Dear A.I.G., I Quit!  —  The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group's financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.  —  DEAR Mr. Liddy,  —  It is with deep regret that I submit …

Jindal defends those who want Obama to fail  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — It's OK for Republicans to want President Obama to fail if they think he's jeopardizing the country, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told members of his political party Tuesday night.  —  Jindal described the premise of the question …

Geithner ‘open’ to China proposal  —  Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is “open” to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar …

E.U. President Calls U.S. Stimulus the ‘Way to Hell’  —  BRUSSELS — Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global economic crisis intensified on Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described the U. S. stimulus measures as the “way to hell.”

Democrats Take Knife To Obama's Budget  —  Key Democratic leaders were performing major surgery yesterday on President Obama's first budget plan in an effort to bring skyrocketing annual deficits under control, while preserving the option of enacting some of the president's most significant and costly domestic priorities.

Andrew Malcolm is bored, too  —  Los Angeles Times blogger/former Laura Bush press secretary wasn't impressed by President Obama last night.  Surprise, surprise. … Now, I don't want Andrew Malcolm to be bored.  That's a less-than-ideal way to go through your workday.  —  So here's a suggestion, Mr. Malcolm: Quit.

Obama testing pundits' patience  —  Barack Obama's second televised presidential news conference saw him in combative mood, pundits and bloggers judged after his prime-time White House performance.  —  Online reaction was dominated by the president's minor spat with a TV reporter …

Of all the reasons to plant a garden, free food may be the worst.  —  The much-discussed Obama kitchen garden seems very noble and well-intentioned (despite Michelle Obama's controversial outfit), and as an avid gardener, I was loving the whole project until I came across the following quote from an ecstatic Alice Waters:

Transcript: President Obama's Press Conference  —  [*] OBAMA: Hello, everybody.  Please have a seat.  —  Good evening.  Now, before I take questions from the correspondents, I want to give everyone who's watching tonight an update on the steps we're taking to move this economy from recession to recovery …

‘Global War On Terror’ Is Given New Name  —  The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the phrase “global war on terror,” a signature rhetorical legacy of its predecessor.  —  In a memo e-mailed this week to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department's office of security review noted that …

Is it back to the Fifties?  —  “My mother is 75,” said Jon Stewart, the US late-night comedian, at the end of his already famous interview with Jim Cramer, the television stock market pundit.  “And she bought into the idea that long-term investing is the way to go.  And guess what?”

Sacrifice  —  Apparently Chuck Todd asked President Obama why he isn't asking people to “sacrifice” more amidst the recession.  —  The standard progressive answer to this starts by observing that the hundreds of thousands of people who are losing their jobs each week are, presumably, sacrificing.

Obama's Approach to Protecting ‘State Secrets’ at Issue  —  Like Predecessor, New Justice Dept. Claiming Privilege  —  Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak …

Barney Frank: Justice Scalia “makes it very clear that he's angry, frankly, about the existence of gay people.”  —  “If you read his opinion [in Lawrence v. Texas], he thinks it's a good idea for two consenting adults who happen to be gay to be locked up because he is so disapproving of gay people.”

Obama Years Ago Helped Fund Carbon Program He Is Now Pushing Through Congress  —  While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president.

FM 3-XX: Revolutionary Operations  —  I've been looking over the Army's new manual for stability operations, which the University of Michigan just reprinted with an all-star lineup of introductions by Michele Flournoy, Shawn Brimley, and Janine Davidson.  —  I'm all for the idea.

“Enervating”  —  The president was “not...fiery and inspirational,” write Peter Baker and Adam Nagourney in the morning NYT.  “Placid and unsmiling, he was the professor in chief, offering familiar arguments in long paragraphs — often introduced with the phrase, ‘as I said before’ …

ROMNEY: Cautionary tale of card check  —  ANALYSIS/OPINION:  —  In 2006, my last year as governor of Massachusetts, I vetoed a card-check bill that allowed public workers to organize if a majority signed union authorization cards as opposed to casting a traditional secret ballot.

Most Americans Support Government Control of Executive Pay Only If Taxpayer Money Is Involved  —  American attitudes about regulating executive compensation are very clear: If taxpayers help a company stay in business, the government should regulate executive pay and bonuses.

Howard Dean To Announce Major New Campaign On Health Care Reform  —  Looks like Howard Dean is well on his way to finding a post-DNC niche, and he won't be needing the Obama administration to find it for him.  —  On a conference call with supporters later today, Dean will make a surprise announcement …

Top Hedge Fund Managers Do Well in a Down Year  —  The financial crisis may have turned much of Wall Street's wealth into dross, but a select group of hedge fund managers has managed to maintain a golden touch that might make King Midas blush.  —  As major markets and economies careened downward last year …

Obama Flexes Political Muscle, Enters NY Congressional Race  —  For the first time since his inauguration, President Barack Obama is flexing his electoral muscle, urging supporters to organize and vote for New York Democratic congressional candidate Scott Murphy.

Netanyahu Promises Peace Effort  —  JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Wednesday that the coalition he is forming would be a “partner for peace,” offering a pledge that seemed designed to reshape his reputation as a foe of the peace process with the Palestinians.

Obama v. The Media: President Superman And The Kryptonite Presser  —  I sometimes wonder why President Obama bothers giving press conferences.  It's not that he is bad at them, but his speeches are much better and the press conferences tend to be ordinary.  Robbed of a teleprompter and unable …

POPULISM AND PARANOIA  —  Step out of the A.I.G. bonus frenzy, the bailout conundrum, and other matters of the moment to think a bit about American history.  It's all related.  —  Last year, Vintage reissued Richard Hofstadter's classic 1965 essay collection “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.”