† Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?: The Washington Times interviewed legislators, party leaders and political operatives nationwide to find out why they think he’s been an ineffectual campaigner – for other Dems. The paper got an earful:

The list of White House failures is growing: It hasn't galvanized the legions of 2008 Obama backers in three major statewide losses. It hasn't prevented primary challenges for at least two vulnerable Senate Democrats even though Mr. Obama endorsed them. And it hasn't recruited strong candidates for Senate seats once held by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the president himself.

"I get the sense that it's all about them ... and that if they do get involved, it should be magic. But, in my experience, it hasn't been," said Democratic Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas. …

They suggested Mr. Obama's team is overly focused on his likely 2012 re-election bid. And they blamed the White House for a muddled message about what he's trying and accomplishing as president.

Only now, Dems are figuring out that Obama is self-centered, self-engrossed, self-interested – in other words, selfish?

† Caroline Kennedy (Finally) Killed Camelot: Former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II is lamenting his decision not to run for the people’s seat that was occupied for nearly 50 years by his uncle, Ted until Republican Scott Brown’s “upset” victory in last week’s special election, reports The Boston Globe:

Kennedy smiled when a reporter asked him whether he regretted not running. “The thought had crossed my mind,’’ he said.

Kennedy, 56, contemplated jumping into the race after his uncle’s death last August, and that consideration put the political world on edge. Several potential candidates said they would not run if he did, but Kennedy announced last September that he would not run, ending the family’s half-century of political dominance in Massachusetts. …

Dan Payne, a Democratic strategist based in the Boston area, said in a telephone interview: “In the future, it will be hard for any Kennedy to get a post because they are already filled, there aren’t going to be any seats available soon, and anyone who wants to take on an incumbent will have a tough run at it.’’

Here’s a sampling of how the paper’s readers reacted to Kennedy’s sense of dynastic entitlement - and apparent certainty that had he run, he would have won:

headpin1: He would have lost the election big time, most are sick of the Kennedys. He should be driving an oil truck for 50K a year not on TV for 500K, not sure if he is qualified to do that.

Brazner: Joe Kennedy is in bed with anti-American dictator Hugo Chavez. That wouldn't have gone over well in the election.

anotherdave: Dan Payne seems to have missed the Senate campaign. Scott Brown was elected on a promise to not vote with the Democrats on the left wing agenda, such as government takeover of healthcare

LeoTheLion4: I don't know who Brian Ballou is, but he has clearly assumed a long and dishonorable tradition of Globe “alleged reporters” serving as full-time Kennedy sycophants. (Bob Healey comes to mind as one who played that role, as does the hermaphrodite, bow-tied Tom Oliphant; and let's not forget that industrial strength Kennedy bum-kisser: Martin Nolan.)

mannahatta: You would think by now people would have woken up and realized what a bunch of phonies these Kennedys are and always have been. Seymour Hersh's book "The Dark Side of Camelot" says it all, exposing a sickening glimpse into the dissolute lifestyle of these devious sexual predators. Good riddance to all of them.

Hawk75: Flash for Joe K., we're all glad you didn't run. Obamacare,cap and trade,amnesty for illegals, and the rest of Hussein's facist agenda all DOA with the election of Brown. All would have been alive and kicking with you in DC. Just keep on hangin' with your homey Hugo and leave the rest of us alone, we're fine without your family's magnificent benevolence.

Chris0721: I greatly applaud your decision Mr. Joseph Kennedy! The last thing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts needs is another person from the corrupt Kennedy family in office.

† Average Americans To Liberals: Existential Angst Over Torture? It’s All You.: In his recap of this week’s episode of “24,” New York magazine writer John Carney nicely captures the tension between the revulsion that decent people feel about torturing or killing someone and the secret hope that we could find it within ourselves to “do what we had to do” to stop a terrorist attack:

Jack became a voyeur, watching the perhaps suicidal violence of outcast FBI agent Renee Walker. Reduced to passively watching and listening as Renee coerced cooperation out of a man she mutilated, and then as she met with Russian gangsters who very nearly murdered her and may have raped her, Jack became us - the viewers of 24. …

But if Jack can become us, the question is raised: Has he been us all along? On the level of action, of course, the answer is no. We certainly would have perished several seasons ago. Probably right at the start of season one, actually. Or we would have slunk away in cowardice and incompetence. The world would have suffered any number of devastations if left in our hands.

But if what separates us from Jack is just our failings, that tells us something about ourselves. Most of us would like to think we wouldn’t torture someone to get information we wanted. We wouldn’t knowingly lead a reformed criminal to his death, as Renee did last night. But is that because we’re good - or because we’re weak?

† Judge Rips BofA For Hypocritical Defense Strategy: Is there even more about the Wall Street bailouts - in this case, the hush-hush handling of the $62 billion AIG paid to financial institutions for credit default swaps in November 2008 - that Treasury Secretary Tiny Tim Geithner knows without having to read about in the papers? Testifying at a congressional hearing, Geithner and “a list of powerful folks denied being involved in the secrecy decision,” reports  Corporate Counsel:

A flurry of e-mails in January 2009 flew among in-house counsel at the New York Fed and at AIG, along with outside counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell. They show that the lawyers were intently focused on keeping details of the deals secret - including the names of the counterparties and the amounts they received.

The e-mails, subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, do not say who at the Fed requested the secrecy, nor why. Committee members suggested the "cover-up" was invoked to hide from Congress the fact that the Fed was giving a "backdoor bailout" to more big banks.

Presumably none of the other 250,000 pages of subpoenaed documents go to the heart of the who and why questions either, because committee members kept asking each witness during the hearing. …

With all those denials, we at Corporate Counsel were intrigued. So on Thursday we just asked the New York Fed outright: Who ordered the lawyers to find a way to keep the payments secret? Was it the bank's No. 2 person, Cumming?

A spokesman for the New York Fed replied that the bank's "investment staff," in consultation with outside counsel, made the decision to seek secrecy.

So now we know ... sort of.

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: The fourth annual 'What's On Brides' Mind' survey of 500 engaged women aged 18 to 35 by David's Bridal finds that 68 percent plan to spend less on their wedding, compared to 75 percent last year, reports MarketingDaily:

And 54% plan to keep the big event on the smaller side, with a total budget of $25,000 or less, while 30% plan to spend less than $10,000. Only 22% are going whole hog, and plan on a total wedding budget of more than $50,000. …

Among their favorite ways to lower costs, 46% have trimmed the guest list, 39% plan to trade down on venue, and 39% are giving wedding planners the heave-ho. And while brides-to-be say they won't compromise on their dream dress, they are watching prices - with 50% determined not to pay more than $800 on their own dress, or ask their bridesmaids to pay more than $150.

† Updates To Previous Posts (Obama Administration Christmas Bomber Missteps Worse Than You Think): Earlier this week, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean (R-NJ) and former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN), who led the 9/11 commission told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the Obama administration botched the interrogation of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, reports The Washington Post: