Nation Topics - Barack Obama | The Nation

In a speech to the Urban League this morning, the president says he's creating a culture of accountability, not attacking teachers. But what kind of reform do we really need? The Nation's special issue on education presents an alternative vision for transforming our schools.

While Congress is throwing another $33 billion into the Afghanistan sinkhole, WikiLeaks takes on the oversight duties the lawmakers ought to perform.

A watered-down version of an energy bill is being published today—but Obama can effect clean changes simply by changing the types of products that the federal government buys.

The futility and frustration illustrated in the WikiLeaks documents should provide a wide opening for a much-needed discussion on the human and financial costs of war in Afghanistan that far outstrip any conceivable security benefits.

When the balance between the powerful and the powerless gets this big what we need isn't sucking up (or standing back), it's standing tough.

Billionaires and corporate moguls are claiming Obama is anti-business. Think again.

The campaign for control of Congress is dominating the Washington landscape.

Eric Alterman asks, should Americans be proud of what Obama has done so far, or has he succeeded only in passing weak reforms?

Eric Alterman asks, should Americans be proud of what Obama has done so far, or has he succeeded only in passing weak reforms?

Even with supermajorities in both houses of Congress behind them, American presidents cannot pass the kind of transformative progressive legislation that Barack Obama promised in his 2008 presidential campaign. Here's why.