December 30: President Barack Obama, Tom Brokaw, Jon Meacham, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Brooks, and Chuck Todd  —  December 30: President Obama, Brokaw, Meacham, Kearns Goodwin, Brooks, Todd  —  Below:  —  updated 2012-12-30T14:17:37  —  DAVID GREGORY:  —  Mr. President, welcome back to Meet the Press.

Newtown Task Force Returns Biden to Gun Control Arena  —  WASHINGTON — Never much known for restraint, Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not hold back during a presidential primary debate in 2007 when a voter asking about gun rights in a recorded video displayed a fearsome-looking semiautomatic rifle and declared, “This is my baby.”

Lindsay Graham: I Will Destroy America's Solvency Unless The Social Security Retirement Age Is Raised  —  Although official Washington is currently fixated on the so-called “Fiscal Cliff,” the biggest threat to American prosperity is the debt ceiling, which must be raised in February to prevent economic catastrophe.

No cliff deal as final hour approaches  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell still haven't struck a deal to prevent taxes from rising on wage earners in the new year, sources say, as eleventh-hour negotiations to avert historic tax hikes approach a make-or-break moment Sunday.

Worst year in Washington: The tea party  —  The Gadsden flag, which flew proudly over the 2010 midterm elections, now lies in tatters — rent by internal disagreements, losses among its most visible standard-bearers and a growing sense that the tea party movement, which once looked …

Boehner says Obama should ‘lead, not cast blame’  —  (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner hit back at President Barack Obama's appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press” Sunday, where the president faulted Republicans for the ongoing stalemate in the fiscal cliff battle.  —  Read Boehner's full statement after the jump.

Why the War Party Fears Hagel  —  In the fortnight since Chuck Hagel's name was floated for secretary of defense, we have witnessed Washington at its worst.  —  Who is Chuck Hagel?  —  Born in North Platte, Neb., he was a squad leader in Vietnam, twice wounded, who came home to work …

An Anatomy of a Most Peculiar Institution  —  A Campus-full of Contradictions  —  Almost everything about the modern university is a paradox.  It has become a sort of industry gone rogue that embraces practices that a Wal-Mart or Halliburton would never get away with.

Schumer: Better than even odds of a ‘fiscal cliff’ deal  —  Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested that odds are better than even that legislators will come to a last minute agreement to prevent “fiscal cliff” spending cuts and tax rate increases.  —  Schumer, speaking Sunday on ABC's …

Obama picks his favourite photos of himself for 2012 (not that he likes to show off)  —  What with a Presidential election, two severe hurricanes, multiple mass shootings and a fiscal cliff, it has been a busy year for Barack Obama.  —  But at every twist and turn, his decisions …