An Unnecessary War  —  I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.  —  After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn …

Obama to Name Lawyer Friend To Regulatory Affairs Position  —  President-elect Barack Obama will name Cass R. Sunstein, a close friend and one of the nation's top constitutional lawyers, to a senior-level post in charge of government regulation, a transition official said.

Why Obama Will ‘Own’ the Recession  —  For eight decades, Democrats have successfully blamed Republican Herbert Hoover for the decade-long Great Depression.  That, even though Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal failed to restore prosperity or dramatically lower unemployment, and his tax increases in 1937 snuffed out a nascent recovery.

Daschle's approach: Anything but Clinton  —  They might sit side-by-side in Barack Obama's Cabinet room someday, but Tom Daschle didn't much like Hillary Clinton's tactics for fixing health care 15 years ago - so much so that he wrote a book critiquing them.

NBC's Matthews Won't Run for Senate  —  Chris Matthews, the host of the MSNBC program “Hardball,” told his staff on Wednesday night that he would not run for the Senate in 2010 from Pennsylvania.  —  For much of the last year, Mr. Matthews had been considering entering the Senate race …

President Bush Tried to Rein In Fan and Fred  —  Democrats and the media have the housing story wrong.  —  Mythmaking is in full swing as the Bush administration prepares to leave town.  Among the more prominent is the assertion that the housing meltdown resulted from unbridled capitalism under a president opposed to all regulation.

Obama Promises Bid to Overhaul Retiree Spending  —  Should the president-elect take on a serious effort to address the growing costs of entitlement programs, he would be opening up a potentially risky battle.

SPECTER'S DELICATE SENSIBILITIES.... Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-Pa.) angry crusade against Eric Holder's A.G. nomination seems petty, pointless, and counter-productive.  Facing a difficult re-election campaign next year in a “blue” state Obama won by double digits, Specter may even be undermining his career with his odd tactics.

Bond will not seek another term  —  Sen. Kit Bond, a senior Republican from Missouri who sits on several powerful Senate committees, announced Thursday that he will not run for reelection in 2010, giving Democrats a shot to pick up a seat in a state that has emerged as a major battleground.

Army Sends ‘Dear John Doe’ Letters to Families of Fallen Troops  —  The Army mistakenly sent letters addressed “Dear John Doe” to 7,000 family members of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, unleashing calls from troubled relatives and prompting a formal apology yesterday from the Army's top general.

Obama Is Reported Set to Revise Counterterrorism Efforts  —  The president-elect's plan would eliminate the independent domestic security adviser's office and assign those duties to the National Security Council.

Clinton-era tips for landing an Obama job  —  The post-campaign vacation is done, the holidays are over and now it's time for every Obama campaign staffer to find an answer to the most frequently heard question at the holiday dinner table: “What are you going to do in the administration?”

“It Goes with the Turf”  —  Cheney still doesn't take it personally.  —  Vice President Dick Cheney believes he hasn't “fundamentally changed” since he came to Washington 40 years ago.  Only his job has changed.  As vice president, he doesn't talk freely to the press about what he's doing.

Obama Builds Powerful Team of White House Advisers  —  Influential Advisers May Compete With Cabinet  —  President-elect Barack Obama is assembling a new and influential cadre of counselors just steps from the Oval Office whose power to direct domestic policy will rival, if not exceed, the authority of his Cabinet.

Markey: Feb. 17 DTV Date May Have To Move  —  Obama FCC transition team also floating idea, sources say  —  The DTV hard date appears to be softening.  —  Consumers Union (CU) late Wednesday asked the heads of the congressional committees with telecommunications oversight …

U.S. Plans Border ‘Surge’ Against Any Drug Wars  —  The soaring level of violence in Mexico resulting from the drug wars there has led the United States to develop plans for a “surge” of civilian and perhaps even military law enforcement should the bloodshed spread across the border …