From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Six months in: Six months ago today, Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation's 44th president. But it seems much longer ago than that, doesn't it? Since that cold day in January, so much has happened: the legislative fight over the stimulus, the rescue from those Somali pirates, the budget battle, the president's first European trip, the Obama vs. Cheney duel over national security, the Sotomayor nomination, the Cairo speech, the aftermath of the Iranian election, the Russia-Italy-Ghana trip, and the current fight over health care. In his article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai likened Obama to an iPod shuffle. "Obama is the nation's first shuffle president. He's telling lots of stories at once, and in no particular order. His agenda is fully downloadable. If what you care most about is health care, then you can jump right to that. If global warming gets you going, then click over there." But there's a danger to this, Bai adds. "Random play may popularize your music in the aggregate, but it doesn't foster the same kind of investment in the songs themselves. U2 may have more fans than ever, but that doesn't mean these listeners can name half the tracks on the band's latest release."

Video: The New York Times Magazine's Matt Bai talks about the Obama administration's wide range of objectives and whether the president is trying to do too much too soon

*** Still personally popular, but less so on the issues: Six months in and one piece of conventional wisdom appears to be holding: Obama is personally more popular than his proposals. According to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, the president's overall approval rating stands at a still-strong 59%. But his ratings on the issues have declined: 49% approve of handling of health care (down eight points since April), 43% approve of his handling of the deficit, and 52% approve of his handling of the economy.

Video: Morning Meeting's Dylan Ratigan and a panel, which includes NBC's Chuck Todd, debate whether the country is increasingly becoming unhappy with the president.

*** All Obama, all the time: On the first day of his seventh month in office, the Washington Post also front-pages that Obama is launching an all-out media blitz on health care. "With skepticism about the president's health-care reform effort mounting on Capitol Hill -- even within his own party -- the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to dramatically increase public pressure on Congress: all Obama, all the time." More: "'Our strategy has been to allow this process to advance to the point where it made sense for the president to take the baton. Now's that time,' said senior adviser David Axelrod. 'I don't know whether he will Twitter or tweet. But he's going to be very, very visible.'" Indeed. Today, from the Children's National Medical Center in DC, Obama will once again deliver remarks on health care. On Wednesday, he's holding a primetime news conference. And the following day, he heads to Cleveland, OH.

*** One small step for reform, one giant leap for conventional wisdom: Obama's hopes for getting a health-care bill through the Senate lie in the hands of one man: Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D). At some point this week (maybe today), his Senate Finance Committee is going to be releasing more details of his proposal. Can he become the Obama administration's savior? Will it be one small step for health-care reform legislation getting passed by the August recess? Whatever he announces, it will be one giant leap for health care conventional wisdom. (If you didn't get our reference to Neil Armstrong's famous words, today is the 40th anniversary of man's landing on the moon, and Obama today meets with Apollo 11 crew and NASA Administrator Bolden at 2:00 pm ET.)

*** The Great American Health Care Fight: The other moving parts on health care: In their interviews on the Sunday shows, administration officials (HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and OMB Director Peter Orszag) were no longer demanding that Congress pass their bills before the August recess… Per the Wall Street Journal, Democratic congressional members representing some of the nation's more affluent areas are expressing concerns about the House health-care bill that would tax high-income earners… Governors are concerned about the bills moving through Congress… Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), per the Washington Post, is stepping back into the national spotlight by writing op-ed and appearing on cable TV to talk about health care (Jindal once served as Louisiana's top health official)… And RNC Chairman Michael Steele will criticize Obama's health-care proposals in a speech at the National Press Club at 9:00 am ET.

Video: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius responds to critics of the proposed health care bills with NBC's David Gregory on "Meet the Press."

*** Where's the cover? Speaking of Sebelius, she wasn't full of answers in her appearance on "Meet the Press." The fact that she can't definitively talk about which bill the president likes and doesn't makes it that much harder -- right now -- for congressional Democratic leaders to twist arms to get this done. These folks need some public guidance (and cover) if they are going to support, say, a surtax on millionaires. No wonder the White House is signaling that the president is going to try and wrestle even more control of the debate. But he was fully engaged last week and that didn't help. This week, he's doing more TV interviews and the prime time press conference. Will it be enough?

*** Burying bad news: The news, per the AP, that the administration is delaying its budget mid-year review is a signal it's scared about what the new numbers will show -- making support for new initiatives from Blue Dog Democrats in the House and conservative Dems in the Senate that much more difficult. This is the BIGGEST piece of news no one is paying attention to. Clearly, the White House is trying to bury this news as best they can, in August, post-recess. Speaking of August, the White House set it as the deadline to get those health bills through Congress. It's artificial, but it's a big test politically. Perhaps Obama can withstand letting the August goal slide, but not getting a bill at all this year would be a huge defeat. Then again, it does seem as if, whether they meant to or not, that the expectations game is now in Obama's favor. The debate is about the process more than it is about the separate proposals.

*** I'm sorry, so sorry, please accept my apology:

Yesterday, embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) penned an extraordinary op-ed in the Columbia State newspaper apologizing for his affair and its aftermath. "It is true that I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels, but equally true is the fact that God can make good of our respective wrongs in life," he wrote. "In this vein, while none of us has the chance to attend our own funeral, in many ways I feel like I was at my own in the past weeks, and surprisingly I am thankful for the perspective it has afforded." More: "It's in the spirit of making good from bad that I am committing to you and the larger family of South Carolinians to use this experience both to trust God in his larger work of changing me and, from my end, to work to becoming a better and more effective leader." http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/869645.html

Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 6 days
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Countdown to Election Day 2010: 470 days

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From NBC's Athena Jones

ARNOLD, Mo. -- President Obama marked the 100th day of his young presidency with an event here in the bluest of 2008's red states, taking stock of his accomplishments and the challenges ahead and fielding questions from a jam-packed high school gym.

Obama narrowly lost Missouri to John McCain -- by roughly 4,000 votes out of about three million cast -- making it the only true battleground he didn't win. He campaigned in the Show Me State just two days before Election Day, and today, he told the crowd of about 1,100 people here that he was glad to get out of Washington and come back to middle America "where common sense often reigns."

The president's own aides may be calling it a "Hallmark holiday," but that hasn't stopped them from trying to shape the narrative about this fledgling administration. Obama spent 22 minutes summarizing his first three-and-a-half months in office before opening it up to the floor.  

"After 100 days, I'm pleased with the progress we've made, but I'm not satisfied," he said. "I'm confident in the future, but I'm not contenct with the present."

In remarks that were reminiscent of campaign stump speeches, his February address to a joint session of Congress and a recent event at Georgetown University, Obama told the audience that he had inherited a nation facing huge challenges that could not be dealt with through "half-measures."

He talked about new jobs that were being created in Missouri and elsewhere as a result of the stimulus package, tax cuts for the middle class, the law he signed to protect equal pay, expanding health coverage for children, the plan he introduced to help stabilize the housing and financial markets, his plans to end the war in Iraq and to implement a new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and his belief in the importance of renewed diplomacy and direct engagement with friends and foes around the world.

He also reminded the audience, as he does in almost every major speech, that the road to recovery would be long and that there were still many people struggling unemployment and health-care costs.

"You know that our progress has to be measured in the results that we achieve over many months and years, not the minute-by-minute talk in the media," he said. "And you know that progress comes from hard choices and hard work, not miracles. I'm not a miracle worker."

Arguing that there was still much work to be done, Obama spoke about the need to pass new rules to regulate Wall Street this year and to improve schools, to institute a market-based cap on carbon polluton and restore fiscal discipline.

In a return to the kind of populist rhetoric that was a hallmark of his speeches on the trail last fall, Obama said his campaign had not been born in Washington but in places like this, among  hard-working families, and he told the crowd he spent every day in the White House working for them.

"I promise you, I will always tell you the truth about the challenges we face and the steps that we are taking to meet them," he said in closing. "I will continue to measure my progress by the progress that you see in your own lives."

The president then spent about 50 minutes taking six questions from the audience on the auto industry, education, how to fix social security and the environment. Ever on message, the president turned the conversation to health care at one point, without prodding, and reiterated his goal of passing health-care reform this year.

The crowd, made up of state and local officials, students and people who obtained their tickets through an Internet lottery, interrupted the president frequently with laughter and applause.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Gov. Jay Nixon joined Obama at the event, along with top advisers David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, Mona Sutphen and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Taking on critics, talking massages
In defending his efforts to tackle several areas at once by passing a massive stimulus package, Obama said he wanted to remind people who watch "certain news channels on which I'm not very popular" that his detractors were "playing games" when they sought to portray the $787 billion stimulus package as the source of the country's deficit problems.

He also sought to show his independence from his supporters by mentioning he had heard "some grumblings and complaints from certain factions in the Democratic Party" when he decided to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but that this was necessary  to make sure Osama bin Laden and his "cronies" did not have a safe haven.

There was a funny moment during the Q and A when the president told one woman, a massage therapist, that he could use a rub down.

"My back's stiff," Obama said. "I've been working hard."

The crowd laughed when the woman responded: "I'll be happy to help ya."

Obama has made a point of getting out of what he calls the Washington echo chamber and speaking directly to people, often in swing states. It's a tactic he and his aides feel helps him use his popularity to win support for his initiatives. 

But today's escape was short-lived. Obama headed back to Washington after the event, stiff back and all, where he'll likely face tougher questioning from reporters at his third prime-time press conference. 

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

President Obama said he is "pleased," but not "satisfied" with what he and his administration have accomplished in his first 100 days while speaking at a town hall in Arnold, Mo.

"I'm not a miracle worker," Obama declared, after saying he's not "content" when workers are out of jobs, some don't have health care and the U.S. is not leading the world in developing 21st Century solutions to energy.

He tried to buy himself some space, urging patience on solutions and reminding that he inherited these crises, which he said "were many years in the making" and that it's going to take a while to overcome them.

"We've come a long way," the president said. "We can see the light on the horizon, but we have a long journey ahead."

Obama used that same rhetorical "suspension-of-disbelief" flair seen on the campaign trail when saying that people shouldn't be surprised by the policies he's pursued. After all, he'd laid them all out during the campaign, he said.

"It's not like anybody should be surprised," he said, adding almost laughing, "The things we've done are the plans we've talked about for two years."

He boasted that "it's good to be out of Washington. It's good to be in the Midwest, … where common sense often reigns."

This is Obama's latest trip to a battleground state. Remember, Missouri was the closest state of the 2008 presidential election. He lost it by fewer than 4,000 votes.

(When speaking, Obama twice pronounced Missouri, by the way, as Missour-uh. Arnold, however, is outside St. Louis and not in the Southwest section of the state where Missour-uh is the accepted pronunciation.)

More to come from NBC's Athena Jones, who's on the ground at the town hall in Arnold, Mo.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
So far, we've seen Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano out front of the swine flu outbreak.

But this morning, newly minted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took a leading role with a news conference at the agency.

Sebelius, who was confirmed by the Senate last night 65-31, said it is an "honor" to take a leadership position at HHS, but credited the agency's continuing strategy that has been "underway for some time."

She introduced Dr. Richard E. Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, who broke news via a video that the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States have jumped to 91 in 10 states -- double the number of states previously reported by the CDC.

"Again, these numbers are almost out of date by the time I say them," Besser said.

Sebelius said she met with officials last night at the White House after swearing to be briefed on the outbreak. And she warned that there will be more cases and likely more deaths.

Sebelius wanted to give a sense of reassurance, that she's fully briefed and that HHS is doing everything possible and "working closely" with state and local officials.

She assured that there are enough treatments of the medicines Tamiflu and Relenza and that the "government has begun shipping supplies to states with confirmed cases."

"I want to make it clear," the former Kansas governor said, "these drugs are effective in treating those who have contracted the H1N1 virus."

But she warned that the flu is always serious and people should take basic actions to prevent further spread or getting sick -- things like washing hands often, covering mouths and noses when coughing or sneezing and not going to work or school if you or your children exhibit flu-like symptoms.

The New York Times uses the president's intervention into the auto industry as a case study of how he makes decisions. It's a worthy read. "For a new president, the automobile industry crisis has tested the boundaries of his activist approach and the acuity of his political instincts. As with so many issues in his action-packed 100 days in office, Mr. Obama confronted choices few of his predecessors encountered. His ongoing intervention in an iconic sector of the economy offers a case study in the education, management and decision-making of a fledgling president."

"Tutored by veterans of past administrations, Mr. Obama, often after dinner with his wife and daughters, devoured briefing papers until midnight to master the intricacies of the auto industry. But he had advisers deal directly with the car companies and never spoke with the G.M. chief executive he effectively fired. Methodical and dispassionate, Mr. Obama aggravated powerful players in Congress and the unions that helped elect him, then moved to assuage them. He encouraged internal debate but was forced to head off tensions as his treasury secretary and White House economic adviser maneuvered for position. In the end, he struggled with the proper balance between government power and market forces, a theme that has defined his first months in office."

The Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib writes, "Some people have become a bit cynical about marking a new president's first 100 days, calling the milestone a kind of faux, Hallmark-card moment. Perhaps. But if ever there were 100 days worth marking, it would be those drawing to an end Wednesday. Consider what the country and its new president have been through."

Nancy Pelosi has an op-ed in The Hill on Obama's first 100 days: "By any measure, the work of President Obama and Congress in our first 100 days has been a great success. But it is just the prelude for the work that still needs to be done, including passing quality, accessible and affordable healthcare, tackling global warming and achieving energy independence, and restoring fiscal responsibility. In partnership with President Obama, Congress will continue to move America in a New Direction." 
 
Others judging Obama: Russ Feingold gave Obama mostly A's -- EXCEPT when it came to "state secrets" as a defense "to resist the release of information." For that, Feingold gave Obama a "D."

The AP on that Air Force One photo op: "The taxpayer bill for Monday's presidential plane flight over Manhattan was $328,835. The political cost to the Obama White House will be harder to calculate."

Kathleen Sebelius was finally confirmed as HHS secretary last night. The vote was 65-31. The Hill: "Senate Republicans insisted on subjecting Sebelius to a 60-vote margin but Democrats got the result they wanted with votes to spare," The Hill writes. GOPers voting for her: Specter, Brownback, Roberts, Collins, Gregg, Lugar, Snowe and Voinovich.

The latest New York Times/CBS poll: "Barack Obama's presidency seems to be altering the public perception of race relations in the United States. Two-thirds of Americans now say race relations are generally good, and the percentage of blacks who say so has doubled since last July… Despite that, half of blacks still say whites have a better chance of getting ahead in American society."

More: "Mr. Obama's 68 percent job approval rating is higher than that of any recent president at the 100-day mark. Mr. Bush had the approval of 56 percent of the public at this juncture. But while Americans clearly have faith in Mr. Obama, the poll revealed something of a disconnect between what the public thinks the president has already accomplished and what it expects him to achieve. Fewer than half of those surveyed, 48 percent, said Mr. Obama had begun to make progress on one of his major campaign promises, changing the way business is conducted in Washington. And just 39 percent said he had begun to make progress on another major promise, cutting taxes for middle-class Americans, even though the stimulus bill he signed into law does include a middle class tax cut." 

The new CNN poll: "The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll … indicates that 63 percent of Americans approve of how Obama is handling his duties as president. One in three questioned in the poll disapprove. Democrats overwhelmingly approve of how Obama is handling his job as president; 61 percent of independents agree. Only 28 percent of Republicans say the president is doing a good job in office." 

USA Today looks ahead to the next 100 days. "[T]he next stretch of Barack Obama's time in the White House, from Wednesday until about the time Congress begins its summer recess, looms as a period no less critical in how his tenure ultimately will be judged… 'These are going to be important months,' says David Axelrod, one of Obama's closest White House advisers. 'I'll stipulate that the next 100 days aren't going to be any easier in certain ways than the first 100. We know that.'"

"President Obama should think long and hard before reversing the foreign policies of the Bush administration," Politico's Vogel writes. "That advice comes not from Dick Cheney but from Kurt Campbell, a national security expert Obama nominated last week for a top diplomatic post, and James Steinberg, his soon-to-be boss at the State Department. In fact, it's one of the premises of a 2008 book co-written by Campbell, Obama's new nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Asian and Pacific affairs, and Steinberg, the No. 2 official at the State Department."

The New York Times: "As the administration responds to its first domestic emergency, it is building on concrete preparations made during the tenure of President George W. Bush that have won praise from public health experts. But its actions are also informed by what Mr. Bush learned in his response to Hurricane Katrina: that political management of a crisis, and of public expectations, can be as important as the immediate response."

The Los Angeles Times looks at the person who has become the administration's face on this issue: DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. "Under the law, this is the job of the secretary of Homeland Security, who in addition to protecting the nation against terrorism is charged with overseeing the nation's response to possible pandemics, even as clinicians and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies work to track the disease. Beyond the mandate, Napolitano bears the burden of dealing with the kind of natural disaster that can blindside a new administration and morph into a major headache almost overnight if not handled effectively."
 
More: "Napolitano's visibility has been further elevated because the posts of secretary of Health and Human Services, surgeon general and director of the CDC have not been filled. The White House has repeatedly said that those vacancies were not handicapping the government's response to the flu outbreak… Gerald Epstein, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who specializes in domestic security, said he did not think the vacancies posed a problem."

Could this be the scariest part of the swine flu at this point? That it could delay any economic recovery? "The damage could hit the already ailing tourism and airline industries the hardest. The European Union and a number of nations began warning their citizens yesterday to avoid unnecessary travel to parts of North America. During the SARS outbreak in 2003 -- the last major epidemic of a respiratory disease with human-to-human transmission -- airline traffic to Asian destinations such as Hong Kong fell by as much as 60 percent. Overall, Asia-Pacific airlines lost 50 percent of traffic in the first five months of 2003, causing them $6 billion in losses. North American carriers saw passenger traffic fall by 3.7 percent that year."

The Boston Globe adds, "The bruised US economy, which had shown a few signs of life, took another beating yesterday with global concerns over the swine flu outbreak expected to hit travel and tourism the hardest."

From NBC's Mark Murray
The Democratic National Committee has unveiled a new TV ad it will air tomorrow and Wednesday to mark President Obama's first 100 days in office. The ad recounts Obama signing his economic stimulus into law, as well as the Lily Ledbetter Act and S-CHIP.

The DNC says the ad will run on national cable and in DC (read: it's a relatively small buy).

It ends with Obama saying, "Now is the time to act boldly and wisely -- to not only revive this economy but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jump-start job creation, restart lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down."

[Youtube:mRLGya_tzkg]

USA Today sees Obama's first 100 days in office as a sharp break from Bush's presidency.
"Bush focused on the Iraq war; Obama has placed more of an emphasis on Afghanistan. Obama wants the government to have a role in reshaping the nation's health care system; Bush preferred to take smaller steps so individuals could buy private health insurance. Then there's personal style; the cool, African-American lawyer from Chicago, and the back-slapping white rancher from Texas. 'It's Mars and Venus,' says Thomas Mann, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. 'It's hard to find a more different contrast between the presidents.'"

Video: Jon Meacham and Doris Kearns Goodwin reflect on Obama's first 100 days on "Meet the Press."

E.J. Dionne says Obama defies labels. "Barack Obama is a detached man who has inspired fierce loyalties, and a cool man who has aroused both warm feelings of affection and a fiery opposition. He loves to engage conservatives, yet few of them have chosen to engage him. He is seen as too moderate by parts of the left, but the right thinks he has a radical, statist agenda. Wall Street's critics believe Obama's approach to rescuing the financial system amounts to coddling the bankers and financial scammers who got us into this mess. But many on the Street say Obama doesn't understand them and fear he is a secret populist who would displace finance as the dominant force in the U.S. economy."

The New York Times' Zeleny travels to Anderson, IN to see how Obama's stimulus -- as well as his presidency -- is being received.

The New York Daily News has a list of 100 things that have marked the president's first 100 days.

"There's no way to render a sound verdict in just 100 days," the Daily News adds. "The next three years should settle if the centrist, conciliatory, unifying change Obama promised creates a monumental political shift lasting deep into the 21st century - or if his lofty aspirations overreach and founder. But this we already know: Obama's engaging opening act has captivated most Americans, judging by the polls."

Here's a good Reagan vs. Obama comparison from longtime political veteran reporter Dick Polman.

Check out this Florida-specific article on how Obama has targeted Florida in his first 100 days.

"Dr. Frank Page, one of the key conservative evangelicals on President Obama's Faith Council tells The Brody File that when it comes to the social issues surrounding President Obama's presidency he has been disappointed and not very encouraged by the first 100 days in office."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Here's also a look at numbers that Obama inherited, and where they are now.

Unemployment Rate
When Obama took office: 7.6%
Now: 8.5%

Dow Jones Industrial Average
When Obama took office: 8,281
Now: 8,084  (as of 12:18 pm ET today)

Number U.S. of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (per NBC's Courtney Kube)
When Obama took office: about 172,000
Now: 177,000

From NBC's Mark Murray, Harry Enten and Athena Jones
Today is President Obama's 95th day as president, but it's as good of a time as any to begin looking at his first 100 days -- numerically:

-- he's conducted 10 press conferences (Wednesday's will make it 11)
-- he's given at least 10 major speeches
-- he's held seven town halls (Wednesday's will make it eight)
-- he's embarked on 13 different trips (Wednesday's will make it 14)
-- he's signed 13 bills into law
-- he's signed 19 executive orders
-- he's, according to our friends at PolitiFact, kept 27 promises, broken six, and compromised on seven others
-- and he's thrown out ZERO first pitches at Major League Baseball games

Note: All other recent past presidents -- Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43 -- threw out Opening Day pitches during their first 100 days.

Note 2: By Wednesday, the only modern presidents who will have conducted more press conferences in their first 100 days than Obama are Truman (14) and Clinton (13).

Note 3: Of Obama's domestic trips, only three have been to states that weren't battleground states in 2008, and one of those exceptions -- Arizona -- will most likely be a battleground in 2012.