Politics

There's a lot of confusion about the ballyhooed NATO Summit in Chicago, intended as a big boost to Obama's geopolitical leadership, showcased in his hometown. Here are some big outstanding questions about NATO's future.

Does the air of shock around the latest in California's chronic budget crisis count as a failure of Gov. Brown's communications strategy? Or as a success? A bad shock may be what the electoral doctor ordered for Brown's November revenue initiative.

Where, outside of Iran, will new nuclear power plants be contemplated? Wherever that may be, it looks to be increasingly few and far between.

The whole thing is very odd. It all highlights what a conundrum that leaders from Washington to California face in dealing with the challenges and opportunities presented by a clearly ascending and not very well understood China.

The daring raid that took down Osama bin Laden was a triumph of American arms, satisfying retribution for al Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington. But it points up the many mistakes we've made and continue to make in the wake of 9/11.

California is an important proving ground for new energy and transportation initiatives. Governor Jerry Brown is in Washington for a round of meetings and appearances. What will he say?

It might just be President Hillary Clinton, after all. But what would that mean? Could she move the country forward after a tumultuous period of transition under Barack Obama?

After Rick Santorum's sudden withdrawal essentially handed the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney, on the 100th anniversary of Titanic setting sail on its fateful voyage, President Barack Obama had a mostly good week.

Jerry Brown, back for a third term after his fascinating two terms as governor in the 1970s and '80s is now California's oldest governor, with little sign of slowing down.

Another big shoe dropped Wednesday in the ongoing crisis of the California Republican Party. One of its young rising stars, state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, dropped his party registration to become an independent.

The term "game change," like so many sports-oriented terms in politics, is decidedly over-used. But the events depicted in the Game Change film really do constitute just that, though not in the way that my friend Steve Schmidt intended it.

There's a lot of hissing and moaning on the right in California, and among some avowedly middle-of-the-road pundits, about Governor Jerry Brown's compromise with a left-labor coalition on his November revenue initiative.