WEEK IN REVIEW: FEB 9-13

In his third full week as president, it seemed as though all Barack Obama's attention was focused on the worsening economic crisis. 37 million viewers tuned into his first primetime press conference where he hoped to drive his message home. It was more exciting than most of his previous appearances as president, but the bar was set pretty low.

There were several other television appearances throughout the week. He smiled for cameras from Indiana to Florida as he sought to reiterate his resolve to the American people. (He also traveled to Illinois to address the workers who help maintain the brutal occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank.)

Fortunately for Obama, his people run Congress - it mattered not that every Republican in the House of Representatives voted against the bill. Things in the Senate were a little more interesting... the vote was held open for over five hours as a handful of staffers waited for Senator Brown to return from his mother's wake to seal the deal.

Understandably, a big deal was made of Lincoln's bicentennial. Obama took to the cameras again and delivered another one of his speeches.

The biggest hit he took came from Republican Senator Judd Gregg who withdrew from consideration for Secretary of Commerce, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with Obama and his polices. Although Bill Richardson stepped away because of a scandal, Gregg left for political reasons further damaging the president's efforts at bi-partisanship. Even if he is planning to exit on a high note, the significance of Gregg's withdrawal should not be underestimated - it served as a rallying point for Republicans and fiscal conservatives of all stripes.

Not much happened on the foreign policy front... The White House must have watched the outcome of the Israeli elections with apprehension... Richard Holbrooke traveled around Afghanistan where he was greeted by a series of suicide bombings... Pakistan also remained in the adminstration's crosshairs... Later in the week, rumors emerged of potential Russian cooperation on the much disputed missile defense shield...

On the national security front, the adminstration began a sweeping cybersecurity review. True to form, the Democrats are getting their hands dirty in all facets of government... I'm not hopeful about this stimulus, especially considering the money needed to pay for it is not available. Either Obama and the nation will emerge victorious when it's all said and done, or his party will screw things up so badly that voters will turn to their other alternative which is equally bad.

We need real change we can believe in...