Clinton and Bill Clinton are set to have lunch Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Talk about a power lunch.

President Obama will meet for lunch Monday with former President Bill Clinton in New York City, the White House confirmed.

The two men are slated to meet after Obama gives a speech on the economy at Federal Hall in lower Manhattan.

Both attended a memorial service in New York City last week for Walter Cronkite.

(CNN) – His first love is basketball, but that won't stop President Barack Obama from throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at this year's Major League Baseball all-star game on July 14 in St. Louis.

A league statement posted Tuesday on the MLB.com Web site said Obama will be the fourth U.S. president to throw out the first pitch at the game known as the Midsummer Classic.

The others were President John F. Kennedy in 1962, President Richard Nixon in 1970, and President Gerald Ford in 1976, the statement said.

This year's all-star game, the league's 80th, has been dedicated to raising funds and awareness for charitable initiatives and celebrating community service, the league said.

Obama has made community service a major theme of his administration since taking office in January.

"We are thrilled that we can come together with President Obama, who has encouraged a renewed spirit of national service, and illustrate a call to action in our communities," Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said in the statement. "President Obama will continue a great tradition that joins our nation's leader and the national pastime."

(CNN) – The White House has released a photo of President Obama and Tiger Woods taken in the Oval Office earlier this week.

The president agreed to meet with Woods after learning the golfer was in town to promote his upcoming charity tournament in the Washington area, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama has named one of his economics advisers to the No. 2 post at the Treasury Department and will keep a Bush administration appointee in another top job, the White House announced Monday.

Obama has picked Neal Wolin, an insurance executive who now serves as a White House adviser, as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's deputy, the White House said. He also named Lael Brainard, a global economics specialist at the Brookings Institution, as the department's undersecretary for international affairs, and will keep Stuart Levey as the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

The moves will beef up staff in the Cabinet agency that is handling much of the Obama administration's economic recovery efforts. Monday's announcements are aimed at filling three of the four top posts in the Treasury Department that require Senate confirmation, the White House said.

"I am grateful for the service of these dedicated and talented
individuals and have the highest confidence that, under the leadership of Secretary Geithner, they will serve the American people well as we tackle the challenges ahead of us," Obama said in a written statement.

Levey was the first person to hold the job of undersecretary in charge of disrupting the financial networks behind terrorism, weapons proliferation and drug trafficking. Former President George Bush appointed him to the post after its creation in 2004, and he will not have to face a new confirmation hearing, the White House said.

In an interview that aired over the weekend, Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" that two other people had withdrawn from consideration for the deputy secretary's job.

Obama, who has seen three other Cabinet nominees withdraw their names amid controversy, told CBS the confirmation process has "gotten tougher" in the era of 24-hour news.

"And a lot of people who we think are about to serve in the
administration and Treasury suddenly say, 'Well, you know what? I don't want to go through some of the scrutiny, embarrassment, in addition to taking huge cuts in pay,' " he said.

In a '60 Minutes' interview, President Obama said, 'I fundamentally disagree with Dick Cheney'.

(CNN) – President Obama said in an interview aired Sunday that the hardest decision he's made since taking office was to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Also in the interview on CBS' "60 Minutes," Obama defended his decision to shut down the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and he countered criticism from former vice president Dick Cheney.

"I fundamentally disagree with Dick Cheney - not surprisingly," Obama said. "I think that Vice President Cheney has been at the head of a movement whose notion is somehow that we can't reconcile our core values, our Constitution, our belief that we don't torture, with our national security interests. I think he's drawing the wrong lesson from history."

Obama was responding to comments Cheney made to CNN's "State of the Union" on March 15, when he said the president is making the nation less safe by closing the Guantanamo prison and ending interrogation practices that Bush administration critics consider torture for terror suspects.

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WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) – The Obama administration on Monday will formally unveil a program to help banks clean up their books by subsidizing private investors' purchase of troubled assets.

The effort marks the next big step in Washington's six-month-old bank rescue, which has so far mostly entailed making capital investments and backstopping bank debt.

Administration officials, in a briefing with reporters late Sunday night, said they plan to commit $75 billion to $100 billion to start wiping out bad assets and would evaluate how programs are working before deciding how to commit more money.

The goal is to buy up at least $500 billion of bad assets - loans, such as those for subprime mortgages, that are now in danger of default.

Investors have been waiting expectantly for details since last month when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced the framework of a plan to address two of the biggest problems in the banking sector: the toxic assets keeping banks from lending and the shortage of capital at major institutions.

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Large holes in the Obama administration were filled Friday as Attorney General Eric Holder personally swore in his new deputy attorney general and associate attorney general.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Large holes in the Obama administration were filled Friday as Attorney General Eric Holder personally swore in his new deputy attorney general and associate attorney general, who had been confirmed by the Senate one day earlier.

The powerful second- and third-ranking Justice Department posts had been temporarily filled by career officials while Republican senators slowed the confirmation of David Ogden and Thomas Perrelli over questions about pornography and the right to die.

"You don't know how good this feels. I now have a right arm and a left arm," Holder told a crowd gathered for the swearing-in ceremony in Holder's office.

The swearing-in represented a reunion of Clinton administration lawyers. All three men had been top subordinates of then-Attorney General Janet Reno who had an often strained relationship with the White House over Justice Department-backed investigations of the president and Hillary Clinton and other administration officials.

Twenty-seven GOP senators had opposed Ogden's nomination for the deputy's job for his views on pornography and other divisive issues. Among Democrats, only Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania had opposed the nomination.

Ogden had vowed at his confirmation hearings to vigorously enforce pornography laws and child protection laws despite his staunch advocacy of free speech rights for pornographers in his legal representation of their industry.

Perrelli drew opposition from 20 GOP senators in the floor vote Thursday. Much of the concern stemmed from Perrelli's representation of the husband of Terri Schiavo, who fought to have her removed from a life-support system after she had spent years in what courts deemed was a "persistent vegetative state."

On Friday, Ogden sought to put the partisanship "of this recent period" in the past, saying Americans have a "great common interest as brothers and sisters" in preserving the rule of law.

In a moment that brought roars of laughter, Ogden recalled that a young man who once worked for his Greek immigrant grandfather in a New York candy store - and quit after only one day - turned out to be none other than Tom Perrelli.

"I hope to make it longer here," Perrelli replied.

Holder told the crowd it is "time to get to work," and took a parting shot at the recently departed Bush administration.

"There's an awful lot of work that we have to do," he said." There are things, quite frankly, that we have to reverse, policy changes that we have to make, and I am very happy to be surrounded by these two great lawyers."

A new CNN poll indicates lower expectations for President Obama's inaugural address.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new national poll indicates that most Americans think President Barack Obama will give a good speech in his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, but expectations are not as high as they were for his inaugural address.

Twenty-eight percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday morning say they think the president's prime-time address will be excellent. That's down from the 44 percent last month who thought the inauguration address by Obama would be excellent.

Another 44 percent feel the speech will be good and 19 percent say it will be okay. Eight percent suggest the speech will be poor or terrible, up from three percent who thought the same way about the president's inauguration address.

"The expectation among Democrats is as high as it was for the inaugural address," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But the number of Republicans who expect a good speech from Obama has dropped 24 points. That may be because an inauguration is usually seen as a bipartisan event, while the out-party often views a speech to Congress as a partisan exercise."

The poll also indicates that 62 percent think it's likely that Obama's speech will make them feel more confident about the economy. And two out of three say the president's policies will move the country in the right direction.

Obama remains popular, but what about other prominent Democrats - such as Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, who will be sitting behind Obama on Tuesday night? The public's opinion of Vice President Joe Biden remains positive, with 57 percent saying they have a favorable impression of him.

The poll suggests that 36 percent have a favorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with 43 percent holding an unfavorable opinion, with one out of five unsure.

The poll shows similar numbers for Pelosi's Senate counterpart, Harry Reid. Twenty-two percent of those questioned have a favorable view of the Senate majority leader, with 30 percent holding an unfavorable view and 48 percent unsure.

"Many Americans don't have an opinion of Pelosi, probably because she has never run for national office. Those who do know her are split.

Reid, who tends to get even less national face time than Pelosi, is unfamiliar to roughly half the public; those who know him tend to have an unfavorable view, adds Holland.

Sen. John McCain remains popular after his 2008 election loss to Obama, with a favorable rating of 52 percent.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey was conducted February 18-19, with 1,046 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A deputy oversees an eviction in Lafayette, Colorado, last week.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A new national poll indicates that nearly three out of four Americans are scared about the way things are going in the country today.

Seventy-three percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say they're very or somewhat scared about the way things are going in the United States. That's six points higher than in an October poll.

Nearly eight in 10 say things are going badly in the country, with just 21 percent suggesting that things are going well. The survey also says that three out of four Americans are angry about the way things are going in the country. But three out of four questioned say that things are going well for them personally.

The poll was released a day before President Barack Obama gives a prime-time address before a joint session of Congress.

"Americans always believe things are better in their own lives than in the rest of the country," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "But they are realists as well - they recognize that bad times somewhere else in the U.S. may eventually come to affect them. That's why so many say they are angry and scared, even though they're content with their own personal circumstances."

"There is a tiny sliver of good news - the number of Americans who think things are going very badly has dropped from 40 percent in December to 32 percent now," Holland added. "But since most of those people switched from the very bad category to the pretty bad category, it's wrong to say that the public
is more optimistic - call them a little less pessimistic at best."

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,046 adults questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A New York Post cartoon has sparked a debate over race and cartooning this week.

NEW YORK (CNN) – A day after publishing a cartoon that drew fire from critics who said it evoked historically racist images, the New York Post apologized in a statement on its Web site - even as it defended its action and blasted some detractors.

Many of those critical of the cartoon said it appeared to compare President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee in a commentary on his recently approved economic stimulus package.

"Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy," the paper said about the drawing, which shows two police officers standing over the body of a chimpanzee they just shot.

The drawing is a reference to the mauling of a woman by a pet chimpanzee, which was then killed by police. In the cartoon, one of the officers tells the other, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

The Post said the cartoon was meant to mock what it called an "ineptly written" stimulus bill.

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Obama will travel to Canada on Thursday, his first international trip as president.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – On the eve of President Barack Obama's first trip outside of the United States, a new national poll suggests that Americans think that world leaders have far more respect for him than they did for former President George W. Bush. But the Gallup survey, released Wednesday, indicates little improvement from last year in the number of respondents who are satisfied with America's standing in the world.

President Obama travels to Canada Thursday, where he’ll discuss trade issues and world affairs with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Sixty-seven percent of those questioned in the poll released on the eve of that trip say they think world leaders respect the new president. That compares with just 24 percent who said the same thing about President Bush a year ago.

The results come from Gallup's world affairs survey, which has been conducted each February since 2001.

The poll suggests American believe the president will have to work hard to improve America's international standing. Forty-five percent of those questioned think the U.S. rates favorably in the eyes of the world. That's roughly the same as the 43 percent who felt that way last year, under President Bush. And just 32 percent said they are satisfied with the standing of the United States in the world - barely higher than the 3 in 10 who felt the same way a year ago.

"Americans have a realistic view of what it will take to improve the view of the United States abroad," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "People in other countries didn't like George W. Bush, but they also didn't like his policies. Electing a different president may be step one, but step two won't occur until the new president changes U.S. policy, and that hasn't happened yet."

The Gallup poll was conducted February 9-12, with 1,022 adults questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - As auto giants General Motors and Chrysler face Tuesday's 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 (NEC), the White House Office of Energy and Environment, the Council of Economic Advisers and the Environmental Protection Agency, the official said.

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

Geithner will oversee the loan agreements with the automakers.

Teams at the Treasury Department and  the National Economic Council are working with the automakers and stakeholders to prepare for their Tuesday submissions, the official said.

From February 17 to March 31, "the auto companies and stakeholders are expected to show progress in meeting the restructuring goals set forth in their plans" the senior administration official said.

The adminstration would work with the automakers daily over the next two weeks on their strategies to repay their loans, the official said.

Despite weeks of speculation over whether the administration would
appoint a "car czar", the senior administration official said there would be none.

Ron Bloom, a nationally recognized restructuring expert, will join the
administration's team as a senior adviser at the Treasury Department, the senior administration official said.

Bloom is a former vice president of Lazard Freres & Company LLC, and is a former restructuring expert for labor for the U.S. Steelworkers.

The team will provide advice and analysis to Geithner and Summers about the auto industry.

Updated 9:25 a.m.

Full story

Will Obama get a beer with Sean Hannity.

(CNN) - They're the unlikeliest of drinking buddies: President Obama and one of his fiercest critics - Fox News host Sean Hannity.

But the two may just be getting closer to sharing a bottle or two– so long as Hannity is willing to foot the bill - according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"Get him a six pack of Budweiser and we'll meet Hannity anywhere he wants to go," said a laughing Gibbs, who also added the meeting should take place in public otherwise "nobody would believe it actually happened."

The comments come one day after the president was asked at a town hall in Indiana whether he would take up Hannity's open invitation to meet for a beer.

“I didn't know he had invited me for a beer, but I will take that under advisement…I'm always good for a beer." Obama said.

Watch: Obama says 'he's always good for a beer'

Hours later on his radio program, Hannity said he's pleased with the president's gesture.

"It seems like he's opened the door that he wants to meet with me," he told his listeners. "Now if he does, I would go on your behalf.”

Fairey stands next to his famous depiction of Obama at the National Portrait Gallery.

(CNN) –The street artist who created the ubiquitous red, white and blue Obama "Hope" posters was arrested Friday in Boston on outstanding graffiti charges, police said.

Shepard Fairey, 38, was arrested en route to an opening party for his first solo art exhibition on two outstanding warrants for property damage by graffiti, Boston police said.

Officer James Kenneally said the instances of graffiti involved images of the late wrestler Andre the Giant - Fairey's tag.

The Friday arrest represents Fairey's second legal tangle this week.

Earlier, the Associated Press accused him of copyright infringement, saying the iconic "Hope" portrait of the president is based on an April 2006 photograph of Obama taken by AP's Mannie Garcia.

The AP - the world's largest news organization - is seeking credit and compensation from Fairey, who contends the image is protected by fair use laws.

The graffiti artist is no stranger to law enforcement. In a recent interview, Fairey told the Boston Globe he has been arrested at least 14 times.

Fairey was released on bail shortly after his arrest Friday and is scheduled for arraignment Monday.

Calls to his lawyer were not immediately returned Saturday.

Barack Obama is encouraging his voters to support his economic stimulus plan.

(CNN) - In a video message e-mailed Saturday, President Obama calls on those who voted for him in the presidential election to throw their support behind his economic stimulus plan.

“If you haven’t been affected by this crisis, you’ve likely comforted somebody who has,” Obama says before making his case for the stimulus package making its way through Senate.

Obama says his package will create or save more than 3 million jobs, “many in your own communities,” and insists his plan is one that “America so desperately needs.”

“I know some critics are worried about the scale of this plan but if we fail to pass it promptly, our economy will fall $1 trillion short of what it’s capable of producing this year. In order to make up that difference, economists agree we must act boldly.”

Obama vows to “enlist all of you” to oversee the plan.

“As soon as this plan is signed into law, recovery.gov goes live, and you’ll be able to see precisely where your tax dollars are going, because this is your democracy, and as I said throughout the campaign, change never begins from the top down. It begins from the bottom up,” he says.

The president’s personal message comes as polls show that the public’s support for the stimulus has slipped.

Watch Obama give his weekly address.

(CNN) - President Obama called for immediate action on the economic stimulus plan in this week’s radio and Internet address.

The president said Democrats and Republicans “responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands” by reaching a tentative agreement on the economic package late Friday.

“The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now,” the president said.

(Full text after jump)

WEEKLY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT

TO THE NATION

February 7, 2009

Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.

In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.

In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.

Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.

Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.

The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.

From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.

Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.

Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.

Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.

Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.

It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who've lost their jobs. And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.

That's what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children's children for generations to come.

Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us. Let's show them that we are. And let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.

Thank you.

Obama discussed his own religious transformation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Barack Obama spoke out Thursday about his religious transformation. The President's comments came at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Here's what Obama said, according to the prepared remarks.

"I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.

I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose. "

President Obama will sign an executive order that will strengthen the constitutional and legal grounding of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama will make changes Thursday to President Bush's controversial Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, partly to ensure religious groups that receive government money do not discriminate in hiring, administration officials said.

Obama will sign an executive order that will strengthen the constitutional and legal grounding of the Office, two senior administration officials told CNN.

Critics of the agency, which steers government money to religious charities that perform social services, say that under the Bush Administration faith groups were allowed to take religion into account when hiring.

On contentious issues like hiring, Obama found that one of the problems with the previous Initiative was that tough questions were decided without appropriate consideration, data, and input from different sides, the officials said. There were ideological decisions, instead of decisions based in fact, they added.

Obama officials say his executive order will make religious groups demonstrate to the government that their hiring is legal and non-discriminatory.

"We think this is a key step forward. It doesn't resolve all issues at the outset, but it does provide a mechanism to address difficult legal issues moving forward," they said.

The president is naming Josh DuBois, who ran religious outreach during Obama's campaign, to run the revamped Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

He will also create a new advisory council, whose 25 members will include Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judiasm; Judith Vredenburgh,the CEO of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America; Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the Rev. Joel Hunter, the senior pastor of Northland Church, a megachurch in Orlando, Florida, and the Rev. Frank Page, a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Office of Faith-Based Intiatives is a programming and policy arm of the federal government. It is the primary mechanism for federal agencies to connect with local neighborhood and faith-based groups to deliver social services. Centers within executive agencies run programs like job training for low-income individuals at the Department of Labor; ex-offender re-entry at the Department of Justice and international HIV/AIDS efforts at USAID.

–CNN Correspondents Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin contributed to
this report.

(CNN) – President Obama will unveil a revamped office of Faith-Based Initiatives Thursday, and a new approach to the controversial program established by former President George Bush.

The office, tasked with steering federal funds to charitable organizations tied to churches and faith-based organizations, will be headed by Josh DuBois – a 26 year-old Pentecostal minister who was in charge of religious outreach for the Obama campaign.

According to a White House official, the basic structure of the office will remain the same as it was under Bush, but Obama is introducing a new component: an advisory council of 25 leaders - secular and religious - who will help inform the Office and provide advice on other policy issues.

According to a person familiar with the makeup of the council, some of the 25 members include:

–Rabbi David Saperstein, head of the DC Religious Action Center of Reform Judiasm
–Judith Vredenburgh, CEO of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America
–Bishop Vashti McKenzie, first female Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
–The Rev. Joel Hunter, the senior pastor of Northland church in Orlando, Florida
–The Rev. Frank Page, the conservative past president of the Southern Baptist Convention

The official announcement of the revamped office is set to take place Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast.

– CNN's Jessica Yellin contributed to this report

Hillary Clinton has forgiven her personal loan but owes vendors $5.9 million.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rang in the new year still saddled with $5.9 million in debts left over from her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, according to records filed Saturday with the Federal Election Commission.

The nation's top diplomat has been steadily chipping away at unpaid campaign bills since suspending her White House bid in June, when her debt peaked at $25.2 million.

That amount included both $12 million owed to vendors and the $13.2 million she loaned her campaign from personal funds.

Clinton's campaign was unable to repay that personal loan by the time the Democratic National Convention convened in Denver, Colorado, in August, the deadline mandated by the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

The former New York senator has since forgiven the entire loan amount, leaving only the $5.9 million owed to vendors on the campaign's books.

Full story

Colin Powell chats with other guests at the Alfalfa dinner in Washington on Saturday night.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama poked fun Saturday night at his chief of staff and ribbed Washington's elite during a black-tie dinner at Alfalfa Club, a 93-year-old Washington social club.

The first African-American president began by poking fun at the club's historical roots.

"I know that many you are aware that this dinner began almost 100 years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee," Obama said, referring to the man who commanded the Confederate army during the Civil War.

"If he were here with us tonight, the general would be 202 years old. And very confused."

The ceremony was closed to the media. But the White House released excerpts of the president's remarks.

The Alfalfa Club was started by four Southerners in Washington's Willard Hotel in 1913. Its sole purpose was an annual night out for the boys, and it took its name from a thirsty plant that sends its roots deep down looking for liquid refreshment.

The club remained exclusively open to men until 1994, when women were admitted as members.

Full story

Dems are targeting Limbaugh and GOP senators in a new ad.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Voters in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Reno will wake Friday morning to a new radio advertisement calling on them to urge their Republican senators to support President Obama's stimulus plan.

The commercials blast House Republicans for refusing to vote for Obama's stimulus proposal this week, claiming that the GOP lawmakers took marching orders from conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh not to support it.

The ad, paid for by the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, targets Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio. Specter is seeking re-election in 2010, while Voinovich is retiring when his term expires at the close of that year.

Each commercial follows the same script except that it changes the senator's name and state where appropriate.

The commercials are expected to run in each state for three to four days, according to an official with Americans United.

The group uses a Limbaugh sound-bite from earlier this month when the talk show host told his audience that "I hope he fails" as he spoke about Obama's term in office.

"Every Republican voted with Limbaugh and against creating four million new American jobs," a narrator says in the ad. "We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama's jobs program to fail, but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That's another matter."

On Thursday, a large coalition of liberal advocacy groups including
Americans United, announced that it was spending $500,000 to run television ads in the home states of five other Republican senators to pressure them to vote for the stimulus bill. The TV commercials target Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee bought some TV time in Reno criticizing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, for supporting the stimulus plan.
.

President Barack Obama is trying to get Republicans on board his plan to stimulate the economy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama, who arguably won a large chunk of political capital in the 2008 election, is now looking to cash in as he urges Congress to pass a massive economic stimulus package.

But questions about how to spend the money and concerns about the last stimulus package under former President Bush, may create a roadblock.

It's something the newly minted president is hoping to avoid. But like most things in Washington, cooperation doesn't come easy.

And that may be why Obama painted an extremely grim portrait of the nation's economy on Saturday - just hours before he met with his economic team, and days before he meets with Republicans leaders on Capitol Hill.

"We begin this year and this administration in the midst of an unprecedented crisis that calls for unprecedented action," he said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "Just this week, we saw more people file for unemployment than at any time in the last 26 years, and experts agree that if nothing is done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits."

Obama pleaded for quick action, warning, "a bad situation could become dramatically worse." Watch Obama's weekly address

The president urged congressional members to quickly pass an $825 billion economic stimulus package, which he hopes will create up to 4 million jobs over the next two years.

Full Story

McCain says his new role after a bruising election is that of loyal opposition.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. John McCain, who faced a long, bruising campaign against President Obama, has taken on a new role in the Obama administration: "Loyal opposition."

McCain defined his role as, "[To] help and work together where I can, and stand up for the principles and the party and the philosophy that I campaigned on and have stood for for many years," to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

McCain, who has long championed bipartisanship in Washington, said while it's important for Americans to come together, it doesn't mean "that as the loyal opposition that I or my party will be a rubber stamp."

But the former Republican presidential candidate said he can use his experience to help Obama with a long-standing problem besides the economy.

"I think I can help in devising a strategy for Afghanistan. The hard truth is that the Afghan war has deteriorated," he said.

McCain's comments come amid recent U.S. bombings targeting al Qaeda in the Waziristan area of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The rocky terrain has long been seen as a haven for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives.

Palestinians sit next to Israeli-bombed buildings in Rafah, in the Gaza Strip.

CAIRO, Egypt (TIME) - President Barack Obama got off to a good start last week where the Middle East is concerned, using his first full day on the the job to phone four key regional leaders to discuss peacemaking plans, then following that up on Thursday by announcing the appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell — widely respected for his work in brokering peace in Northern Ireland and previous mediation efforts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — as the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East.

Yet, as someone who has reported on the countless peace conferences, U.S. peace plans and peace missions by secretaries of state and special envoys since President Ronald Reagan was in office — and also documented the rage and exasperation at America that the issue has caused throughout the Arab world — I have some advice for President Obama: Achieving peace will take more than simply reinvigorating diplomacy, and relinquishing the Bush Administration's preference for the use of force to address the region's problems. To succeed, Obama needs a new Middle East policy, one that genuinely addresses the needs, interests and aspirations of the region itself.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - CNN's John King talks to President Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with Democratic and Republican congressional leadership to discuss his stimulus proposal, trying to sell both sides on a plan that includes both tax cuts and massive spending efforts.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – After a call for "bold and swift" action on the economy in his first moments as president on Tuesday, President Barack Obama got right to work, maneuvering to reach a bipartisan agreement on his sweeping economic recovery plan.

On Friday, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with Democratic and Republican congressional leadership to discuss his stimulus proposal, trying to sell both sides on a plan that includes both tax cuts and massive spending efforts.

The president offered more detail on his plan to restore economic growth. He said he'd take a three-pronged approach to recovery: stabilize the financial system, fix market regulation and pass the stimulus plan.

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Obama and McCain appeared on the same stage Monday night. (Getty Images)

(CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama paid tribute Monday night to the man he defeated.

"There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," Obama said at a dinner honoring the former Republican presidential candidate. "It is what he has strived for and achieved throughout his life. It is built into the very content of his character."

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Read Obama's full prepared remarks after the jump

UPDATE: McCain's full remarks also after the jump

Barack Obama's remarks

I'm here tonight to say a few words about an American hero I have come to know very well and admire very much – Senator John McCain. And then, according to the rules agreed to by both parties, John will have approximately thirty seconds to make a rebuttal.

But in all seriousness, on this night, we are glad that the days of rebuttals and campaigning are for now behind us. There is no doubt that throughout the summer and the fall, John and I were fierce competitors who engaged in a vigorous and sometimes heated debate over the issues of the day. And in a great democracy, this debate is both healthy and necessary.

But what is even healthier and more necessary is the recognition that after the season of campaigning has ended, each of us in public life has a responsibility to usher in a new season of cooperation built on those things we hold in common. Not as Democrats. Not as Republicans. But as Americans.

And there are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain. It is what he has strived for and achieved throughout his life. It is built into the very content of his character.

I could stand here and recite the long list of John's bipartisan accomplishments. Campaign finance reform. Immigration. The Patients' Bill of Rights. All those times he has crossed the aisle and risked the ire of his party for the good of his country. And yet, what makes John such a rare and courageous public servant is not the accomplishments themselves, but the true motivation behind them.

It has not been a quest for fame or vanity that has driven this man. It has not been the need to compromise for politics' sake that has shaped his distinguished career. It is rather a pure and deeply felt love of his country that comes from the painful knowledge of what life is like without it.

Few of us can imagine what John endured during the days he spent in that lonely prison cell, but perhaps we can imagine that surviving such an ordeal provides a unique and renewed perspective about what is important and what is not; about what is worth fighting over and what is not.

We can imagine that the pettiness and bitterness and immaturity that often pervades our politics seems even more unworthy of our country from this perspective; that the incessant bickering and partisanship for the sake of scoring a few political points seems even smaller. And what seems bigger and more worthy of defending are those ideals we hold in common as Americans: liberty, equality, and opportunity.

Those are the ideals that John has spent and risked his life fighting for, and his example is one for all of us to remember and to follow as we seek to defend those ideals against the common threats to our prosperity and our security.

So I'd like to thank John for all he's done and ask him to come join me on stage for a moment.

Thank you, John, for your service to America and the service you will continue to render in the months and years ahead. And I'd like to close by asking all of you to join us in making this bipartisan dinner not just an inaugural tradition, but a new way of doing the people's business in this city. We will not always agree on everything in the months to come, and we will have our share of arguments and debates. But let us strive always to find that common ground, and to defend together those common ideals, for it is the only way we can meet the very big and very serious challenges that we face right now. Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless America.

John McCain's remarks

Thank you.  I appreciate this very much.  As President-elect Obama kindly pointed out during the campaign - quite frequently, as a matter of fact - I’ve been on the country’s payroll in one capacity or another for a half century.  In the course of my long career as a burden on the taxpayer, I’ve taken a few lumps.  But I’ve been more than fairly compensated by the many honors that have come my way over the years whether I deserved them or not.  Tonight surely ranks among the more unexpected of them, and the most appreciated. I am very grateful to the President-elect and to all of you for this very considerate gesture, and for allowing me to play a small role in the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, even if it isn’t the one I had in mind a few months ago.

Around noon tomorrow, I will have the honor of witnessing the next President take the oath of office, and the even greater honor of knowing that this extraordinary nation cannot and will not ever concede to be a captive to the mistakes and sins of our past.  It is a very gratifying thing to comprehend that the country one has served for a lifetime remains still a work in progress; that our greatness is unfinished; and that the impulsion behind Americans’ ceaseless striving toward a more perfect union is our love of the cause which it was founded to protect, the cause of liberty and justice.

The history that will be made tomorrow is not just a tribute to one man’s ability and accomplishment as impressive as they are.  It is a tribute to America, and proof that history itself has no power to hold us in place.  Ours is surely a magnificent history.  It has had its moments of shame and regret.  But our achievements are irrefutable proof that a nation conceived in liberty will prove stronger and more decent than any nation ordered to exalt the few at the expense of the many or made from a common race or culture or to preserve traditions that have no greater attribute than longevity.  And, yet, other nations have occupied a distinguished place in human history longer than we have.  They, too, acquired great wealth and power.  But they sought the false assurance of protecting their privileges by settling for things as they are.  Not us.  We are always on the move.

We understand - we have always understood - that no nation complacent in its greatness can long sustain it.  We have always known that we, too, must prove, as those who came before us proved, that a people free to act in their own interests, will perceive those interests in an enlightened way, will live as one nation, in a kinship of ideals, and make of our power and wealth a civilization for the ages, a civilization in which all people share in the promise and responsibilities of freedom.

Tomorrow, the President-elect will accept the burdensome privilege of leading America to its next accomplishments and its future greatness.  He has my sincere best wishes for his success, and my promise of assistance.  For his success will be our success.  The challenges and threats confronting him and us are numerous and daunting.  He has the greatest responsibility to help lead America through them.  But we, too, bear responsibilities for our progress, lesser than his, but a great privilege nonetheless.  We must meet them fully and help the President succeed at his.

We have our disagreements, we Americans. We contend regularly and enthusiastically over many questions.  Many are important questions, worth arguing about, and we should contend over them with one another.  It is not just our right, but our civic and moral obligation.

Our country doesn't depend on the heroism of every citizen. But all of us should be worthy of the sacrifices made on our behalf. We have to love our freedom, not just for the private opportunities it provides, but for the goodness it makes possible. We have to love it as much, even if not as heroically, as the brave Americans who defend us at the risk and often the cost of their lives. We must love it enough to argue about it, and to work together to serve its interests, in whatever way our abilities permit and our conscience requires, whether it calls us to arms or to altruism or to politics.

Americans deserve more than tolerance from one another. We deserve each other's respect, whether we think each other right or wrong in our views, as long as our character and our sincerity merit respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, a mutual devotion to the sublime idea that this nation was conceived in - that freedom is the inalienable right of mankind, and in accord with the laws of nature and nature's Creator.

Let us exercise our responsibilities as free people, and argue only when we must, and strive together for our common ends.  Let us remember, we are not enemies. We are compatriots defending ourselves from real enemies and difficult problems. So much more unites us than divides us.  We have nothing to fear from each other. When we argue it should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other.

All lives are a struggle against selfishness. I have stumbled more than once in that struggle.  I have sometimes stood a little apart from institutions I willingly joined.  But had my life shared no common purpose, my qualities would not have amounted to much more than eccentricities. That's the benefit of service to a country that is an idea and a cause, a righteous idea and cause.  America and her ideals can spare us from the weaknesses in our own character.  There is no honor or happiness, for a country or a person, in just being strong enough to be left alone.

I would have preferred to have sworn again tomorrow the oath I first took more than fifty years ago.  But it would be an act of stunning ingratitude were I to resent the decision of the American people or dismiss the privilege I still possess: the privilege of serving in some capacity the country that has been so good to me.  And it would be a disgrace to use that privilege for ends that were not in the public interest.  So, I give my pledge to my former opponent, my new President, I will do the best I can to help you in the hard work ahead.  We will disagree now and again, but not always and not for personal reasons, and not, I assure you, over the purpose we share: the progress of the nation we love.

Good luck tomorrow to our new President, and in the days and years ahead.  May God bless him with wisdom and courage, and his presidency with success.  And may God continue to bless America, this nation of restless strivers; this land of freedom and justice and opportunity.

Thank you, again, and goodnight.

Jalal Thiyab Thijeel quotes Barack Obama, saying it is time for change.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Their faces and darker skins make them look different. They are routinely called "slave" by the majority, whatever their profession. But Iraq's black population hopes that Barack Obama's rise to the White House will mark a turning point for minorities not just in the United States, but also in their country.

Jalal Thiyab Thijeel, general secretary of the "Movement of Free Iraqis," followed every detail of Obama's election campaign. "Inspiring," he calls it. Inspiring politically, and personally. Like Obama, Thijeel has family roots in Africa.

"We told our people, Inshalla, God willing, Obama is going to win, and if he wins, it will be a victory for all black people in the world," he recalls. "We're going to make him a model to follow. Even our old women were praying for him to win."

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President-elect Obama rolled up his sleeves before painting a wall at a shelter.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Barack Obama spent his last full day as president-elect visiting wounded soldiers and exhorting Americans to spend more time in the service of others.

With only hours to go before assuming the nation's highest office, he began Monday morning with a surprise visit to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He met with 14 patients injured in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Obama then visited a National Day of Service project, stopping by the Sasha Bruce House, an emergency shelter for homeless teenagers in the District of Columbia area.

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Many expect Barack Obama's inauguration speech to compare to those given by Roosevelt and Kennedy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural address is one of the most anticipated speeches in decades, with many expecting his words to be chiseled into marble some day.

Related: Obama to issue a call to action

Obama has said he has been studying previous inaugural addresses - including President Abraham Lincoln's and the speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave as he took office amid the Great Depression.

Given the nation's current economic crisis, Errol Lewis, a columnist for the New York Daily News, was looking for Obama to echo Roosevelt's famous 1933 inauguration address when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

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The world's newspapers marked Barack Obama's election win. Now, world governments want him to act.

(CNN) - When Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the wish list that has been building abroad may have grown longer than he or anyone else can deliver.

There are the apparently eternal conflicts of the Middle East and Kashmir, between India and Pakistan, that have already reared their ugly heads almost as a warning even before Obama took office. Between them, they engulf most of the grievances and violence that shape the Islamic world and its relations with the United States.

Intense U.S. involvement will be needed to help resolve both of the conflicts. This will require imagination, creative out-of-the-box diplomacy, and the courage to see it through both from the United States and leaders on the ground. Going back even to the status-quo ante will no longer be sufficient.

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Defense Secretary Gates has been designated to keep the federal government functioning in the event of a catastrophic event that disrupts the transfer of power on Inauguration Day.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Defense Secretary Roberts Gates will be playing a critical but low profile during Tuesday’s inauguration.

Gates has been named to act as the “designated successor” during inaugural events, according to a statement from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino Monday.

In the role, Gates will be responsible for keeping the federal government running in the event of any kind of catastrophic event that disrupts the transfer of power between President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama, who agreed with Bush’s selection of Gates for the special task.

Gates will spend the inauguration at a military installation outside Washington, according to a senior Pentagon official. There are a number of places set up around the country for remote command of the military and the rest of the federal government in the event of a catastrophe.

In the absence of any unforeseen event, Gates will be undesignated after Obama’s swearing in.

A Pentagon official knowledgeable about the designation of Gates would not say whether the Defense Secretary has already left the Washington area.

Gates is the only cabinet-level official who will serve in both administrations.

–CNN's Ed Henry, Suzanne Malveaux, and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Senior staffers from President-elect Obama's transition team will be taken to the White House as soon has his swearing in is complete.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team will be wasting no time getting to work Tuesday, according to two sources close to the Obama transition team. 

Twenty senior staff on Obama’s team have already had their paperwork cleared to enter the White House Tuesday, as soon as Obama is sworn in as the country’s 44th president. Vans will take them from the Capitol to the White House as soon as the swearing in is completed. 

Some senior staff will stay behind to attend the traditional lunch with the new president, but even those staffers will get to work quickly.  They’ll be arriving at the White House even as the inaugural parade snakes through Washington.

Related: Obama plans ambitious first week

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama made a surprise visit Monday morning to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Hats, buttons and shirts are among the most popular items at the store where Vicki Starcher works.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – In a framed photo for sale at one of the many souvenir shops in Washington, Barack Obama looks more like a movie star than a politician as he exits a vehicle in a black suit, red tie and sunglasses.

The caption of the image, showcased in the front window of the store, reads, "Presidential Cool."

"He's a man of the people," said Vicki Starcher, who traveled from Norfolk, Virginia, to help set up the temporary store during the inauguration.

"I think the difference is with Obama, he has so much of the younger backing, BET ... and the hip-hop community," co-worker Jasmine Robinson chimed in.

Ebony magazine listed Obama was as one of the "Top 25 Coolest Brothers of All Time," alongside Tupac Shakur, Muhammad Ali, Jay-Z and Marvin Gaye.

The memorabilia decorating the streets of Washington and the images on magazine covers are a symbol that, to much of America, Obama is more than just the next president. He's also cool.

Cool enough to attraction millions to the Capitol; cool enough to have designers release a special line of inaugural items; and cool enough to have stars such as Beyonce, U2 and Stevie Wonder perform at a free concert to kick of the inaugural events.

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Pelosi wants taxes repealed on the rich immediately.

(CNN) - Two days before President-elect Barack Obama is officially sworn in, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear she disagrees with the incoming administration on at least two issues.

Obama has indicated he is not interested in repealing President Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans before they expire in two years or investigating past actions of the Bush administration.

But speaking on Fox News Sunday, Pelosi said she wants Congress to consider repealing tax cuts on those who make over $250,000 immediately and is pushing for a congressional investigation into whether the Bush administration illegally fired federal prosecutors two years ago.

On taxes, Obama's stimulus plan does not call for repealing president's tax cuts for wealthier individuals, even though the president-elect had said he would during the presidential campaign. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, a top Obama economic advisor, also suggested Sunday that repealing Bush’s tax cuts will not be a priority.

But Pelosi said Sunday she wants the incoming president to stick to his campaign pledge.

"We had campaigned in saying what the Republican Congressional Budget Office told us: Nothing contributed more to the budget deficit than the tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America," Pelosi said in the interview.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Pelosi's statement "false," and cited a recent fact check from the St. Petersburg Times disputing the House Speaker's claim tax cuts for the wealthy is the biggest contributor to the budget deficit.

Pelosi said she would not seek to block the president-elect’s stimulus plan over its lack of tax hikes for the rich, but she urged Obama to not to simply let the tax cuts expire in two years.

"[Tax cuts on the wealthy] have to prove their worth to me as to how they grow the economy, how they create jobs," she said.

Pelosi also pushed for an investigation into the Bush administration's handling of the Justice Department, despite pledges from Obama and his aides not to focus on the administration they are succeeding.

"I think that we have to learn from the past, and we cannot let the politicizing of, for example, the Justice Department, go unreviewed," Pelosi said. "Past is prologue."

A construction worker put the finishing touches on a massive version of the presidential seal Saturday as part of preparations for President-elect Obama's upcoming inauguration

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration speech on Tuesday will be a call to action that diagnoses what he'll call a troublesome "anything-goes" mentality in the nation, a transition source said Saturday.

The speech, which the source said currently runs about 20 minutes, will call on industries and individuals to behave responsibly, saying it was that mentality, in part, that led to the harsh economic times the nation now faces.

But he'll say that no problem is too big to be solved using the values that have always defined Americans, the source said.

It also will seek to "define the moment we're in," for Americans, with two foreign wars ongoing and a financial crisis at home.

The speech will not go into the details of Obama's agenda - keeping with the historical nature of inaugural addresses. According to the source, Obama has been working on the speech "in earnest" for the past week and will continue fine-tuning it after Saturday's train ride from Philadelphia to Washington.

President-elect Obama collected his daughters after detraining in Washington Saturday evening.

WASHINGTON, AT UNION STATION (CNN) - It was quiet near the president-elect's train when it arrived, but inside Union Station, there was a lot of activity and a lot of noise from folks who knew they would not even get a chance to see him.

Watch: Obama arrives in Washington

People from all over the country and all over the world were at the station.

Asked what Obama meant to him, Terry Kinney of Georgia said it was how he will affect the future. "When I think about the Supreme Court justices that he might appoint and how it's going to affect my son," he said. "The economy is important, but when he appoints the Supreme Court justices, it's going to change my son and all of our kids' lives for over 50 years."

Eleven-year-old Grant Ibeh said Obama's presidency shows him that "my dreams can come true."

"I'm really excited of having him as our new president, and he's going to do well for this town," Grant said.

There are a lot of people in Washington who are eagerly awaiting the inauguration and happy just to be here, a lot of people who will be sleeping on cots, staying with family and staying with friends. A lot of them don't even have tickets, but they're here to share in this moment.

Michelle Obama's birthday was Saturday. She celebrated it aboard the Amtrak train that brought the President-elect and his entourage from Philadelphia to Washington

ABOARD THE OBAMA EXPRESS, JUST OUTSIDE WASHINGTON (CNN) - It is pitch black as the Obama train heads to Union Station in his new hometown of Washington, D.C. Still, you can see the outlines of people standing near the rails, waving as we whiz by.

Walking through the train, I spotted Michelle Obama dancing with her girls and friends in one of the cars decorated for her 45th birthday.

We are pulling into Union Station. The day is done.

Members of the military participated in a recent rehearsal for Tuesday's inauguration.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Incoming President Barack Obama is planning to meet with top military leaders on Wednesday to discuss the war in Iraq and move to begin implementing his campaign promise of removing all combat troops within 16 months, according to two transition officials familiar with the matter.

The meeting with the Joints Chief of Staff and other top military commanders will be on Obama's first full day in office, which suggests the new President wants to send a signal to supporters that despite his heavy focus on the financial crisis he will also address Iraq early in the new administration.

In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" shortly after his election victory, Obama indicated he would move quickly to start implementing his plan to withdraw troops when asked when the redeployments would begin.

"Well, I've said during the campaign, and I've stuck to this commitment, that as soon as I take office, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops," Obama said. "Particularly in light of the problems that we're having in Afghanistan, which has continued to worsen. We've got to shore up those efforts."

President-elect Obama spoke to a crowd that numbered nearly 40,000 after his train stopped in Baltimore Saturday evening.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (CNN) - You could see people crying during Obama's speech in Baltimore. Some people told us ahead of time that they would. They said they had cried out of happiness so many times during this election, and they were pretty sure they were going to be emotional seeing Barack Obama here today.

This is a rare treat for them. Maryland was firmly in Obama's column in the general election, so folks here didn't get to see him campaign a whole lot. This is one of the few times they have been able to see him in person.

WASHINGTON, AT UNION STATION (CNN) - They have come here from as far as Liberia. Eager and anxious Obama fans have descended on Washington.

They are impatient to get a glimpse of the man who in just a few days will become president. While they wait, we are their biggest curiosity. There are camera lights and a table, and a TV monitor is tuned to CNN's coverage. They huddle around us, and the question is always, "When is he arriving?" As the last stop on his whistle-stop tour here at Union Station, we've had a chance to hear the stories from those who have traveled from Seattle, Miami, Atlanta and frigid Cleveland.

One man wearing a black down coat is covered in Obama buttons that blink in red lights. A proud father from Chicago hands me an 8×10 poster of Obama that he says his son, an artist, drew, of Obama's face, that also includes the flag of Kenya, Illinois and the United States.

Even though we're indoors, it's cold here, as we are sitting by a train station exit. Everyone is bundled up, from snow gear to elaborate fur. An Au Bon Pain store farther inside the station is selling specially made Obama sugar cookies, with an Obama face and a flag. There is a dish of crumpled sample pieces to entice customers. At another popular corner here, people are lined up to take their picture at a life-size cardboard placard of Obama.

Though there will be no arrival sighting here, as on the other stops on the tour, or even a chance to get a glimpse of Obama coming off the train, there is a contagious buzz about how the next 48 hours will unfold. Red, white and blue balloons decorate the entrances of several restaurants as Union Station will host a Latino inaugural gala tomorrow. A red rope line cordons off a small stage.

Outside, there are a handful of protesters wearing black shirts with white lettering that say "Arrest Bush." They say President Bush is guilty of war crimes and are calling for him to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. It's a controversy Obama has already addressed, pledging to use his executive power next week to shut down the facility.

But inside Union Station, the mood is light, even if most of the out-of-towners are shivering. Unfortunately, they'll have to wait for tomorrow to get a glimpse of the new first family when official events kick off here in Washington.

– CNN White House Producer Jamie Crawford contributed to this report

President-elect Obama waves to the crowd from the steps of Baltimore's City Hall Saturday evening.

BALTIMORE (CNN) – President-elect Obama addressed a crowd estimated at 35,000 to 40,000 according to local officials.

In the final stop of his train tour before arriving in Washington, Obama linked the nation's history and values to the domestic and international challenges the country faces now.

Watch: It's time to take up the cause, says Obama

(Read Obama's entire prepared remarks after the jump)

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama – As prepared for delivery
Baltimore, Maryland
January 17, 2009

We began this train trip in Philadelphia earlier today. It is fitting that we did so – because it was there that our American journey began. It was there that a group of farmers and lawyers, merchants and soldiers, gathered to declare their independence and lay claim to a destiny that they were being denied.

It was a risky thing, meeting as they did in that summer of 1776. There was no guarantee that their fragile experiment would find success. More than once in those early years did the odds seem insurmountable. More than once did the fishermen, laborers, and craftsmen who called themselves an army face the prospect of defeat.

And yet, they were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line – their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor – for a set of ideals that continue to light the world. That we are equal. That our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws, but from our maker. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure. It was these ideals that led us to declare independence, and craft our constitution, producing documents that were imperfect but had within them, like our nation itself, the capacity to be made more perfect.

A few decades after the framers met in Philadelphia, our new union faced its first true test. The White House was in flames, and the British were advancing on Baltimore. That's when the fate of our nation fell to the troops at Fort McHenry. They were a varied lot, these troops: sailors, militiamen, and even a runaway slave. But on one long and rainy night, they beat back the greatest navy that the world had ever known. And when that night was over, they raised a flag in triumph, inspiring an onlooker to compose a poem that became the Star-Spangled Banner.

We are here today not simply to pay tribute to those patriots who founded our nation in Philadelphia or defended it in Baltimore, but to take up the cause for which they gave so much. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.

And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that those first patriots displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives – from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry – an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.

That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.

But I also believed something else. I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not – then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to leave for Washington on a trip that you made possible, know that I will not be traveling alone. I will be taking with me some of the men and women I met along the way, Americans from every corner of this country, whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause; whose dreams and struggles have become my own.

Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House. Theirs are the stories I will be thinking of when we deliver the changes you elected me to make. When we are seeing new jobs created that pay more to those who work them, I will be thinking of people like Kevin and Kirsten Meehan, who can't afford to turn on the heat or pay rent, and are tapping into Kevin's 401k to help support their two young children.

When our children are graduating from newer, better schools that prepare them to be good citizens and sought-after workers, I will be thinking of middle school teachers like Rosa Mendoza, who is giving her students the chance to fulfill their God-given potential.

When quality health care is no longer something we hope for, but something we can count on, I will be thinking of people like Patricia Stiles, who was diagnosed with a serious illness just as her husband lost his pension and her kids' tuitions were coming due.

These are the stories that will drive me in the days ahead. They are different stories, told by men and women whose journeys may seem separate. And yet, what you showed me time and again is that no matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a people of common hopes and common dreams, who ask only for what was promised us as Americans – that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.

We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.

But we should never forget that we are the heirs of those early patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.

For the American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was – and remains – an ongoing struggle "in the minds and hearts of the people" to live up to our founding creed.

Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.

Let's build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.

Let's all of us do our part to rebuild this country.

Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning.

Join me in this effort. Join one another in this effort. And together, mindful of our proud history, hopeful for the future, let's seek a better world in our time. Thank you.

Passengers detrained from the Obama Express after it arrived in Baltimore for its last stop before proceeding to Washington Saturday evening.

ABOARD THE OBAMA EXPRESS (CNN) - The train is rolling into Baltimore, past some of the most economically distressed areas in the country.

Six little kids jumping up and down and waving greeted the Obama Express as it approached the city.

Much of this trip we have seen the people with the highest hopes and greatest need for a successful Obama administration.

The President-elect will speak from the steps of city hall. We're detraining and heading there now.

Ohio school teach Norm Huber sported a half dozen buttons as he walked along the inaugural parade route Saturday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Visitors were showing off their Obama pride outside the White House Saturday as the reveled in the anticipation of the President-elect’s impending inauguration.

School teachers Pat Hargis from Bucyrus, Ohio and Norm Huber from Crestline, Ohio showed off their best Barack Obama buttons as they perused the inaugural parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue. The teachers were in town with their colleague Carolyn Helbert to see as many of the events as they could. As for their students, they'll have to wait until February to come to Washington. Right now, "it's too crazy," said Hargis.

The inauguration won’t be the first time the three friends have crossed paths with the President-elect and the Vice President-elect. The three previously met Barack Obama and Joe Biden on the campaign trail when the two men courted voters at rally in Dublin, Ohio last year.

Helbert told Biden he had a cute smile and Biden said she had a cute smile too.

"That's Carolyn's claim to fame," Hargis said Saturday.

Not far from the three friends, a group of dancers from Washington calling themselves "Dancers for Change" was also staging what they called a "happy protest.”

It looked as though Obamamania had somehow missed this place.

EDGEWOOD, Maryland (CNN) - When we first got to the little train stop here it looked as though Obamamania had somehow missed this place.

Watch: The Obama Express makes a 'slow roll' through Edgewood

Okay, admittedly President-elect Obama's train was only supposed to slow-roll through town on its way to Baltimore and eventually Washington. So people who took the time to come out here weren't exactly promised a chance to meet and shake the hand of the next president.

Around 11 a.m. or so it looked like there were maybe 60 to 80 people in line. But once the Secret Service started letting people in, the numbers just grew and grew pretty much continuously.

Turns out this town has a real special place in its heart for Obama - one of the townies told me Obama's train was passing thorough the only precinct in all of Harford County that went for Obama in the last election.

Another example of the Obama enthusiasm was that people who were the first to get in told me they were waiting at 5:30 a.m.

And even though we were only 50 or 60 miles from Washington, most of the people I talked to said this would be the one and only inaugural event they would attend.

Without a doubt people gave some serious consideration to going to D.C. But a lot of people were dissuaded by predictions of multimillion-person crowds. One told me he wasn't interested in the kind of craziness.

The challenges Barack Obama is about to take on are overwhelming, but not, of course, unprecedented.

(CNN) – Searching the paper on the way to Washington, looking for news of the inaugural, the headlines warn of what lies ahead: “Big firms Deepen Job, Wage Cuts.” “Circuit City to Liquidate.” The storm clouds are all around us.

The challenges Barack Obama is about to take on are overwhelming, but not, of course, unprecedented. Abraham Lincoln took office with fears the country itself was on the brink of dissolution. Fears for his safety were so great he had to sneak throughBaltimore on board his train. Maryland, like Virginia, was a slave state.

FDR’s first inaugural was in the midst of the Depression. 1933. Relief would not come for many years more. So, as Barack Obama heads to Washington today, on a train trip that will re-trace some of Lincoln’s own train journey, he shoulders a great burden, but one past presidents have as well. He arrives in Washington this evening with a groundswell of public support. More than Clinton did, more than Reagan.

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Candy Crowley is aboard the Obama Express.

ABOARD THE OBAMA EXPRESS (CNN) - Rolling into Maryland now with Joe Biden aboard through mostly rural- and lower-income areas. There are clusters of people here and there.

The most striking are the lone people, standing precariously on a hillside just feet from the tracks, waving as the train comes and after it passes: a single woman outside her mobile home waving a giant flag almost bigger than she is; two men standing on top of an 18-wheeler's trailer, hardly dressed for the weather, hands in pockets as we pass; and the man who came out on his back porch, hundreds of yards away from the track, to wave.

President-elect Obama will be greeted by people concerned about several U.S. policies when his train arrives in Washington Saturday evening. (Photo Credit: Adam Levine/CNN)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama isn't back in Washington yet but the protestors have lined up to greet and remind him of a host of issues that await him following the swearing in. With construction on the presidential reviewing stand continuing and tourists snapping photos, protestors in orange prison jumpsuits unfurled signs to raise their voice on Guantanamo, the Gaza situation and Iraq.