Last week I shared the results of a new poll that Capps Center Director Wade Clark Roof and I commissioned Zogby International:  “Integrity, Leadership, Trust.”  We asked more than 3,300 Americans to grade both President Obama and Congress based on the qualities and issues they considered most important on November 5-6, 2008. Last week’s commentary revealed the “quality” grades:  Mr. Obama scored 58% positive...

Digging deeper into the results of the Walter H. Capps Center’s “First 100 Days” poll some interesting figures stand out. As I mentioned in Monday’s post, our poll is different from other “100 Days” surveys in that the majority of the questions were based on those qualities and issues Americans told us were most important to them last November:  honesty,...

Last November, immediately following the presidential election, Wade Clark Roof, director of the Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life and I asked more than 3,300 likely voters what “qualities do you think the country needs most from the new president” and, “what actions would you like to see accomplished most by the new president and Congress?” The top...

A weekend conversation with a friend prompted the following: “Why be ethical?  What’s the payoff?” The standard fall-back:  “Virtue is its own reward.” Another might be the adage by Louis Armstrong when asked the definition of Jazz: “If you have to ask… you’ll never know.” The reality is that most of us face issues that challenge our ethical integrity on a regular basis.   » Read...

Coming off an incredible week of outrage over the $165+ million A.I.G. bonuses, the question that many in the media and Washington continue to focus on is this:  How do we get what we need from these people without giving them too much, but giving them enough to do what we need to get done? But there’s a more important, longer...

Jay Leno: “Please welcome President Barack Obama.” (Applause) President Obama: “Thank you.” (Applause) Obama: “…Let me just say, I think Kevin (the band leader) looks good in a suit.” (Laughter)  “He looks a little like Secret Service.” (More laughter) Nice opening line.  Did he write that one himself? Leno: “Now it’s only, what, 59 days now…  Is it fair to judge...

A college friend looked at the Web site for the first time and concluded, “I like your site, but it takes too long to get to the meat and potatoes.” How about this:  “Do Good!” Clear, concise and took just thirty-three words to get there. The only problem is that like the previous commentary touting “Ethix” as a quick fix,...

Nixon had Watergate, Clinton had Lewinsky, Cheney his “Scooter” Libby.  Now, we have Rod Blagojevich who seems determined to turn hubris into a new category at the Academy Awards. For your consideration:  “They’re just hanging me… [They’re] trampling the constitution… The good guy is up against the establishment.” However, when Illinois state senators begin their impeachment trial today based on the governor’s...

It’s difficult to express in words the true significance of the event that took place in our nation’s capitol yesterday. All I can do is offer my own impressions. “Our challenges may be new… But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things...

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States. With the possible exception of Franklin Roosevelt, probably the only other person to face such a staggering high level of expectations was Babe Ruth following his purchase by the New York Yankees in 1919 for the equally staggering sum of $200,000.  (Roosevelt only cost $75,000...