WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The word "tension" is being thrown around by media and political insiders surrounding today's meeting between President Obama and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón. Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks revealed the U.S. has little faith in Mexican security agencies.

While a hallmark of President Obama’s administration has been transforming public education, lately his primary focus has been economic reforms. This week President Obama pitched a bipartisan deal aimed at bolstering the economy.

Dec. 1 was the original deadline for President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission and it came and went without a vote.

It may seem like an even exchange: weary David Axelrod comes home to Chicago, sees the fam, and starts gearing for 2012, while David Plouffe, the Obama campaign’s brainy strategist, finally takes a public White House post.But part of makes these two work so well is that they complement rather

Last month, France was paralyzed by strikes as angry workers took to the streets to protest a law that would raise the country’s retirement age to 62.France’s retirement reform is just the latest successful push by a European government to cut back on government spending.

For many in the human rights community, the United States' use of torture in the war on terrorism sullied its international reputation and ability to press other countries to improve their record on issues like the treatment of prisoners and right to a fair trial.

President Obama will try to shake off the sting of the midterm elections as he begins a tour of Asia, which includes stops in India, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.Steve Clemons is a senior fellow and director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and author of the politic