AP

President Barack Obama observes a moment of silence alongside first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush at the National September 11 Memorial in New York on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011.

On Sunday, for the first time, President Obama and former President George W. Bush stood together at the site of the Sept. 11 attacks, listening as family members read the names of lost love ones and bowing their heads in silence to mark the moments the planes hit,” the New York Times says. “In May, Mr. Bush declined Mr. Obama’s invitation to join him at ground zero after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But on this morning, they stood shoulder to shoulder — commanders in chief whose terms in office are bookends for exploring how the United States has changed since Sept. 11, 2001, particularly in its response to terrorism.”

The Washington Post: “President Obama joined about 2,000 attendees Sunday night at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for a concert that wrapped up three days of events to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.”

The “Concert for Hope” was sponsored by the Washington National Cathedral. It was to have been held at the cathedral in Northwest D.C., but after the building suffered damage from the recent earthquake and the collapse of a crane on the grounds, the event was moved late last week to the Kennedy Center.

In what sounded like the real opening salvo to the 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama, before a mostly union crowd estimated at 12,000, showed glimmers of the fighting spirit of 2008 with a Labor Day speech laying out the broad outlines of the jobs speech he will deliver Thursday before Congress.

Intimating he might “go big” in that Thursday speech, as his supporters would like, the president pushed for not only a renewal of the payroll tax cut but also construction jobs. And he said that while he is still willing to work with Republicans – and thinks that’s right for the country – he challenged the GOP to “show us what you got.”

"I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems,” he said, standing in automaker GM’s parking, adding, “But we’re not going to wait for them. We’re going to see if we’ve got some straight shooters in Congress. We’re going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party.

“We’ll give them a plan, and then we’ll say, do you want to create jobs? Then put our construction workers back to work rebuilding America. Do you want to help our companies succeed? Open up new markets for them to sell their products. You want -- you say you’re the party of tax cuts? Well then, prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle-class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you got. The time for Washington games is over. The time for action is now. No more manufactured crises. No more games. Now is not the time for the people you sent to Washington to worry about their jobs; now is the time for them to worry about your jobs.”

The AP leads similarly: “President Obama used a boisterous Labor Day rally to put congressional Republicans on the spot, challenging them to place the country’s interests above all else and vote to create jobs and put the economy back on a path toward growth.”

The top headline out of the Detroit Free Press: “Obama tells Detroit: I'll defend union rights.”

(There was controversy, however, with Teamsters President James Hoffa going before Obama and saying of the Tea Party: "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march ... Let's take these son-of-a-bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.” That has drawn the ire of conservative groups, who want an apology.)

But here’s the new political reality Obama is facing, per our new NBC/WSJ poll: “When Barack Obama unveils his jobs and economic plan to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, he'll do so at the lowest point of his presidency, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. After the bruising debt-ceiling fight — as well as Standard & Poor's subsequent downgrade of the nation's credit rating — Obama's job approval rating has sunk to a low of 44 percent, a 3-point drop since July. His handling of the economy stands at a low of 37 percent. And only 19 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction, the lowest mark for this president.”

Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take: “President Barack Obama this week will try to launch a political comeback amid the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and a growing sense of economic foreboding here and across the country among voters who are increasingly questioning their president's skills and priorities.”

The new Washington Post/ABC poll is pretty similar to the NBC/WSJ one. "More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation. Just 43 percent now approve of the job he is doing overall, a new career low; 53 percent disapprove, a new high." 

And here's the Politico/George Washington Univ. Battleground Poll: Capturing a rapid erosion of confidence through the summer months, the poll found 72 percent of voters believe the country is either strongly or somewhat headed in the wrong direction, a jump of 12 percentage points since May. Only 20 percent of voters say the country is going in the right direction, a 12-point drop in the same period.

“President Barack Obama will be running for re-election next year with the unemployment rate likely stuck at 9 percent and the recovery still getting its footing, his budget office forecast yesterday,” Bloomberg writes.

“The scheduling snafu that pitted President Obama against House Speaker John Boehner could have another, unintended victim,” The Hill writes. “The Wounded Warriors are scheduled to face-off against lawmakers and their staff in a charity ice hockey game next Thursday, the same night that the president agreed to give his jobs speech before a joint session of Congress. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m. (EST) at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va.”

“President Obama on Wednesday will push Congress to pass a new surface transportation bill when it returns from recess next week, the White House announced Tuesday night,” The Hill writes. “The current version of the federal highway bill, which among other things allows Congress to collect the tax on gasoline sales, expires Sept. 30. With recent fights in the transportation sector such as the funding for the Federal Aviation Administration devolving into partisan fights this summer, there has been speculation the highway bill could be the next impasse that causes a shutdown in Washington. But in a Rose Garden speech, Obama will argue this issue is too important to the fragile U.S. economy to not resolve quickly after lawmakers return from their traditional August recess.”

The New York Times: “President Obama vowed on Tuesday that he would not allow cuts in programs for veterans as Congress and the administration look for ways to balance the budget.”

The front page of the Boston Globe has this headline: “Obama’s uncle is called a fugitive.”

“President Barack Obama plans to name Alan Krueger, a labor economist and former Treasury official, to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said a White House official,” Bloomberg reports.

On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream speech,” John Lewis in the Washington Post writes what he thinks King would say to President Obama: “As a minister, never elected to any public office, Dr. King would tell this young leader that it is his moral obligation to use his power and influence to help those who have been left out and left behind.  He would encourage him to get out of Washington, to break away from handlers and advisers and go visit the people where they live. He would urge him to meet the coal miners of West Virginia; to shake the hands of the working poor in our large urban centers, juggling mutiple jobs to try to make ends meet; to go to the barrios of the Southwest; and to visit native Americans on their reservations.  He would urge Obama to feel the hurt and pain of those without work, of mothers and their children who go to bed hungry at night, of the families living in shelters after losing their homes, and of the elderly who chose between buying medicine and paying the rent. Dr. King would say that a Nobel Peace Prize winner can and must find a way to demonstrate that he is a man of peace, a man of love and non-violence.  He would say it is time to bring an end to war and get our young men and women out of harm’s way. Dr. King would assert without hesi­ta­tion that war is obsolete, that it destroys the very soul of a nation, that it wastes human lives and natural resources.” 

Jim Clyburn writes in The Hill: “Too often overlooked in Dr. King’s speeches and activities is his focus on jobs and opportunity.  Dr. King said he refused to believe the vault of opportunity in this great country is empty. Yet in 2011, the gap continues to grow wider between those who enjoy great wealth and those who struggle to get by with little thought of ever getting ahead. What more proof do we need that ‘human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability?’ Now is the time to rededicate ourselves to Dr. King’s work.”

“For a president coping with a hyper-partisan Congress, a fix-resistent economy, a crack in the monument outside his living-room window, and a hurricane about to lash 60 million of his citizens, there were probably few better people for him to have dinner with last night,” the Boston Globe reports. “President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dined at the tasty State Road restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and state first lady Diane Patrick.”

Obama will need a support system, because Cornell West has been a thorn in his side, and does it again today with an op-ed in the New York Times: “The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King’s prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable.”

The Washington Post: “From the start of his history-making tenure, the nation’s first black president took care never to be seen making policy or political decisions aimed solely or directly at black America. His position: He is the president of the whole country, focused on broad-based fixes to ‘lift all boats.’ The race-avoidance strategy served President Obama well, helping him attract support from many whites while also mobilizing African Americans energized by the powerful symbol of a black commander in chief. But a soaring jobless rate among African Americans and a newfound comfort by black lawmakers to criticize Obama’s economic policies are prompting the White House to recalibrate — and to focus more directly on the struggles of black America.” For example: “This week, the White House dispatched a top official to participate in a Congressional Black Caucus jobs forum in Miami that had been scheduled in part to pressure the White House.”

Bloomberg’s Jonathan Alter has Obama’s back: Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president? I’m not talking here about him as a tactician and communicator. We can agree that he has played some bad poker with Congress. And let’s stipulate that at the moment he’s falling short in the intangibles of leadership. … What, specifically, has he done wrong on policy? What, specifically, would you have done differently to create jobs? And what can any of the current Republican candidates offer that would be an improvement on the employment front? I’m not interested in hearing ad hominem attacks or about your generalized ‘disappointment.’”

“Though more Americans see the economy in bad shape than did at the beginning of the summer, their views of whether to re-elect President Barack Obama have barely changed - and a majority blame George Bush for the problems, a new [AP/GFK] poll says,” Politico writes.

“Despite the perception of a weakening recovery, there has been no significant change in the number of people who say he deserves re-election: 47 percent as opposed to 48 percent two months ago. That's a statistical dead heat with those who favor a change in the White House,” AP writes. “And more Americans still blame former President George W. Bush rather than Obama for the economic distress. Some 31 percent put the bulk of the blame on Obama, while 51 percent point to his Republican predecessor. … Obama also fares better than Congress in the blame department. Some 44 percent put "a lot" or "most" of the blame on Republicans while 36 percent point to congressional Democrats.”

More: “More than 6 in 10 — 63 percent — disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy. Nearly half, or 48 percent, "strongly" disapproved. Approval of his economic performance now stands at just 36 percent, his worst approval rating on the issue in AP-GfK polling.”

“When President Obama took his first trip to Martha’s Vineyard after taking office, the excitement among locals here was palpable, from the signs of support strung across shop windows and front porches to a full-page newspaper ad taken out by 125 Vineyard grandmothers in support of his health care plan,” the Boston Globe reports. “This week, with the jobless rate stuck above 9 percent and the president’s nationwide approval rating at its lowest level, the Vineyard’s broad allegiance shows cracks, leaving some islanders with a more textured, even tormented feeling about the president.”

“Following days of intense criticism from conservatives, Vice President Joe Biden is backing down from what was interpreted as a strange, if unintended, defense of China's one-child policy,” the New York Daily News reports. “The White House issued a clarification late Tuesday, insisting Biden believes such practices are ‘repugnant.’ Biden spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff told AFP in a statement that, ‘The Obama administration strongly opposes all aspects of China's coercive birth-limitation policies, including forced abortion and sterilization,’ adding Biden ‘pointed out, in China, that the policy is, as a practical matter, unsustainable. He was arguing against the one-child policy to a Chinese audience.’”

“Muammar Qaddafi vowed ‘martyrdom’ or victory a day after Libyan rebels seized control of his Bab Al Aziziya compound in Tripoli,” Bloomberg reports. “Qaddafi, 69, called on his supporters to ‘cleanse’ Tripoli of ‘rats,’ al-Arabiya TV reported, citing a recording of comments broadcast early today by a local radio station. Fighting against his loyalists flared elsewhere, rebel officials said, including around the southern city of Sabha, a Qaddafi stronghold and home to a major military base.”

Obama’s Gallup approval hit an all-time low yesterday at 38%.

“The unpopular debt-ceiling deal has significantly hampered President Obama’s effort to win over independent voters,” The Hill writes. Ross Baker at Rutgers said, “He lost his hero status with liberals if he hadn't previously with the extension of Bush tax cuts. His willingness not to press for revenues did not help him with persuadable GOP leaners and he is just anathema to conservatives and would have been irrespective of the outcome.”

“In an effort aimed at saving billions of dollars for small businesses, the White House Tuesday unveiled final plans to cut or scale back hundreds of federal regulations following a government-wide review of rules launched earlier this year,” the Wall Street Journal writes.

Sunstein wrote in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: “[A]gencies are releasing their final plans, including hundreds of initiatives that will reduce costs, simplify the system, and eliminate redundancy and inconsistency.” And: “Many of the reforms focus on small business. For example, the Department of Defense recently issued a new rule to accelerate payments on contracts to as many as 60,000 small businesses, thus improving their cash flow in an economically difficult time. The Small Business Administration is adopting a single electronic application to reduce the paperwork burden now imposed on certain lenders, which in turn will benefit borrowers who seek relatively small amounts of capital to grow and succeed.”

The Boston Globe adds “The White House released final plans yesterday to streamline federal bureaucracy by eliminating 500 regulatory requirements across two dozen US agencies, an overhaul that could make it easier for travelers to obtain a visa and military contractors to get paid.”

When something’s never good enough… “The White House said on Tuesday that federal regulatory cuts would save Washington more than $10 billion over five years, but business groups warned that companies could face more costs from new rules in the pipeline,” Reuters writes, noting that groups like the Chamber of Commerce complained that “the Obama administration was also pushing for potentially costly measures related to the ozone layer, air quality, injury prevention and other areas that could quickly undercut the savings announced on Tuesday.”

“President Obama's effort to roll back costly regulations that are not needed could save more than $10 billion over five years, but critics say that's a drop in the bucket,” USA Today writes, noting the biggest complaints from the chamber and other groups are regulations from “the health care and financial overhauls of 2010 and a pending change in ozone standards sought by the Environmental Protection Agency.”

“Vice President Joe Biden said he ‘didn’t come to explain a damn thing’ on his visit to China, adding that the country’s economy had become the world’s second biggest due to the stabilizing presence of U.S. troops in Asia,” Bloomberg reports. “Some media had suggested the purpose of his trip to China was to ‘explain our economic situation,’ Biden told U.S. troops at Yokota airbase in Japan today. ‘I didn’t come to explain a damn thing.’"

GOP 12 looks at how Biden has gotten slammed from the left and right for his China “one-child” comments.

Senate GOP leader Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tore into President Obama for more than 15 minutes on the Senate floor today.

Reacting to the president's criticism of Congress yesterday, he said Obama had the "gall" to call for congressional leadership "after he has displayed an astounding lack of leadership."

And then said: "I think the president has diminished that office and himself by giving the kind of campaign speeches that he gave yesterday."

He added that the president shouldn't be going to two fundraisers tonight -- he should be calling congressional leadership for meetings.

Hailing Robert Gates for his "profound sense of duty" and integrity and his four decades of public service, President Obama used a farewell tribute at the Pentagon to surprise the outgoing defense secretary with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The medal is the highest honor a president can bestow on a civilian and is presented to people "who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to information provided by the White House.

The citation accompanying the medal called Gates a champion of servicemembers and their families and noted what it called his "unwavering patriotism." He retires after having served eight presidents.

"Bob, today you're not only one of the longest-serving secretaries of defense in American history, but it is also clear that you've been one of the best," Obama said.

Gates is the only defense secretary to have served both a Republican Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush, and a Democrat -- something the president made a point of highlighting.

"In his willingness to become the first secretary of defense to serve under presidents of both parties, the integrity of Bob Gates is also a reminder -- especially to folks here in Washington -- that civility and respectful discourse and citizenship over partisanship are not quaint relics of a bygone era," he said.

Gates' departure comes as the U.S. is engaged in conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq -- even though the Obama administration has removed 100,000 combat troops from Iraq. June has been the deadliest month for American troops in the country in two years.

In remarks before introducing the president, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen praised Gates for his honesty, pragmatism and grit, for his "staunch commitment to truth telling" no matter how uncomfortable that truth might be or how high or low on the chain of command it needed to travel and for his leadership during the transition to a new mission in Iraq, the transition "we now strive for in Afghanistan" and his efforts to save taxpayer dollars by tackling inefficiencies in the Pentagon budget.

Obama echoed many of those sentiments and spoke of Gates having made it his mission to make sure his department was doing all it could to protect U.S. troops, including providing mine-resistant vehicles and reducing the time it takes to evacuate injured troops from the battlefields of Afghanistan.

Upon receiving the Medal of Freedom, Gates thanked Obama for his confidence in taking "the historic step" of asking him -- "someone he did not know at all" -- to serve as his defense secretary. He also sparked laughs by making a joke that referenced the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

"I'm deeply honored and moved by your presentation of this award," Gates told the president. "It is a big surprise, but we should have known a couple of months ago you're getting pretty good at this covert-ops stuff."

Outgoing CIA Director Leon Panetta was confirmed unanimously by the Senate earlier this month to take over as Pentagon chief.

The New York Times: "The brutal crackdown in Bahrain poses the greatest Middle East democracy dilemma yet to the Obama administration, deepening a rift with its most important Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, while potentially strengthening the influence of its biggest nemesis, Iran." 

The White House released the following statement on the passage of the UN resolution on Libya: “Following the successful adoption today of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 on Libya, President Obama called Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The leaders agreed that Libya must immediately comply with all terms of the resolution and that violence against the civilian population of Libya must cease. The leaders agreed to coordinate closely on next steps, and to continue working with Arab and other international partners to ensure the enforcement of UN Security Council resolutions on Libya.”

Anger at Obama coming from members of his own party seems to have been reduced to a whisper. The Hill: "Since enduring a near-mutiny among his political base during the debate on the extension of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts late last year, the outrage from the left expressed in the last Congress has noticeably subsided. And it’s no accident."

The administration seemed yesterday to dismiss Sen. Richard Lugar’s call that the president would need to seek permission from Congress to establish a “no-fly zone” in Libya in the White House briefing yesterday. “I have not heard any suggestion that there would be a” need for a congressional resolution,” Carney said. He added that the White House appears most comfortable doing this through the U.N., if it’s going to do it. “We feel that it is important that any action like that that might be taken should be done in concert with our international partners,” he said. “Through the United Nations would be our preferable vehicle for that, and therefore we would look to the U.N. as a forum for evaluating that option.”