President Obama's remarks on U.S. car industry  —  (Reuters) - Following are excerpts from President Barack Obama's Monday remarks about the U.S. auto industry's restructuring effort:  —  In recent months, my Auto Task Force has been reviewing requests by General Motors and Chrysler …

Angie Harmon: I'm Not Racist Because I Disagree With Obama  —  Angie Harmon is not afraid to come out and say she doesn't like how President Obama is handling the job — but she's sick of having to defend herself from being deemed a racist.  —  “Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it.

Why the Democrats Can't Govern  —  Look who's killing Obama's agenda now.  —  The last Democrat who held the White House, Bill Clinton, saw the core of his domestic agenda come to ruin, his political support collapse, and his failure spawn a massive Republican resurgence that made progressive reform impossible for a decade to come.

PAYDAY: GM's Rick Wagoner Drives Away with $20M Retirement  —  Critic Calls Multi-Million Package “Perfect Example” of Frustration with Industry  —  Rick Wagoner will leave his post as CEO of bailed-out General Motors with a $20 million retirement package, the company's financial filings show.

Fox News's Mad, Apocalyptic, Tearful Rising Star  —  “You are not alone,” Glenn Beck likes to say.  For the disaffected and aggrieved Americans of the Obama era, he could not have picked a better rallying cry.  —  Mr. Beck, an early-evening host on the Fox News Channel …

Murtha's defense of earmark gobbling  —  But it was this line that caught our eye:

Pension insurer shifted to stocks  —  Concern increases as losses mount; Failing plans could overwhelm agency  —  WASHINGTON - Just months before the start of last year's stock market collapse, the federal agency that insures the retirement funds of 44 million Americans departed …

Banks Starting to Walk Away on Foreclosures  —  SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mercy James thought she had lost her rental property here to foreclosure.  A date for a sheriff's sale had been set, and notices about the foreclosure process were piling up in her mailbox.

Star Lobbyist Closes Shop Amid F.B.I. Inquiry  —  WASHINGTON — For most of the last three decades, the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti might have been mistaken for an owner of the Alpine, a wood-paneled Italian restaurant across the Potomac River from Washington where he routinely presided …

In Minnesota, it's still November  —  Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.  —  Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee …

20th CD, La Deluge  —  Even as Jim Tedisco plans an all-night sprint of campaigning leading up to tomorrow's 20th CD special election, Republicans are privately lowering expectations and rather gloomily suggesting that this could be the beginning of the end for them in New York.  Again.

EXCLUSIVE: AIG chiefs pressed to donate to Dodd  —  $160,000 streamed in as senator gained power on banking committee  —  As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues …

Gore: Lighting candles while cursing the light  —  The proverb instructs us that we do better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.  But what if one is making a killing at praising the darkness?  Would it not be better for that person to extinguish a single candle instead?

Obama Derangement Syndrome  —  I have been watching an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern.  I am referring to the over-the-top hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president, which distinctly reminds me of the “Bush Is Hitler” crowd on the Left.

The Rich Uncle Argument  —  Back at the beginning of the month, I recounted an odd incident from a Kaufman Foundation conference that I'd attended: … Crazy.  I didn't think this would go anywhere.  But today I read my Ed Kilgore: … As Ed says, the argument is that …

Home Decorating With the Obamas  —  At a time when people are having trouble holding on to their houses, Barack and Michelle Obama have sensibly decided not to use taxpayers' money to renovate theirs.  New presidents are allotted $100,000 to overhaul the White House residence and the Oval Office …

The Swastika and the Cedar  —  In newly liberated Lebanon, the signposts on “the Arab street” point in opposite directions.  The author's experiences—he was buoyed by a huge rally for democracy in downtown Beirut, then beaten up by Fascist bullies—show how much this diverse society offers hope …

IF IT'S SUNDAY, IT'S JOHN MCCAIN.... John McCain appeared on Meet the Press this Sunday, and while the content was unremarkable, a little portion at the end was pretty revealing. … David Gregory was making a joke.  And yet there's still much to this that's remarkable.

Should My Blog Word Count Be Restricted?  —  The other day I was musing about the possibility of a 95 percent tax on earnings over $10 million, which prompted this piece of correspondence from reader J: … Personally, I would love a legal cap on the number of words a blogger is allowed to produce per day.

What Happened in NH?  AAPOR's Answer  —  Most political junkies remember two things about last year's New Hampshire primary.  First, Hillary Clinton's surprising three point win and the fact that the pollsters were the “biggest losers” as the final round off of pre-election polls had shown Barack Obama surging ahead.

India's New Face  —  IF THE SPIRIT of modern India has a geographic heartland it is Gujarat, the northwestern state bordering Sindh, in Pakistan.  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the mahatma—Sanskrit for “great soul”—was a Gujarati, born in Porbandar, on the Arabian Sea, in 1869.

Americans Divided on Treasury Secretary Geithner  —  Democrats approve; Republicans disapprove  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are split essentially down the middle when asked to assess the job Tim Geithner is doing as Treasury secretary: 42% say they approve, 40% disapprove, and 18% have no opinion.