The Obama Administration is a work in progress, and a fair-minded report card would feature far more incompletes than letter grades. Still, one may venture some interim judgments.On the positive side, the President has put in place a competent White House and Executive Branch, which seem to be functioning reasonably smoothly and with no more […]

Barack Obama is a symbol—a truly inspiring example of what a half-African, half-American man can achieve in the United States. He is also a gifted orator, if a little over-reliant on the teleprompter. Into the bargain, he is a streetwise Chicago politician who outsmarted Hillary Clinton in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Above […]

A letter from an expat describes a beautiful, baffling country.

The history of patent law shows its great and enduring power.

A veteran Peace Corps hand volunteers to help, again.

Here is the recurring problematic of U.S. policy toward North Korea: Policy starts out principled and long-term, with a clarion call for irreversible denuclearization, the promise of a transformed relationship with Pyongyang and the requisite assurances of close coordination with allies. Invariably, this policy ends up becoming incremental, tactical and reactive, as sterile debates over […]

Two films show the fight in Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

Kenya, two years after the bleeding.

Meet Louis Bromfield, godfather of the organic farming movement.

A year ago, with the election of Barack Obama, it seemed to many that America and its role in the world might be transformed. A powerful post-ethnic, post-Cold War coalition had been created by a man who seemed able not only to transcend cultural differences and economic barriers, but also to exert American leadership in […]