Barack Obama's French kiss-off  —  Obama's public reactions to the attacks in Paris have been muted.  —  Barack Obama n'est pas Charlie — or at least, he wasn't this weekend.  —  Don't look for the president or vice president among the photos of 44 heads of state who locked arms and marched down Boulevard Voltaire in Paris.

Democrats, in a stark shift in messaging, to make big tax-break pitch for middle class  —  Senior Democrats, dissatisfied with the party's tepid prescriptions for combating income inequality, are drafting an “action plan” that calls for a massive transfer of wealth from the super-rich …

Santorum Criticizes Potential G.O.P. Rivals as ‘Bomb Throwers’  —  WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum sharply criticized a group of potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in an interview that indicated he intends to reclaim conservative primary voters ahead of another White House bid in 2016.

Valerie Jarrett, Obama's ‘Berlin Wall’  —  It's high time the news media paid more attention to Valerie Jarrett.  An old Chicago friend of both Barack and Michelle Obama's, she exercises unusual influence in the White House as a “senior adviser.”  Many in Washington believe that she is at the heart …

Health reform a plus for Dems, at last  —  People with broken arms, patients recently recovered from emergency surgery — President Obama needs to put Americans benefitting from ObamaCare next to the First Lady when he makes his Jan. 20 State of the Union address.

HISTORY WILL BE VERY KIND  —  And if it's not, it will be for a highly ironic reason.  —  Photograph courtesy of the White House  —  Ten and a half years ago, at the Democratic convention in Boston, Barack Hussein Obama was introduced to America as a youthful, magnetic man who had burst suddenly …

Saudi prince: $100-a-barrel oil ‘never’ again  —  Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told me we will not see $100-a-barrel oil again.  The plunge in oil prices has been one of the biggest stories of the year.  And while cheap gasoline is good for consumers …

Morning Plum: Some welcome GOP candor on Obamacare  —  The possibility that the Supreme Court could gut Obamacare subsidies to millions of people in three dozen states on the federal exchange is — kinda sorta, anyway — forcing a debate among Republicans over whether they should be prepared to respond with policy alternatives.

Pop Music Critic Leaves The New Yorker to Annotate Lyrics for a Start-Up  —  Sasha Frere-Jones, the longtime pop music critic for The New Yorker, has left the magazine to join Genius, a website mounting an ambitious expansion after starting as a forum for annotated rap lyrics online.