Afghan Strategy Will Contain Messages to Several Audiences  —  WASHINGTON—In declaring Tuesday that he would “finish the job” in Afghanistan, President Obama used a phrase clearly meant to imply that even as he deploys an additional 30,000 or so troops, he has finally figured out how to bring the eight-year-long conflict to an end.

Modern Flourishes at Obamas' State Dinner  —  WASHINGTON — It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city's hottest social event.  But at their first state dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle …

Obama to Offer Firm Pledge on Emissions Cuts in Copenhagen  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama will travel to Copenhagen at the start of the United Nations conference on climate change on Dec. 9 just before flying to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, White House officials said Wednesday.

Climategate: MSM Writers Try to Ignore Scandal in Global Warming Stories But Readers Bring Them Back to Reality  —  An hilariously bizarre situation is happening in the wake of the growing Climategate scandal.  Many of the mainstream media stories about global warming are simply pretending it doesn't exist.

Detainee policy appointee quits Pentagon post  —  The Pentagon's top detainee affairs policy appointee has quit the Defense Department just seven months into the job, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.  —  Phillip Carter, a former Army captain and Iraq War veteran, had been an outspoken critic …

Dobbs Reaches Out to Latinos  —  Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc.  —  Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week …

How a letter from 1964 shows what's wrong with the Senate today  —  One of the challenges in arguing about the use of the filibuster is that the filibuster has changed drastically in recent decades, but it's done so quietly.  Quietly enough that people don't really understand that it's changed at all.

Google won't exclude distorted Michelle Obama image from its site  —  ‘We have, in general, a bias toward free speech,’ a Google spokesman says, explaining that offensiveness alone is not a reason to remove the image from the search index.  —  A crudely altered photograph of Michelle Obama …

The Fed's Perverse Search for an Exit Strategy  —  People who purport to be concerned about the budget deficit really ought to be spending more time worrying about what the Fed is doing.  It's very difficult, after all, to see how we're going to stick to PAYGO rules in the medium-term if we have persistent high unemployment.

The Uncertainty Economy  —  Tim Geithner is not the Democrats' biggest problem.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Preparing to write about yesterday's downward revision in third-quarter GDP, we were tempted to say the Obama Administration has hit a speed-bump on its promised exit out of the recession.

Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required  —  A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report.  It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy.

Approval of Obama on Afghan war dives  —  WASHINGTON — Public approval of President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan has plummeted, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid rising pessimism about the course of the conflict.  —  The nation is divided over what to do next …

From the Hospital to Bankruptcy Court  —  NASHVILLE — Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city's old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced.  Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means.

Obama's Approval Slide Finds Whites Down to 39%  —  Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Since the start of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined more among non-Hispanic whites than among nonwhites …

The law professor and the pardon power  —  On Wednesday, President Obama will issue the White House's standard hokey pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey.  It goes with the job.  —  That's good news for the lucky turkey, but not much help for the many nonviolent first offenders languishing …

Rudy Giuliani, Serial Rumor Monger  —  Rudy Giuliani, the big scoop went, had decided to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year and would announce his candidacy “in the next 48 hours.”  —  120 hours later (and counting), the world is still waiting to hear from Rudy.

Palin Suggests Reforming Canada's Universal Health Care System: ‘Let The Private Sector Take Over’  —  Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (playing the character of Marg Delahunty) attended a Sarah Palin book signing in the United States last week and asked the “thrilla from Wasilla, the Alaskan Aphrodite” …

Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam  —  Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded.  —  State police, working with the FBI …

Liberal coalition buys ads, praises Lincoln for vote on healthcare bill  —  Health Care for America Now has launched new television ads praising the two Democratic senators from Arkansas and giving quiet support to Ben Nelson, the centrist Democrat from Nebraska.

Cronkite-Eight Poll  —  FOR INFORMATION:  —  TEMPE, Ariz. — Although the release of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's new book dominates media coverage, few voters in Arizona would like to see her become president in the future, according to a new Cronkite/Eight poll.