."...

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has what many people would consider a thankless task: taking on a panoply of complex antagonisms that are steeped in history and agitated by religious tensions, ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction, disputed land, war, competition for resources, statelessness, ethnic rivalries, terrorism and ideological jockeying for influence...

Here's a thought: If we are going to spend two trillion dollars (and most likely more) trying to deal with the economic crisis, shouldn't we do it right?...

The financial meltdown has led many people, especially politicians, to blame the problem on market failure and to jump on the regulatory bandwagon...