as you can imagine, the white house accepted the invitation. right now, the president is getting ready to hold his final news conference of the year before he and his family leave for their christmas vacation. we will, of course, bring those comments to you live next hour right here on cnn. let s talk about some of these resent moves. we have with us today presidential historian douglas brinkley and chief political analyst gloria borger at this hour on friday before many people are taking off for the holidays. it s great to have you both. gloria, specifically, you wrote an interesting op-ed. the title is i love this title own sheds clark kent demeanor, tries on superman costume. tell us what you mean. okay, first of all, i m not saying he s superman but i am saying he is trying to soar a little bit. he s trying to fly. everybody assumes okay, lame duck president, can t get anything done, lost control of the congress. and what he s doing is he s