Before we begin, I'd like to offer up an apology to Tiger Woods. Last week, I pointed out the hilarity of Woods being a paid spokesman for Gatorade (since their slogan is: "Is It In You?"). This week, Gatorade announced it will be dropping its Tiger Woods sports drink, since obviously the bigwigs at Gatorade are big fans of this column. Ahem. So for the lost income, Tiger, I am truly sorry. Really, I am. Times are tough all over, and I do apologize for your lost income, since you may now be forced to live hand-to-mouth on the mere billion dollars you have in the bank. To say nothing of what divorce will do to your bottom line.

OK, sarcasm (and crocodile tears) aside, let's quickly move on to politics. The past week in Washington has seen somewhat of a frenzy of activity. So many things are getting done (or at least getting talked about) that it's almost impossible to keep track of everything. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your point of view, of course.

Part of this frenzy is the normal end-of-the year rush in Congress to actually do what they should have been doing all year long -- passing some bills. This happens every year around this time, as the Congresscritters scurry about in a spasm of legislation, so they can take another few weeks off before next year's session begins. "Taking a few weeks off" is the one thing that Congress truly excels at, of course -- evidenced by their stunningly generous vacation schedule all year long. They politely call these vacations "district work periods," which fools absolutely nobody. But, after taking more time off than George W. Bush ever did, Congress always finds itself at the end of the year with a whole stack of things they have failed to accomplish. Which results in a frenzy of things getting passed, or at least debated.

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[Below is the transcript of the speech President Obama's gave accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. It is an interesting speech, and not exactly the normal remarks given by past recipients. Obama notes the irony of accepting an award for peace just after announcing he will escalate a war. But rather than comment upon Obama's words, we thought it would be better to just present an unedited transcript for you to read today.]

-- Chris Weigant

A Just and Lasting Peace
by Barack Obama
Oslo, Norway 12/10/09

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

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News broke last night that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has what he thinks is a viable compromise piece of healthcare reform legislation, which he thinks could garner the 60 votes he needs to pass the Senate. Unfortunately, details of this compromise have not been officially announced, and Harry is waiting to get numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (C.B.O.) before releasing the text. So, while an accurate assessment of the bill is impossible at this point (since it's like trying to nail smoke to a wall), we can at least begin to look at what is taking shape, based solely on the rumors and leaks in the press so far.

The big headline is, of course, "public option scrapped." But, strangely enough, this hasn't caused the outcry one would have expected among progressive Democrats. In fact, Dr. Howard Dean has openly supported the compromise, calling it "real reform." Which is no real surprise, since it has been reported that Dean was the one to propose the new tradeoff -- which, if true, would tend to automatically make Dean a supporter of his own idea.

So let's attempt to take as good a look as possible at the smoky, smoky details which are emerging from the perpetual metaphysical fog on Capitol Hill.

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Over the next few weeks here at ChrisWeigant.com, we will be going through a period of upgrades and system maintenance. This (hopefully) will not require a major redesign of the site layout, so after we're done you should see a site very similar to what you are looking at now. We will try our best to keep disruptions and interruptions to a minimum, and will strive to deliver our regular daily columns (except on the weekends, of course). However, to kick off this season of uncertainty here, today's column will, regrettably, be posted much later than normal.

If you have been experiencing any problems with the site in the past, or if you have suggestions for improvements in general, please use the Email Chris page to let us know. And if you experience any problems during the upgrade period, please also do not hesitate to let us know about it. Any major disruptions in service will (hopefully) be preceded by a Program Note similar to this one, to warn our readers what to expect.

Thank you, as always, for your patience and understanding.

-- Chris Weigant

As 2009 draws to a close, the politically wonky among us begin to turn our eyes towards the 2010 election landscape. Congressional midterm elections will be taking place less than a year from now, meaning (while some might consider it laughably premature) it is time to pay some attention to the upcoming races.

But as I sat down to write about this very subject, I found that fellow Huffington Post blogger Dylan Loewe had already done a stellar job with the subject. So, rather than taking the angle Loewe has already excellently explored, I will instead merely excerpt his seven pieces of advice for Democrats who are worried about the upcoming midterms. These are just the titles of his seven tactics, I should point out -- Loewe further explains each one, in detail. I highly recommend reading his article in full to see exactly what he's talking about, because all of them are worth the attention of anyone concerned with Democrats' chances next year..

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Before we get to all of that boring political stuff, we tune in to what the mainstream media has decided is the official Thing Everyone Should Be Talking About This Week. I refer, of course, to Tiger Woods. Woods, as we all know by now, had an altercation recently involving, in whatever mix you choose to believe: (1) an SUV, (2) a fire hydrant, (3) a tree, (4) his own driveway, (5) a golf club (how perfectly apropos!), and (6) his wife. Of course, there may have been a (7) or even (8) involved as well ("The Other Women"), but they were indirect players, at best, in the actual altercation.

To which I would like to throw my own wackadoodle conspiracy theory into the midst, since we're all having such fun obsessing over the incident. Consider, for a moment, two of Tiger's major sponsors: Nike and Gatorade. Why would I bring these up, you wonder? Because I think Tiger's under a subtle form of mind control, which may have caused him to consider extramarital hanky-panky as a good idea. Allow me to present two facts to support my tinfoil-hat thinking.

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At first glance, it seems like nobody's happy with President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, announced Tuesday night before an audience of West Point cadets. Voices from the left and right (for different reasons, of course) are decrying the president's decision as not what they wanted to hear. Hard-liners are attempting to score political points, from both sides of the aisle. But when you strip away the heated rhetoric, what remains? To me, the core question becomes: "Is Obama's new policy a good thing or a bad thing, and does it have a chance of working?" OK, that's really two questions. And, for now, I think the answer to both is: "Maybe." Maybe, and then again, maybe not.

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November wasn't a particularly good month for President Obama in the polls. Not disastrous by any means, but not very cheerful either. Obama laid relatively low in the public eye last month, wanting to be seen (one assumes) as conferring seriously with his advisors over his new Afghanistan strategy. Which, unfortunately, translated into "not wanting to be seen" by the public.

But, by doing so, his approval numbers continued their gradual slide downwards this month. And, although not reflected in our once-a-month snapshot, the truly worrisome thing for the White House is that for the first time, Obama's numbers flirted with going below 50 percent. This isn't an enormous deal (as, for instance, going below 40 percent would be), but it is still a big red flag to politicians, because it means you don't have the job approval of over half of the public.

So we begin today by taking a look at all of this and what it means, followed by our continuing march backwards through previous presidents (to see how their numbers line up with Obama's). This month, we take a look at Jimmy Carter's term in office.

Updated charts of how Obama compares to G.W. Bush, Clinton, G.H.W. Bush, and Reagan are available (as always) at the ObamaPollWatch.com site.

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I know I'm supposed to be writing about Afghanistan today, in advance of President Obama's speech tonight, but I am still waiting to hear what the man has to say before analyzing it, so you'll just have to join me as I wait and see.

Instead, I would like to note a curious reversal in "the other war." For seven years (not counting the first one, of course), Afghanistan has been labeled the "other war" or even the "forgotten war." The media flocked into Iraq when we invaded, covered the story's arc as it went from gung-ho to miserable, all the while largely ignoring Afghanistan. Who can really blame them? President Bush was obsessed with Iraq, and Afghanistan was seen (rightly or wrongly) as a problem which had already been solved. Of course, now we know different, what with the Senate placing the blame for allowing Osama Bin Laden to escape at Tora Bora squarely at the feet of Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration's entire rush to get into Iraq. But ever since the Iraq invasion, Afghanistan has been a mere afterthought, in the media's eyes, in the public's awareness, and in the White House as well.

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The White House has always been a magnet for all kinds of lunatics, so it's not surprising that a pair of wannabe reality show stars attempted to crash a party last week. What surprised everyone, of course, is that they got in. This shocked the media and politicians alike, because together they compromise the "inside the Beltway" set -- who become more than a little bit afraid when the "common folk" intrude on their shindigs. Hence the widespread and breathless coverage of this story for nigh on a week now. But, I repeat, the White House has always been a giant magnet for lunatics and other invaders throughout America's history.

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