President Obama's Speech on the upcoming cuts to the Defense Dept. (VIDEO)

More of the Richard Cordray rollout (featuring guest star Barack Obama) (VIDEO)

And on Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell:

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Jonathan Chait: The Economy Might Save Obama After All

A wholehearted recommend. If you're an Obama fan, nothing will make you feel better than reading this.

Well, almost nothing.

Also, Andrew Sullivan highlighted this bit of the piece first:

Defeating an incumbent president, historically, seems to require either a major scandal, a failed war, or a terrible economy. We have a terrible economy. But the direction seems to matter more than the level — Ronald Reagan famously cruised to reelection with a high unemployment rate because the economy bounced back from the deep but quick 1982 recession. Mitt Romney has made the state of the economy his central theme against Obama. The entire premise of his campaign is that the economy is bad because Obama's economic program has failed.

If voters think the economy is improving, Romney has no ammunition left. That is still the smart play for Romney, because if the economy feels strong, he probably can't win anyway, so he needs to plan for the scenario that gives him a chance to win. A few months ago, that scenario was looking almost certain. Now it's looking far less likely.

Best...headline...ever. (Suck on this, Iran Edition)

Thanks to @symmetry11 on Twitter for catching this first.

Oh, and by the way, you're welcome Iran!:

U.S. Navy rescues Iranian hostages held by pirates

A member of the same U.S. aircraft carrier group that Iran has warned not to return to the Strait of Hormuz has rescued 13 Iranians held hostage by pirates in the Arabian Sea, the Pentagon said on Friday.

POTUS is going to make Romney spend money...in Arizona (VIDEO).

Released just before New Years...



You see what the interesting thing is about those maps?

Only one of them contains Ohio.

Now, that's not to say that the President isn't interested in carrying Ohio (he is), or that he's not going to win Ohio (what, you think Romney's going to win Ohio.  Child, please), but it's interesting so see that there are still paths victory without Ohio.

And more to the point, I think in the end, no matter who the nominee is, you're going to see the President win on a combination of these paths, just like Jim says in the video.

And on top of all that, the President is going to make Romney spend money...in Arizona.

Ooohh, it lookin' good...

Oh, and by the way, make sure you give money to the campaign. The more we have on hand, the better.

Why it was worth getting Cordary into his job, and getting him working... (VIDEO)

If you want to know why Mitt Romney would be a horrible President, look no further than Seamus...his Dog.

Great catch by Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere:

A Vanity Fair excerpt from "The Real Romney", a forthcoming book by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, contains an intriguing story about likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. It happened during a family road trip 28 and 1/2 years ago, when Romney was 36.

"The destination of this journey, in the summer of 1983, was [Romney's] parents' cottage, on the Canadian shores of Lake Huron. The white Chevy station wagon with the wood paneling was overstuffed with suitcases, supplies, and sons when Mitt climbed behind the wheel to begin the 12-hour family trek from Boston to Ontario.

"As with most ventures in his life, he had left little to chance, mapping out the route and planning each stop. Before beginning the drive, Mitt put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He had improvised a windshield for the carrier to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.

"Then Mitt put his sons on notice: there would be pre-determined stops for gas, and that was it. Tagg was commandeering the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, when he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. 'Dad!' he yelled. 'Gross!' A brown liquid was dripping down the rear window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

"As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Mitt coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the road with the dog still on the roof.

"It was a preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. But the story would trail him years later on the national political stage, where the name Seamus would become shorthand for Romney's coldly clinical approach to problem solving."

Problem solving...or problem creation.

Let us not forget that this little "crisis" was entirely of Mitt's own making.

Let us also not forget that this crisis of Mitt's making was because his belief in the superiority of his planning turned out to be bullshit. (Pun only partially intended).

And also let us not forget that after cleaning up the mess of his own creation, he went right back to doing what he'd done in the first place.

I think this story is highly illustrative of what kind of President he would be. Out of touch, non-responsively, not pliant, and tone deaf.

Fortunately, these very same qualities are going to sink him as a Candidate.

The President's somewhat confrontational speech in Cleveland, OH (and we LIKE the confrontation!) (VIDEO)

Oh, and while I remember, there's this, too:

It isn’t just Richard Cordray. Obama is also set to use recess appointments to install his picks to the National Labor Relations Board, according to White House officials and others familiar with ongoing discussions.

The move, which is arguably as important as the Cordray appointment, will ratchet up opposition from Republicans and make this an even bigger fight, since they have been attacking the NLRB regularly for its moves to streamline union elections and inform workers of their rights.

Obama is set to appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Griffin to the board — something unions have made a big priority for them in the new year. Senate Republicans have opposed the recess appointments to the NLRB on constitutional grounds, but unions charge that Republicans are only interested in rendering the agency inoperative.

Obama’s move, which will help energize unions in advance of the 2012 election, is yet another sign that he is determined to circumvent GOP opposition and make government functional again by any means necessary. It’s another sign that the White House and Dems have abandoned the illusion that anything can be done to secure bipartisan compromise with Republicans on the major items on Obama’s agenda.

And why is this important Talking Point Memo's Brian Beutler??

Republicans were threatening to block Obama’s NLRB nominees in a bid to extinguish the board’s power. So just as with Obama’s decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, this move does more than fill vacancies. It actually restores the power the agency was given under the law — power Republicans were hoping to strip without passing new legislation.

Who's going around the Constitution again.

"So I hear you think you know something about Iowa..." (VIDEO)

Made me laugh my ass off it was so good.