Iranian bluster is bad enough. When Tehran is able to put substance behind it, American interests will truly be in peril. The question for Obama and the Republicans seeking to replace him is whether the United States can bear an Iranian challenge which will grow exponentially once Iran goes nuclear.

Mr Obama's message to Gen David Petraeus was clear: time is up. Ten years, a trillion dollars and 1,600 American casualties later, the White House is essentially abandoning the attempt to build law and order in Afghanistan.

Perhaps the most eventful news of the Obama administration’s shuffling of its national security deck chairs is the fact that General David Petraeus--commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, architect of the Iraq surge, and the driving force behind the Army’s willingness to adapt to the persistent irregular wars it’s been asked to fight rather than wait for the conventional conflict it would prefer to fight--will not become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but be asked to run the CIA.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission produced a story about the financial crisis, but not what caused the financial crisis.

The Obama Administration, Justice Department and Pentagon strongly condemned WikiLeaks four months ago when the first wave of documents were released. And then nothing happened.

If things seem to be moving in an entirely different direction, it's time to discard the narrative and look for another.

A successful president looks at the endgame, sees what is possible, and maneuvers in the best way to get to that endgame.

In a policy memorandum for the office of Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), resident fellow Thomas P. Miller provides an overview of health care cooperatives and their prospects for workability in the context of political and regulatory pressures.