Let’s talk a bit about ambition. Once upon a time, I taught a course called “The Politican,” which was about … you guessed it: politicians. It was an unusual course because there is no real study of politicians as a group — there are scholars of US politics who specialize in Congress, in the…

It’s too soon yet to know whether President Joe Biden will get any short-term, “rally around the flag” boost in his approval rating from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But after a very tough six months, it looks like his low numbers have stabilized for now, and perhaps even recovered a little. My…

Here are a few early thoughts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine: As always, be skeptical of the information you see (and, if you’re on social media, amplify). Some will be wrong because it’s deliberate misinformation. Some will be wrong because reporting during military action is always…

For analysis of what’s at stake for Europe, Russia, the US and the world more generally in the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, I’ll defer to experts for foreign policy analysis — I do recommend checking out recent posts by political scientists at the Monkey Cage (see several links in this…

President Joe Biden’s White House usually gets the nuts and bolts of the presidency right. Recently, one example of getting it very wrong was in the news, and it’s worth considering what lessons it holds. The story: White House science adviser Eric Lander, who had cabinet status, resigned after…

Senator Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat, suffered a stroke last week. He’s expected to make a full recovery and to return to Washington in a few weeks. Until then, the Democrats won’t be at full strength, which is causing a fair amount of panic among some observers. After all, the party…

International-relations scholar Dalia Dassa Kaye has a question after reading a New York Times story about the possibility of the US rejoining and reviving the nuclear-weapons agreement with Iran: This piece says the restoration of the JCPOA would “almost certainly become a campaign issue in the…

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf asks: “You can appoint any American citizen to one term as president...so long as your choice has never run for president before. Who do you appoint to the White House and why?” This sparked … let’s just say that political scientists on Twitter were less than…

The New York Times reports that President Joe Biden: “Will retreat from the tangle of day-to-day negotiations with members of his own party that have made him seem powerless to advance key priorities, according to senior White House advisers. The change is part of an intentional reset in how he…

The first anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol last Jan. 6 is coming up this week. Congress is going to make a big deal about it. So, too, are the news media. They are both correct to do so. The New York Times editorial board explains why last year’s riot represents a continuing threat: …