Forgive and Forget?  —  Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration.  “I don't believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”

The real reason Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich  —  Eric Holder is sworn in at his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.  —  From beginning to end, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Eric Holder's nomination as attorney general observed …

“Iranian Unit” Destroyed, Hamas was Suprised  —  (IsraelNN.com) The so-called “Iranian Unit” of Hamas has been destroyed, according to Gaza sources cited Thursday by the Haaretz daily.  The sources said most of the unit's 100 members were killed in fighting in the Zeytun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Hudson River hero is ex-Air Force fighter pilot  —  NEW YORK (AP) — The pilot who guided a crippled US Airways jetliner safely into the Hudson River — saving all 155 people aboard — became an instant hero Thursday, with accolades from the mayor and governor and a fan club online.

DON'T BELIEVE YOUR LYING EYES.... Presidents don't have to give televised farewell addresses at the end of their term.  Indeed, George H. W. Bush didn't bother, preferring to let his record speak for itself.  The son would have been wise to follow his father's example.

Obama Pledges Reform of Social Security, Medicare Programs  —  President-Elect Says He'll Reshape Social Security, Medicare Programs  —  President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare “bargain” with the American people, saying …

The Wiretap Vindication  —  FISA sets the record straight.  —  Ever since the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program was exposed in 2005, critics have denounced it as illegal and unconstitutional.  Those allegations rested solely on the fact that the Administration …

4 days to Inauguration — The president-elect's secret foreign-policy dinner —The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball goes interactive — President Bush: ‘May God bless this house and our next president’  —  Memorable “new contact info” e-mails - Jim Wilkinson meets Hilary Rosen - Mike DuHaime to Mercury Public Affairs

Pragmatist-in-Chief  —  PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama came to The Post editorial board yesterday with two messages sketchy on details yet reassuring in approach: a commitment to fiscal discipline, and a determination not to be bound by liberal, or indeed any, orthodoxy.

Suspend Your Disbelief  —  How to enjoy an inauguration fully.  —  Washington  —  Flying in, we take the route over the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson, the Tidal Basin: the signs and symbols of the great republic.  And you've seen it all a thousand times but you can't stop looking, and you can't help it, your eyes well.

King: Obama ‘bizarre’ to use ‘Hussein’  —  Apologize?  Not so much.  —  But Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who last March predicted Al Qaida would be “dancing in the streets” if Barack Obama were elected president, now concedes that the dynamic has merely “shifted” on the terrorist front.

America's Best High Schools  —  A state-by-state look at the best-performing high schools in the U.S. Does your child already go to one?  —  Watch the Video...  Kimberly Lynch, a redhead with freckles, had a keen interest in sunblock.  So much so that she spent the past year developing …

Did Cheney nod off during Bush's farewell address?  »  —  Last night during PBS's coverage of President Bush's farewell address to the nation, for a brief moment, the camera panned to Vice President Cheney, who appeared to momentarily doze off.  But it seems that he quickly caught himself and then sat upright in his chair.

Some Ask if Bailout Is Unconstitutional  —  While much of the debate over the $700 billion federal bailout plan has focused on whether the money is being spent wisely or well, concerns are growing among many conservatives about its constitutionality.  —  Some conservatives have argued …

Hastert ‘Individual C’ in Blago complaint: sources  —  (Crain's) — Former U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is the ex-congressman anonymously referenced in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, sources tell Crain's.  —  Mr. Hastert, R-Plano, who is not accused of wrongdoing …

Commentary: Bush saved 10 million lives  —  Editor's note: Bill Frist, a physician, is former Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate and a professor of medicine and business at Vanderbilt University.  —  (CNN) — A legacy of President George W. Bush will be that he saved 10 million lives around the world.

A Republican Strategy For Stimulus  —  The GOP should abandon Bush tax policies altogether.  —  Republicans in Congress are clearly groping for a strategy to deal with the economic crisis and, as yet, have no real alternative to Barack Obama's plan.  So far, they're are all over the map …

Coleman can keep office until Feb. 4, senators say  —  WASHINGTON - Democratic and Republican leaders agreed Thursday to reopen Norm Coleman's U.S. Senate offices until Feb. 4 to archive and transfer case files on constituent services.  —  The agreement, approved unanimously by the Senate …

With Sink out, Gelber getting into the Senate race  —  State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, has been waiting for the day when Alex Sink would decide whether she wanted to pursue the United States Senate in 2010.  —  Now that Florida's chief financial officer has announced she's staying out, Gelber is getting in.

American painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91  —  PHILADELPHIA - Artist Andrew Wyeth, who portrayed the hidden melancholy of the people and landscapes of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and coastal Maine in works such as “Christina's World,” died early Friday.  He was 91.