Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Afghan's President Hamid Karzai is in Washington this week. He's had meetings with Secretary Clinton, but won't see Obama until tomorrow. Obama is meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and General McChrystal today in advance of his meetings with Karzai. I haven't seen any much reporting that indicates the situation in Afghanistan is improving.

Secretary Gates will also be meeting with the President today. The topic is Afghanistan, but Obama should ask his Secretary of Defense why he thinks the President and Congressional leaders are "stupid." Yep, Gates said it would be stupid to repeal DADT this year, before his study is completed. That means the President, Majority Leader Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Levin, Rep. Frank, Rep. Murphy and many others are "stupid," according to the Gates standard.

The Senate is still debating the Wall Street reform bill. There will be a vote today on the amendment from Senator Sanders to audit the Federal Reserve. It's a compromise, but will be a very important addition to the legislation. A stronger audit, sponsored by Reps. Ron Paul and Alan Grayson, passed in the House version of Wall Street reform.

What else?