The agenda: A deadline in Iraq

The Iraqi cabinet has given Obama something he'll be touting in a re-election bid: a deadline to pull troops out of Iraq. "After months of painstaking negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, the Iraqi Cabinet yesterday approved a bilateral agreement allowing US troops to remain in Iraq for three more years. The accord still needs approval by Iraq's Parliament, but the Cabinet vote indicated that most major Iraqi parties supported it. An Iraqi government spokesman portrayed the pact as closing the book on the occupation that began with the US-led invasion in 2003." Bloomberg News reports an Obama-Pelosi deal on stimulus could top $500 billion. So how many jobs could be affected by the auto industry’s collapse? The Los Angeles Times : "All told, each truck contains 4,350 parts, made by 270 suppliers in 26 states as well as several foreign countries. Every F-150 that doesn't sell hits literally hundreds of thousands of people who play a role in putting the big machine on the road. When ... (link)