When Obamatons Respond  —  On Tuesday, I wrote that the Obama budget is a liberal, big government document that should make moderates nervous.  The column generated a large positive response from moderate Obama supporters who are anxious about where the administration is headed.

651,000 Jobs Reported Lost in February  —  Another 651,000 jobs were lost in February, adding to the millions of people who have been thrown out of work as the economic downturn deepens.  —  In a stark measure of the recession's toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday …

GOP Fights Back Over Criticism of Limbaugh  —  White House Is Accused Of Cynicism, Hypocrisy  —  By one measure, Rush Limbaugh is a clear winner this week: His ratings have nearly doubled since his feud with the White House burst into the media limelight.  —  But the Obama administration's strategy …

The Big Dither  —  Last month, in his big speech to Congress, President Obama argued for bold steps to fix America's dysfunctional banks.  “While the cost of action will be great,” he declared, “I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy …

Omnibus still one vote short  —  Short by one vote, Senate Democrats abruptly pulled back Thursday night from completing action on a giant omnibus spending bill—forcing leaders to scramble to pass a stopgap measure to keep the government funded through next Tuesday.

Undisclosed Losses at Merrill Lynch Lead to a Trading Inquiry  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One Merrill Lynch trader apparently gambled away more than $120 million in the currency markets.  Others seemingly lost hundreds of millions on tricky credit derivatives.  —  But somehow all this red ink …

CNN's Gupta Decides Against Surgeon General Position, Cites ‘Timing’  —  Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said last night that he will not leave his television career to become the U.S. surgeon general and urged whoever gets the job to raise its profile as the nation grapples with how to reform health care.

Never waste a good crisis, Clinton says on climate  —  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience on Friday “never waste a good crisis,” as she highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy intensive model.

Bank Charges May Surge as Mortgages Marked to Market  —  Patricia Greenberg's townhouse in Irvine, California, was losing about $10,000 a month in value when she received a letter in February 2008 that looked too good to be true: An investor was offering to cut her $472,000 mortgage by 26 percent and her monthly payment by a third.

The Great Non Sequitur  —  The Sleight of Hand Behind Obama's Agenda  —  Forget the pork.  Forget the waste.  Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks.  Forget the “2 trillion dollars in savings” that “we have already identified …

A Heated Exchange: Al Gore Confronts His Critic(s)  —  The Goreacle has spoken-again.  —  Former Vice President Al Gore repeated his message that climate change is a planetary emergency at the WSJ's Eco:nomics conference in California.  The Nobel-prize winner declined to take any questions from reporters …

Barack Obama bets the farm in $4 trillion poker game  —  The President believes he can change US politics for a generation.  If he's wrong he could bankrupt the whole country  —  One of the most seductive elements of Barack Obama's ascent to the White House was his unshakeable conviction …

Corporate America's Icons Crumbling Under Global Recession  —  The truisms have been familiar to generations of Americans: As General Motors goes, so goes the nation; Citigroup is too big to fail; General Electric, one of the 12 original companies in the Dow Jones industrial average in 1896, brings good things to life.

Republicans Look for a Reliever in Kentucky  —  WASHINGTON — One of the entrenched narratives in American politics is the case of the guy who refuses to quit, even though a lot of people on his own team want him gone.  —  While the Democrats are preoccupied with Senator Roland W. Burris …

DLC on brink of a major shake-up  —  The Democratic Leadership Council — a group of centrists that dominated politics during the Clinton presidency but is laboring to remain relevant in the Obama era — is on the brink of a major shake-up.  —  Al From, the DLC's founder and leader since …

POOR LITTLE RICH BOY.  Tigerhawk's anger at the proposed tax hike on people making more than $250,000 a year results in a remarkable video, in which he complains with frightening, quiet intensity that he and his rich friends “have worked harder and longer in their entire careers than most Americans understand and can even conceive.”

Rev. Wright Cautions: Obama 'Ain't Jesus'  —  President's longtime minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, says his former congregant is just like any other president and that he “ain't gonna improve your child's reading score.”  —  SELMA, Ala. — President Barack Obama's longtime minister …

Spitzer Is Back in D.C. — in Real Estate  —  Eliot Spitzer is returning to Washington, D.C., but this time as an investor in the commercial real-estate market.  —  The former New York governor, who resigned in disgrace a year ago after getting caught patronizing a prostitute in a Washington hotel …

Fox News' Glenn Beck strikes ratings gold by challenging Barack Obama  —  His success comes as Fox News embraces the role of voice of opposition to the new administration.  —  Reporting from New York — Before Glenn Beck started his new show on Fox News in January, he sat down with Roger Ailes …

Makers Are Pushing Back on Toxic-Toy Law  —  Makers of children's products and charities that run second-hand shops are stuck with more than $1 billion of inventory they can't sell because of a new federal product-safety law, according to surveys by trade groups and the charities.

Top Treasury Candidates Pull Out  —  Nazareth, Atkinson Decline to Endure Vetting Process, Adding to Geithner's Strain  —  WASHINGTON — Two candidates for top jobs at the Treasury have withdrawn their names from consideration, complicating already troubled efforts by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner …