The President gave some speech about troops in some country. But mainly the Post kills it on the Tiger Woods story. There are puns galore: birdies, sex drive, paws. To steal their line, they're all coming out of the Woodswork!

Apart from the Post the rest of the papers go big on the far more serious and important news about Obama's Afghanistan plan. Most opt for a news story and some analysis as a troop-levels package. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times feel the news merits one of those page-width headlines they reserve for special occasions.

The other top stories of the day:

  • The New York Times looks at the upside of the financial crisis — Canadian NHL teams have it better.
  • The Washington Post investigates the Salahis and their annual polo cup.
  • The Wall Street Journal takes a slightly different angle on the news that GM's chief is stepping down.

Disclosure: I freelance write and report for newspapers that are included in this roundup. Where there is a direct conflict of interest I will make it clear.

The New York Times: have a very sober tiny piece about Tiger Woods at the bottom of the page. But they pull out the full-width headline for Obama's Afghanistan troop announcement. Three pieces look at different aspects of the plan — Dexter Filkins on the role Afghans will play, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Helene Cooper with the straight news story and Peter Baker and Adam Nagourney on the politics. Obviously they used the heads-up on the speech to prepare. Below the fold there are pieces on the financial strength of the Canadian Dollar and its impact on the NHL, healthcare for American Indians and a look at an electric car scheme in Denmark. Where else?

The Washington Post: only has two Obama Afghanistan stories. Losers! But then to be fair there was a lot of DC-specific news — the first step to approving gay marriage in the district has been taken and the Salahis never cease to be Salahi-cious. There's also news of the resignation of the government-appointed GM chief.

The LA Times: also go all big-headline on the Afghanistan news and run the now-traditional one-two punch of a news story and some analysis. They also have the news that the GM chief is resigning as well as a local story about safety concerns on public transit. The feature-y piece today comes from Indonesia and the words 'seduce' and 'elephant' appear in the same sentence in it.

The Wall Street Journal: usually manages to buck the front page trends, but today has opted for the Afghanistan story and the GM story as its leads. Also on the front is discussion of a new role for the Fed. And apparently today is front page hockey stories day.

The New York Post: should win some kind of award for today's issue. Tiger's Birdies is the best headline of the scandal so far. Come out of the Woodswork? Please. References to paws and sex drive? Check. Because nothing can be entirely good, they also have an annoying article about the Afghanistan troop levels which manages to totally miss the point.

The Daily News: decided it wanted to be serious today. They lead with the Afghanistan story, go big on the Gotti trial and have a non-pun box for Woods. Could do better.

Boston Herald: this is more like it! A new pun!

Wshington Examiner: manages, I think, to sexualize the Afghanistan story with this slightly odd headline. And thus combines the two big stories of the day in one.