The retirement of Rep. Barney Frank from the House will cause mourning among all in the Congress-watcher and Congress-lover fraternity.  Meanwhile, the super committee’s inability to reach any agreement was shrugged off by most observers as the expected outcome, and it was, but I was deeply disappointed nonetheless.

As in Chicago, President Obama seems to live in a cocoon in which Republicans are largely absent, offscreen actors that no one pays any attention to.

"My rival in this race,” President Obama announced early in 2007, “is not other candidates. It’s cynicism.” It’s now clear that what he meant by this was other people’s cynicism — not his own.

Three weeks out from the New Hampshire primary and voters in the Granite State don't seem to have settled firmly on one of the Republican presidential candidates.

Obama has hesitated to act on key foreign policy and domestic issues.

In many ways, the most interesting dynamic right now is that surrounding Speaker John Boehner, who has in the past been a first-rate legislator, knows how the legislative process works and knows the risks of a shutdown--to the economy and to his party--are high.

At last, after pundits, pollsters and politicians have filled the media for months with their wisdom, tomorrow in Iowa, actual American voters begin actual voting in an actual caucus. Be prepared to be surprised.

Congress is losing some of the best legislators, those with an ability and deep desire to work in the legislative process, make laws, build laws, and shape public policy.