On his 10-day trip to Asia and in his 10th month in office, Barack Obama is beginning to encounter limits on his ambition to change the world. Even as he bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia last April and to the emperor of Japan last week, the world refuses to bow back.

This is not how it was supposed to be. "I am absolutely certain that generations from now," he said on the night he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June 2008, "we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last best hope on earth."

We're still working on a lot of that. The Democrats are having a problem passing a health care bill in the Senate (though somehow a lot of sick people are being cared for), and those good jobs will have to wait, it appears, for the December "jobs summit." Whether the rise of the oceans has begun to slow is unclear to me; we had a cool summer and a warm fall here in Washington. Read On

THOUSANDS GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- College students ditched class, employees skipped work and some huddled in the cold overnight just to make sure they get an orange wristband Wednesday that would let them meet Sarah Palin.

Thousands gathered outside a Barnes & Noble and chanted "Palin! Palin! Palin!" for the kickoff of the former Republican vice presidential candidate's "Going Rogue" book tour, which has taken on the feel of a political pep rally.

"She's a person of faith, she has a family, she has gone through a lot of the trials and tribulations we have. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat," said Lana Smith, a dispatcher at a bus company who took the day off work and had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m.

"Someday I hope her name is up in lights and I'll have had the privilege of meeting her," Smith said. Read On

CREATED JOBS? President Obama has repeatedly stated that his stimulus package has "saved or created" hundreds of thousands of jobs. And hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created. In Unicornland.

According to the Recovery.gov website -- a website that the Obama administration has spent $18 million "stimulating" -- millions have been spent and hundreds of jobs have been created in heretofore unknown areas of America: 30 jobs using $761,420 of federal cash in the fictional 15th congressional district in Arizona (there are only eight congressional districts in Arizona); $19 million in spending and 15 jobs created in mythical districts in Oklahoma; $10.6 million on 39 jobs in invisible Iowan areas; $68.3 million spent in the magical 1st congressional district of the U.S. Virgin Islands; $35 million spent and 142 jobs created in the glittering fairy-tale kingdom of the 99th district of the Northern Mariana Islands; and the list goes on. . Read On

FAMILY CONCERNS:

• Christian leader fights for public vote on DC gay marriage
  Traditional marriage advocates in Washington, DC are telling city officials "We'll see you in court."
• Will GM overcome bailout paybacks?
  A regulatory expert says the effort by General Motors to spin its massive third-quarter loss is just like "putting lipstick on an Edsel."
• Indiana senator shifts left to support Hamilton
  An Indiana pro-family organization is calling its Republican Senator Richard Lugar to task for his support of David Hamilton for a seat on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
• RU safe and simple?
  A new study provides fresh information on potential harm of the abortion drug, RU-486.
• ABS FT. Hood outreach
  The American Bible Society is helping service members, civilian workers and their families at Fort Hood deal with the aftermath of the recent tragic shootings.
  

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