(The Root) — President Obama won Monday night’s foreign policy debate. By and large, Mitt Romney just endorsed existing administration policies. It is at once astonishing and pathetic. Romney tried to couch his positions in different language, but the substance of what he said is that “the president is doing the right thing.” Romney accepted…

Who is President Barack Obama? The question gives you pause, doesn’t it? That’s because there is no quick or obvious answer. This circumstance, more than any other, is a critical problem for Obama as he prepares for the 112th Congress to assume office. We still don’t know who Obama is, what he is committed to…

The headlines tell us of big Republican gains in these midterm elections, including the retaking of control of the U.S. House of Representatives. They also point to a number of victories for candidates from the far-right Tea Party movement. True enough. And this is news. But I am not depressed or alarmed by these election…

For decades now, America has been pursuing a deeply punitive anti-crime social policy: the criminal-punishment binge. It is what lies at the root of the heavy overrepresentation of blacks — and increasingly, Latinos — in our nation’s jails and prisons. Our only hope of creating a fair and equitable criminal-justice system is to turn away…

Now the finger-pointing and ferocious spin-meistering begin. Why did Martha Coakley lose in her bid to replace Edward Kennedy as the senator from Massachusetts? Is this a referendum on the Obama administration and, particularly, on his health care reform proposal? Does this outcome bode major losses for Democrats in the 2010 congressional elections? First things…