Related Content

• Interactive | Guantánamo and popular culture
• Crude comedy tackles America's post-9/11 policy
• In-depth coverage of Guantánamo from The Miami Herald

Harold's pal Kumar goes to the White House

The White House has hired Indian-American actor Kal Penn as a liaison between President Barack Obama's administration and arts groups.

White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Tuesday that the actor who starred as Kumar in the movie, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay , would join the staff as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison.

His role will be to connect Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts and entertainment groups.

STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job

The government's latest count of stimulus jobs significantly overstates the effects of the $787 billion program under a popular federal preschool program, raising fresh questions about the process the Obama administration is using to tout the success of its economic recovery plan.

An Associated Press review of the latest stimulus reports - which the White House promised would undergo extensive reviews to ensure accuracy - found that more than two-thirds of 14,506 jobs credited to the recovery act under spending by just one federal office were overstated because they counted pay increases for existing workers as jobs saved.

The inflated job count is at least partly the product of the administration instructing local community agencies that received money to count the raises as jobs saved.

Emanuel to be Obama's White House chief of staff

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama took his first public steps toward building his new administration Thursday, tapping fellow Chicagoan Rep. Rahm Emanuel to be the White House chief of staff.

Obama also received his first top-secret briefing on national security, scheduled a meeting Friday with his economic advisers to be followed by a news conference and accepted an invitation for his wife and him to visit President Bush and Laura Bush at the White House on Monday.

The president-elect also talked by telephone with nine world leaders, who all had called to congratulate Obama for his election victory. Among the U.S. allies he spoke with the top politicians in Israel, Japan and Mexico.

Obama picks another Chicagoan for senior post, sets meeting with McCain

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama on Friday named longtime friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett to a senior post in his White House, a move that makes clear the importance of his Chicago political connections as he moves to take the reins of power in Washington.

Jarrett, who as an aide to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley once hired Michelle Obama for a city job, will be Obama's go-between with state governments and public advocacy groups and will have daily contact with the president. Her title will be senior adviser and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison.

Stimulus fight augurs tough road for other Obama priorities

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama won the first big test of his presidency late Friday night, but the way he won suggests that he faces challenges going forward as he fights to solve the nation’s banking crisis, expand health care and achieve the rest of his agenda.

His path to victory on the $787 billion plan to stimulate the economy raises questions about how much clout the Obama White House has in Congress and how the new president uses it.

Obama won approval of the stimulus plan with no margin for error, getting the minimum 60 votes he needed in the Senate despite his popularity and the sense of urgency that opened the doors for quick action by a slow-moving legislative branch.