By Steve Clemons

What follows below is a chunk of the President’s speech today in Copenhagen.

The video clip above is well worth the time — focused on thinking through what “soft power” really means in today’s world and how British and American efforts are similar and/or diverge.

This morning, I learned in Politico that the AP’s Ron Fournier, The Atlantic‘s James Fallows, the New York Times‘ Adam Nagourney, HuffPost‘s Sam Stein, and now Politico‘s Daniel Libit all are getting as much attention from, if not more, from “news hound” Daniel Lippman, an 19-year old George Washington University student who sends “us” a…

Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL-19), who will soon leave his post to take on the presidency of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation has just sent this morning an important note to Congressional Members about a New America Foundation poll of Israeli public attitudes yesterday.

I love holidays — nearly all of them, but there is a clutzy side to me that sometimes reveals itself too much when I get into religious and cultural festivities that are a degree removed.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, in response to declining interest in H1N1 immunization from risk group citizens, opened up the immunization pool to those who wanted it. I’m out at the colonial era founded liberal arts college founded in 1782, Washington College, and decided to go ahead and get immunized.

Eight Days of Hanukkah from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has this soft side that Ted Kennedy often connected with — and it’s on display in this video (hat tip to Adele Stan and Mike Rogers).

I have to admit that since watching Afghanistan Commander General Stanley McChrystal‘s mesmerizing interview on 60 Minutes, I have made time nearly every day to get back in shape and do some running.

Sitting in my Berlin hotel room last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning at about 1:30 am, I saw a note from the White House come through the transom that was not about the President’s West Point speech on Afghanistan and Pakistan but rather about new presidential appointments.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) is speaking at Brookings today on the Obama administration’s course in Afghanistan. His speech, while largely supportive of the frame that Obama has brought to the challenge — a narrowed mission, discussion of an offramp, and more — also includes lingering doubts.