Politics

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Blackwater Chief Executive Officer Erik Prince defends his company's performance in Iraq before the House oversight committee in 2007. (Associated Press)

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Then-Sen. Barack Obama signs a copy of his book "The Audacity of Hope" at Bowie State University in November 2006. Key members of the president-elect's team have also authored books. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten second from left, Rabbis Abraham Shemtov, left, Levi Shemtov and Nachman Holtzberg, right, light the National Hanukkah Menorah, at the Ellipse, near the White House during a lighting ceremony marking the beginning of the celebration of the Hanukkah, Sunday Dec.. 21, 2008. Associated Press.

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President Nixon waves goodbye to staff members outside the White House after resigning on Aug. 9, 1974, following revelations of the Watergate and other scandals.

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Paul M. Weyrich addresses the National Press Club in December 1988. He joined consumer advocate Ralph Nader (left) to denounce pay raises for members of Congress. Mr. Weyrich died Thursday in Fairfax after a long illness. He was 66. (The Washington Times)

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Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

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President-elect Barack Obama (right) announces Federal Reserve Board Governor-designate Daniel Tarullo (center) and Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chairman-designate Gary Gensler in Chicago on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

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In this image from APTN video, a man, center, throws a shoe at U.S. President George W. Bush, background left, during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, in Baghdad, Iraq. On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and marred by dissent, Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity when a man hurled two shoes at him during a news conference. (AP Photo) ** FILE **

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Passengers board an Amtrak Acela train bound for New York at Union Station in Washington in 2008. (The Washington Times)

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HINDSIGHT: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledges that the U.S. "didn't talk much about democracy in the Middle East." (Associated Press)

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Tina Fey (left) plays Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to Amy Poehler's Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on "Saturday Night Live" in September 2008. (Associated Press, file)

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** FILE ** President Bush is greeted by the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno (left), and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker (center) on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, in Baghdad, on Mr. Bush's surprise visit to Iraq.

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BLOOMBERG NEWS CIA Director Michael V. Hayden, who is gaining support from the intelligence community to continue in his post in the Obama administration, met Tuesday with the president-elect in Chicago. The Obama transition team Friday declined to comment.

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James Stewart (left), Donna Reed and Thomas Mitchell appear in "It's a Wonderful Life."

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An estimated 1,200 undocumented migrants daily cross the Limpopo River, South Africa's equivalent of the Rio Grande separating the U.S. and Mexico. Most are from Zimbabwe, where shortages of food and fuel and an unemployment rate of more than 80% have sparked a steady exodus to the more stable and more prosperous South Africa. (Getty Images/File)