Afghan president welcomes US remarks on Taliban (AP)

AP - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday welcomed remarks from the Obama administration saying that Taliban insurgents were not America's enemies.

Obama hopeful for progress in 2012 (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama says Congress' eventual willingness to come together and prevent year-end tax increases makes him hopeful of more economic progress to come in 2012.

Obama hopeful for progress in 2012 (AP)

AP - President Barack Obama says Congress' eventual willingness to come together and prevent year-end tax increases makes him hopeful of more economic progress to come in 2012.

In 2012, Obama to press ahead without Congress (AP)

AP - Leaving behind a year of bruising legislative battles, President Barack Obama enters his fourth year in office having calculated that he no longer needs Congress to promote his agenda and may even benefit in his re-election campaign if lawmakers take little action in 2012.

A poll is more thermometer than crystal ball (AP)

AP - At this point four years ago, national polls taken in the run-up to presidential primaries said to get ready for a faceoff between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in 2004, Howard Dean was coasting to the Democratic nomination to face President George W. Bush.