Politics News

President Barack Obama unveils a package designed to create jobs and bring down the country's 10 percent unemployment rate. The measure includes more money for infrastructure projects, tax cuts and credit access for small businesses. The nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession," he says.

As the Tea Party Movement prepares to host its first convention in February, a struggle is under way to heal internal rifts and clarify the sometimes disparate message of its many sub-groups. Some observers say that for the group to have a long-term impact, it needs to coalesce behind a single leader.

The Obama administration holds a meeting for federal employees about government openness -- and refuses to let the public attend. The meeting is an apt symbol of Obama's mixed record on transparency, which he has touted as a key issue. One transparency advocate suggests the president's earlier pledges were "smoke and mirrors."

A state lawmaker in Kansas tells the NAACP that he's sorry he offended anyone by criticizing President Barack Obama while wearing a cap calling opossum "the other dark meat." The scene is from his online video, "RedNeck Rap." He has reposted the video, along with comments on the controversy.

Senators are expected to focus on the sensitive issue of abortion in their continuing debate of the proposed health care overhaul. Anti-abortion legislators don't want any coverage of abortions in a government-run health care plan, while more liberal senators say the proposals go too far by restricting procedures even if patients paid premiums themselves.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says U.S. troops will likely stay in Afghanistan for two to four more years. He says the United States will bring the number of troops down steadily, similar to what officials have done in Iraq.