All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

More Americans than ever believe the war in Afghanistan is going badly for the United States, a new CBS News poll finds.

Sixty-nine percent now say things are going badly for the U.S. in Afghanistan, a sharp increase from the 53 percent who said so in September. Just 23 percent say things are going well, down 12 points from September.

The findings reflect the most negative assessment of the war ever measured in CBS News polls.

Special Report: Afghanistan

Assessments have declined in particular among Republicans and independents. In September, 47 percent of Republicans thought the war was going well for the U.S.; that figure has now fallen to 27 percent. Among independents, positive assessments of the war have fallen from 34 percent in September to 21 percent.

The new poll also suggests that Americans have become increasingly skeptical about President Obama's handling of Afghanistan. Just 38 percent now approve of the president's performance on Afghanistan, down from 43 percent in October and 58 percent in April. Forty-three percent disapprove, an increase of nine points from last month.

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The Obama administration appears to be going against public opinion with its decision to try five terrorist suspects – including self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – in a civilian trial in New York City.

A new CBS News poll finds that only 40 percent of Americans believe suspected terrorists should be tried in an open criminal court. Fifty-four percent say such suspects should be tried in a closed military court.

There is a correlation between where people stand on the trials and their political beliefs. Roughly six in ten Republicans and independents favor closed military trials, while 54 percent of Democrats prefer open civilian trials.

Read the Complete Poll

The suspects have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, which the Obama administration has promised to close. Americans have become increasingly resistant to doing so, according to the poll: fifty percent now say the facility should be kept open, while 39 percent back the administration's plan to close it.

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A slim majority of Americans believe the U.S. military had information that could have prevented the shootings at Fort Hood Army post, a new CBS News poll finds.

Fifty-one percent of Americans say the military had sufficient information to prevent the shootings, while 29 percent say it did not. Another 20 percent are not sure.

Republicans and independents were slightly more likely than Democrats to say the military had sufficient information, though the percentages were relatively stable across the political spectrum.

Forty-eight percent of Americans – including 65 percent of Republicans – deem the shootings an act of terrorism, while 38 percent say it was not terrorism. Fourteen percent say they don't know if the attack, allegedly carried out by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was terrorism.

Read the Complete Poll

President Obama spoke at a memorial service for those killed in the attack, and he gets relatively high marks for his performance in the wake of the incident. Fifty-seven percent say they approve of how Mr. Obama dealt with the shootings, while just 18 percent disapprove. One in four aren't sure how they feel.

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The president is what would is called a "key employee" in corporate America. While his compensation isn't other worldly ($400,000 per year), his influence in the world order is immense. If he were to become ill or incapacitated, the country and the connected planet would be destabilized to some degree.

CBSNews.com Special Report: H1N1

Therefore, protecting the president against natural and unnatural threats to his wellbeing is a very high priority. Apparently, that priority doesn't include getting vaccinated as soon as possible against the H1N1 flu virus.

The logic offered by the White House is that as a healthy adult with no underlying conditions, Mr. Obama doesn't fall into a priority group designated to receive the H1N1 flu vaccination at this time. He received the plain-old flu shot earlier this month, but will wait until the H1N1 flu vaccine is available to the general population before he gets the promised immunity given by the vaccine.

Given the issues around supply and demand for the vaccine, determining what constitutes "general availability" to the U.S. population will be an interesting call.

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First Lady Michelle Obama's office said Tuesday that Malia and Sasha Obama have received the vaccine for the H1N1 flu, otherwise known as swine flu.

A spokeswoman for Michelle Obama, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, tells the Associated Press that Sasha, age 8, and Malia, age 11, got the shot from a White House doctor last week after it became available to schoolchildren in the Washington area.

President and Michelle Obama are going to wait to get the H1N1 shot until members of higher priority groups have received their shots. The whole family, however, has gotten the seasonal flu shot.

CBSNews.com Special Report: H1N1

Tension is palpable among Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight Committee that is (sort of) investigating Countrywide Mortgage's sweetheart loans to VIPs.

The Democrat in charge of the Committee, Edolphus Towns of New York (left), has himself received loans from Countrywide and has for months refused Republican requests to subpoena records in the case. Today, as Committee Republicans — led by Rep. Darrell Issa — were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas at a Committee business meeting, the meeting was abruptly cancelled. Only Republicans showed up and Democratic chairs remained empty.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) During The Committee Meeting

Republicans voiced suspicion that Chairman Towns cancelled the meeting to avoid the subpoena vote. Democrats countered by saying the meeting was cancelled due to "disagreement among Democratic members (on) whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industries' political contributions to Republicans."

A Republican staffer captured video of Democrats leaving their own separate meeting during the time the Committee business meeting was supposed to be convened.

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The government's effort to distribute H1N1 vaccine throughout the U.S. is "a little bumpy" but should improve later this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday.

Speaking to CBS' "The Early Show", Sebelius said "we won't have as much as everybody wants right away" but the nation would have "good supply" of the specialized flu vaccine in October and urged people to prepare for vaccinations.

A nasal spray version of the vaccine was made available this week, but not to everyone. Those at risk for flu complications – such as pregnant women, children under age 2 and people over 49 – are not eligible for the spray vaccine, Sebelius said.

"It's a fairly limited group," she said.

The injectable vaccines are, however, recommended for five primary groups – pregnant women, caregivers for children under 6 months, health care workers, people age 2 to 24 and older Americans with underlying health conditions.

Sebelius said an injectable vaccine will be available by the end of the week.

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More than one in three Americans now believe President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package has had a positive impact, a new CBS News/New York Times survey finds. But nearly half say it has not yet had an impact.

Thirty-six percent say the stimulus has made things better, up from 25 percent in July. The percentage who says it has had no impact has fallen from 57 percent to 46 percent. Thirteen percent say the stimulus has made things worse.

Nearly half of Americans – 47 percent – expect the stimulus to have a positive impact in the long run. Roughly one in four expect it to have no impact, while another 21 percent say it will ultimately have a negative impact.

Read the Complete Poll

Fifty-two percent say the stimulus package will eventually create jobs, though just seven percent say it has already done so. Thirty-eight percent say the package will never create jobs.

Americans continue to have an overwhelmingly negative perception of the economy. Just 22 percent say it is in good shape, while 77 percent say it is in bad shape. Perceptions did improve slightly over the summer.

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President Obama has penned an editorial for the New York Daily News proclaiming that on every Sept. 11th, "we are all New Yorkers."

"We will never forget the images of planes vanishing into buildings; of billowing smoke rolling down the streets of Manhattan; of photos hung by the families of the missing," he wrote. "We will never forget the rage and aching sadness we felt. And we will never forget the feeling that we had lost something else: a sense of safety as we went about our daily lives."

He went on to write that his "greatest responsibility is the security of the American people."

"It is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning," wrote the president. "It's the last thing I think about when I go to sleep at night. That responsibility is the heart of the policies my administration has put in place."

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President Obama this morning laid a wreath of white flowers at the Pentagon memorial for those killed there in the Sept. 11 attacks, sating the passage of time cannot "diminish the pain and the loss of that day."

"On this solemn day, at this sacred hour, once more we pause," the president said in Arlington, Virginia, where he was joined by first lady Michelle Obama. "Once more we pray -- as a nation and as a people; in city streets where our two towers were turned to ashes and dust; in a quiet field where a plane fell from the sky; and here, where a single stone of this building is still blackened by the fires."

Following his remarks, the president met with family members of those killed in the attacks as a military band played America The Beautiful. As rain poured around him, he said that it was a time to "renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still."

"In defense of our nation we will never waver; in pursuit of al Qaeda and its extremist allies, we will never falter," said Mr. Obama.

The president also honored those "who saw their nation in its hour of need and said, 'I choose to serve,'" reiterating a commitment to "our courageous men and women in uniform and their families and all those who protect us here at home."

He went on to stress the human capacity for good over evil and to say that "a day when others sought to sap our confidence" was cause for Americans to "renew our common purpose."

"Let us remember how we came together as one nation, as one people, as Americans, united not only in our grief, but in our resolve to stand with one another, to stand up for the country we all love," said the president.

About 500 guests were present at the event. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, spoke before the president. Following the national anthem, Mullen told the crowd, "who among us can ever forget where we were, what we saw, how we felt."

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