In their rush to get home for their Fourth of July vacations, the members of the Senate left some important work on their desks — the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bill is a rare bit of common sense in this election-year cycle and should be passed first thing upon the Senate’s return. After [...]

White House deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs in the Clinton administration, co-author of “The Prosperity Agenda: What the World Wants From America and What We Need in Return”

The debate questions, regardless of their topic, are less important than the zingers the candidates must deploy — prepared answers calculated to address lingering fears of their respective weaknesses. Obama critics think he is too eager to negotiate and go first to the U.N. McCain detractors say he is another reckless George Bush who will restart the Cold War. Thus, Obama must demonstrate that he is capable of a puffy-chest moment (“You’re damn right I will not bother to ask Pakistan for permission to kill bin Laden.”) while McCain must convey that he knows it sometimes takes more political courage to negotiate than to fight. So, let’s hear them:

Assuming you both would be tough negotiators, at what point would each of you consider using force to protect Georgia and to prevent a nuclear Iran? How do you know when to give up on talks and resort to military force?

The presidential campaign is in full swing. The president’s wife, a senator in her own right, seeks to establish her credentials as a savvy, smart leader who will move the economy forward, help bring people out of poverty and stand up to the policies of George W. Bush. Hillary Clinton? No. It is Argentina’s first [...]

As President Bush heads to Latin America on a five-nation tour, one stop he will not make is Venezuela. But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s presence will very much be felt wherever Mr. Bush goes. Mr. Chavez delights in comparing himself to the legendary Simon Bolivar, a man who has been called “the George Washington of [...]

There was a strange irony in watching the U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, successfully negotiate the October 14 resolution sanctioning North Korea for its nuclear weapons test. This is a man who abhors global governance, and rightly earned the reputation as the UN basher-in-chief with comments like: “if the U.N. Secretariat building in [...]