Electronic Pen

John Nichols It is not just Hamid Karzai's dissembling of democracy, it is the whole machinery of the occupation that makes this puppet president so unsettling.

The Editors If Obama leads, the people will rally to his side. A good way to remind voters of the bold change they voted for last fall: ordering a hard cap on executive pay.

• Leslie Savan: Take the Obama Conspiracy-Theory Challenge
• Chris Hayes: Joe Wilson, You Lie!

Katrina vanden Heuvel Obama's speech on healthcare reform was an eloquent call for a progressive government. We should build on it.

• Video: Missed Obama's Speech? Watch It Here

Jeremy Scahill The death of a Triple Canopy contractor in Iraq bears a striking resemblance to an earlier electrocution ruled to be a "negligent homicide."

John Nichols President Obama sounded many strong notes in his prime-time speech to Congress on healthcare but he also remained unsettlingly vague. Will the "great unfinished business of our society" ever be finished?

John Nichols President Obama must grab hold of the drifting debate about health reform in his speech tonight before Congress and impose not just clarity but a sense of purpose and direction.

Video Katrina vanden Heuvel says President Obama needs to advocate bold change in tonight's speech, linking himself to the progressive tradition that brought us Medicare and Social Security.