CQ Politics' Web Picks

Los Angeles Times: The Rise of the Late Baby Boomers

President-elect Barack Obama may well be one of the 79 million members of the baby boom generation. But he's a late-wave boomer, a child of the 1970s -- as are half of the two dozen people he's selected thus far to help him lead the country. Many of them came of age after the Vietnam War and the civil rights struggles. Their shared experiences offer insights into how they may govern.

New York Times: Generals Propose a Timetable for Iraq

A new military plan for troop withdrawals from Iraq that was described in broad terms this week to President-elect Barack Obama falls short of the 16-month timetable Mr. Obama outlined during his election campaign.

Daily Beast: The Backstory on Obama's Inaugural Pastor

America's Pastor--just announced as Obama's choice to give his inaugural prayer--has a nice-guy image. But it is belied by what he says on Sundays.

Washington Post: Helping to Write History

The job requires him to work unnoticed, even in plain view, so Jon Favreau settles into a wooden chair at a busy Starbucks in the center of Penn Quarter. Deadline looms, and he needs to write at least half a page by the end of the day. As the espresso machines whir, Favreau opens his laptop, calls up a document titled "rough draft of inaugural" and goes to work on the most anticipated speech of Barack Obama's life.

Wall Street Journal: Compiling a To-Do List for Obama's New Deal

The need for fiscal stimulus is hardly debated. With unemployment rising, wealth plunging and the Federal Reserve nearly out of ammunition, "nobody's crying wolf here," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. But the president-elect sees his plan as far more than fending off the wolf. He has said repeatedly that in crisis, he sees opportunity -- to rebuild a national infrastructure that has been neglected for decades and to make down payments on policy initiatives that would have taken years to negotiate.