Women in combat. Those once were fighting words, fodder for the culture wars. Now it’s an idea whose time has come. With unanimous support from the Joint Chiefs, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will announce at a press conference Thursday...
In what a Democratic leadership aide calls “a big cave,” enough Republicans may have been corralled by House Speaker John Boehner to support an extension of the debt ceiling for almost four months. The vote to authorize the government’s...
The Republicans, and some Democrats too, have been advancing the narrative that if only President Obama cultivated more personal relationships with members of Congress, politics would be different. We wouldn’t be on the edge of the precipice, and deals...
President Obama mixed a powerful appeal for curbing gun violence with visible executive action to convey his determination to honor the memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre. In the month since 20 first-graders were gunned...
When fiscal cliff legislation passed with mainly Democratic votes, Republicans griped, “Who’s the speaker?” It was humiliating for the GOP majority to play the handmaiden to minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Asked if the lopsided vote makes her the de...
Two skilled inside-Washington players top the list of likeliest to become President Obama’s next chief of staff. Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough and former Joe Biden chief of staff Ron Klain are tough-minded, disciplined political operatives who bring...
President Obama’s promise of “meaningful action” in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., has opened the door to a long-overdue national discussion about gun safety, the term advocates use instead of gun control because it is...
It was just a year ago that Michele Flournoy stepped down as under secretary of Defense for policy, the third-highest civilian job at the Pentagon. As the first woman to hold such a senior position in the testosterone-laden military...
The voters gave President Obama a second term, and now he’s counting on them to help him resolve the fiscal cliff in a responsible way. You’d think people would be weary of hearing about an economic issue that so...
Ending the speculation about her future, at least for now, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi informed her caucus on Wednesday that she would run again to be their leader. Then she held a press conference to tell the world—purposefully surrounded...