President U S

Taking note of the debate over the Iraq war in the presidential race, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Pentagon officials in a town hall meeting Thursday that the military must be prepared to change policy and carry out the wishes of the next president. But at a news conference afterward, Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen cautioned against policies that include a rapid withdrawal from Iraq, saying leaving too quickly would undermine recent security gains.

A San Fernando Valley man charged with threatening to kill the president was released on $225,000 bail Monday and ordered to submit to home detention and electronic monitoring while he awaits trial. Charles Madrid of Pacoima was also ordered by federal Magistrate Judge Margaret A. Nagle to undergo a mental health evaluation and to get treatment if necessary. Madrid, 50, was arrested last week after he allegedly threatened in a conversation with a former girlfriend to kill President Bush, and then confirmed the threat to authorities.

Early evening settles on a quiet suburb of spacious homes and lush lawns. Suddenly, an ominous voice pierces the tranquillity: America is about to elect the first black president of the United States. Within seconds, the streets flood with hundreds of panicked white people running from their homes. One man stops and lifts his face to the heavens, his arms outstretched, face etched with fear.

The Bush administration will make a "smooth and graceful transition of power" to the new president, who must protect the U.S. from enemies that continue to test the country on many fronts, Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday. "In the struggle at hand, the stakes remain high, but I am confident of the outcome," Cheney said in an address at Virginia Military Institute in front of about 3,000 people. "Those who hate America are no match for those who love America." Addressing the 1,350 members of VMI's Corps of Cadets, Cheney said he had confidence in their ability to watch over the nation as long as it remains at war.

You have to give Rush Limbaugh a perverse kind of credit. At least when he is demonizing Barack Obama, fabricating Obama policies, blaming Obama for single-handedly causing the recession and the stock market crash, he doesn't pretend to be fair. Opening his first post-election rant against the president-elect, Limbaugh launched in with a certain relish. "The game," he told his radio listeners, "has begun."

Barack Obama entered the Oval Office for the first time Monday, meeting with President Bush to plan the transfer of power while his wife, Michelle, was escorted by the first lady through the Obama family's next home. Obama's visit to the White House, six days after his victory, was rich in symbolism as the incoming and outgoing presidents strode side by side along the colonnade. When they reached the Oval Office, Bush held the door for the man who will succeed him Jan. 20.

In the 1960s, Irving Wallace wrote a novel called "The Man," in which the sudden deaths of the president, vice president and speaker of the House bring to power a most unlikely occupant of the Oval Office: Sen. Douglas Dillman -- a black man. Thanks to the election of Barack Obama, a black president in Washington fiction will be no more exceptional than one in real life. "Before Obama, you wouldn't have gotten away with simply having a black president and having that on the periphery.

One of the few times Barack Obama lost his famous cool during the presidential campaign was the day photographers got too close as he walked his youngest daughter, who was dressed as a corpse bride, to a Halloween party near their Chicago home. "You've got a shot. Leave us alone," Obama barked.

The roster shaping up for the Barack Obama administration is starting to look a little familiar, with an ironic pattern emerging as one name after another is added to it. A striking number of new and potential team members can trace their professional history to the same political birthplace -- the administration of one President Bill Clinton. There's Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, of course, the former first lady now on track to become secretary of State. And Rep.

Malia and Sasha Obama are headed for the Washington-area private Quaker school that Chelsea Clinton attended, aides to the future first family confirmed Friday. The Obamas picked Sidwell Friends School, where Vice President-elect Joe Biden's granddaughters also attend. The school is known for its rigorous standards and for educating children from some of Washington's most prominent and wealthy families. It is also the alma mater of President Nixon's daughters and Al Gore's son.