Efforts at immigration reform have come surprisingly far, surprisingly fast, and we should hope the progress continues. The current immigration regime is a dysfunctional and often cruel system that imposes huge economic and humanitarian costs on citizens and noncitizens alike, with few justifying policy benefits.

What Can Obama Do in a Second Term?

Americans Elect has collected nearly 2.5 million signatures and gained ballot access in 19 states. The effort could spawn a major third-party candidacy this fall. That’s why it’s important to understand why third-party enthusiasts are so wrong.

It’s hard to imagine a group of people that's more a product of this singularly nutty moment. Every serious GOP candidate is either a Tea Partier or is desperately trying to look like one. The anti-Obama protest movement is now steering the selection of an anti-Obama protest candidate, and the result is an awfully sad crew of presidential wannabes.

“I don’t oppose war in all circumstances,” Obama said in a speech about Iraq in 2002. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war.... Even a successful war against Iraq” would “require a United States occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.” That speech captures much of what was exhilarating about Obama in 2008—and what is frustrating about him in 2011.

What budget cuts can tell us