This column today celebrates a milestone -- triple digits on the odometer! That's right, as hard as it may seem to believe, this is the one hundredth volume of your weekly Friday Talking Points column. For a little over two years now, we've brought you our thoughts on "the week that was in politics," and for a little less time than that, we've announced our weekly winners of both the aforementioned MIDOTW as well as the ignominious Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week. And we wrap it all up with some practical, good old-fashioned, home-brewed Democratic spin, our Talking Points for the week ahead.

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The two prevailing views so far seem to be: "Good news for Republicans!" and, alternatively, "Good news for Democrats!" It is possible that neither are true, and yet neither entirely false. There was certainly some interesting news, but it's tough to read amongst all the spin.

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The day before I cast my vote for Barack Obama, I wrote a column titled "Barack Obama Is Smarter Than Us." By "us," I meant the legions of us lefty bloggers out here, who second-guessed his campaign on a daily basis for nigh on two years. I included myself in that "us" as well -- because, I fully admit, I got incredibly frustrated during Obama's campaign when he didn't do what I really, really wanted him to. Or didn't do it fast enough to suit me.

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[Program Note: I'm reproducing a press release today, instead of writing a column, so I hope you'll forgive my laziness. But while it is tempting to take the salient facts and quotes from the press release and make it appear as if I dug this story out on my own, I think it's more honest just to reprint the press release itself. Some might call it mere stenography, but I'd prefer my readers to draw their own conclusions. Having said all that, below is the press release from Populist Caucus Chair Bruce Braley's office, followed by the text of the letter they signed their names to (complete with a list of those who signed it).]

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So make of it what you will. Gibbs never even uttered the "V" word. But it's heartening to see the White House start to mildly threaten the use of the veto. This is an extraordinarily powerful arrow in the Executive's quiver, and one that they've been much too reluctant (in my opinion) to pull out. Now (extending this Robin-Hood-esque metaphor far further than I probably should), Gibbs didn't take the arrow out, nock it, and draw back his bow's string (much less aim it at anyone in particular). He merely reached over his shoulder, fingered the fletching of the veto arrow, and pulled it two inches out of the quiver -- before letting it drop back in.

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Crowd size means support for the issue being protested. A bigger crowd is supposed to translate into larger support in the general public. This is not always true, as sometimes the organization of busing people in to participate can only be called "Astroturf," because of the tactics and groups involved. This happens on the left and the right, I should add; as well as the forward, backward, up and down. It takes money to get hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of D.C. It virtually never happens spontaneously (I'm talking of rallies, demonstrations, and marches here -- not historic events such as President Obama's inauguration, which drew close to two million people, and was largely spontaneous). The organizers of protests usually put up quite a bit of money (in one way or another) to help get people to the protest. Even if they don't put up any money, they still have a vested interest in showing how successful their protest was. So organizers' claims are always suspect, because they are always exaggerated. Always.

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Perhaps President Obama thought his address to the nation's schoolchildren would generate a similar touching moment with parents across the country. But instead, it has become yet another target for his political opponents (as if they didn't already have enough fronts in this battle). Sadly, the event has become mired in manufactured controversy from the right, with typical sky-is-falling rhetoric about how the evil, evil man who occupies the Oval Office is going to brainwash all of our children into being either: (a) Marxists, (b) Socialists, (c) Obamamaniacs, or (d) all of the above. No matter that presidents have been doing this sort of heartwarming photo-oppery since the time of Kennedy (do some pushups, children!), and that Saint Ronald of Reagan actually used such an address to children to hawk his tax cuts. No, none of this matters, because... well, to tell you the truth, it's hard to figure what some of these people are thinking.

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I've always been confused why the media goes berserk about rating a president's "first 100 days," but then just stops counting after the first milestone. This, to a statistician, would be known as a "zero dimensional data array" -- one data point, to be exact. If you don't re-test the sample on a regular schedule, how are you supposed to compare it to anything?

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There's a relatively recent political metaphor that is about to become a reality, and become etched in the history books much like the ring left on a wooden table by a sweating cold glass. President Obama is about to become the ultimate president "you could sit down and have a beer with." What this means for the future of our great nation has yet to be determined, but it's worth a look as to how we got to this point.

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The 2008 election is finally over. Former Minnesota senator and incumbent Norm Coleman has officially conceded the race to Senator-Elect Al Franken, after the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously decreed that Franken was the winner. Two hundred and thirty-nine days after the election was held, it should be noted.

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