Sources: Iraq, Afghanistan troop moves delayed  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Decisions about withdrawing troops from Iraq and sending more troops to Afghanistan have been delayed until the Pentagon provides President Barack Obama with more detail about the risks and implications of the issues confronting him …

Republicans See Long-Term Victory in Defeat on Stimulus Plan  —  Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party's liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all …

The Destructive Center  —  What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses?  —  A proud centrist.

Smoking gun: caller explains Stimulus as Obama plan to fund permanent Democratic patronage system  —  “Chicago Bob”, calling into a radio talk show, explains the need to rush on the Stimulus package before anyone gets a good chance to review its sordid details.  The transcript:

How the Internet Damages Our Culture  —  America is ruder, cruder, and more paranoid than it once was.  The anonymity of the Web bears much of the blame.  —  American society as a whole, and politics in particular, has become considerably ruder, cruder, and more paranoid than it used to be.

US outlines new plan for Afghanistan  —  Ian Traynor Munich  —  The Obama administration today today outlined a new campaign strategy for the war in Afghanistan, scaling back the ambitions of George Bush in a shift which senior officials and diplomats described as a “new realism”.

‘Doom’ talk scored as ‘not presidential’  —  Poses risk for ‘Yes, we can’ candidate  —  From crisis to catastrophe.  Off a cliff.  Dark, darker, darkest.  Mortal danger of absolute collapse.  Armageddon.  —  President Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill are deploying …

Barack Obama is a novice - and it shows  —  After a rocky start, the new President knows he has to seize back the political agenda, says Toby Harnden.  —  During last year's epic election campaign, Hillary Clinton said that in the White House “there is no time for on-the-job training”.

Disagreeing With Paul Krugman  —  Paul Krugman doesn't believe that the stimulus bill is likely to be enough to get the job done and seems almost despondent about the fact that the compromise that will allow something to pass the Senate made it even smaller.

Big stimulus risks for both sides  —  In the gauzy days of bipartisan good feeling before his Inauguration, there was talk of President Barack Obama linking arms with Republicans to pass a massive stimulus bill, with a big bipartisan Senate majority as proof the parties could come together in a time of national distress.

Stimulus will lead to ‘financial disaster,’ Republicans warn  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Leading Republicans warned Sunday that the Obama administration's $800 billion-plus economic stimulus effort will lead to what one called a “financial disaster.”  —  “Everybody on the street in America understands that …

White House Nabs Political Control over Census  —  The Obama administration is ending the Census Bureau's traditional autonomy - a move that has Republicans outraged over the White House's politicization of counting Americans.  —  Last week, an administration official revealed that the yet …

Do not destroy the essential catalyst of risk  —  Since the spring, and most acutely this autumn, a global contagion of fear and panic has choked off the arteries of finance, compounding a broader deterioration in the global economy.  —  Much of the past year has been deeply humbling for our industry.

Obama Confidant Plans To Meet Azerbaijani Leader  —  David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's presidential campaign and was cited by Obama as the “unsung hero” in his ascendancy to the White House, is expected to meet this week with Azerbaijan's president, who has been accused of undermining democracy in that oil-rich country.

SC Governor: We're moving close to ‘a savior-based economy’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - As many state and local officials clamor for their share of the billions of dollars in federal aid in the stimulus bill under consideration in Washington, South Carolina's Republican governor is sounding a note …

Linked Retirements and the Summer of 2009  —  On hearing that Justice Ginsburg had undergone surgery for treatment of pancreatic cancer, I wrote my optimistic view that the Justice would recover and continue her service on the Court.  The early discovery of the cancer (illustrated by the fact …

Steele Confuses Stephanopoulos: Claims Government Jobs “Aren't Jobs,” Private Sector Jobs Never Go Away  —  There is certainly a political debate to be waged over whether or not government spending can effectively create jobs.  But in his interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday …