New York Times: “These days, when Mr. Obama retreats to the White House residence after a long day on the other end of the colonnade, he is working his way through the DVD box set of AMC’s Breaking Bad, the award-winning TV drama about a drug-dealing high school teacher. The show just ended after five seasons, but the president is way behind and frequently reminds those around him not to give anything away.”

“Friends say Mr. Obama is also keenly awaiting the new season of the Netflix show House of Cards, which starkly depicts a dysfunctional Washington — a theme that must seem all too familiar. At a meeting of technology executives last week, Mr. Obama jokingly lamented his own inability to maneuver the halls of Congress in the way of Kevin Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood.”

“We all wear thin with the American people after a while. To count a man of that talent out at this point in time in his administration would be a huge mistake.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the AP, on President Obama’s declining poll numbers.

“President Obama celebrated a low-key Christmas in Hawaii this year… But the one thing the president and his family did not do — something they have rarely done since he entered the White House — was attend Christmas church services,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Obama has gone to church 18 times during his six years in the White House, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, an unofficial White House historian, while his predecessor, Mr. Bush, attended 120 times during his eight years in office.”