The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Jayce Henderson and Jordan Mazza

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Politico's Edward Isaac-Dovare: Obama's 2 nd-term History Lessons. President Barack Obama's first two weeks since winning reelection show just how quickly second terms can veer off course. Between the David Petraeus scandal, the congressional Republicans' calls for a "Watergate-style" probe into the Benghazi attack and the violence in Gaza that threatens to escalate into full-scale war, public attention already has been diverted from Obama's big goals for his next four years - even from urgent negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff and from a possible opening for compromise on immigration reform. LINK

2012 ELECTION: The Hill's Jonathan Easley: " Pollsters reassess their methods after 2012 election miscalculations" Polling outlets that were hammered ceaselessly by both campaigns throughout the campaign cycle are reassessing their methods in the wake of President Obama's convincing election victory. "We constantly review and tweak some of the things we do and if the data bears it out, we make changes," Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport told The Hill in an interview. LINK

GOP: The Los Angeles Times' Lisa Mascaro: " Republican shift on taxes masks a divided party" When Republicans in Congress say they are willing to put tax revenues on the table in budget talks with President Obama, that offer obscures a divide within their ranks that could thwart a year-end fiscal compromise. Most Republicans are willing to limit popular income tax deductions as part of a tax overhaul that also lowers rates - a combination they believe will spur economic growth and eventually produce more revenue. LINK

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: New York Times David D. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El El Sheikh: " Citing Deadlock, Egypt's Leader Seizes New Power and Plans Mubarak Retrial" With a constitutional assembly on the brink of collapse and protesters battling the police in the streets over the slow pace of change, President Mohamed Morsi issued a decree on Thursday granting himself broad powers above any court as the guardian of Egypt's revolution, and used his new authority to order the retrial of Hosni Mubarak. LINK

FISCAL CLIFF: Washington Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Scott Clement: " Polls offer little guidance for politicians tackling 'fiscal c liff '" Politicians tasked with negotiating a deal next month to avoid the "fiscal cliff" can be thankful that their talks are taking place immediately after a clarifying national election that laid out exactly how the public wants Washington to deal with debt and deficits. Or not. In one of the most enduring features of Washington's two years of gridlock over fiscal issues, a flood of pre- and post-election polling shows little change in the public's divided - and at times conflicted - attitudes about what should be done to avert the $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts set to start taking effect in January. LINK

TEA PARTY: The Washington Times' Seth McLaughlin: " Tea party vows to stay for long haul, takes no blame for GOP losses" Tea party leaders say they refuse to be the scapegoats for the drubbing Republicans took on Election Day, claiming it was the party establishment - not their insurgent movement - that cost the party seats in the House and Senate and returned President Obama to the White House. In fact, various branches of the grass-roots movement vow to reassert themselves on the local and nation levels as Congress begins talks aimed at averting the "fiscal cliff." They say their call for limited government is more relevant than ever before. LINK

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