President Obama is the 11th president to seek reelection in the post-World War II era.

When it comes to work product, the modern Congress has accepted a standard of minimalism and mediocrity that would make Philip Glass and Don Knotts blush.

Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee, Wisconsin sealed the deal, and he will pick Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio as his running mate.

I don’t know how the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the health care law’s individual mandate. Similarly, I don’t know how it will decide if the federal government has unconstitutionally required states to expand Medicaid benefits.

Here is an interesting statistic to consider about the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan: Forty-nine soldiers and Marines have died in combat this year; 13 NATO troops have been killed by Afghanistan forces this year. U.S. casualties so far this year average 21 a month, and, at that rate, 252 U.S. military personnel will die in Afghanistan in 2012—far fewer than the 418 killed in 2011 or the record 499 killed in 2010.

The gas-price war could gobble up President Obama’s entire green-energy agenda, because it may devour his presidency. Gobble and devour may be a bit alarmist, I grant you. But polls this week—and White House behavior—bespeak deep-seated, legitimate concern.

Obama knows that the most powerful weapon he now wields against Iran is finance.

One of the best kept secrets of President Obama’s 2007-08 campaign was how much its structure and strategic focus was influenced by the Bush-Cheney reelection strategy. Obama wanted to create the same kind of voter databases and contact schemes. He marveled at the Bush operation’s ability to identify potential supporters, learn their likes and dislikes, and keep them motivated.

Three complicated, sharp-elbowed, and consequential contests ride this year on the fate of cars and people who drive them: the Republican battle for the nomination, President Obama's pursuit of reelection, and Congress's coming fight over highway funding and energy exploration.

One of the first lessons of covering the White House is that it’s never as nimble, shrewd, or savvy as it appears in victory or as clumsy, inept, and chaotic as it appears in defeat. Indulging in either absolute “frame” is often reckless and stupid. However, White House power is both vast and intricate. A White House can see an issue coming, set a plan in motion, and gain ground—exactly as it intended.