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How should President Obama’s policy record be judged and what does the power shift in Washington mean for the next two years of his presidency?
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Opinion: Can Obama learn from Clinton?
Perhaps Obama’s biggest danger in the coming months is that he will take this midterm meltdown in his stride, suggests Jacob Weisberg
John Gapper: Don’t turn back on financial reform
Republicans should focus on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rather than a fundamental rewrite of the Dodd-Frank act, writes John Gapper
Opinion: Time for America to get serious about debt
We face a choice: between an opportunity society with a safety net or a cradle-to-grave social welfare state, writes Congressman Paul Ryan
Opinion: Power shift leaves Obama with dilemma
The US president must strike a balance between conciliation and confrontation with the Republicans, while hoping for an economic boost, writes William Galston
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A limited Tea Party triumph
These elections are a clear victory for the Tea Party, but also reveal the movement’s limitations, writes Christopher Caldwell
Divided government reveals America’s indecision
The Republican party has taken back control of the House in a victory that shows how US voters are undecided over how to fix their country’s most troubling problems, writes Clive Crook
How America can withstand the headwinds
The probabilities for the US economy are much greater that growth will be slow and bumpy, and unemployment high, for an extended period. A double dip, however, seems relatively unlikely, writes Robert Rubin
Obama may just be an interlude
The personality and beliefs of the commander-in-chief still matter in foreign policy – as the world may re-discover, if Obama loses power to a Republican in 2012, writes Gideon Rachman
Gridlock will be bad for America
Republicans are all but certain to take control of the House and are poised to make significant gains in the Senate. A dramatic transfer of power is underway in Washington, but without sensible new policies, writes Steven Rattner
Middle America’s Tea Party is here to stay
The Tea Party movement has had a big impact in America’s midterm election, but that’s not all. It is a powerful new populist force whose influence could be felt for a long time, writes Karlyn Bowman
Obama can blame the whining left
If the polls turn out to be true and the Democrats suffer a heavy defeat in Tueday’s midterm elections, one should pay special tribute to the role that America’s left has played in its own downfall, writes Clive Crook
Obama speaks truth about power
America cannot presume it will always get its own way, writes Philip Stephens. To own up to as much does not make for great domestic politics
A presidency heading for a fiscal train wreck
The US economy will soon experience serious fiscal drag just when it needs a further boost. The administration’s failures leave it relying on the Fed, which is keen on further QE, writes Nouriel Roubini
Obama must learn to love business
The US president has failed to understand or communicate the role big business plays in remoulding the economy and creating high-skilled and high-paid jobs. To provoke such an ill-tempered split is not only bad politics, but bad policy, writes John Gapper
Punished for ignoring America’s pocket book
Obama has campaigned hard. But his themes sound less like appeals for votes and more like excuses for the impending Democratic defeat, writes David Frum
Time for the great orator to talk back
Against this contagion of paranoid craziness, an epidemic spread by colossal infusions of money and the howling of radio ranters, the virtues that brought Mr Obama to office – composure, a belief in classical rhetoric and the force of reason, the hope that people of clashing beliefs may be reconciled – are of little avail, writes Simon Schama
Why US voters are suing Dr Obama
A large part of the American public has forgotten the gravity of the financial heart attack that hit the US in the autumn of 2008. The Republicans have convinced many voters that the intervention by the Democrats, not the catastrophe George W Bush bequeathed, explains the malaise. Does President Obama deserve blame? No and yes, writes Martin Wolf. No, because his treatment was right, in principle; yes, because it was too cautious, in practice
