Analyzing the relevance of the electoral college in the 2012 presidential election, Julia E. Sweig says, "Although slavery has since been abolished and we have universal suffrage, this unfair electoral college system painfully, and somewhat quaintly, lives on."

CFR's James M. Lindsay leads a conversation on what the U.S. president needs to know about foreign policy, how past presidents have navigated their portfolios, and the challenges facing the Obama administration in its second term.

In the Middle East, there is a perception that President Obama and the United States cannot be relied upon. But Obama's reelection is now an opportunity for the president to show his leadership and reliability in the region, says Ed Husain.

In the coming months after his reelection, President Obama faces a number of Middle East crises, the most pressing of which are Iran and Syria, says Elliott Abrams.

As the edge of the fiscal cliff approaches, Peter Orszag lays out the paths available to the Obama administration in negotiating with Congress over the expiring Bush tax cuts and entitlement reform.

In this world of grave uncertainty and looming threats, it is unlikely that the United States will ever have a peacetime president again, says Micah Zenko.

Jimmy Carter is at it again, says Elliott Abrams on the former president's latest vilification of Israel in a recent Al Ahram interview.

Benn Steil's Forbes op-ed, co-authored with Dinah Walker and Romil Chouhan, shows why President Obama's touting of renewable energy as a job-creator is misguided.

Thomas Bollyky assesses President Obama's record in promoting international science in the latest issue of Science. The president has made strides in integrating science into U.S. diplomacy and international development activities, but only modest progress on facilitating the day-to-day scientific exchanges that account for most international research.

Eliot A. Cohen, Eric Edelman, and Meghan O'Sullivan say, "The true audacity of the Obama administration lies less in its proclaimed foreign policy hopes, than in its insistence that its record is one of foreign policy success. It has, rather, been one of embarrassment, failure, and in some cases, disaster."

Charles A. Kupchan discusses the foreign policy challenges and constraints confronting the winner of next Tuesday's presidential election.

Peter Orszag proposes a placeholder deal to get around Congressional gridlock over the expiring Bush tax cuts by establishing a temporary tax refund that would last until either a permanent deal was reached or the unemployment rate dropped.

Micah Zenko says no matter who wins in November, the United States should get ready for ten more years of drones.

Benn Steil's column in Dow Jones' Financial News, co-authored with Dinah Walker, analyzes Mitt Romney's budget math. Without questioning the candidate's assumptions on growth or available sources of revenue, they estimate a roughly $1 trillion annual budget gap.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that Monday's debate displayed a rare moment of unity between Obama and Romney, who seem to have decided that, in this most domestic-focused of elections, dwelling on foreign policy would only lose voters' interest.

Micah Zenko says regardless of who wins the election in November, there are five core principles of U.S. foreign policy that are widely held on both sides of the aisle. However, these principles also rest on shaky ground and often undermine U.S. national interests.

James M. Lindsay says Obama's and Romney's views on foreign policy are broadly similar—both men are internationalists with a strong pragmatic streak, and they largely agree on the chief threats the United States faces overseas. Their differences are primarily over details, tactics, and tone.

In light of Monday night's presidential debate on foreign policy, James M. Lindsay explores five memorable moments from past debates.

In this column, Julia E. Sweig argues that President Obama's foreign policy positions will make it difficult for Mitt Romney to define his agenda against Obama's in the run up to the election.

Fifty years later, the effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis linger still because of the persistent effects of one lie—that JFK won the day without compromising, writes Leslie H. Gelb in Foreign Policy.