(Tom Williams/Roll Call)
–John Boehner is poised to take the Speaker’s gavel today. Alex raises the curtain.
–Ahmed Rahsid reports on the incredibly precarious path ahead in Afghanistan.
–Biden chief of staff and all-around White House heavyweight Ron Klain will depart for the private sector.
–Steve Schale, Obama’s …
Former U.S. Air Force Major Michael D. Almy hugs Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she signed legislation repealing the military policy law during a ceremony December 21, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
–The Senate will ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty today and President Obama will sign the repeal of …
Senator Joe Lieberman gives a thumbs up while arriving with Majority Leader Harry Reid for a press conference on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal on December 18. (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
–The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty will face a test vote on Tuesday, but the path to 67 votes and final ratification is steep now …
–As Mark reports, the Obama administration’s Afghan war review depicts a fragile effort nonetheless on track for draw-down starting next year. The Times gets a Taliban commander on record saying “the government has the upper hand now” in Kandahar.
–The standalone “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repeal heads to the Senate as the tax deal …
Defense Secretary Robert Gates boards a C-17 after visiting U.S. troops at Forward Operating Base Howz-E-Madad in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan December 8, 2010. (REUTERS/Win McNamee)
–The Senate begins debate on Obama’s tax compromise today and Dems there are beginning to thaw. House Dems not so much; some
(White House/Pete Souza)
–After the weekend, a deal extending all the Bush tax cuts temporarily (1-3 years) in exchange for Recovery Act tax credits and a year or so of unemployment benefits still appears to be the only way forward in the Senate. The timing of the expiration, of course, has implications for Obama’s re-election …
In their preface to the latest document release, the good people of WikiLeaks presented themselves as modern day muckrakers, striking a blow against the rotten hypocrisy of America’s diplomatic establishment.
This document release reveals the contradictions between the US’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors – and
…
(White House Photo/Pete Souza)
–Ben Smith writes Cablegate calls into question the potency of American diplomacy.
–It’s no revelation that many leaders in the Arab world privately sweat Iran, but Mark Lynch argues the greatest potential for political blowback is in that sphere.
–Matt Yglesias questions whether private …
(White House/Chuck Kennedy)
–From the archives: What you didn’t know about the turkey pardon and what happens to the not-so-lucky ones.
–Obama pledges solidarity with South Korea, dispatches warship for exercises.
–Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and David Brock talk about the new Dem Super PAC.
–Re disclosure, Brock’s …
Ahmed Rashid, the Pakistani journalist who knows Afghanistan better than anyone, has scored a disturbing interview with Hamid Karzai, in which the Afghan leader really does seem to be getting tired of the American military strategy–specifically, the special operations night raids targeting Taliban leaders, which have been the most …
–Despite remaining schisms over the preferred end game, Democrats are ready to hold votes on extending only the Bush tax cuts for those making $250k or less.
–Still searching for a brave soul to take over the DSCC, Harry Reid and White House court Patty Murray.
–Overtures ongoing, Jon Kyl still sees “no chance” of lame duck …
John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Dick Lugar hold a media availability to discuss the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. (Douglas Graham/Roll Call)
–President Obama is running the full court press for lame duck ratification of START.
–The national security right jumps all over the Ghailani verdict. Sentencing still to …
On Sunday McClatchy dropped its months-long investigation of U.S. construction projects in Afghanistan. The picture is not pretty and an unsettling metaphor for the nine-year war effort emerges:
A McClatchy investigation has found that since January 2008, nearly $200 million in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction projects in
…
