OBAMA AL-ARABIYA INTERVIEW: FULL TEXT  —  Here is the full text of President Obama's interview with Al-Arabiya Arab TV Network:  —  INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT BY HISHAM MELHEM, AL ARABIYA  —  Map Room  —  Q Mr. President, thank you for this opportunity, we really appreciate it.

Boehner to GOP: Vote against stimulus  —  President Barack Obama is coming to the Capitol later today in a bid to curry favor with congressional Republicans.  But it appears GOP leaders have already made up their minds to oppose his $825 billion stimulus plan.

Show Me the Votes  —  Unlike some, I'm not per se outraged by the idea of dropping a family planning provision from the stimulus bill in response to conservative objections.  I'm all for the provision, but it's genuinely tangential to the point of the bill, so if this is really what's standing between us …

The “unmasking” of White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig.  —  Last Thursday, Jan. 22, the New York Times and the Dallas Morning News capitalized on a flub by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to “out” the identity of a background briefer.  —  As the Morning News' Todd J. Gillman wrote …

Morning Bell: What Is the Spending Multiplier on a Pack of Condoms?  —  This Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) created quite a stir when she attempted to defend Section 5004, of the House's economic stimulus plan which allows the Medicaid bailout portion of the spending plan to be spent on family planning clinics.

High-Flying Citigroup Grounds Plans for $50M Jet  —  Obama Aide Called Citigroup to Complain About Jet  —  The high-flying execs at Citigroup caved under pressure from President Obama and decided today to abandon plans for a luxurious new $50 million corporate jet from France.

Another Lobbyist Headed into Obama Administration  —  Leaves Critics Questioning the President's Commitment to Changing Washington  —  Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration, a recent lobbyist for investment banking giant Goldman Sachs …

Kristol Severs Ties With the N.Y. Times  —  Bill Kristol and the New York Times parted company yesterday, one year after he began writing a weekly opinion column that became a high-profile target for his detractors on the left.  —  But the conservative commentator, who edits the Weekly Standard …

PATERSON LYIN' KING OF STATE  —  KNOWS KENNEDY LEAKER  —  ALBANY - Gov. Paterson yesterday insisted he had no idea who did the slime job on Caroline Kennedy - although the source of the information is about as close to him during the day as his wife is at night.  —  He's a liar.

The Great Unifier Attacks Rush  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: This is Liz Sidoti, AP-Obama.  On Friday afternoon, as you know, the president of the United States — actually it was Friday morning, but we didn't learn about it 'til Friday afternoon.  Friday morning in a meeting with House …

Ten Things You Can Do To Save The Planet  —  A Go-Green Guide for the Hollywood Community  —  More than ten years after the Kyoto accords, our planet continues to careen helplessly toward certain environmental destruction.  The skies are choked with pollutants.  Adorable helpless polar bears plunge through thinning ice caps.

STATING THE OBVIOUS  —  I hear a lot of talk about whether Obama's governing approach can be ‘bipartisan’ if a good number of Republicans don't vote for his Stimulus Bill.  But that dubious point seems to be obscuring a more obvious and telling reality: the Republican leadership in both houses …

The Same Old Song  —  What's up with the Republicans?  Have they no sense that their policies have sent the country hurtling down the road to ruin?  Are they so divorced from reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more of their tax cuts for the rich …

A Dark Age of macroeconomics (wonkish)  —  Brad DeLong is upset about the stuff coming out of Chicago these days — and understandably so.  First Eugene Fama, now John Cochrane, have made the claim that debt-financed government spending necessarily crowds out an equal amount of private spending …

Let's Have Flexible Armed Forces  —  Don't assume the next war will look like the last one.  —  During the 1990s, the U.S. defense debate was dominated by those who argued that advances in technology, particularly information technology, had revolutionized military affairs and changed the nature of warfare.

Animal Spirits Depend on Trust  —  The proposed stimulus isn't big enough to restore confidence.  —  President Obama is urging Congress to pass an $825 billion stimulus package as soon as possible.  But even that may not be enough to stabilize the economy, since it fails to take into account …

Power, politics, gossip on daily call  —  The conversations don't begin with hello.  They don't end with goodbye.  Most often they pick up with a low, drawling voice uttering something between a sentence and a grunt.  —  “Wahzgoanawn?”  —  For those not accustomed to hearing James Carville …

THE GORE EFFECT...  ...strikes again!  Al Gore is scheduled to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on global warming tomorrow.  John Kerry says that Gore “has been sounding the alarm on climate change for over three decades, and he understands the urgent need for American engagement and leadership on this issue.”