Democrats Resisting Obama on Social Security  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is eager to seek a bipartisan solution to ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security, people who have spoken with him say, but he is running into opposition from his party's left and from Democratic Congressional leaders …

Obama Hits GOP Governors Rejecting Stimulus Funds: There'll Be ‘Ample Time For Campaigns Down The Road’  —  This morning, President Obama addressed members of the National Governors Association, focusing his remarks on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Myth Of The Filibuster: Dems Can't Make Republicans Talk All Night  —  Hoping for a C-SPAN spectacle of GOP obstruction, some impatient Democrats are urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to call Republicans on their filibuster bluff.  —  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer …

Forget change: GOP eyes retro strategy  —  Republicans are hatching a political comeback by dusting off a strategic playbook written nearly two decades ago.  —  Its themes: Unite against Democrats' economic policy, block and counter health care reform and tar them with spending scandals.

No rest for Rahm at the movies  —  A surprised fellow moviegoer passes on word that Rahm Emanuel took time out Saturday night to see The Wrestler at the E Street Cinema last night with a Secret Service Agent.  —  It was not a quiet night out.  —  “The guy sitting next to Rahm …

Assessing Obama's Job Approval at the One-Month Mark  —  Receives solid approval, but not extraordinary in historical terms  — USA - Government and Politics - Presidential Job Approval - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama remains …

Hey, lady, your $800,000 house is NOT my problem  —  Repeat after me: Property value-preservation is not a civil right.  —  Craig Meister at the Examiner.com points me to this typical CNN sob story clip of a bus driver named Minta Garcia who is demanding that President Obama halt all foreclosures.

Rick Santelli: The Man Who Talked Back  —  Which, do you suppose, would be the bigger draw right about now: a) a Barack Obama house party supporting the housing bailout package, or b) a Rick Santelli-inspired “Chicago Tea Party” opposing the bailout package?

Auto team drives imports  —  Fed task force has few new U.S. cars  —  WASHINGTON — The vehicles owned by the Obama administration's auto team could reflect one reason why Detroit's Big Three automakers are in trouble: The list includes few new American cars.

One More Reason To Fear the Stimulus Package: Joe Biden, Computer Illiterate and Gaffemeister Extraordinaire, Is In Charge of It All  —  Fox News delivers the bad news: … More here.  —  The idea of Joe Biden—the feller who created the position of the drug czar; plagiarized from Robert Kennedy …

VOTER, BEWARE  —  The Voting Rights Act, which passed in 1965, stands as one of the great monuments to civil rights in American history.  The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, purported to give Americans the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude …

The 10 most influential D.C. Twitterers  —  When you talk about Twitter, you might as well be talking about the Snuggie: People around you swear that it's actually useful, but you can't help thinking it silly and declaring, “I just don't get what all the buzz is about.”

Citigroup's Clever Plan to Screw Taxpayers Again  —  From The Business Insider, Feb. 23, 2009:  —  So Citigroup (C) has proposed that the US taxpayer and other preferred shareholders convert up to $75 billion of preferred stock into common stock, thus bolstering the company's tangible equity …

Banking on the Brink  —  Comrade Greenspan wants us to seize the economy's commanding heights.  —  O.K., not exactly.  What Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman — and a staunch defender of free markets — actually said was, “It may be necessary to temporarily nationalize …

Legal Experts Propose Limiting Justices' Powers, Terms  —  If we had it to do all over again, would we appoint Supreme Court justices for life?  Allow the chief justice to keep the job forever?  Let the court have the final word on which cases it hears and those it declines?

Obama - Feeling The Chill?  —  Obama was widely mocked for running up the White House thermostat to the point where, as his adviser David Axelrod explained, “You could grow orchids in there.”  —  But check out these new photos of Obama At Work from ABC News.  Is that a fashionable non-Carteresque non-cardigan sweater we see?

Sanford Offers Unemployed South Carolina Resident ‘Prayers’ Instead Of Stimulus Funds  —  Following the lead of a number of his fellow Republican governors, Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) has given some indication that he will not accept some of the money slated for South Carolina …

AIG Seeks More US Funds As Record Loss Looms  —  American Insurance Group, the insurance giant that is 80-percent owned by the US government, is in discussions with the government to secure additional funds so it can keep operating after next Monday, when it will report the largest loss in U.S. corporate history, CNBC has learned.

Harry Reid: Economy starting to turn around  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Monday that the banking industry is “very close” to being stabilized and the nation's economy is starting to rebound.  —  “We tend to talk about the negative. ...

The Obama Administration Sacrifices Israel  —  The cover-up on Durban II's anti-Semitic agenda.  —  The Obama administration's decision to join the planning of the U.N.'s Durban II “anti-racism” conference has just taken a new twist: cover-up.  On Friday, State Department officials …

Rove ignores House Judiciary Committee subpoena.  —  Pursuant to a subpoena issued earlier this month, Karl Rove was due to appear for a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee today.  But as CongressMatters reports, despite being “expected” to appear this time, Rove was a no show.

Editor's Note  —  The headline, illustration and text of “Below the Beltway,” a column in The Washington Post Magazine today, may cause offense to readers.  The magazine was printed before a widely publicized incident last week in which a chimpanzee attacked and badly mauled a woman in Stamford …