On Superbowl Sunday, Clint Eastwood appeared in a two-minute ad that has been dubbed "Half Time in America." Sponsored by the Chrysler car company, it shows a Detroit that escaped the jaws of defeat to become a model for American recovery. Eastwood's narration goes on to suggest that America is in similarly dire straits: “This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is gonna hear the roar of our engines. It’s half time America, and our second half is about to begin.”

In order to help close the financial gap between his campaign and its republican contenders, the Obama campaign reversed its long-standing opposition to super PACs. The reversal marks the beginning of a new phase in the presidential race both in terms of strategy and ideology, and is yet another sign of the huge role that these largely unregulated fundraising groups will play in the 2012 election cycle.

Tuesday night’s state of the union address will be a prime-time assessment of the nation's policy, economy and infrastructure and a laundry list of Administration policy goals set for the future. It will also serve as the opening salvo to President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. To look at the State of the Union as prime time electioneering is Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

Monday marks the beginning of 4709 in the Chinese calendar, the "Year of the Dragon". A strong, fiery, and auspicious cultural symbol, the lunar year ahead holds the potential for seismic change. In addition to the generational transitions set for its government, military, and the Communist Party, some experts are claiming 2012 will be the year China's economy collapses.

Considering Kodak's recent financial woes, the imaging giant's Chapter 11 filing should have come as no surprise. But that hasn't lessened the cultural impact of losing such an iconic American institution. Kodak has been a part of American culture for more than a 100 years. The company made the first consumer camera, and people even called cameras "Kodaks" at the turn of the century. In this commentary we explore the rise and fall of one of America's most identifiable brands.

With Texas Governor Rick Perry dropping out of the race and Rick Santorum declaring a belated victory in the Iowa caucuses, Thursday marked a day of big game changers in the GOP presidential contest. With one day left until the South Carolina primary, frontrunner Mitt Romney is slipping in the polls as Gingrich picks up more support, including an endorsement from Perry. As the Republican race gets tighter and attacks become even more brutal, how is President Barack Obama preparing for his campaign for 2012? 

When President Obama's political opponents describe his administration's ideological bent, harsh words are often tossed into the fray. Whether it's Socialism, Marxism or Fascism, the President’s first term has been marred with accusations of adherence to a number of controversial ideologies. Is there any truth behind these heavily loaded terms? James Morone, political scientist and author, speaks about the many "isms" used to describe the Obama administration.

Last Friday, President Barak Obama issued a statement announcing that he would not lend his support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, known as SOPA, citing concerns over First Amendment rights and cyber security risks. Introduced last October in Congress, SOPA would give content providers wide reaching powers to shut down websites distributing copyrighted materials. 

Congress and Franklin Roosevelt's administration passed the Two-Ocean Navy Act in 1940, during World War II. Since then, the nation’s domestic military defense has been based on a simultaneous naval defense on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But with the announcement Thursday of an eight percent decrease in U.S. military spending, there was also the tacit understanding that naval fleets will be redirected to the Pacific Ocean to act as a buffer between China and the United States West Coast.

The first caucus results are in, heralding the official start of the long slog toward November's big election. Although politicians always bill the election they are involved in as being a critical moment for the nation, this time it is true. At issue in the next election will be what role the federal government plays in the lives of individual Americans. President Obama and the GOP candidates have outlined starkly different views of the social contract in the United States. The potential to shape economic growth, tax policy for the government and common person, and how wealth is distributed will shape fiscal policy for the next decade.

Since a NATO airstrike on November 26 accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two military check points along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the United States has had a difficult time maintaining its already strained relationship with Pakistan. "We’ve closed the chapter on the post-9/11 period," an anonymous senior United States official was quoted telling The New York Times. "Pakistan has told us very clearly that they are re-evaluating the entire relationship." 

With Christmas rapidly approaching, The Takeaway asked you to help us craft the ultimate holiday song. Listeners submitted their lyrics, and Takeaway producer Hsi-Chang Lin and former interim digital editor Ben Brock Johnson composed the music and performed it. Happy holidays from everyone at The Takeaway! (Download the song after the jump.)

The uneasy embrace of slavery in colonial America produced an economic boom, rendered the founder's debates over freedom from kings and despots questionable distortions of truth and logic, slavery enshrined rascism in the U.S. Constitution and made the Civil War inevitable. The War itself created an identity for the United States from which there was no escape, even though it seems from time to time that the Civil War blinks out in relevance. Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates says this narrative has to change. In a piece in this month's Atlantic, Coates says more black Americans need to study the war and their role in it in order to understand their place in history.

One of the bright spots in the American economy right now is coming from the manufacturing sector. According to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly survey of purchasing and supply executives, activity at U.S. factories has grown at its fastest rate in five months. And in the automobile sector, the growth rate is translating into new jobs.

After four years of economic downturns, there's finally some good news: in the past 3 months, 650,000 workers aged 16 to 24 have found jobs. This age group, dubbed by some as "the lost generation," have been hit hardest by these ongoing problems: in 2010, only 16.9 million of them were employed.

In an effort to help alleviate the symptoms of Europe's debt crisis, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and other international banks funneled U.S. dollars into European financial systems on Wednesday. The move helped markets by making American dollars more easily available outside the U.S. Stocks shot up in reaction to the news. The increased liquidity had the immediate effect of boosting the Dow Jones industrial average by 484 points. It was the biggest single day gain since March 2009. Some wondered, however, whether the move was a smart long-term investment, or just a temporary fix.

In Cleveland, Ohio an 8-year-old boy was removed from his home on the grounds that his severe obesity was the fault of his parental care. The young boy weighed over 200 pounds. For comparison, the average weight of an 8-year-old boy is about 60 pounds. The question isn't whether the boy was overweight, or whether his family could have done more in the 20 months that they were notified that his weight was a serious problem under consideration by the state. The question is whether or not foster care is really the best way to solve extreme obesity.

Every holiday season, many Americans feel the compulsion to shop for themselves and their loved ones. George W. Bush famously encouraged the nation to go shopping during his presidency, reminding Americans that 70 percent of the economy is derived from personal spending. This year, the economic engine went into overdrive during Black Friday and Cyber Monday; but, does that indicate signs of a looming economic recovery?

It's everywhere in the air right now — at the supermarket, the pharmacy, in elevators, and in streets of cities across the country — not good cheer, but that endless loop of holiday music. Aside from annoying cynics or providing a soundtrack to Norman Rockwell-times around the dinner table, well-worn tunes like "White Christmas" or "Here Comes Santa Clause" mostly mean big business for bands releasing Christmas albums.

For more than two months The Takeaway has been looking at news from various, loosely connected protests known as Occupy Wall Street. In that time the movement grew from a group of non-violent sit-ins at New York’s Zuccotti Park; to the violent images of downtown Oakland California on November 2, when protesters shut down the Port of Oakland; to the now-infamous pepper spray events of last week at UC Davis. But, what about the origins and the future of this movement?