Administration officials responded Sunday to criticism that the president witnessing the return of caskets of fallen military personnel at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware last week was a photo-op.  The move of the commander-in-chief to visit the air force base for the very somber experience was met with both praise and negative reaction.

“Well, he wouldn't have done it in public if the families had objected,” White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.  “So the first and foremost thing is what is important to the families.  And I think that it's important for us all to recognize what is at stake…I think it's a reminder about how deep the sacrifice is,” she added.   

Media presence at Dover is something the Obama administration reversed from the George W. Bush White House. Cameras are allowed to tape and photograph the flag-draped caskets return, called a “dignified transfer”, if the family of the fallen agrees to allow it. 

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Several administration officials hit the Sunday talk show circuit to shed some light on the president’s Afghanistan strategy.   The country remains a hot topic as the president is expected to make a decision on US troop levels in the coming weeks, although the exact timing on that hasn’t yet been made public.    

This comes as the administration is keeping an eye closely on the upcoming November 7 presidential election.  Former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced this weekend that he’s pulling out of the runoff election, saying he can’t trust the election process. This leaves President Hamid Karzai as the only candidate, someone who the administration has been critical of in the past.

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said the news of Abdullah Abdullah didn’t “markedly change the situation.”

Appearing on CBS’ Face the Nation, Axelrod went on to say they’d basically be working with whoever is in charge, “But every poll that had been taken there suggested that he was likely to be defeated anyway.  So we are going to deal with the government that is there.”

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After a long week of attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, PA, the president spent his Saturday afternoon being a soccer dad. 

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended daughter Malia’s game in northwest Washington, DC along with family dog Bo. 

The crowd was excited by the commander-in-chief's visit and as he was leaving they shouted "Bye, Mr. Obama!"  The president responded with "Goodbye! Good luck!"

Upon returning to the White House, the first lady took Bo on a walk on the south lawn and the president went into the residence. 

Tonight the president will be giving remarks at the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner.

The White House acknowledged Friday that it probably won't be able to meet its self-imposed deadline of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison in January.

FOX's Catherine Herridge has been reporting all week from Cuba where officials were telling her about mounting doubts on meeting the deadline.

Friday's admission was the first time the White House recognized a likely delay on-the-record.

A senior administration official tells FOX's Major Garrett that the schedule is slipping, but the White House hopes to regain momentum.

The reason for the delay is largely due to legislative difficulties and legal snares. There are issues over where inmates will go once eligible for release, new rules for military trials, and a location for a new prison.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell responded to the admission, saying the prison should continue to stay open for now: "Americans and a bipartisan majority in Congress will continue to reject any effort to close Guantanamo until there is a plan that keeps Americans as safe or safer than keeping detainees in the secure detention center."

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The New York Times reported this morning that President Obama sent a request to NY Governor Paterson asking him to withdraw from the 2010 Governor's race.

A Senior Administration official tells Mike Emanuel: "President Obama is not involved in any way. There are officials in the White House that share the concerns that are widely held in New York about the very challenging political environment confronting Governor Paterson."

The official says those concerns were expressed via the appropriate channels.

"Nobody asked him to get out of the race - it is Governor Paterson's decision to make. We're confident he'll make the decision based on the best interests of the state."

You can read the original New York Times story after the jump or here.

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis appeared on Fox News Sunday responding to the storm of allegations surrounding the community group. 

It was an exclusive to Fox today and the only place you didn’t see President Obama pitching his health care plan this morning, as the president blanketed the airwaves giving interviews to five Sunday shows including Univision, but not to Fox.

Lewis responded to both the House and the Senate voting to cut off federal funding to ACORN and the hidden camera sting that showed ACORN employees apparently giving advice and help to two individuals who they thought were a pimp and prostitute.

Initially representatives from ACORN said the videos were doctored.

On the video sting, Lewis said, “…I was outraged by it.  Everyone should be.  And I can understand how the Congress was also.”

And for the behavior of employees she responded “… we continue to make sure that all of our employees -- if they're too stupid to understand that they are not reaching professional standards, we terminate them.”

Host Chris Wallace also bought up President Obama’s involvement with the group and asked Lewis if she hopes the president will veto any measure that comes to Congress about cutting off funding that hits his desk.  She responded, “Here's what we want.  President Obama is a very smart, very thoughtful person.  What he does is his decision.  I would never presume to tell the president whether he should veto a bill or not.”

Meanwhile across the dial on ABC’s This Week in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, President Obama said that he supports investigating the organization.  He said, “You know, what I know is, is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated.”

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President Obama and George Stephanopoulos disagreed on what actually defined a tax increase in a feisty exchange on ABC’s This Week, causing the host to pull out the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of taxes.

Stephanopoulos pressed the president on his health care plan in the interview airing Sunday morning, specifically on the individual mandate—which essentially forces people to buy health insurance.

Asked how that could not be considered a hike, Stephanopoulos inquired, "Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don't.  How is that not a tax?" 

President Obama responded “ No, but -- but, George, you -- you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase.”  Stephanopoulos then gave the dictionary definition – “I don't think I'm making it up.  Merriam- Webster's dictionary:  Tax, "a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes." 

Mr. Obama rejected the notion it was a tax increase and said pulling the dictionary out meant the host was “stretching” a little.    He said, “No.  That -- that's not true, George.  The -- for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.”

You can read the full exchange for yourself after the jump.

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If your main source for news is reading The New York Times print edition, then you likely are just learning for the first time in Monday’s paper about the resignation over the weekend from Obama administration’s Green Czar, Van Jones. 

But that’s not all – you’ll also likely have no idea about the firestorm of controversy that’s been going on for days, and even weeks by some counts, surrounding provocative statements and beliefs Jones has made in the past.

The New York Times, like many of the mainstream broadcast networks, ignored the mounting heat Jones was getting and the video that was surfacing of his comments.

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There’s a new development in the ongoing issue over White House e-mail distribution, a story first reported by Fox News’ Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett.   

The White House has now disclosed the company it uses to send out mass e-mails.  It's Govdelivery, a Minnesota-based private communications busniness.  The details are revealed in a new Foxnews.com article. 

Several other federal agencies have hired Govdelivery, and it has been used by both democrats and republicans.  Macon Phillips, the White House new media director, says the company was hired in January. 

Fox News has done extensive reporting about individuals who were receiving e-mail correspondence about health care reform from the White House, but never requested to be added to its list. 

Critics raised questions about privacy and what the White House was doing with the list of personal e-mail addresses.  Fox News Correspondent Eric Shawn first reported Monday that Govdelivery was a possible company involved.  

This week the White House acknowledged it was sending unsolicited e-mails, and suggested a third-party could have played a role.   The administration has since changed Whitehouse.gov's e-mail policy in an attempt to fix the problem.

You can watch Major Garrett’s initial exchange with WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs here.

The full Foxnews.com article can be found here or read it in full after the jump.

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President Obama will be making his first trip as president to China , the US ambassador to the country announced Saturday.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman talked about the visit today while in Beijing, China.  Mr. Obama is already scheduled for a trip to Asia, he’s slated to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore November 14 & 15.

Huntsman said, "There is much happening this year in US-China relations, we're all very mindful of that. We have the 30th anniversary of the US-China relationship, we have of course the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, we have President Obama who is going to be visiting in the middle of November and so I am here to tell you that by the end of the year, we should be in better shape than ever before between the United States and China to be able to anticipate a positive tomorrow."

The ambassador is a former republican governor from Utah, who was appointed by President Obama in May.   He did not reveal the exact dates for the president’s visit.