Richard Wolffe

Thatcher's passing calls for more than a whitewash of history. She also turned selfishness into a virtue, caring little for those who could not care for themselves. Read More

"The time has come" for comprehensive immigration reform, bolstering early education, battling climate change and enforcing gun limits. "We know what needs to be done," he said. Watch the full speech. Read More

Liberals accuse Obama of selling out; conservatives think he's a secret socialist. Both sides have faulty memories, or are willfully distorting reality. Or perhaps they never really understood him to begin with. Read More

Despite all the conventional wisdom of the so-called experts, President Obama defied the odds. And he did it thanks in large part to women. Read More

President Barack Obama won a historic second term on Tuesday, defying predictions that a sluggish economy and an energized Republican party might overwhelm the supporters who propelled him to the presidency four years ago. The president’s reelection ensures that his first term achievements – especially health care reform – will become woven into the American economy and social safety net over the next four years. Read More

Let’s be honest: for the last four years, President Obama has struggled to find any Republicans to work with.
It’s not for lack of trying. Conservatives believe the president is a polarizing figure despite his appointment of several Republicans to the senior ranks of his administration, including the secretaries of Defense and Transportation.
They think he’s a socialist despite his copying many of the GOP’s healthcare reform ideas.
And they somehow find it unpalatable to agree with him at a time of national testing, whether overseas in Libya or at home after the financial meltdown of 2008.
You could be forgiven for thinking there’s a pattern here. After all, Congressional Republicans (including current VP candidate Paul Ryan) met on the night of Obama’s inauguration to plot how they could oppose every single bill, including the Recovery Act.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP’s leader and mastermind, explained his strategy to the New York Times when he described his plan to torpedo healthcare reform:
“It was absolutely critical that everybody be together because if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to convey to the public that this is O.K., they must have figured it out,” McConnell explained. “It’s either bipartisan or it isn’t.”
All of which makes Governor Chris Christie’s ringing endorsement of President Obama’s handling of the storm so important in these closing days of the 2012 campaign.
We don’t know yet know what the political impact of Hurricane Sandy will be. Perhaps voters will appreciate the federal response to the disaster; perhaps they won’t care. Perhaps early voting will be affected, and perhaps it won’t affect enough states to make much difference.
Gov. Christie, on the other hand, has already made an impact. Read More

Normal presidential candidates treat their TV debates like the ultimate interview for the world’s most powerful job. They try to sound like they want to get hired. Not Mitt Romney. After a lifetime as a CEO, Romney talks as if the hiring decision rests with him. Read More

After the etch-a-sketch success of his first debate, Mitt Romney tried to reinvent his entire foreign policy on Monday night by pretending that he had never spoken a belligerent word about Iran. Sadly for the Romney campaign, there is ample evidence of their candidate’s saber-rattling about Iran – and his accompanying critique that the president has been “weak” in his global effort to use sanctions and diplomacy to stop Tehran’s nuclear program. Read More

This final debate centers on foreign policy, and– unlike their skirmishes on the economy– President Obama is on a far stronger footing than his rival. Read More

The Benghazi exchange served as a reminder of Romney’s political opportunism surrounding the entire Libyan episode. Read More