I blame John McCain more than anyone else for the fact that Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner of the Republican pack right now. McCain's pick of Palin as running mate truly set the stage for where the GOP finds itself now.

There is no guarantee that the name on that ballot will be Hillary Clinton. She's already vulnerable in at least two of the first four states to vote, and if she loses both Iowa and New Hampshire then the rest of the country (including the media) will start paying a lot more attention to Bernie.

The public demurs from facing reality and accepting measures that might fix the problems, based on a misplaced--and manipulated--appreciation of self-reliance and freedom, O'Kane explains and illustrates.

I write today to challenge what is fast becoming conventional wisdom in the political world -- in particular, the notion that Hillary Clinton really needs a strong primary challenge to "toughen her up" for the upcoming race with whomever the Republicans decide upon. When you deconstruct the logic behind this idea, however, it falls apart.

I see in its story a larger lesson about the maximization of shareholder value and how it distracts an executive team from the real job of business: to create new customers by luring them into the fold with new solutions and new products.