It's Morning in America for Obama, Michelle Shows: Amity Shlaes ``We listened to our hopes, instead of fears.'' With that line in Denver, Michelle Obama summarized it all. In America, politics isn't a contest between political parties. It is a contest between hope and fear. The party that has the hope usually gets the White House.

America's Obsession With Housing Hobbles Growth: Amity Shlaes Everything will be all right if we just fix the housing problem. That was the hope investors clung to as they watched Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac crumble this week.

Google Can Get Content Lesson the Old-School Way: Amity Shlaes So Google Inc. now is pushing further into the business of content. Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page confront the universal question of the information business: How do you add value?

Mad Men of Washington Cheat Voters on Housing Law: Amity Shlaes Sometimes television and politics conspire to tell the country the same story. That's certainly the case this week. The new season of ``Mad Men'' debuted with another episode chronicling Don Draper's secret life. The ad man in the cable-TV series knows he's not supposed to have that many drinks at lunch. He knows he's living too hard when he smokes Lucky Strikes. He knows he shouldn't cheat on his wife.

Obama Chooses a Symbol of War as Berlin Backdrop: Amity Shlaes Sometimes it is the words that get the politicians in trouble. Sometimes it is the images. In Berlin, a single picture of Barack Obama is likely to paint a thousand words about the limits of his foreign policy.

Reagan's the Wrong Scapegoat for Market Crisis: Amity Shlaes Is this the end of Republicans and their Reaganite philosophy? That's how many Americans are subtitling the financial drama unfolding before their eyes.

Old Harvard Ties Failing in New Egalitarian Age: Amity Shlaes They have to get in. Sometimes it's an Ivy League link they covet. Other times it is that slot at a college that people talk about at church. Either way, college and grad-school applicants clearly believe that a lifelong benefit derives from admission to a certain school.

It's Obama's Vision Versus `American Girl' Power: Amity Shlaes Would I be ready for that? That's the question most of us have when we hear about a family facing a home foreclosure in, say, Ohio.

McCain's Tax Plan Would Block a Democrat Katrina: Amity Shlaes At about the time the river rose above its banks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, people in Washington began talking about how John McCain was going to put the whole country underwater with his tax plan.

Paulson, Bernanke Face Cleveland's Golden Rebuke: Amity Shlaes American leaders tell themselves that citizens aren't interested in the nuances of the dollar's value. The yuan exchange rate? That is something Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson deals with at summits like the one this week with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan at Annapolis, Maryland. The inflation rate? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke grapples with it. The rest just live with the results.