R.J. Matson/Post-Dispatch

On Wednesday morning, a few hours before President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress on health care reform, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that indirectly explains why the issue has become so controversial.

The case, Citizens…

Eddie Roth/Post-Dispatch

While the Syrian ambassador to the United States was speaking to St. Louis residents this week, the heretofore chilly U.S.-Syrian relationship was warming across the world.

Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha spoke to a community forum at the University of Missouri-St.…

Hillary Clinton meets Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. | Getty Images

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is in China, talking about the environment and other issues, but not talking much about human rights, a different tone from when she was first…

Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Update: Caroline Kennedy, we hardly knew you. New York Times reports that she is withdrawing from consideration for appointment to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Original post:

On Day…

Hillary Clinton | Getty Images

Sen. Hillary Clinton, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for secretary of State, began confirmation hearings on her appointment today.

There were many reports that she faced questions about donations to her husband’s foundation. The husband, of course, is Bill Clinton, the former…

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg

So, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg wants Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. Is she qualified? The New York Times takes a look at her resume. New York Daily News takes a look at her spirit. Is this the rebirth of the Kennedy dynasty? If…

President-elect Obama with Hillary Clinton and James L. Jones Jr. (AP Wirephoto)

As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are…

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It is a quadrennial Beltway ritual: an incoming administration’s selection of cabinet secretaries, top department officials and senior White House staff. The Obama presidency-in-waiting is cranking at full throttle on this essential…

Violence in Congo continues. Will this be another Darfur; another Rwanda?

Silence from both the Obama and Clinton camps. Remember, last week it was reported that President-elect Barack Obama asked Sen. Hillary Cltinon, his one-time rival, to be his secretary of state. Vetting of…

Hillary Clinton

Sources say President-elect Barack Obama asked Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his secretary of state. The job offer probably has her calculating the benefits to her of accepting such a position. Among those benefits probably is an offer from Obama to help…

Photo by Scout Tufankjian, Polaris

I didn’t know that when Barack Obama was elected president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990, he named more student members of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society to top editor jobs at The Review than he named African-American law…

Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks tonight  at the Democratic National Convention. Will you watch? What do you expect her to say? If you’re a fervent Hill fan, what could she say to direct your loyalty to Sen. Barack Obama?

Come back after…

Of all the 23 gazillion words written, uttered, blogged, Twittered, texted, broadcast, cablecast, uploaded or downloaded during the first day of the Democratic National Convention, here are some of the more prescient:

• Humorist Dave Barry, writing for The National Journal Online:…

The Democratic National Convention begins, with protester, marches and concerts. Michelle Obama speaks tonight in a speech that is expected to “introduce” herself and her family as regular, middle-class Americans who know what it means to struggle, to achieve and…

[This is a bit of a follow-up to a previous post about disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters and Democratic unity behind Obama.]

At a fundraiser, Hillary Clinton answered a question about allowing her delegates to vote for her at the Democratic Convention (echoing…

Apparently the Democratic party’s “unification” process is not yet complete. This YouTube video was added yesterday:

Also, check out the comments. There’s still a lot of anger simmering among ardent Hillary supporters, and a surprising number of…

The Washington Post’s Channel ‘08 blog (which tracks the videos of the 2008 campaign) notes two web-only attack ads released by the RNC and DNC attacking Barack Obama and John McCain’s positions on Iraq, respectively.

On July 8, the RNC released…

Obama seeks support from Hillary Clinton’s donors, gets the cold shoulder (via TPM media).

And  he takes heat from the netroots about his support of telecom immunity (via Huffington Post).

It doesn’t get much funnier: Karl Rove is spearheading an effort to label Obama…

The telecom immunity bill surfaces again. Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., vow to filibuster. That’s a promise we’ve heard before. Read it here, via Huffington Post.

And she returns like royalty. Politico reports on HRC’s return to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Bill…

Hill and Barry to appear together again next week, the NY Daily News reports.

Katie Couric plays funny, via Poynter’s Romenesko.

DNC calls for investigation over McCain and public financing, from Huffington Post. (My advice: Get over it and talk about issues.…