Hotline After Dark -- Daddy's Home

By Rachelle Douillard-Proulx & Abby Livingston

"World News", "Evening News" and "Nightly News" led with Pres. Obama's meeting with his nat'l sec. advisers over the alleged terrorist attempt to destroy a Detroit-bound plane on 12/25.

Pundits reacted 1/5 p.m. to the speech Obama gave after his post-nat'l security adviser meeting

Firedoglake.com's Hamsher, on whether Obama looked "like he was in charge": "Absolutely, and I think a lot of the criticism that's being leveled at Obama over this was not leveled at George Bush. George Bush actually took longer to respond to the Richard Reid bombing than Obama did, and yet nobody said he was soft on terror as a result of it. So I think it's being demagogued way out of proportion to what actually happened" ("CNN Tonight," CNN, 1/5).

Pat Buchanan: "He is too little, too late. I think this is a good move. I think he is on top of it now. But he's been damaged by these 10 days. And I know Cheney's been hit, but I'll tell you, Cheney has stung him, and if he stung him to this action, that's a good thing" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 1/5).

GOP strategist Ed Rollins: "I don't think he did great. What he has to realize is the incompetent bomber, which is really about his incompetence, could have basically confirmed everything Bush and Cheney and everything else has said, this guy's team is not ready for prime time, not ready to basically stop terrorism" ("CNN Tonight," CNN, 1/5).

After the jump, more Obama reactions, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) resigns, and RNC Chair Michael Steele talks tea parties and his '10 projections.

Washington Post's Cillizza: "I thought he was firm. I thought he was better. The president has a tendency to be a little bit dispassionate at times so his natural inclination is to look intellectual, to look at things antiseptically. That's not good, you want people to know he's in this emotionally as well. He acknowledged we have to do better" ("CNN Tonight," CNN, 1/5).

BYE-RON DORGAN

Pundits and pols weighed in cable on the announcement of Dorgan's retirement 1/5 p.m.

The Hill's Stoddard: "Senator Dorgan knows that these races are very expensive and that the environment for Democrats is terrible this year. Democrats are on the defensive on the economy, on joblessness, on a domestic agenda, on health care reform, unfortunately, which is sinking in the polls every day. And obviously, possibly on the issue now of terrorism. We don't know what it's going to look like come August, September, October, but it's going to be a tough year for Democrats across the board. ... I don't know if it was all political, but it's a tough year for Democrats" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 1/5).

Steele: "And a lot of folks are saying the easy way to go out is to retire. I don't want to end my career in politics on a defeat. There are a lot of things that are coming into play here" ("On the Record," FNC, 1/5).

MSNBC's Schultz: "This is a big blow, I think, to the Democratic Party. ... I would put Byron Dorgan in there with some of the great Democrats that have fought for people" ("Ed Show," 1/5).

TEA PARTY ANIMAL

Steele made the TV rounds 1/5 p.m. and discussed '10 and relations between the tea parties and the GOP establishment.

Steele, on his "Hannity" interview: "The point I was making ... was we're in the process of now putting our players on the table. We're still building that farm team in some races. We've got primaries that are going to be competitive. We want to see how that turns out. So there are a lot of things to take into consideration. I agree with the NRCC and the NRSC and others around in the party who believe that we have real shots this November. And I'm playing to win, as well. But I'm not going to sit here in January, not knowing where all of my pieces are on this playground, or this chess board, and tell you, Oh, we're going to do it absolutely this way or that way" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 1/5).

Steele, on division between tea party and the GOP: "What I make of it is, you know, it`s a great line for our opponents, the Democrats, to talk about the division and to play that up just to distract us from the failed attempts at national security; the failed attempts at economic recovery."

Steele, on tea partiers who don't ID as GOPers: "That`s fine. That`s absolutely fine."

Steele, on the "schism" between tea partiers and the GOP: "It`s overrated, to put it succinctly. The reality of it is there are enough things that we have in common to fight for than to waste time fighting against each other on one or two things that don`t really matter" ("Your World," FNC, 1/5).

Steele, on third party threats to GOP: "I'm not presuming to sort of command control of the tea party movement. As I've said on numerous occasions, if I weren't chairman of the RNC, I would be out there in the tea party movement in the community, raising a lot of you know what, as well"("On the Record," FNC, 1/5).