President Barack Obama marked a dramatic change in the war in Afghanistan in a major speech Wednesday night. In broad strokes, he laid out the framework for how to wind down the war: by declaring victory and transitioning control to the Afghans in the context of an Afghan-led political reconciliation with the insurgency. "We are meeting our goals," he declared, and -- in a surprising twist -- endorsed a political reconciliation with the Taliban for the first time.

However, what President Obama did not say in his speech is almost as significant as what he did say.

As predicted, President Obama's approval ratings have gone up substantially since the killing of Osama bin Laden." According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, 57 percent of adults say that they now approve of the president's performance, up from 46 percent last month. 61 percent approve of the way Obama is handling the situation in Afghanistan, 72 percent approve of the way Obama is handling terrorism, and 52 percent approve of the way he is handling foreign policy writ large. On each count, these numbers are a significant improvement over his standing last month.

This, from Fareed Zakaria's column in yesterday's Washington Post, is a little odd:

President Obama made one of the most important speeches of his presidency on Wednesday. It was an eloquent defense of his basic approach to government and outlined specifically how he would tackle the nation’s long-term debt problems. For people who have been searching for Barack Obama’s core beliefs, this speech is perhaps the single best place to start — though it fell short in one important aspect.

Apropos of President Obama's decision to claim credit for the recent budget deal, which traded $38 billion in cuts for averting a government shutdown, The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny explains the White House's political calculus:

I knew it was official when I received an e-mail from Glenn Beck denouncing Obama’s “war for oil” in Libya. It’s like déjà vu in Wonderland --- the same, but all turned around.

All of the sudden the same Republican hawks who were complaining that Obama was not taking military action to protect the people of Libya are now complaining that he took action without sufficiently asking their permission first.

I’m not weighing in here on whether the military action required congressional approval or oversight. My point is, Obama could have brought a resolution to Congress on a silver platter, and Republicans would be all over the news complaining it should have been gold.

They just hate him.

The Washington Post's "Fact Checker," Glenn Kessler, takes a shot at debunking a remarkably resilient conservative misconception, that Barack Obama has, on numerous occasions, "apologized for America," particularly in front of foreign audiences, and that his foreign trips can be described as "apology tours." You'll be shocked to learn that Obama has never, in fact, apologized for America.