In a world of tepid editorial pages, The Washington Post remains a standout. Its writers are truly diverse, incisive and smarter about policy than the readers who actually make it. If we took economic advice from Robert Samuelson, legal and constitutional advice from George Will, and let Charles Krauthammer direct U.S. foreign policy, we’d have the finest punditocracy since, well, the authors of the Federalist Papers. Even Richard Cohen, who can sometimes rise to the level of insightful and funny, is on hand to lighten affairs on occasion by playing the village idiot.

Count among the best Anne Applebaum. Her recent column on presidential addresses goes beyond the usual rhetorical hairsplitting to reveal what is unique about America.