President Obama and Gen. Stanley McChrystal aboard Air Force One

Suzanne Malveaux and Mike Mount
CNN

President Obama is considering four scenarios to move forward in Afghanistan and is expected to discuss them at his eighth meeting with his war council on Wednesday afternoon, sources told CNN.

Though the options are not being spelled out, one is fairly well-defined.

That option, a senior administration official and U.S. military official independently confirmed, calls for sending about 34,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

A military official said the plan would send three Army brigades, totaling about 15,000 troops; a Marine brigade, about 8,000 troops; a headquarters element, about 7,000 troops; and 4,000 to 5,000 support troops.

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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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Ed Henry and Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondents

President Obama is tweaking his pivotal health care address to a Joint Session of Congress right up until the last minute, with top aides saying he's putting a heavy imprint on a speech in which he will finally lay specific details on the table for Congress to consider.

Top aides say the President worked on the speech late into Tuesday night in the White House residence and then brought yet another new draft down to the Oval Office on Wednesday morning for his staff to work through. Obama had taken a rough first draft of the speech to Camp David this past weekend and spent a lot of time re-working it, bringing back handwritten notes of what he wanted to say.

"The President hopes tonight to bring some clarity to the debate," said one senior administration official.

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Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondent

From some senior administration officials I spoke with this morning:

Obama will go to Senate Democrats’ Caucus and talk budget among many things-bank bailout, private-public partnership plan, G20, etc.

Obama will also go Monday to the House Democratic Caucus to sell his agenda. Secretary Geithner will speak before the Council on Foreign Relations in NYC this morning.

Suzanne Malveaux, White House Correspondent
Elise Labott, CNN State Department Producer

Two senior administration officials confirm that Daniel Fried will be named a special envoy to oversee the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Fried is currently assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs. The new job is intended to underscore the Administration’s seriousness in shutting down the facility. Fried is a veteran diplomat who worked under former President George W. Bush. His main job will be to negotiate transferring Guantanamo detainees to third countries, mainly in Europe.

Suzanne Malveaux
White House Correspondent

As auto giants General Motors and Chrysler face Tuesday's Feb. 17th deadline to submit plans to show the government how they can repay billions in federal loans, the White House is creating a Presidential Task Force on Autos to oversee the restructuring of the auto industry, a senior administration official said.

The task force will include members from the Departments of Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce, and Energy, the National Economic Council, the White House Office of Energy and Environment, the Council of Economic Advisers and the EPA, the official said.

It will be overseen by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and NEC Director Larry Summers.

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Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondent

Here are some key points on the Presidential Memorandum:

The President is taking action this week to bring greener, more efficient appliances to American consumers.

He will be signing a Presidential Memorandum requesting the Dept of Energy to finalize new rules to improve the efficiency of over 30 product categories – from dishwashers to ovens and air conditioning units. The PM also requests the DOE to give a high priority to developing new standards for other products that provide the most energy savings bang for the buck.

Appliance and equipment efficiency standards have been one of the most successful policies used to save energy.

This action will save American families money and result in significant energy savings over the next 30 years – - in fact enough energy savings to run all existing coal plants in the U.S. for two years. In addition, using less energy means lower greenhouse gas emissions so this action helps us tackle climate change as well.

These greener standards spur more investment in energy efficiency and pay for themselves many times over. It’s a win for consumers, a win for the economy and a win for the environment. “

Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondent

Here are the new restrictions on executive compensation:

"Under the new rules, companies that have already received Treasury investments will have to demonstrate to the American people that they have complied with the current set of restrictions and reforms on executive pay and lending requirements, and agree to strict monitoring and oversight going forward.

Going forward, companies receiving exceptional assistance from the Treasury will face even stricter rules—including no top executives will be paid more than $500,000 a year - any additional compensation will be in restricted stock that will not vest until taxpayers have been paid back.

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Obama was rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Suzanne Malveaux
White House Correspondent

The White House theater was packed, all 40 seats filled, so guests spilled out into the East Wing where big TVs were set up overlooking the First Lady’s Garden. The Super Bowl game blasted from the theater, but the party focused more on family.

Attendees say about 75 people showed up Sunday evening, including several dozen children from ages two on up.

Kids gathered around a Nintendo WII where Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent says his 8-year-old son Jack took on two sisters determined to win. No, not the two sister who live upstairs.

President Obama, wearing a casual button-downed shirt, walked from room to room serving his guests brownies, and oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. Michelle Obama worked the crowd too.

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Barack Obama is meeting with Republican lawmakers as he tries to get support for his stimulus package.

Suzanne Malveaux
CNN White House Correspondent

President Obama is hands-on in shaping the $825 billion economic stimulus package, urging his fellow Democrats to take out provisions he feels are unnecessary and controversial, according to a senior administration official.

An Obama aide said the President has personally called House Democratic leaders recently to urge them to remove a $200 million family planning provision that would have made it easier for states to use federal funds to provide contraception for poor families.

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