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Former Vice President Dick Cheney again harshly criticized President Obama this morning, telling a conservative talk show host that the president's much-debated bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito was "fundamentally harmful" to the country and suggesting that Mr. Obama doesn't understand the negative impact of the time he has taken to craft a strategy going forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Weekly Standard reports that Cheney told Scott Hennen that the bow reflected the fact that Mr. Obama "doesn’t fully understand or have the same perception of the US role in the world that most Americans have."

Cheney also said the decision to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and other Guantanamo Bay detainees on trial in civilian court was a misguided effort at a "show trial" that will allow terrorists "to stand up and spread the terrible ideology that they adhere to."

And he again made the case that the president's "dithering" on what to do in Afghanistan and Pakistan is hurting the country.

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President Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito in Tokyo earlier this month ignited anger from some conservatives who complained, in the words of blogger Donald Douglass, that the United States "now willingly prostrates itself before the rest of the world."

Now the president is responding – kind of. The Atlantic quotes "a US government official who was on the trip" who says the president was left "speechless" by the controversy.

"Obama's attitude was, this is an elderly gentleman in a country where this kind of greeting is customary," said the official. "It does not seem extraordinary to show this kind of gesture to him."

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics

** Now the real fight over health care reform begins...

** President Obama tackles unemployment...

** Sarah Palin rises in polls during her book tour...

HEALTH CARE: Democrats Saturday night squeaked by with 60 votes on a procedural motion to move the health care debate forward.

Still, writes Shalaigh Murray of the Washington Post, " Democrats had little time to savor their weekend Senate health-care victory, as two of the lawmakers who voted to move the debate forward Saturday night indicated Sunday that they will not vote to pass the package if it includes a government-run insurance program."

"Despite the success in the test vote, the fragile consensus in the Democratic caucus will face its greatest test yet as the health-care debate moves to the Senate floor and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) struggles to stave off internal schisms. The cracks in the 60-member caucus are most obvious over the public insurance option.

"One member of the Democratic caucus, independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), reiterated Sunday that he will oppose any bill that contains a public option. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," he called such a government-run plan 'radical.'

"Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another centrist who supported the move to continue debate but has made it clear he has many objections to the legislation as currently written, restated his opposition to a public plan. 'I don't want a big-government, Washington-run operation that undermines the private insurance that 200 million Americans now have,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'"

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In the morning, President Obama will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisers in the Oval Office. Later, he will deliver remarks at an event highlighting several initiatives designed to boost science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

Mr. Obama and Vice President Biden will then have lunch in the Private Dining Room.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will hold a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room. Later, he will then meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.

In the evening, the president will deliver remarks and present the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award to Magodonga Mahlangu and her organization, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), in an East Room ceremony.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

10:20AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:50AM: President Obama meets with senior advisers

11:40AM: President Obama delivers remarks at event highlighting several initiatives designed to boost science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education

12:35PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden have lunch

1:45PM: President Obama meets with his Cabinet

4:50PM: President Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

5:50PM: President Obama delivers remarks and presents the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

With Sarah Palin in the spotlight as she continues her nationwide media and book tour, the Democratic National Committee is suggesting to its supporters that the former GOP vice presidential candidate could pose a real threat to the Democratic agenda.

In a fundraising e-mail sent out Friday, Organizing for America -- the community organizing component of the DNC founded in the wake of Barack Obama’s inauguration -- said it is aiming to raise $500,000 in the next week "to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies."

"Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn," says the e-mail, signed by OFA Director Mitch Stewart. "It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term 'Death Panels' -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists."

Palin has managed to draw in large crowds on her book tour, illustrating the fact that she still has ardent political supporters more than a year after losing the 2008 election and months after resigning as governor of Alaska. Mainstream media outlets, as well as both conservative and liberal outlets, have thoroughly covered Palin's moves because of the public's strong interest in her.

It is open for debate, however, whether the DNC truly considers Palin a threat or is simply using Palin's current moment in the spotlight to its own advantage.

"This e-mail is a standard political tactic: use a highly controversial opponent to rally your base," CBS News' Political Director Steve Chaggaris said. "Knowing how strongly liberals dislike Palin, President Obama's political arm sees an opportunity and is trying to take advantage of that anti-Palin passion to benefit its cause."

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President Obama has no scheduled public events on Friday, after returning home Thursday afternoon from an 8-day trip to four countries in Asia.

Coverage of Obama's Visit to Asia:

Photo Essays
Photo Essay: Obama at the Great Wall of China
Photo Essay: Obama in China
Photo Essay: Obama in South Korea
Photo Essay: Obama in Japan

Stories and Blog Posts
CBS News Interview with Obama in China
Obama Returns Home After 4-Nation, 20,898-Mile Trip
Obama's Trip Lacked Notable Achievements
Obama, Lee Seek Nuke Bargain with N. Korea
In Asia, Obama Talks Tough on Iran
Obama Calls Great Wall "Magical"
Obama Reunites with Half-Brother in China
Obama Stresses Cooperation With Hu, China
Obama Takes in the Sights of Beijing
U.S., China Fuel Each Other's Bad Habits

Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

** Gearing up for a long health care Senate debate...

** Stimulus tracking comes under fire...

** Republican governors focus on economic issues...

HEALTH CARE: "The Senate Thursday began what promises to be a bitter, lengthy battle over the future of health care in America, and taxes, abortion, affordability and federal deficits emerged as key flashpoints," reports McClatchy Newspapers' David Lightman.

"Senate Democratic leaders expect the first test vote on their new $848 billion, 2,074-page health care overhaul bill will come on Saturday evening. Although Democrats are likely to get the 60 votes they need to move forward with the debate, the outcome is uncertain.

"Should the measure pass that initial test, lawmakers made it clear Thursday that they're ready for weeks of political warfare.

"Democrats framed their mission in heroic terms.

"'This is about the woman with high cholesterol, or the man with heart disease, or the child with hay fever who can't get help,' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. 'That's why we're stopping insurance companies from deciding they'd simply rather not give health care to the sick.'”

"The first test for the bill, which would extend coverage to 31 million more Americans while reducing federal deficits by $130 billion over the next decade, will come Saturday evening," write the Washington Post's Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray. "That is when Democratic leaders hope to keep together all 60 of their caucus members to turn back Republican procedural objections. Reid's efforts are focused on three moderate Democrats who oppose various provisions in the measure and have not declared whether they will support efforts to advance it.

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On "Washington Unplugged" Thursday, CBS News' Marc Ambinder said that while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has an uphill battle getting the health care he bill introduced last night passed, not all hope is lost

He noted how important the votes of Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) , Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), as well Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), are to the bill's chance of passage. "Their biggest stated concern is that the bill will add to the deficit over ten years," Ambinder explained, adding that the White House and Democratic leaders are encouraged because the Reid plan was estimated to decrease the deficit.

"It removes a major obstacle to moderates supporting it," he said. And the White House may have reason to rejoice.

"The White House strategy amounts to three words," CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller said. "Get it passed."

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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.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat pushing for a new tax on Wall Street transactions, is calling for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to lose his job.

Dubbing White House economic adviser Larry Summers "an adviser from Wall Street" and Geithner – who he calls "Timmy" – "a Treasury Secretary from Wall Street," DeFazio suggested on MSNBC that the two men don't prioritize the best interests of average Americans.

"We think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street -- we reclaim some of the unspent [TARP] funds, we reclaim some of the funds that are being paid back, which will not be paid back in full, and we use it to put people back to work," he said, adding that Geithner and Summers "don't like that idea."

"They want to keep the TARP money either to continue to bail out Wall Street if there are future problems, or maybe…to pay down the deficit," he said. "That's absurd."

Asked if Geithner should stay in his job, DeFazio said no.

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