CNN

President Obama hosts Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a state visit Tuesday at the White House.

Fareed Zakaria | BIO
CNN Anchor, “Fareed Zakaria – GPS”

Barack Obama has been criticized for kowtowing to the Chinese and the Russians over the last few months. But so far, this is all about atmospherics. The administration has not made any unilateral concession of substance to either country. It is taking a strategic view that developing strong relationships with both countries, particularly China, will yield long-term benefits. Strangely, however, that strategic focus has been lost in dealing with Asia's other rising giant, India.

At one level the administration is being extremely friendly. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes to Washington this week for the first official state visit of the Obama presidency. There will be toasts and celebrations and many nice words said in public about the ties between the two great democracies. But underneath this lies an unease about the state of the relationship.

Indian officials worry that the Obama team does not have the same fundamental orientation as the Bush administration regarding India's role in the 21st century. Some Obama officials publicly criticized the nuclear deal championed by George W. Bush, a deal that the Indians regard as basic recognition of their status as a major power. They worry that a Democratic administration could succumb to protectionism. They worry that it is too cozy with China.

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Gloria Borger
CNN Senior Political Analyst

The fashionable critique of President Obama is that we don't really know who he is yet: That somehow, the eloquent and often-inspiring candidate of the campaign has yet to morph into anything resembling a memorable - much less transformational - president.

And so the polls are a muddle. The public still likes him well enough, but they aren't so sure about his policies. In other words, they are fine with this cerebral man as president, but still can't tell if his beliefs will eventually make them change their minds. They're on the fence.

Well, get ready to jump.

If there's a tipping point early on in every presidency, this is it. Obama is reaching the end of his first year - and a point where his decisions may well require him to stand up against not only his adversaries, but also his friends.

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Matthew Continetti
Special to CNN

Sarah Palin appears on Oprah on Monday to mark the launch of her book, "Going Rogue." She'll follow up with an extensive interview with Barbara Walters, a multicity book tour and appearances on the Fox News Channel and talk radio.

She'll grab plenty of headlines. As you read about Palin's old-media tour, it's important to remember that she's also a pioneer in the political use of new social media. Not that she gets any credit.

Sometimes the most important revolutions are the quiet ones. This is especially true in the case of technology, which has a way of sneaking up on us.

Take cell phones, for example. A decade ago, they were a luxury item. Suddenly, everyone seemed to have one. What had once been a sign of status became commonplace, all with hardly anybody noticing - and without any central direction.

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CNN Senior Political Contributor Ed Rollins

Ed Rollins
CNN Senior Political Contributor

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed the 11th day of the month as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.

It was the first anniversary of the end of the "Great War" and it was hoped we would never go into battle again. Unfortunately that is not how history turned out. The "Great War" became known as World War I. Many conflicts followed. Many more Americans went to war and many gave up their lives.

November 11 was renamed to honor our veterans in 1954 by one of America's greatest military leaders, 34th President Dwight David Eisenhower.

How strange that on the very eve of this day, President Obama was addressing a memorial service for the slain soldiers of last week's massacre at Fort Hood before the thousands of men and women who served with them on the Army's largest military base.

The president is the commander in chief and the task of sending young men and women into combat is the most serious duty he bears. As he ponders the decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, he saw the men and women of our Army up close. These are the soldiers who will be part of whatever decision he makes. And they are fabulous soldiers ready for whatever duty he requests of them.

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President Obama made an unannounced visit to the Dover Air Force Base late last month to honor 18 Americans killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.

CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll

Americans are split over whether President Barack Obama is taking too long to make a decision on whether to send more U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan, according to a new national poll.

But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey also indicates that by a narrow margin, Americans think that in making his decision, the president should listen to the recommendations of the generals in charge of U.S. troops in Afghanistan rather than taking other matters into account as well.

The poll's Wednesday morning release comes just hours before the president is scheduled to hold another meeting with his national security advisers to discuss policy in Afghanistan.

Go here to see the full results of the poll.

Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondent

Valerie Jarrett does not like to talk about herself.

I know this because we've sat down on numerous occasions for interviews, going back to the early days of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But this one was perhaps the most challenging because the focus was on her.

She is fiercely loyal to Obama, as one of his closest friends. But she also advises him as president, with the title of Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison.

The ultimate insider does not spill the beans. But doing a series on the power players inside the White House would not be complete without looking at Jarrett's role.

She has called her relationship with the president a "mind meld."

"We're good friends who have known each other for a long time," Jarrett says. "Eighteen years, you get a pretty good sense of him."

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Denver, Colorado, hosted the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Kevin Bohn and Jessica Yellin
CNN

The western United States, with its independent streak and growing population, is the terrain both political parties are hoping to mine for electoral gains in the coming years.

With Denver hosting the 2008 Democratic Convention and a more concentrated effort in the region, the Obama campaign was able to capture Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada in last year's presidential election. Some Democrats hoped those results foretold a transformation, but a year later, political experts are saying not so fast.

The West gives President Obama his lowest approval ratings, and the Democratic Party has a 45 percent approval rating in the area - the only region in the country in which it gets under 50 percent, according to an October 16-18 CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.

"It's not as though people are lining up at the Republican Party headquarters. It's just that the bloom is off," said William Chaloupka, a long-time observer of Western politics and a professor at Colorado State University.

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Barack Obama was riding high on November 5, 2008. What signals will the 2009 elections send him?

John King
CNN Chief National Correspondent

This is a week that, in more ways than one, will bring lessons of how much has changed since President Obama's historic election victory one year ago.

In Washington, key tests remain for Democratic health care plans in the House and Senate. This week will also give us a better sense of just how detailed Republicans are willing to be in offering an alternative plan.

From the government and Wall Street, fresh earnings and other data will test this cautiously optimistic assessment from Vice President Biden: "I'm confident we have hit bottom."

And Election Day 2009 will be compared with Election Day 2008. Democrats have had the upper hand in New Jersey and Virginia in recent years. In gubernatorial and other elections, Republicans see a chance to make a statement about their party and perhaps about the president's standing as well.

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President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dancing their way at one of the 10 official inaugural balls

Jodi Kantor
New York Times

Another Washington dusk, another motorcade, another intimate evening played out in public view. On Oct. 3, just a day after their failed Olympics bid in Copenhagen, Barack and Michelle Obama slipped into a Georgetown restaurant for one of their now-familiar date nights: this time, to toast their 17th wedding anniversary. As with their previous outings, even the dark photographs taken by passers-by and posted on the Web looked glamorous: the president tieless, in a suit; the first lady in a backless sheath.

The Obama date-night tradition stretches back to the days when the president spent half his time in Springfield, Ill., reuniting at week’s close with his wife, who kept a regular Friday manicure and hair appointment for the occasion. But five days before he ventured out for his anniversary dinner, the president lamented what has happened to his nights out with his wife.

“I would say the one time during our stay here in the White House so far that has. . . .” He paused so long in choosing his words that Michelle Obama, sitting alongside him, prompted him. “Has what?”

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Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

David Plouffe
For Time

In a new memoir, The Audacity to Win, David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama's 2008 race for the White House, provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse inside the campaign. Here's an excerpt:

Agony. Ecstasy.

The [Rev. Jeremiah] Wright story broke on a Wednesday and exploded across the media landscape the next day. We decided Obama had to take questions about [his former pastor's inflammatory sermons] head-on on Friday, in a series of lengthy national cable interviews.

There was one not-so-minor complication. He was already scheduled to do editorial boards that Friday afternoon with both Chicago papers about [real estate developer and political fundraiser] Tony Rezko, two hours each, no holds barred. Given no choice but to address Wright as soon as possible, we decided we would do a round of TV interviews on him directly after the Rezko boards. It shaped into quite a day, like having your legs amputated in the morning and your arms at night. The question was whether we would still have a heartbeat at the end of the day.

It was chaos and, quite frankly, frightening. I felt as if the wheels could easily spin off our whole venture. Still, Obama was the pillar of reassurance. "Don't worry, guys," he told us while making some notes on a stack of pages. "I can do more than one thing at a time. We are taking the trash out today. It won't be fun, but we'll be stronger for it."

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U.S. troops on patrol in Paktika Province, Afghanistan

Ed Hornick
CNN

While President Obama's war council deliberates its strategy toward Afghanistan, the ghost of Vietnam is often invoked as a warning.

Afghanistan, U.S. and coalition forces have been fighting in Afghanistan for eight years and until recently the war had been overshadowed by the one in Iraq. In March, Afghanistan will become America's longest war, surpassing the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War, which cost 58,000 American lives, is the one most often invoked when U.S. troops are committed overseas.

While some say Afghanistan is "Obama's Vietnam," experts say there are several major similarities and differences between the two wars.

Eric Margolis, a veteran journalist and former Army soldier who served during the Vietnam War, said the biggest problem the United States is facing now - as in Vietnam - is fighting the mostly poor, rural insurgents who live among Afghans.

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Kate Bolduan | BIO
CNN

President Obama won 53 percent of the vote last November.

Joy Behar
HLN

In the schoolyard of American politics, President Obama is the big, smart kid with all of the test answers who's being bullied by a bunch of Neanderthal ankle-biters from all sides.

Meanwhile, all the teachers are wondering, "Why does he take this crap? He's bigger and smarter than all the other kids."

It's no surprise the Glenn Becks of the world have been attacking Obama since the moment he stepped into the Oval Office. Beck and his blathering buddies on the right - you know, the stinky kids in the coatroom who eat their own boogers. Always pick on the kids least likely to fight back.

That being said - we did elect President Obama to change things, and so far the only thing he seems to be changing are his faux-patriotic lapel pins ... and his mind

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Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

President Obama and his national security team meet in the White House Situation Room.

Ed Henry
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

There's an air of mystery hanging over President Obama's war council, which meets in secrecy yet again this week to discuss a new strategy for Afghanistan in the highly secure White House Situation Room.

But senior officials closely involved in the decision-making process reveal that the president and his team are grappling with one particularly urgent question: Will Gen. Stanley McChrystal's push for 40,000 more U.S. troops really secure Afghanistan?

McChrystal, who has been joining the president's war council by secure videophone, framed this debate weeks ago by writing in his now-famous memo that failing to send that many troops could result in the mission failing. But some of Obama's other top advisers are privately expressing heavy skepticism that sending 40,000 troops will result in a successful Iraq-style surge.

"Afghanistan is not Iraq," one senior administration official said. "To say that we can take what we did in Iraq and Xerox it and send it to Afghanistan is obtuse."

A second administration official confirmed this viewpoint has real currency inside Obama's war council.

"With 40,000 more troops, you cannot do an Iraq-style surge," this official said. "It's totally different than Iraq. The strategy is not easily transferable - there are unique challenges in Afghanistan."

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A U.S. miliary guard stands inside the Camp V area at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Michael V. Hayden
Special to CNN

I know that the story has moved on, that the outline of the journalistic narrative has been set, and that the "first draft" of history has been just about finalized. Before the ink dries though, I would like to offer at least a footnote.

And this footnote has to do with President Obama's decision in April to release opinions drafted by the Department of Justice that detailed the CIA's interrogation program for high-value al Qaeda detainees.

Specifically, it has to do with the argument made publicly and privately by the administration that its hand was being forced by a pending decision in a Freedom of Information Act case by the American Civil Liberties Union before Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York.

Indeed, when Obama visited the CIA the Monday after the release of the documents, he specifically cited this argument in his remarks to the work force.

He said that he released "... the Justice Department Office of Legal Council (OLC) memos as a consequence of a court case that was pending and to which it was very difficult for us to mount an effective legal defense. ..."

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WH Communications Director Anita Dunn tells CNN's Howard Kurtz that Fox News Network is basically an arm of the GOP.

Martina Stewart
CNN Associate Producer

Far from backing away from its recent slam at 24-hours cable news outlet Fox News, the White House is stepping up its criticism of the cable news network.

“The reality of it is that Fox often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party,” White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

Dunn said that Obama had recently chosen not to appear on Fox because of the administration’s belief that Fox is ideologically predisposed against Obama and his agenda.

But Dunn pointed out that during his presidential campaign and since being elected, Obama has been interviewed by Fox News, and will be again in the future.

“He’ll go on Fox because he engages with ideological opponents,” Dunn told CNN’s Howard Kurtz. “He has done that before and he’ll do it again.”

Click here to keep reading and view the clip...

Earnings and consumer confidence reports will affect markets and indicate whether the economy is rebounding.

John King
CNN Chief National Correspondent
Anchor, State of the Union

For a sense of the economy, it is a good week to track the earnings reports from Wall Street. And for the two biggest issues confronting the Obama White House - Afghanistan and health care - keep your eyes on Washington.

It was the collapse of the financial sector that played the biggest role in the economic turmoil of 2008, and several earnings reports in that sector this week are sure to influence both financial markets and the political debates over bailouts and bonuses. JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America are scheduled to report their earnings.

Consumer spending is another economic engine, and if there is early evidence of a rebound, the earnings from Johnson & Johnson and General Electric might provide clues, just as the numbers from Google and Intel will give a sense of the tech sector.

Washington celebrates Columbus Day on Monday, so the political week begins in earnest on Tuesday. The Senate Finance Committee likely will dominate the day as it votes on a 10-year, $829 billion health care plan.

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