Tomorrow will be a year to the day that Barack Obama was elected president of these United States.

With all that has happened since then, it's getting harder to remember the headiness of that time -- whether Democratic or Republican or Independent, you can't dispute the historic nature of the 2008 election.

HBO's "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" (9 tonight) reminds us not just of election day, but President Obama's journey to his victory. And even if the memories and the emotions linger, you'll still learn something.

If you didn't catch CBS News' focus on Afghanistan last week, here's another chance to get educated.

Frontline presents "Obama's War," a thorough and powerful hour-long
look at the central questions facing the Obama administration and the challenges facing the American military. It airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on UNC-TV.

The furor over President Obama's speech to schoolchildren this week
provided ample fodder for McClatchy editorial cartoonists. Here's a
roundup.

Merciful Heavens, as my great aunt used to say. And she knew her business. Her kids, as I recall, were quite a handful indeed, and so she had good reason to hope the heavens, and the neighbors, were merciful.

So does Joe Wilson. He's the South Carolina Republican congressman who called the president of the United States a liar during President Obama's health-care speech to Congress Wednesday night. From where I sat, it appeared Wilson was rather like the kid who's with a bunch of other kids who are stealing apples off trees, and when the owner comes up, one kid inevitably can't get over the fence.

Yes, Wilson set himself up by shouting. But other Republicans were booing like people in a ballpark jeering the umpire. One couldn't help but wonder how they might have reacted if the president were a Republican and the, shall we say, outspoken critics had been Democrats. 

It's bothersome. Barack Obama is the president of the United States and thus is a target of comedians and blabbing radioheads and what'all, but in the halls of Congress the man deserves respect. The campaign's over, he won, and now his speeches aren't those of a candidate on the stump. They're from the leader of the free world.

Let's just hope that Wilson's apology, offered to and accepted by the president, is the end of all this, and that Wilson doesn't become some sort of folk hero to those who'd love to bash the president all day every day. 

Some schools show Obama; others want parental consent

It's time once again for the McClatchy editorial cartoon caption-writing contest. The deadine is Wednesday, Sept, 9, at midnight. To enter, click here.

See a First Look of health-care plan opponents protesting outside Sen. Kay Hagan's office in Raleigh on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009.

Passions run high as Congressman G.K. Butterfield holds a health care forum on Rocky Mount on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009.

We told you yesterday about local business owner Patty Briguglio and her chance Q&A with President Obama during his speech in Raleigh about health care.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones who noticed.

Briguglio, president and CEO of MMI Public Relations, is featured front and center on the front page of today's New York Times in a picture showing her discussion with the President after his speech.

According to Briguglio, the President promised her that any additional taxes her business would incur would be offset by additional credits, and she told him that she'd hold him to that.

But, she said, the conversation was not hostile.

"We weren't fighting, we were being nice," she said.

President Barack Obama outlines the health care reform bill he would sign during a town hall meeting at Broughton High ... more