DO AS WE SAY - NOT AS WE DO, DEPT.

In the LA Times (of all places) today is this nugget: A survey of the White House parking lot (by the Detroit News and Politico.com) shows that the very people who want to tell the US auto industry what to do aren't driving American cars. I'm sure the spin will be, "Of course we're not, and that's why we're now experts...we would have bought from US automakers if they had what we wanted". Or, "We do this to check out the competition". Uh huh.

Here's the bottom line: Surveyors found only five American cars out of 23. Two Fords, a Jeep, Cadillac and a Dodge. Those DC gurus-of-all-things driving foreign jobs include Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (Lexus), Budget boss Peter Orszag (Honda), economic advisor Austan Goolsbee (Toyota) and Biden advisor Jared Bernstein (Honda). At least Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (happens to be a Republican) has a Buick and a Ford Escape.

NATO NUMBERS: The President got a commitment of more troops for Afghanistan from NATO. But they're not doing combat operations. That's been the problem since NATO became more involved there three years ago. I was on location in Afghanistan right before the transition and saw plenty of troops from other countries opting out of lots of tasks that the US and a select few allies do, everyday. This shouldn't be a surprise to Mr. Obama. And it shouldn't be something he touts as something it is not. Meanwhile, North Korea launched a missile (which we're told wasn't fully successful). Network media adored the "quick response" from the White House: More talking, posturing and empty threats "backed up" by the UN. While the photo op jabbering continues, North Korea will likely shop its technology (such as it is) to countries like Iran.