Four months before President Obama was sworn into office, the investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, setting off a panic throughout the country and much of the world. Coming on the heels of the bank bailout and the subprime mortgage crisis, President Obama's primary focus became the economy. One of the major questions facing his administration now is how well Obama and his team handled the fallout after the economic crash.

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.

It's been a big week as Washington gets back to work. There are questions about whether the Republican-dominated House can actually repeal the health care plan. Meanwhile, Democrats are finally "finding their voice" on health care, says Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, as they prepare to counter GOP claims about the bill.

The Labor Department is expected to release December unemployment numbers this morning. And there are rumors the president may also announce a new chief economic adviser to replace Lawrence Summers. Unemployment is likely to remain hovering around 10 percent, but the report is expected to show positive growth from a moth ago when unemployment rose to 9.8 percent from 9.6 percent. And last week, the new claims for jobless benefits increased, while the average number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance declined — a sign of a recovering economy.

In Pakistan, the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIViC) is calling on the U.S. to acknowledge the number of civilians killed by drone attacks. According to the group, about 1,000 civilians have died in drone-related attacks; the U.S. says few civilians have been killed. We talk with the BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in Islamabad, for more on this story.

Although President Obama didn’t exactly eat humble pie after the Republicans won the House in last week’s mid-term elections, it does seem like he’s starting to lean towards making some big compromises with members of the GOP in the coming months.

"Everyone talks to Bob Woodward," New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker told The Takeaway last week. Baker was talking about the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist's latest tome, "Obama's Wars," which has captivated Washington with its revelations of bitter infighting in the president's national security team.

This morning, Washington Post reporter Dana Priest broke an exclusive story about the increased use of intelligence contractors. After years of research and information gathering, Priest found that billions of dollars are being wasted because of redundancies between the intelligence community and its contractors. And even though many top government officials know this is going on, little is being done to make operations more efficient or rein in spending.

The Obama Administration has filed suit against Arizona's controversial new immigration law, seeking to block the law from taking effect next month. Justice Department officials filed the suit in Federal District Court in Phoenix Tuesday afternoon. The bottom line from U.S. Attorneys is that immigration is a national concern and that Arizona's law is unconstitutional because the state doesn't have the right to enforce immigration laws by itself. "The United States Constitution forbids Arizona from supplanting the federal government’s immigration regime with its own state-specific immigration policy," the lawsuit states.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal meets with President Obama today, as the fallout from a Rolling Stone article remains front and center in Washington. In his article, journalist Michael Hastings (who was on The Takeaway yesterday) quotes the general and his aides making disparaging remarks about various administration officials, including Vice President Biden and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

The White House announced that director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, would step down from his post effective today. Blair has held the position for just a little more than a year, but his relationship with the White House was rocky almost from the beginning. And tensions between him and the administration escalated after the "Christmas Day bombing," when a Nigerian man nearly detonated a bomb aboard a plane on Christmas Day. 

The battle over health care reform has come to define the beginning of Barack Obama's presidency, and some say he has bet his future on passing the bill. This week we may finally see the last chapter in the year long battle as House Democrats are counting their supporters for a potential vote on Saturday. It's been a long journey and as we wait for the big day, we're taking a look back at the turning points that got us here.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke in Israel this morning in a speech that was billed as one similar to President Obama's address to the Muslim world while in Cairo last year. But Biden's visit to Israel wasn't without incident.

One year ago, the Obama Administration began pushing billions and billions of dollars out the door.  The federal stimulus combines tax cuts, huge chunks of federal spending and the extension of benefits in hopes of stimulating the American economy.  So how are American cities changing, and what will we remember about this massive program decades from now?

On repeated occasions, President Obama and members of his administration have boasted not just of capturing, but of killing terrorists. We take a closer look at the implications of this “kill-over-capture” bias and what makes these targeted killings legal.