All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Updated 5:07 p.m. ET

Credit tail winds or a pilot with a heavy hand on the throttle, but President Obama returned home two hours early from this 8-day, 4-nation Asia trip.

Worth noting: The trip home was one of those time warp events: Thanks to the International Date Line, Mr. Obama left Seoul at 4:11p.m. local time Thursday and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base 21 minutes earlier at 350 p.m. Washington time.

He traveled 20,898 miles to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.

It brings to 20, the number of foreign nations he has visited since taking office a day short of ten months ago.

He has done more foreign travel in his first year than any other U.S. president. And his overseas journeys are not yet at an end for the year.

He'll be going to Oslo next month to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. And may return to Scandinavia a week later to attend the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Remember when the first lady did some hula hooping last month during Healthy Kids Fair at the White House? (See more photos here)

Today, Mrs. Obama said she "got a little too much attention from the hula hooping."

She was discussing healthy lifestyle and living curriculum with teachers at Hollin Meadows School in Alexandria.

But Mrs. Obama said the goal of the hula hooping was to engage "families and kids in the whole area of fitness."

One of the teachers told her that her hula hooping inspired the kids and even him to follow suit.

Mrs. Obama visited the school cafeteria and with the principal, handed bananas and oranges to kids as they emerged from the chow line.

She says government can do better in the school lunches provided to kids.

"The low rates of vegetables and fruits in those meals and the high rates of foods that have high calories probably plays a role in some of the statistics the we hear, that one in three kids in this country are obese," said the first lady.

She described childhood obesity as a problem "we have to really combat."

"If we don't do something about it now it's only going to get worse."

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It's another record-high for the U.S. National Debt which today topped the $12-trillion mark. Divided evenly among the U.S. population, it amounts to $38,974.34 for every man, woman and child.

Technically, the debt hit the new high yesterday, but it was posted on the Treasury Department website just after 3:00 p.m. ET today. The exact calculation of the debt is a 16-digit tongue-twister and red-ink tsunami: $12,031,299,186,290.07

This latest milestone in the ever-rising journey of the National Debt comes less than eight months after it hit $11 trillion for the first time. The latest high-point is not unexpected, considering the federal deficit for the just-ended 2009 fiscal year hit an all-time high at $1.42-trillion – more than triple the previous year's record high.

Much of the increase in the deficit and debt is attributed to government spending outpacing revenue – both exacerbated by the recession and the government response to it – including hundreds of billions in bailouts and stimulus spending and tax cuts along with decreased tax revenues due to rising unemployment.

In recent days, President Obama has spoken of the need to bring the rising deficit and debt under control.

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Even Attorney General Eric Holder says he was surprised at this morning's announcement that White House Counsel Greg Craig (second from left) is stepping down.

Neither the White House statement nor Craig's letter of resignation said a word about why he was leaving.

He has faced criticism in recent months over his efforts to carry out President Obama's order to close the terror suspect detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. It's clear the facility will not be shut down by president's one year deadline on Jan. 22nd.

Privately, White House officials say Gitmo had nothing to do with the resignation. They say Craig remains highly regarded by the president and other top aides and he was not asked to step down less than a year on the job.

"Absolutely not," said a senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, on whether his performance on Guantanamo Bay prompted Craig's resignation. Right from the start, the official said, Craig agreed to serve as White House Counsel with the caveat that he would leave after one year.

But that agreement was closely held – and Craig repeatedly denied any such intention to reporters.

"I have no plans to leave whatsoever," he said last month. "The reports that I'm about to leave are wrong. I have no plans to leave."

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If President Obama has one of those wall maps where he sticks a flag pin in every state he's visited, he planted the 50th yesterday.

"I have to tell you I'm also really excited because I had up until today visited 49 states. So this is officially my 50th state," he told military personnel at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, a refueling stop on his way to Japan.

His self-proclaimed tally is clearly the result of a lifetime geographic accomplishment that includes his two years of extensive travel as a presidential candidate. But as president, he still has a ways to go before he can put a flag pin in every state.

Our CBS News scorecard shows that since taking office, Mr. Obama has been to 28 states (see list below). That reflects the 39 domestic trips he's taken since his Inauguration. It's a lot, but it's not a record.

During George W. Bush's first year as president, he visited 39 states. It took him the remaining seven years to bring his count to 49. But he never planted a flag pin in Vermont, perhaps understandably. It was a state in which 40 towns and the State Senate voted to impeach him and Vice President Cheney.

Pres. Bill Clinton was impeached, though not convicted, and he managed to visit all 50 states during his eight years in office. But he only hit #50 a month and a couple weeks before the end of his two terms by visiting Nebraska in December 2000.

George H. W. Bush hit all 50 statements in his one term as president.

List of 28 States Visited By President Obama
(in chronological order):

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President Obama met Wednesday with his national security team, the latest in his series of meetings on the best way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is the eighth in the series of meetings Mr. Obama has had on drafting a new strategy in the turbulent region – a decision that includes how many additional U.S. troops to send to Afghanistan.

Those taking part in today’s meeting include the usual members of the war council: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen, National Security advisor James Jones, and the top U.S. officials in Afghanistan – Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who take part in the meeting by way of a secure video teleconference.

Also taking part was Gen. David Petraeus, who, as head of U.S. Central Command, oversees military operations in Afghanistan.

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Even before President Obama sets foot on Air Force One tomorrow to begin a 9-day trip to Asia, he has traveled to more countries in his first year in office than any of his predecessors.

Since taking office, he has made 7 foreign trips and visited 16 countries, 3 of them twice.

The Asia trip – which takes him to Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea – will bring his total to 8 foreign trips and 20 countries.

The only other president to come close to Mr. Obama's first-year-in-office globe-trotting numbers is President George H. W. Bush, who took 7 foreign trips to 14 countries.

His son traveled abroad five times to 11 countries during his first year. President Clinton only did 2 foreign trips to 3 nations in 1993.

Foreign travel by American presidents is a relatively new practice. No sitting U.S. president left the country until Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. He made a single foreign outing: a 3-day visit to Panama in November of that year to inspect construction of the Panama Canal.

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American presidents often face their greatest speaking challenges when called upon to serve as consoler-in-chief to a nation grieving a collective loss.

But national calamities also give U.S. leaders an unequaled chance to inspire and provide solace.

Remember President Reagan's evening address to the nation on the day America suffered through the Challenger disaster that claimed the lives of 7 astronauts:

"Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss."

That speech is remembered as one of Ronald Reagan's finest and most moving – especially its ending.

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"

In 1995, President Clinton found himself in a similar situation, trying to comfort the nation after the worst episode of terrorism to hit the U.S. to that time: the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

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President Obama is delaying his long-planned trip to Asia by a day so he can attend tomorrow's Memorial Service at Fort Hood and pay homage to the victims of last week's shooting spree.

He and the First Lady will fly to the sprawling Army post in Central Texas on Tuesday morning to visit privately with the families of the 13 personnel shot dead last Thursday. It's an incident Mr. Obama has condemned as "a horrific outburst of violence." Twenty-nine others were wounded in the massacre in which an Army medical officer is suspected of deliberately targeting military personnel in an act of madness or anti-American rage at U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Families are coming in from all over the country," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs of the Memorial Service. He made it clear late last week that Mr. Obama was determined to attend the service no matter what. It means his departure for Asia, originally scheduled for Wednesday, is put off a day.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Tragedy at Fort Hood

The president has also already spoken out three times to denounce the attack at Fort Hood.

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Even at 10.2 percent, the worst in more than a quarter century, the nation's unemployment rate has not topped out.

"More likely than not, it will get a little worse before it gets better," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs at his midday briefing today.

For months, the White House had been warning us to brace for a double-digit unemployment rate. It arrived this morning with a thud – like an anvil dropped from a 10.2-story building.

The jobless rate for October jumped four-tenths to 10.2 percent. President Obama calls it "a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead."

Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden, he was quick to point out that "job growth always lags behind economic growth." Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter moved back into positive territory last week at 3.5 percent.

Nevertheless, Mr. Obama and his aides point out that the economy lost fewer payroll jobs in October than it did the month before. Job loss for October totaled 190,000 – down from a revised 219,000 in September. The administration views that as a hopeful sign.

Christina Romer, Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, says the numbers continue "the steady trend of moderating job loss that began last spring." (The White House posted a chart illustrating the trend is available on its Web site here.)

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