The Attacks Of September 11

Environmental Concern Is A Little Like Dieting Or Paying Off Credit-card Debt - An Episodically Terrific Idea That Burns Brightly And Then Seems To Fade When We Realize There's A Reason We Need To Diet Or Pay Down Our Debt. The Reason Is That It's Really, Really Hard, And Too Many Of Us In Too Many Spheres Of Life Choose The Easy Over The Hard.

While We Remain A Nation Decisively Shaped By Religious Faith, Our Politics And Our Culture Are, In The Main, Less Influenced By Movements And Arguments Of An Explicitly Christian Character Than They Were Even Five Years Ago. I Think This Is A Good Thing - Good For Our Political Culture.

Anyone Weighing Whether To Re-elect The President Should Take The Bin Laden Operation Into Account: It Is A Powerful Exhibit That Obama Is A Steely Commander In Chief - A Critical Test For Many Americans.

The Central Tenet Of Christianity As It Has Come Down To Us Is That We Are To Reach Out When Our Instinct Is To Pull Inward; To Give When We Want To Take; To Love When We Are Inclined To Hate; To Include When Are Tempted To Exclude.

From Jefferson To Jackson To Lincoln To Fdr To Reagan, Every Great President Inspires Enormous Affection And Enormous Hostility. We'll All Be Much Saner, I Think, If We Remember That History Is Full Of Surprises And Things That Seemed Absolutely Certain One Day Are Often Unimaginable The Next.