Humility or Cynicism?  Whatever is Driving Obama is Better Than Nothing  —  Tumbling polls have turned the president into the schmoozer-in-chief  —  President Obama's burst of congressional and public outreach coincides with declining poll numbers.  (AP Photo)

McClatchy-Marist poll shows Obama tumbling in voters' eyes  —  WASHINGTON — If President Barack Obama had piled up political capital with his impressive re-election, it's largely gone.  —  His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs …

Is he serious?  —  President Barack Obama's unusual tour of Capitol Hill this week could answer a central question dogging his renewed effort to strike a grand bargain on deficit reduction:  —  How serious is he?  —  Starting Tuesday, Obama will shuttle between basement House meeting rooms …

Paul Ryan's make-believe budget  —  If Rep. Paul Ryan wants people to take his budget manifestos seriously, he should be honest about his ambition: not so much to make the federal government fiscally sustainable as to make it smaller.  —  You will recall that the Ryan Budget was a big Republican selling point in last year's election.

Paul Ryan's budget: Social engineering with a side of deficit reduction  —  Here is Paul Ryan's path to a balanced budget in three sentences: He cuts deep into spending on health care for the poor and some combination of education, infrastructure, research, public-safety, and low-income programs.

Save the sequester, crush the children!  —  If American politics has but one purpose in modern times, it is to crush the hopes and dreams of young people everywhere.  —  And this is why President Barack Obama's closing of the White House to public tours makes so much sense.