Two weeks ago, as the prosecution made its final points in his corruption trial, a pale Rod Blagojevich listened nervously as his wife, Patti looked on, sullen and indignant, from the bench, the arms of her brother around her. It was as if they could feel what was coming. On Monday, June 27, the jury returned from 10 days of deliberation and everyone gathered to hear its decision. Blagojevich blew an air kiss to his weeping wife and then clasped his hands as ...

It was inevitable that Barack Obama's decision to draw down 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer would be controversial. Most Democrats — as well as a growing cohort of Republicans and, according to the polls, a majority of Americans — were looking for a bigger, faster pullout. The Pentagon was hoping for something slower. General David Petraeus, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, must be particularly disappointed that the counterinsurgency strategy that ...

Many Afghans had been awaiting Barack Obama's announcement of a troop drawdown with a mixture of dread and happiness. In Kabul, the big surprise was not the announcement that U.S. forces will be leaving, but that the number of troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011 — 10,000 — would be so large and that 23,000 more will leave over the course of a "fighting season" next spring and summer. Obama said the withdrawal of ...

President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday the deficit appears on track to hit $1 trillion soon. Speaking to reporters after meeting with top economic aides, Mr. Obama said: "Potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on." — Associated Press, Jan. 6 Actually, the deficit is on track to hit $1.2 trillion this year, but what's $200 billion among friends? Seriously, what is it? To the average person, a number ...

It was past midnight when the insurgents crossed into Afghanistan's Dur Baba district on the border with Pakistan and began their descent. In the valley below, relatives of the district governor, Hamisha Gul, a tall, handsome man in his late 40s, had gathered at his compound to celebrate the impending marriage of his cousin Nawshir. The wedding would take place the next day and the plans were festive. Men would dance the traditional Pashtun attan to the ...

Beyond the broad smiles, the jokes about Hillary Clinton's wardrobe, and the ceremonial reassurances that accompanied German Chancellor Angela Merkel's three-day visit to Washington this week, there was a clear message that President Barack Obama expects Germany to demonstrate leadership with NATO and in Europe. Considering the context — Tuesday's love fest on the White House lawn — Obama was outspoken in urging his guest to take more responsibility in Libya, saying that he expected full and ...

On paper, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for United Nations ambassador has much in common with another boundary-breaking, African-American, Stanford-affiliated, female foreign policy expert with the same surname. But the similarities with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice end there. Susan Rice brings to the U.N. job a career devotion to African affairs and eight years of experience in the Clinton administration. Fast Facts: • Age 44, Rice is married to Canadian journalist Ian Cameron, executive producer of ABC's This Week ...

For the first two years of Barack Obama's presidency, Mitch McConnell never got a phone call from the White House. Instead, he sat in his office on the second floor of the Capitol and plotted Obama's political demise. Now, ask the Senate Republican leader when he last spoke to Vice President Joe Biden, and he lets out a laugh, his golden presidential-seal cuff links — a gift from George W. Bush — flashing as his hands go ...

Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what I think we should do to rebuild the GOP and begin our certain and inevitable comeback. My answer disappoints them: "Build an ark." I say this because I've made a career out of counting votes, and the numbers tell a clear story; the demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way. Demographic change ...

"The first step to winning the future is encouraging American innovation." That was Barack Obama in his State of the Union address last January, when he hit the theme repeatedly, using the word innovation or innovate 11 times. And on this issue, at least, Republicans seem in sync with Obama. Listen to Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich or Mitch Daniels and the word innovation pops up again and again. Everyone wants innovation and agrees that it is ...