Barack Obama and John McCain are expected to shake up the electoral map this year. Each is already shaking up the conventional wisdom a bit on how they would handle tax policy. That may augur well for the big tax battles awaiting the next president and Congress.

 

What a lovely birthday present a federal appeals court gave the country -- a reminder just a week short of July 4th that not only are there limits to executive power, but also that it's OK to stick a thumb in the eye of that power now and then. And boy, did three appeals court judges do that to President Bush.

Wesley Clark, the retired general, former NATO commander and now an Obama backer, is catching all kinds of grief for questioning John McCain's claim to having broad national security and foreign affairs experience. His comments on "Face the Nation" about McCain's war experience  caused a firestorm and probably cost him any remaining veep consideration. But was Clark all wrong?

Sure, reversing positions on key issues can be unseemly and, if done often enough, it can make a candidate appear disingenuous and gutless. But I see Barack Obama's recent flip-flops in a different light than my colleague Mark Willen. The spate of pronouncements in recent days that appear to put him at odds with previous positions has almost certainly made Obama a stronger candidate.

I was all set to join the chorus of commentators looking at Barack Obama's recent flip-flops and waffles and concluding, "Aha, you're just a typical politician after all." And then I read a column by Charlie Cook, who got me thinking in a different direction, as he often does.