by Mark Silva

"Talk to the hand.''

That could be the big one-liner of the next presidential debate, the way the political body language is working lately.

Taking a palm-cue from Republican Sarah Palin, who penned the talking points of her address to the TEA Party convention on the inside of her hand over the weekend, the White House press secretary arrived at today's press briefing armed -- or handed -- with notes of his own.

Only Robert Gibbs appeared to have something other than a political debate on his mind -- or in his hand -- with the scrawling of a black marker on his palm: "Eggs... milk... bread...'' (He crossed out bread, figuring he'd make pancakes for his son instead.)
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Or was he in fact scoring some points? Ever the Obama team-player, Gibbs also had included some basic thematic messages on his palm, "hope'' and "change.''

In case you missed it, this was how Palin played her own hand:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Palin, for her part, is still getting over the ribbing for penning "Energy... budget.... tax'' and more on her palm in Nashville. Which also has raised the question if, had some of the great speeches of our time been delivered with palm notes, the memorable lines would have been much shorter: "Nothing to fear... Ask not.... Tear down!''

by Mark Silva

"Talk to the hand.''

That could be the big one-liner of the next presidential debate, the way the political body language is working lately.

Taking a palm-cue from Republican Sarah Palin, who penned the talking points of her address to the TEA Party convention on the inside of her hand over the weekend, the White House press secretary arrived at today's press briefing armed -- or handed -- with notes of his own.

Only Robert Gibbs appeared to have something other than a political debate on his mind -- or in his hand -- with the scrawling of a black marker on his palm: "Eggs... milk... bread...'' (He crossed out bread, figuring he'd make pancakes for his son instead.)
.
Or was he in fact scoring some points? Ever the Obama team-player, Gibbs also had included some basic thematic messages on his palm, "hope'' and "change.''

In case you missed it, this was how Palin played her own hand:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Palin, for her part, is still getting over the ribbing for penning "Energy... budget.... tax'' and more on her palm in Nashville. Which also has raised the question if, had some of the great speeches of our time been delivered with palm notes, the memorable lines would have been much shorter: "Nothing to fear... Ask not.... Tear down!''

by Michael Muskal

That billboard in Mnnesota picturing former President George W. Bush asks the world: "Miss me yet?''

Well, now we have the world's answer: Not so much.

President Barack Obama has had a tough first year dealing with domestic issues, but according to the latest polls, he has chalked up a success in how the rest of the world sees the United States.

The U.S.-Global Leadership Project, a partnership between the Meridian International Center and Gallup, found that a median of 51 percent of the world approves of the Obama administration's performance -- up from 34 percent approval of the previous administration's performance in 2008.

According to Gallup, the global median approval of U.S. leadership remained relatively steady from 2005 to 2008. In 2009, it hit 51 percent for the first time since Gallup began asking the question worldwide in 2005.

The latest poll confirms much of the feelings about the last years of the Bush administration and the first year of Obama's.

Bush and his administration were increasingly disliked as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars dragged on, and there were continuing questions about U.S. leadership on economic and environmental issues.

Obama, who campaigned against the Bush legacy, was treated with rock star status during his overseas campaign trips and was awarded a surprising Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office.

According to Gallup, the latest poll data showed significant improvements in how the United States was seen in all four major global regions, with the largest year-over-year increase in Europe, a particularl thorn in Bush's side. Median approval of U.S. leadership increased by 28 percentage points, Gallup found.

The highest approval came in Africa, where approval is historically high. However, the northern, mainly Arab areas such as Egypt, remained low, while sub-Saharan Africa were high.

by Mark Silva and updated at 2 pm EST

The billboard sitting along I-35 near Wyoming, Minn., displaying a photo of former president George W. Bush and this question: "Miss Me Yet?" apparently is a sign in search of an author.

At National Public Radio, they report that Minnesota Public Radio reports that it's the real McCoy: They have seen this sign. (See the photo here from MPR.)

But "there's no readily apparent claim of ownership on the billboard,'' NPR's The Two Way reports, and the good folks in Minnesota are looking into that.

Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Collins checked in with the mayor of Wyoming, Sheldon Anderson, who replied by email: "Wish I could take credit for it. Calls every day asking if it was me. If you find out let me know.''

Apparently, it's been a slow week in Lake Wobegone.

But the question looms: Miss him yet?

(with special thanks to Bob Collins of MPR for his photography and generosity.)

by Mark Silva

The "party of no'' is sounding today like the party of maybe - or maybe not.

With the White House planning a Feb. 25 summit of bipartisan congressional leaders to discuss health-care legislation, the House's Republican leaders have warned the administration that they may not be able to attend if the White House insists on pressing its same agenda.

"If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Cantor) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wrote to the White House.

"'Bipartisanship' is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support. Bipartisan support require bipartisan means,'' they wrote last night to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has responded maintaining that the administration has been and remains open to Republican ideas. But he has not relented, in his response to the Republican leaders, on the issues which the president considers essential.

"He's been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit," Gibbs said in a statement issued.

The Washington Post has transposed the Republican letter and the White House's response in a counterpoint worth reading this morning.

President Obama may also have a chance to break a little ice today, with Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joining Democratic leaders at the White House this morning to talk about the job-creating measures that the White House also is seeking as it starts the second year of the president's domestic agenda with an added push for economy recovery.

by Mark Silva and updated at 9:35 am EST

The first lady has embarked on a cause, as anyone near a television set today will see: Michelle Obama will appear on Good Morning America and a run of other shows through PBS' Newshour tonight with a wake-up call for families overlooking childhood obesity.

The first lady also has acknowledged the "guilty pleasure'' she finds in French fries, which is to say that she gets the whole temptation thing, too. "I love burgers and fries,'' she says. "The question is, how do we balance that all out.''

With an estimated one-third of all American children carrying too much weight, the first mom is launching a campaign today to change the way millions of Americans eat. Watch for Cabinet secretaries to follow up with appearances on the networks later this week.

(With the federal bureaucracy facing its second day of office closures today -- D.C., digging out of one blizzard, is bracing for another onslaught of snow this afternoon -- Tuesday's Swamp has arrived early with a preview of the first lady's TV campaign. GMA and the other morning news shows start at 7 am EST.)

"Thank God it's not going to be solely up to me," Obama said recently of this new campaign, underscoring the need for parents, schools, businesses, nonprofit groups, health professionals and governments to take the cause seriously.
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At the White House this morning, President Barack Obama was signing a memorandum on childhoold obesity, markng the official start of the administration's effort to confront a problem through policies and publicity. All acknowledge it's no easy task.

The president, in signing an executive order, said it will set in motion a 90-day plan that "provides optimal coordination" among federal agencies to fight a national epidemic of childhood obesity.

"We think this has enormous promise," the presdient said of the first lady's project to promote healthy eating habits and exercise. One of its goals is to "help parents make healthy choices," he said.

Michelle Obama stood behind her husband with an arm draped over his chair as he penned his signature, then patted him on the back and said, "Good job."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar were on hand for the initiation of a program involving several Cabinet agencies.

"You don't just go from epidemic obesity to epidemic leanness," Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center, says, noting that the first lady has the pulpit to "shift the massive momentum of our society in the right direction."

Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association, says the first lady's focus will help generate the "noise" needed to change attitudes. "Anything she can do would be helpful because the burden of the problem is just that profound," Yancy says.

There is no shortage of solutions: Increasing federal spending for healthier school lunches for impoverished children, improving nutrition standards for school lunches -- and getting chips and doughnuts out of school vending machines -- expanding time for school recess and physical education, using federal incentives to encourage low-income families to buy healthier foods; prodding food makers to stop targeting children with ads for high-calorie treats on TV and in online video games; getting more restaurants to print nutrition information on menus; increasing medical screening for obesity in children; improving food labeling; improving counseling for overweight children, and more.

The school lunch program, due for an overhaul by Congress this year, is one area of focus. President Barack Obama's proposed budget calls for an additional $1 billion a year for child nutrition programs. Last year's economic stimulus package included $500 million for one-time grants to help states and communities tackle smoking, obesity and various preventable health problems.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. The clip above comes from ABC News' Good Morning America.

by Mark Silva

Rep. John Murtha, decorated Marine and powerful veteran of Capitol Hill, was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress, a force to be reckoned with in the House, and he was, when all is said and done, an imperfect and longtime servant.

Murtha, a "tough-as-nails'' Democratic hawk and for two decades the ranking member of his party on the House subcommittee that controls defense spending, also had become an outspoken and influential critic of the war in Iraq.

He died today at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., a spokesman for the congressman said. Murtha was 77.

Murtha was first elected from Pennsylvania in 1974. On Saturday, his office said, he had become Pennsylvania's longest-serving member of Congress.

. He had been among the members of Congress who voted in 2002 to authorize then-President George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq. But by November 2005 he was calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised,'' Murtha had said at the time. "It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion.''

Murtha had sweeping control over defense spending, as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and he would face questions for the influence over spending that he wielded on the behalf of campaign contributors.

"He understood the misery of war," said Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend today."

"Jack was a devoted husband,'' President Barack Obama said in a statement issued today, "a loving father and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years. His passion for service was born during his decorated career in the United States Marine Corps... Jack's tough-as-nails reputation carried over to Congress, where he became a respected voice on issues of national security.''

Murtha's great-grandfather had served in the Civil War, his father and three uncles in World War II, his brothers in the Marine Corps.

He left Washington and Jefferson College in 1952 to join the Marines and became a drill instructor at Parris Island, S.C. Moving to Johnstown, Pa., he remained in the Marine Reserves until volunteering to go to Vietnam, where he served as an intelligence officer from 1966 to 1967. He received a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

IThe late Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania is pictured above in a July 2006 file photo by Cheryl Senter / AP)

by Mark Silva

We're having to hand it to Sarah Palin today, because she really has played her own hand this time.

After telling the National Tea Party convention that it doesn't really need a leader -- while telling the TEA Partiers that they also don't need a "charismatic'' leader who leads from a TelePrompter, a "law professor'' lecturer -- the charismatic, palm-prompted Palin has taken a considerable amount of heat for taking her own cues from the pen-written notes on the inside of her hand.

It was during a question-and-answer session on stage after her speech to the convention in Nasvhille on Saturday night -- a speech read from a script before her -- that Palin could be seen consulting the palm of her hand for a few prompts of her own.

"Energy.... budget... tax'' and more was scrawled in her hand.

Hands down, one of the priceless political pictures of the season (see the CBS News analysis above, and the AP photo by Ed Reinke here.)

The Republican Party's 2008 nominee for vice president and former governor of Alaska was offering no back-handed compliments for the president in this appearance, but rather a big thumbs-down for the Obama administration. And indeed in an appearance on FOX News Sunday the next morning Palin was saying that "I would'' consider running for president if it were right for her family and that "it would be absurd'' for her not to consider a candidacy or some other leadership role.

Every politician is known to consult a Palm Pilot from time to time, and who hasn't, for lack of a notepad, scrawled a phone number at the base of the life-line from time to time? (We won't ask anyone to talk about any high-school math tests here.) But the idea of keeping a few issues at one's finger-tips in the course of a public appearance might be more understandable if the issues weren't as basic to the current political debate as "energy.... budget... and tax.''

But a talking point in hand was worth two terms for George W. Bush. And Palin, it appears, knows the issues like the front of her own hand.

by Mark Silva

By the numbers, neither President Barack Obama nor the incumbent members of Congress are looking very comfortable these days.

But then, it takes someone to beat someone - which is why the public discontent with incumbent members of Congress registered in yet another poll today leaves open the question of who will be challenging those incumbents in November, not to mention the question of a challenger for Obama in 2012.

The president's public job approval among registered voters nationwide has slipped to 44 percent in the Marist Poll out today - with disapproval running at 47 percent. It was running 46 approval, 44 disapproval in Marist's December survey.

"Disappointer-in-chief,'' Marist is calling the president today.

As in other surveys, the president's loss of support among independent voters is what stands out today: "For the first time since taking office,'' Marist reports today, a majority of independents surveyed - 57 percent - disapprove of the job that the president is performing, with just 29 percent approving.

The partisans remain polarized: 81 percent of Democrats voicing approval of the president's performance, 80 percent of Republicans disapproval.

""If attracting Independents and bipartisanship are the aim, then the president clearly has a lot of ground to cover in year two," says Lee Miringoff, director of The Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

For members of Congress, however, there is a lot less time to repair relations with frustrated voters. Among registered voters surveyed, if the election were held today, 44 percent say they would vote to elect someone new, while 42 percent say they'd stick with their representative. Among those swing-voting independents, half say they would vote against the incumbent.

"The winds of change are still blowing around the nation,'' Miringoff reports. " If your working address is the U.S. Capitol, you have to watch these figures closely.''

See the full run of the Marist Poll today.

by Mark Silva

Oh, when the Saints come marching in to the White House, where the fan-in-chief had placed his heart with New Orleans, but still his head with the Colts, in the Super Bowl that ended with a come-from-behind victory for the team from Louisiana.

(They receive college champs on the South Lawn; maybe they'll make room for the NFL this year.)

But while they're at it in the West Wing, they may want to consult with The Who's Roger Daltrey on his opinion about Medicare (which, of course, he doesn't need, because he lives in a country with nationalized health care.) The front man from one of the big bands of the 1960s is 65, and his voice showed every year of it in the Super Bowl half-time show.

Even Daltrey admitted that it could have gone better, as ESPN reports from the locker room - or actually the tunnel to the sky boxes.

"I thought it went OK,'' the singer told an interviewer. "I was so blinded that I couldn't see. "And I really wished the crowd would have gotten into singing the songs with us more. That's how it is in Europe for our soccer matches. I wanted more banter."

At his age, even spending the night in Miami had its certain disappointments -- "Miami is so different these days. It's not just a retirement community," Daltrey said nostalgically, in his post-show talk with ESPN. "Now Miami is fun and hip, and I'm too old to enjoy it."

"We won't be fooled again,'' Daltrey, showman Peter Townshend and company sang at the close of their 12-minute Super Bowl show - which could, in fact, serve as a theme song for events unfolding at the White House this week.

President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of what his own associates have dubbed "the party of No'' in for a talk about health-care. The Republicans are signaling that, yes, they are ready to be heard.

This week's summit is being billed at a high gesture of bipartisanship. With Democrats lacking the votes needed to muscle anything through the Senate now, it could take some measure of bipartisan cooperation to pass any health-care legislation - unless the House simply caves to a Senate-passed bill or some additional deal is done by budget reconciliation, ala House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan.

But the president also has signaled that he wants to see some "details'' about questions such as: How to insure some 30 million people without health insurance. Neither the tort reform nor sale of insurance across state lines which Republicans have advanced offers much headway on that front. The GOP is talking about starting from scratch.

So there is a good chance that the most that the White House is able to find in the bipartisan health summit are some sweeteners which may offer the GOP an opening to sprinkle some votes on health care.

It's unlikely that the GOP will find a White House willing to concede the concept of what it considers real "change,'' having gotten this close to passage of a plan. The House has passed a bill, with the help of just one Republican member. The Senate has passed a bill, without support from any Republicans. The trick is passing one plan which both can accept, and which the president can sign and represent as reform.

No one wants to get fooled again.

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama, vowing to press his case for health-care legislation in a difficult new political environment, says he will sit down and talk with the Republicans.

But for whatever talks they initiate this week, any agreement on a common way forward is likely to require talking beyond the talking points that both parties have staked out since the beginning of a months-long debate now mired in a partisan divide.

"What I've been doing is consulting closely with the leaders in the House, the leaders in the Senate, on the Democratic side,'' Obama said in his pre-game Super Bowl interview with CBS News. '"I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues.

"What I want to do is ask them to put their ideas on the table,'' he said of a meeting planned this week, "and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, and then go forward systematically with all the ideas out there.''
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Does this mean starting from square one, CBS anchor Katie Couric asked the president. And, from the remarks that both the president and Republican leaders made today, the answer probably is no.

Obama said he will be asking Republicans: "How do you guys want to lower costs?... How do you want to make sure that the 30 million people who don't have health insurance can get it?''... What are your ideas?''

Republican leaders, in response today, said their ideas start with getting the Democrats to back away from the legsislation that has cleared the House and Senate.

"If we are to reach a bipartisan consensus, the White House can start by shelving the current health spending bill, and with it their goal of slashing a half trillion dollars from Medicare and raising a half trillion in new taxes,'' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement issued today. "Setting these goals aside would be a sign that the administration and Democrats in Congress are listening to the country and are truly interested in a bipartisan approach.''

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said: "The American people have overwhelmingly rejected both of the job-killing trillion-dollar government takeover of health care bills passed by the House and Senate.... The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access.''

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was holding his ground today, too: "As we continue our work to fix our broken health care system, Senate Democrats will not relent on our commitment to protecting consumers from insurance company abuses, reducing health care costs, saving Medicare and cutting the deficit."

The president suggested in that pre-game interview -- in which he stood by his sentimental choice of the Saints, but suggested the Colts were favored to win -- that a bipartisan approach should help expedite matters on the health-care front.

"There's no reason, procedurally, that we can't do it faster than last year,'' the president said. But there probably are a lot of reasons it won't move much more quickly.

Which got us to thinking about an old song:

by Mark Silva and updated

President Barack Obama, while rooting for the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl today, allows that the Indianapolis Colts "have to be favored.''

"I think the Colts probably have to be favored, mainly because they have the best quarterback in history. Peyton Manning is unbelievable,'' the president said in a pre-game interview just now with CBS News. "I do have a soft spot in my heart for New Orleans, mainly because of what that town has gone through....

"The Colts have to be favored,'' he said, confessing that he could be bearing a grudge in today's match: "One other factor that I have to confess here - when my Bears went to the Super Bowl several years ago, it was the Colts that beat them.''

The president also signalled another play in the pre-game interview: He plans to meet with bipartisan leaders of both houses this week on the stalled health-care legislation. And Republican leaders greeted that word with a cautious welcome today.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric interviewed the president as part of the network's pre-game coverage of the Super Bowl. The talk was aired starting at 4:30 pm EST, a little over an hour before kickoff.

On a sunny but cold day on which Washington was digging out from a couple of feet of snow - as much as 32 inches out at Dulles International Airport far west of town, but less than two feet in town - the president was holding a Super Bowl party at the White House with congressmen from the home state teams, Louisiana and Indiana, as well as some injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was wearing an open-collared dress shirt.

They talked about more than football -- chiefly, health care:

by Mark Silva

Sarah Palin, fresh from an appearance at the TEA Party Convention where she derided President Barack Obama for "the politics of personality,'' insists that the nascent political organization is just fine without a leader.

"It's much bigger than any charismatic guy with a TelePrompTer,'' says Palin, who read her speech from a text in Nashville on Saturday night and could hear people in the audience calling, "Run, Sarah, Run.'' "It is the people's movement. It's about the people and I'm proud to be a part of this.''

Yet, she says, "it would be absurd'' for her not to consider playing some leadership role, potentially as a candidate for president.

In an interview aired this morning on FOX News Sunday, Chris Wallace also managed to get a "you betcha'' out of the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president and former governor of Alaska who resigned after her party's ticket lost to Obama.

"You betcha,'' she obliged.

Would she consider running for president? "I would if I believe that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family,'' she told Wallace (the two pictured here in a photo from FOX News.) "It's going to be thankfully a lot of time to be able to make such a decision. Right now, I'm looking at.. other potential candidates out there who are strong. They're in a position of having the luxury of having more information at their fingertips right now...

"I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country,'' Palin says. "I don't know if it's going to be ever seeking a title, though. It may be just doing a darn good job as a reporter or covering some of the current events.''

If she is not offering herself as a leader for the TEA Party, however, Palin has plenty to say lately about the president.

"He has some misguided decisions that he is making that he is expecting us to just kind of sit down and shut up and accept, and many of us are not going to sit down and shut up,'' Palin, a FOX contributor, told Wallace in the interview. "We're going to say no, we do not like this..''

"Wait, wait, where's he saying sit down and shut up?'' Wallace asked.

"In a general just kind of general persona I think that he has when he's up there at, I'll call it a lectern,'' Palin said, reiterating a line from last night about a president whom she calls "a law professor.''

"When he is up there and he is telling us basically, 'I know best, my people here in the White House know best, and we are going to tell you that, yes, you do want this essentially nationalized health care system' and we're saying, no, we don't.''

"And the messages are not being received by Barack Obama,'' Palin maintained. "So I think instead of lecturing, he needs to stop and he needs to listen on health care issues. On national security, this perceived lackadaisical approach that he has to dealing with the terrorists.

"We're saying that concerns us and we're going to speak up about it and please don't allow this persona to continue where you do try to make us feel like we need to just sit down, shut up and accept what you're doing to us,'' said Palin, who had a lot more to say about all of that. Read on:

by Mark Silva

"Do you love your freedom?''

"Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan!''

And you C-SPAN fans, you may not have been invited to the health-care negotiations, but you were welcome at the Tea Party Convention.

This would be Sarah Palin, delivering the keynote address at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville tonight.

"America is ready for another revolution,'' Palin told the crowd, an estimated 1,000 or so who had spent at least $300 apiece to see Palin speak at the Gaylord Opryland hotel where the TEA Party convened -- "TEA Party nation,'' Palin called the crowd. "The TEA Party movement,'' she said, is the "future of poltiics'' in America -- with Palin suggesting that the leaders of both the major political parties "are running scared.''

And exactly what message might the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008 have been sending about 2012 tonight when she told the TEA Party convention: "We are at war..... To win that war, we need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.''

With this, Palin launched a full-throated attack on the Obama administration, challenging both its foreign policy - "the politics of personality'' - and the "broken promises'' of its domestic agenda.

At the same time, Palin told this TEA Party assembly that a leader is not what they really need. The movement, she said, is "bigger than any king or queen of the TEA Party."

"Put your faith in ideas. I caution against allowing this movement to be defined by one leader,'' she told the convention crowd. The movement is "a ground-up call to action that's forcing both parties to change the way they're doing business.''

Palin, who maintained that none of this is about identifying a new political leader, was asked in a question-and-answer session after her address tonight about "the Palin plan.'' It is "simple,'' she said, deriding those who have deemed her simple-minded and denouncing "the mainstream media'' as "irrelevant,'' even as the cable news networks broadcast her talk. It's about going back to "the foundation'' of America, she said -- "hard work and responsibility.''

Palin spoke of Republican Sen. Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts - "President Obama found a way to make this about George Bush.''

"The only place the left hasn't placed the blame is on their agenda,'' Palin said. "The Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda... out of touch, out of date... and, it's running out of time.''

"From Virginia to New Jersey to Massachusetts, voters are sending a message,'' the former Alaska governor told the assembly tonight. "If there's hope in Massachusetts,'' she said, "there's hope everywhere.''

The nation is unsafe, she suggested. She spoke of the Nigerian who failed in his attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day. "It was a Christmas miracle, and that is not the way the system is supposed to work.'' There are questions "this foreign terrorist'' should have had to answer "before he was lawyered up,'' she said to cheers in the hall (overlooking the fact that he has answered a lot of questions since he was given that reading of his Miranda rights, as authorities have testified.)

"Treating this like a mere law enforcement matter places our country at risk,'' Palin said. "We are at war..... To win that war, we need a commander-in-chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.''

President Barack Obama devoted just 9 percent of his State of the Union address to foreign policy, Palin said tonight.

Which paved the way for some bumper-stickers:

"We need a foreign policy that distinguishes America's friends from her enemies,'' she said. "We're so tired of hearing the talk, talk, talk,'' she said. "It's time for some tough actions, like sanctions on Iran.''

"Foreign policy can't be managed through the politics of personality,'' Palin said. "The problems that we face in the real world require real solutions.... ''

by Peter Nicholas

Attempting to rouse a party shaken by electoral setbacks, President Barack Obama told fellow Democrats today that he would press ahead with his healthcare proposal and other pieces of his ambitious agenda, rejecting suggestions that a more cautious approach might minimize losses in the upcoming midterm elections.

Obama, who left the White House during an epic blizzard, sought to rally Democratic National Committee members in a speech that was part pep talk and part prescription for what the party must do to overcome problems culminating in the loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Democratic icon, Edward M. Kennedy.

Trimming goals and postponing hard choices is the wrong approach, the president said.

In an emotional high-point of his 20-minute address, Obama conceded that the public wonders if elected officials can overcome the immense power of lobbyists and special interests and "confront the real problems that touch their lives.''

He said: "So just in case there's any confusion out there, let me be clear. I am not going to walk away from health insurance reform. I'm not going to walk away from the American people. I'm not going to walk away from this challenge. I'm not going to walk away from any challenge. We're moving forward.''

His voice rising, he added: "We are moving forward!''

(President Barack Obama is pictured above at the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting in Washington today. Pool photo by Brendan Hoffman.)

by Mark Silva and updated

Buried by a blizzard that has left hundreds of thousands of homes in the snow-blanketed Washington area without electrical power today, the nation's capital crawled to a near standstill.

President Barack Obama, whose motorcade of SUVs was able to navigate a snow-bound three blocks from the White House to a hotel ballroom winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee, officially embraced the shorthand for the mid-Atlantic storm that has shuttered the capital: "Snowmageddon.''

The president praised his party's delegates for braving the blizzard. DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, whose state of Virginia had declared a state of emergency before the snow even started, called the day "like an April day in Chicago'' - Obama's hometown.

On a more serious note, the president pledged to continue his fight for health-care reform and drew a standing ovation when he voiced his commitment to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'' the policy that prevents gays from openly serving in the military.

"Let me be clear: I am not going to walk away from health reform," Obama told his audience. "We can't return to the dereliction of duty. "America can't afford to wait, and we can't look backward."

But outside, pedestrians who braved a continuing pounding of wet snow outnumbered motor vehicles in the capital's streets.

As much as 30 inches of snow, which would set a new modern-day record, was predicted for Washington, with a blizzard warning in effect until 10 pm EST today. Parts of Maryland and West Virginia already were buried under more than 20 inches, with forecasters measuring a snowfall of two inches per hour this morning.

With the region's airports closed, hundreds of flights were cancelled. And downed trees and power lines were contributing to power outages for hundreds of thousands of homes in the region.

Tonight's game in downtown Washington between the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks was cancelled.

On 16th Street NW, a vital north-south artery that spans much of the District of Columbia, people outnumbered cars by four to one today. With sidewalks impassible, people walked up and down the middle of the street. The cars that attempted to make it up and down a large hill that rises along Meridian Hill Park in Adams Morgan largely were four-wheel drives. No buses were running. Plows struggled.

In their place, snowboarders and even skiers plied the hill.

The snow appeared to be over two feet, with drifts piled as high as four. And as of late morning, it was still dropping relentlessly, swirling amid bursts of wind. Visibility was a limited to a few blocks. And a new concern was developing: underneath the snow, a layer of ice.

"D.C. traditionally panics when it comes to snow. This time, it may be more justifiable than most times," said Becky Shipp, who was out power-walking in Arlington, Va., on Friday. "I am trying to get a walk in before I am stuck with just the exercise machine in my condo."

by Kathleen Hennessey

NASHVILLE -- The second day of the National Tea Party Convention kicked off with speakers taking aim at the mainstream media.

Two morning speakers, media entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart and Tea Party Express' Amy Kremer, dismissed and disparaged reporters as contemptuous of the American people and unnecessary to their conservative cause's success.

The comments prompted cheers from the crowd assembled at the Opryland resort hotel, the cheers quickly mixing with howls and taunts at the riser full of reporters in the back of the room.

"Bye, bye!" a man waved to the media.

"Go Home!" another shouted.

Breitbart is behind BigGovernment.com, the Website that posted the undercover ACORN videos of guerilla journalist James O'Keefe.

O'Keefe, 25, and three others were arrested after some in the crew posed as telephone repairmen and attempted to tamper with the phones at U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in New Orleans. Breitbart told the crowd he wasn't involved in the botched caper but heard from O'Keefe shortly afterward.

O'Keefe told him that he had been denied an attorney after his arrest, Breitbart said, and then joked that O'Keefe would have been allowed to see a lawyer if he were a terrorist.

"Huh, why didn't you just strap explosives on ..." Breitbart said, as his comments were drowned out by cheers.

After the speech, one of the men arrested with O'Keefe said he too was denied a lawyer. Joseph Basel, who was attending the conference as a member of the press, did not comment further.

In his speech, Brietbart skewed the mainstream media as uninterested in stories that don't advance a leftist agenda. He said reporters put all news involving conservatives into two categories: "racism and Watergate." He urged the group of small government activists to take inspiration from O'Keefe.

"I'm trying to tell you, wink, you can do it, too. You have cameras! You have ingenuity!" he said.

Kremer also told the crowd to use the social networking sites that allow them to communicate and share information outside mainstream meda.

"We don't need them," she said.

by Mark Silva

With more than a foot of wet snow on the ground in Washington and snow falling throughout the day, it would seem that the White House's mission was possible:

Moving the president about three blocks from the White House to the Capitol Hilton for an address to the assembled members of the Democratic National Committee.

But even this was not without incident in a city that has, as predicted, been crippled by snow today -- a couple of hundred thousand homes in the Washington area are without power this morning, it is reported, and people are attempting to dig out from the first onslaught of a storm set to double up on what's already on the ground.

"If you guys will sit still in this blizzard for 2 or 3 minutes, we'll be good to go," a Secret Service agent told reporters waiting to board the presidential motorcade from the White House to the Hilton, with SUVs lined up on the drive of the South Lawn.

There had been a fender-bender. A black ambulance lost its grip on the ground and slid into one of the press SUVs. It was minor.

On to the Hilton, through a pool-reported 15 inches and falling.

Many of our colleagues are without power today, but the Swamp still has juice, so come back during the day for updates on the DNC, the snow and more -- including that TEA Party convention underway in Nashville.

(Above, at top: The Lincoln Memorial is seen in the background as a couple walk in the falling snow by the Korean War Memorial. (Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / AP.) Swamp author tackles first 16 inches in Alexandria, Va., prepares for next round. (Photo by Nina Sichel.) And the view of the National Mall, along the reflecting pond looking toward the East, with that beautiful view of the Washington Monument and Capitol beyond -- er, no. (Photo by Alex Brandon / AP)

by Kathleen Hennessey

NASHVILLE -- If the National Tea Party Convention hoped to keep its focus on political organizing and its message on limited government, it has had little success so far.

Capping the first full day of the meeting, right-wing instigator Joseph Farah spent much of his dinner speech questioning whether President Obama was born in Hawaii and casting doubt on whether the president was legitimately elected.

"The media, the politicians ... all say, no, it's all been settled. I say, if it's been settled show us the birth certificate. Simple," Farah's said, as his remarks were cheered by the roughly 600 activists gathered in Nashville for the event.

Farah runs WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative tabloid, book publisher and tireless critic of the administration. He dismissed those who say he is obsessed with the birth certificate issue saying, "I admit it, I'm obsessed with the Constitution."

Farah said he believed establishing lineage was important for leaders, using Jesus' genealogical ties to King David as an example. Obama has produced his official Hawaii birth certificate (see the state-certified copy below), though those associated with the "birther" movement claim they want to see a copy of the original document issued.

Farah's comments followed remarks from former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo on Thursday night in which Tancredo called Obama a "committed socialist ideologue."

Farah went on to urge tea party activists to think beyond winning congressional elections in November and "take over not only the political institutions, but the cultural institutions, like the press, the entertainment industry, the universities, and yes the churches."

"Are you ready to engage in a cultural war after we take back Congress?"

"Yes!" the crowd yelled back.

(Bill Bruss of Winfield, Ill., is pictured giving away plastic bags in the vendor area at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville on Friday. Photo by Associated Press.)