Person of the Year 2009  —  The story of the year was a weak economy that could have been much, much weaker.  Thank the man who runs the Federal Reserve, our mild-mannered economic overlord  —  Ben Bernanke  —  A bald man with a gray beard and tired eyes is sitting in his oversize Washington office, talking about the economy.

WH Press Sec. Gibbs: Obama Asked Lieberman to Make Concessions, Too  —  Sam Stein reports that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested that the President has been as insistent that Joe Lieberman make concessions for the team as he's been with liberals. … Oh.

SHENANIGANS: SCHUMER HAS A FLIGHT TO FORGET  —  Schumer has a flight to forget  —  Sen. Chuck Schumer loves the sound of his own voice, but it carried a bit farther than he might have liked on the US Airways shuttle from New York to Washington on Sunday.  —  According to a House Republican aide …

Howard Dean: “Kill The Senate Bill”  —  In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.

U.S. gave up billions in tax money in deal for Citigroup's bailout repayment  —  Deal made to recover bailout Firms exempted from rule when U.S. sells its stake  —  The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part …

Majority of Americans Still Not Backing Healthcare Bill  —  Forty-six percent would advise their member to vote for it, or lean in that direction  —  PRINCETON, NJ — As the U.S. Senate continues working to craft a filibuster-proof healthcare reform bill, a new USA Today/Gallup poll finds public support …

Mystery as Lockerbie bomber goes missing from home and hospital  —  Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.  —  Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone.

President Obama writes a new health reform prescription  —  On the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to take on the drug industry by allowing Americans to import cheaper prescription medicine.  “We'll tell the pharmaceutical companies ‘thanks, but no, thanks’ for the overpriced drugs …

Chaos at climate conference  —  COPENHAGEN — The Copenhagen climate change conference appeared to be imploding from within and exploding from without on Wednesday.  —  Police fired tear gas, brandished batons and detained more than 200 protesters who tried to push through the security cordon around …

WaPo/ABC poll: Obama hits new lows on health care, overall approval rating  —  His numbers are down across the board since last month, so technically there's a trend here.  But not really.  The problem with WaPo's polls is that they've been using samples that skew overwhelmingly Democratic …

Nelson: 'I'm not on the bill'  —  The White House meeting Tuesday between President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats has raised expectations that they have nailed down 60 votes for the health care bill.  —  But as he prepared to leave for the White House with other senators, Sen. Ben Nelson …

www.jihad.com  —  Let's not fool ourselves.  Whatever threat the real Afghanistan poses to U.S. national security, the “Virtual Afghanistan” now poses just as big a threat.  The Virtual Afghanistan is the network of hundreds of jihadist Web sites that inspire, train, educate and recruit young Muslims …

A bailout for insurers?  —  There's an argument on the left that the health-care bill represents a “bailout” to the insurance companies.  Matt Yglesias puts this in the proper context: … To put this a bit more sharply, if I could construct a system in which insurers spent 90 percent …

THE SOURCE OF THE DEFICIT MESS.... Republican lawmakers and far-right activists have suddenly discovered, after eight years of dramatic fiscal irresponsibility, that they care deeply about deficit reduction again.  Worse, they're absolutely convinced that President Obama and those free-spending Democrats …

FCC's Lloyd Blames ‘Right-Wing Smear Machine’ For Distorting Views  —  Speaking at a Media Access Project event yesterday, FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd said a “right-wing smear campaign” has misled people about his beliefs.  —  He said, “Allow me to clear away some mud: I am not a Czar appointed by President Obama.

U.S. planning to restart Israel-PA talks based on '67 borders  —  The United States and Egypt, along with France, are planning a joint move to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks on the basis of the June 4, 1967, borders, territorial exchanges and a complete freeze of construction beyond the Green Line, including East Jerusalem.

Hillary Clinton Admits Obama's Iranian Policy Is Also a Failure (Video)  —  What a complete and utter shock.  —  Who would have guessed this?  —  Hillary Clinton admitted today that Barack Obama's Iranian policy of extending a hand to the evil Iranian regime has produced nothing- Nada- Zilch.

Justice Department restrains lawyers in Panther probe  —  Rights panel subpoenas blocked  —  The Justice Department has told the federal attorneys who filed a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party for disrupting a Philadelphia polling place last year not to cooperate …

Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korea's Kim Jong Il  —  President Obama has written a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that was delivered by the administration's special envoy for North Korea during a visit to Pyongyang last week.  —  The existence of the letter …

NHS maternity services in meltdown: A former midwife reveals how understaffed wards are sinking into chaos  —  Clutching her husband's hand and with agony and exhaustion etched on her face, a young woman struggled into a room in the maternity unit where I worked.