President Obama takes on healthcare reform at a 1:00 p.m. White House forum today, hoping to design an overhaul of a costly and inefficient system he believes is threatening the economy. About 120 participants from industry and government will gather to discuss potential fixes to the $2.5 trillion system.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Brussels, said it was time for NATO to make a new start with Russia after formal ties were suspended when Moscow sent troops into Georgia last summer.

The House is expected to approve a bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to slash mortgage payments for homeowners as a last resort.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies for a second day on the budget at 10:00.

Actor Brad Pitt is in town to tout post-Katrina rebuilding efforts in New Orleans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is the lucky lady who gets the photo-op at 3:30.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Issei Kato (A mustachioed Pitt at the Japan premiere of his movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” in Tokyo, Jan. 29)

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

When Barack Obama unveiled a newly shorn Bill Richardson as his Commerce Secretary pick on Wednesday, Obama praised the man but pointedly criticized his grooming decisions.

“We’re deeply disappointed with the loss of the beard,” the president-elect said.

“I think it was a mistake for him to get rid of it. I thought that whole Western, rugged look was really working for him.” Obama said of the New Mexico governor.

Richardson grew the beard when he dropped out of the presidential race in March, recalling another Democrat who ditched his razor when he fell short of the presidency — 2000 candidate Al Gore.

The facial fuzz also had the added benefit of hiding the corpulent governor’s double chin.

“For some reason, maybe because it was scratchy when he kissed his wife, he was forced to get rid of it,” Obama said.

Richardson was not given a chance to explain his decision.

Was this an example of Obama showing mastery over his nascent “team of rivals,” which includes former rivals Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton?

Perhaps he was simply worried about the lack of facial-hair diversity in his future administration.

While Obama has taken pains to appoint women and blacks to senior positions, only the mustachioed Attorney General pick Eric Holder breaks the ranks of the clean-shaven.

Photo by REUTERS/John Gress (Richardson with Obama at Chicago news conference).

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr has crashed the Republican convention.

Barr, a former Republican congressman now running for president on the Libertarian ticket, was spotted inside the Xcel Center on Wednesday morning, near the talk-radio jocks on “Radio Row.”

What was he doing here? How did he get in? What did he think of Sarah Palin?

Barr said it wasn’t a good time for questions.

“I have to visit the men’s room,” he told Reuters.

Some analysts believe Barr could serve as a spoiler candidate by pulling votes from Republican John McCain in states like Georgia.

But Barr is significant in other ways.

“He is the first mustached American running for president since Thomas E. Dewey in 1948,” the American Mustache Institute wrote in a press release. 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

Photo: REUTERS/Molly Riley (A mustachioed Barr speaks in a Reuters interview, April 4 2008)