The Action Americans Need  —  By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression.  Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished.

Obama losing the stimulus message war  —  At this crucial juncture in the push to pass an economic recovery package, President Obama finds himself in the most unlikely of places: He is losing the message war.  —  Despite Obama's sky high personal approval ratings, polls show support …

The GOP Has a Dumb Mortgage Idea  —  It contradicts the ideals of Republicanism and good economics.  —  Few philosophers have done more good than Locke and Montesquieu, whose advocacy of divided government inspired America's Founders.  Our history, and the less happy past of nations without checks …

Obama 1-on-1 with swing senators  —  Working to get the last Senate votes for his economic recovery plan, President Barack Obama reached out Wednesday to his old rival, Sen. John McCain, even as he warned Republicans against making “perfect the enemy of the essential.”

Sessions: GOP Insurgency “May Be Required”  —  Frustrated by a lack of bipartisan outreach from House Democratic leaders, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Republicans — who voted unanimously last week against the economic plan pushed …

Volcker Chafes at Obama Panel Delay, Strains With Summers Rise  —  Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Paul Volcker has grown increasingly frustrated over delays in setting up the economic advisory group President Barack Obama picked the former Federal Reserve chairman to lead, people familiar with the matter said.

Bill Gates Unleashes Swarm of Mosquitoes on Crowd  —  Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at an elite technology conference to make a point about the deadly disease malaria.  —  “Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” Gates said while opening …

Cooper in doghouse for remark  —  Rep. Jim Cooper is the Al Gore of financial collapse.  —  For decades, the Tennessee Democrat has warned that the country will be in dire straits if the government keeps borrowing billions from foreign creditors.  —  Those doomsday forecasts haven't always …

Deluge Is Holding Up Benefits to Unemployed  —  Decline in Funding Forces Staff Cuts as Claims Swell  —  Thousands of people in the Washington area and hundreds of thousands more across the country are waiting longer than they should for unemployment benefits at a time when they need the money …

Air Base Loss Could Hobble Afghan War Effort  —  So now it's official: Kyrgyzstan ain't bluffing.  On Monday, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev caught the Pentagon off guard, saying his country planned to close Manas Air Base, a major logistics hub for supporting U.S. operations in Afghanistan.

Citing Geithner's Tax Error, Critics Say Obama's Ethics Standards Are Flexible  —  As he insists that ethical standards should be the same for both the powerful and the people, critics say that President Obama is looking the other way when it comes to his Treasury secretary.

New rules  —  “Shameful.”  That was the President's response last week to the news that Wall Street had doled out $18 billion in bonuses, even after the government had propped up many of the Street's most prominent firms.  —  Today, he and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took action …

The Republicans' Opportunity  —  “This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending — it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education.”  —  With this key sentence from his op-ed in the Washington Post today …

Reporter jumps ropeline after signing  —  A reporter was escorted out of a White House event by Secret Service agents on Wednesday afternoon after he approached President Obama to seek an autograph.  —  At the end of an East Room signing ceremony for legislation funding …

Time to Play Hardball  —  The irony of President Obama's Blue Tuesday is that the wall-to-wall television interviews he granted were designed not to apologize for Tom Daschle's fall from grace but to fight back against the Republicans' success in tarnishing his stimulus package.

White House ‘hopeful’ on appointing Zinni  —  Despite Anthony Zinni's evident perception that he had the job of ambassador to Iraq proffered and then taken back, a senior White House official signaled that the retired Marine General is still a leading candidate for some administration post.

AN INSTAPUNDIT EXCLUSIVE: A report from Michael Yon.  —  It's Raining  —  By Michael Yon  —  05 February 2009  —  There had been a light, cold drizzle just before the Muslim taxi driver picked me up in Jerusalem.  It should be a 90-minute drive to Sderot, in southern Israel.

White House Cheat Sheet: Bypassing the Media Filter  —  During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and his team learned a very important lesson that they are seeking to put into practice in the White House: the power of the media is overrated.  —  Time and again during the campaign …

Panic!  —  Michael Hirsh sounds the alarm: … Theda Skocpol says the same: … I hope I'm not being blithe but I don't see it this way.  Obama still has majorities in both Houses.  The GOP surely won't filibuster the bill in the Senate.  What matters is the end-result, for which the president will ultimately be accountable.

Sen. Klobuchar steals show at Congressional dinner  —  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) surprisingly caustic humor elicited belly laughs from much of the Washington press corps Wednesday night at the Washington Press Club Foundation's Annual Congressional Dinner.

RFK Jr.: Hog farms bigger threat than Osama  —  WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said he thinks hog farmers are a greater threat to Americans than Osama bin Laden.  —  Mr. Kennedy, son of the the slain New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental law attorney …