Diplomacy now trumps defense as the main instrument of U.S. foreign policy. ...more

January 26, 2009

President Barack Obama, in a meeting with his top national security advisers Wednesday, asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq." ...more

January 22, 2009

Reporters from TBO.com, The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8 are exploring the Tampa Bay area today, talking with people as they watch history unfold. Check back with TBO.com throughout the day as we post stories, photos and multimedia elements from Washington and Tampa. ...more

January 20, 2009

In this city blanketed by hundreds of thousands of visitors, tight security and giddy celebration amid the winter cold, Barack Obama takes his historic oath of office today as the nation's 44th president. ...more

January 19, 2009

Barack Obama said he's as hopeful as ever about the future of the U.S. as thousands of Americans converged on Washington's Lincoln Memorial for a free concert to celebrate his inauguration as the first black president. ...more

January 18, 2009

During the election some compared Barack Obama to a rock star. They were wrong. He's bigger than a rock star if TV coverage is any measure of fame. ...more

January 18, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama stepped onto a train car built in 1939, a time when his presidency would not have been possible in America, and set off for Washington on Saturday in a three-day prelude to his inauguration as the country's 44th president. ...more

January 18, 2009

Updates By Cell Phone; A Pitch For Ideas Barack Obama's high-tech bandwagon is rolling on, combining information on inauguration events with a pitch for cash to pay for them. The president-elect's aides told supporters this week that they could learn by e-mail about community service projects across the country tied to his swearing-in Tuesday; that they could receive updates by cell phone on traffic and events in the nation's capital; that the best of their ideas on how to govern, submitted on his Web site, would get his attention; and that they could contribute money. ...more

January 17, 2009

Except for Richard Nixon, no president since Harry Truman leaves office more unloved than George W. Bush. Truman's rehabilitation took decades. Bush's will come sooner. Indeed, it already has begun. The chief revisionist? Barack Obama. ...more

January 17, 2009

Ozzwald, a Belgian Malinois from Holland who served as a member of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, has died. The dog, known as "Ozzi," was 8 years old. ...more

January 16, 2009