Outside the Beltway

Apparently, the buck doesn’t stop in the Oval Office these days.

The Army brass is worried about its diversity in critical mid-level posts.

Some have argued that there is an historical bias against political parties holding on to the White House for more than two terms. As with most commonly held ideas, that simply isn’t true.

Today’s foreign-policy disputes rarely consider the way America’s response to one crisis might affect another.

Should it matter if a candidate for office isn’t a college graduate? Georgia Republican David Perdue thinks so.

Does your kid qualify for subsidized lunch? One candidate for Senate in Georgia wants to put them to work.

A third term for any of these guys? Don’t count on it.

The news that Obama aides discussed a change to the 2012 ticket is part of the latest Halperin/Heilemann campaign history.

A George W. Bush renaissance? Not exactly.

There seems to be an effort underway to reassess the legacy of our 43rd President.

The smear campaign against defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel has taken a bizarre turn.

Tim Kane continues his campaign against the US military’s antiquated personnel system.

The GOP’s image problems continue

Not surprisingly, television and reality don’t really coincide.

Republicans think they found the smoking gun of the 2012 election. They’re kidding themselves.

The GOP still hasn’t dealt with the legacy of George W. Bush.

No, Barack Obama is not going to dump Joe Biden before the Democratic Convention.

The Fort Hood shooter is being ordered to shave his beard or have it forcibly removed. It’s rather silly.

Alex Pareene’s quip that “Aaron Sorkin is why people hate liberals” has gone viral.

Neil Munro acted like a jerk, but Barack Obama needs to be more open to questions than he has been.

For the first time in 68 years, neither major party candidate for President has served in the military. Does this matter?

White babies now constitute slightly less than half of American births.

Is the United States a serious country? Should we be?

“Democratic” pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen argue that President Obama should decline to run for re-election.

The former pizza executive is a smart guy. But he’s not fit to run the country.

Yes, Barack Obama is running for a second term.

How a six hour long dispute over scheduling demonstrates yet again that Barack Obama isn’t up for the fight.

President Obama is back on Martha’ Vineyard for a ten-day vacation. The usual suspects are upset.

Once again, the debt ceiling deal is raising questions about the President’s leadership.

The so-called “14th Amendment option” to fix the debt ceiling crisis is really just a prescription for an even more powerful Presidency.

Will Joe Biden be on the podium with Barack Obama at the 2012 Democratic convention, or will there be a new running mate?

Dave Schuler’s a hard man to rile. But stay away from him on tax day.

Paul Krugman is disappointed with the President, but it’s really his own fault for being so naive.

Another survey shows that Americans don’t know much about their own history, but does it really matter?

Is American policy in the Middle East dictated by national interest or interest groups?

After 1 1/2 years in office, President Obama has yet to grant a single request for a pardon or clemency, continuing a thirty year trend in which the Presidential pardon power has nearly fallen in to disuse.

The odds that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed anytime in the near future are fairly close to zero thanks to the results of last Tuesday’s elections.

The New York Times has joined the mostly muted chorus calling on Democrats to select someone other than Nancy Pelosi as their new Minority Leader. In all likelihood, their call will go unheeded.

George W. Bush’s new memoir reveals that he briefly considered replaced Dick Cheney as Vice-President before the 2004 elections. His decision not to do so reveals much about the relationship between Presidents and Vice-Presidents in modern American politics.

If the polling is anywhere close to accurate, a Republican wave will come crashing down today, repudiating the first two years of the Obama administration. What does it mean?

One of the last arguments against allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military — that active duty military would be unable to serve alongside them — appears to have no empirical support.

Republicans are promising two years of gridlock and obstructionism if they take control of Congress, but is that really what the people who are likely to vote for them next week really want?

Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts President Obama’s re-election. Historically, that’s the safe bet.

In his farewell speech on Friday, Rahm Emanuel said that the Obama Administration had faced tougher times than any previous President. That is a fundamentally absurd idea.