Barack Obama’s presidency has had profoundly negative consequences for our national security. From debilitating cuts in defense budgets, to gutting national missile defense efforts, to his unwillingness to acknowledge a continuing war against terrorism, to his inability to stem the nuclear proliferation threats posed by North Korea and Iran....the picture is bleak.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not employ the nuclear option or go nuclear, as many headlines and stories suggested. He did not use an unprecedented ploy to challenge the filibuster or in any real way change Senate rules by majority vote. What Reid employed was closer to a firecracker than a nuke.

Amid the pre-Jan. 3 buzz, it's worth remembering that Republicans in most states, for better or worse, haven't been doing much in the way of following Iowa's lead in selecting a GOP presidential nominee.

Congress must take action to reform the use of the filibuster, but a recent congressional hearing offered some hope as it was more than partisans just talking past one another.

Walter Mondale is not the only senior citizen up for election to the Senate this year; he is not even the oldest.

Fannie Mae did not contribute marginally to the financial crisis. It was the source of the declining mortgage underwriting standards that brought down the system.

More than a few observers have pointed out that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress seem determined to repeat the errors of the 1970s by returning to inflationary spending, tax increases, auto company bailouts and cuts to the defense budget while coddling dictators who hate America.

NPR should not fight defunding, but rather, work with Congress to get off the payroll so it no longer has to worry about pleasing politicians.