Julie Mason

Obama returns to overloaded agenda

President Obama returns to work at the White House after eight days in Asia with his Cabinet members under fire, a decision on Afghanistan pending and an urgent mandate to tackle job creation. And that's just a start. Obama also has to get through his first state visit as president, honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday. "I think the White House feels like they lost a week of critical, strategic importance," said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist and former Senate staffer. "Going into next week, there is going to be a real sense of urgency." While Obama was away, Republican lawmakers stepped up their calls for the resignation of Treasury...

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'Cotton candy' claims on job numbers leave bad taste for White House

The White House is defending the scattershot oversight that has made its stimulus-related job creation claims a dubious and moving target. "Transparency is going to be messy, but it's better than the alternative," Ed DeSeve, a special adviser to President Obama on the stimulus program, wrote in a White House blog post. A series of news reports, notably by ABC News, highlighted bogus job creation claims on the administration's much-touted Recovery.gov Web site. The site tracks the $787 billion in stimulus funding approved earlier this year by Congress. In one instance, Talladega County of Alabama claimed that 5,000 jobs had been saved or created from $42,000 in federal...

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Are Democrats drawing the right lessons from HillaryCare?

In studying parallels to the past and former President Clinton's tough lessons on health care reform, Democrats on Capitol Hill may risk drawing the wrong conclusions. With Democrats looking ahead with alarm to the 2010 midterm elections, an emerging refrain of the current health care debate warns that Clinton's trouncing on the issue in 1994 led directly to the Republican takeover of Congress. But it was not that simple, political experts say. "There were a lot of reasons Republicans won in 1994," said John Fortier, a political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. A poor economy, an unpopular president, political miscues like the "don't ask, don't tell"...

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President gets few hints on Afghan war from public opinion

Lack of consensus on the war leaves Obama with little to work with A lack of public consensus on the war in Afghanistan cuts both ways as President Obama mulls a new strategy for the conflict. With popular opinion divided over a troop surge, Obama risks little politically in rejecting a plan to send more troops to Afghanistan, as his military advisers have been seeking. The biggest boosters of the war are mostly Republicans. But Obama also wouldn't gain much from sending more troops, since liberals in his own party oppose the escalation and he needs their support for compromise positions on health care reform and climate change. Increasingly, the White House says the president's...

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Obama struggles to turn global warming talk into action

President Obama sits down next week with the leader of the world's biggest polluter nation to urge more aggressive strategies to fight climate change. But with limited political progress at home on a cap-and-trade bill for carbon emissions, the conversation is not expected to produce more than general promises and aspirational statements. "I think it's going to be very interesting to watch, because I would frankly be surprised if they have an understanding that produces a breakthrough," said Evan Feigenbaum, an Asia studies expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But that doesn't mean that they won't be able to do some positive things on climate." Looming over Obama's climate...

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As a debtor nation, America has fewer options in dealing with China

Few issues between the United States and China are as fraught as their co-dependent financial arrangements. Holding more than $1 trillion in U.S. debt, China is America's biggest banker. But China is worried about America's ability to meet its obligations, and all of Asia is concerned about the shaky U.S. dollar. "There are a lot of concerns here that persist in terms of the Chinese taking away our jobs and owning all of our Treasury bonds," said Bonnie Glaser, Freeman chairwoman in Chinese studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. With a certain amount of paranoia on both sides, President Obama sits down with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao next week for a...

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A relationship based on trade suffers from imbalance

A persistent area of tension between the U.S. and China is trade, underscored by a deep imbalance and U.S. efforts to impose tariffs and other conditions on China. President Obama has called China both a rival and a partner on trade and currency issues. Meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao next week, he is expected to urge corrections. "[Obama's] challenge is to turn common interests into complementary policies, and that's going to be hard," said Evan Feigenbaum, an Asia policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. The president has warned that China must stop manipulating its currency and be a better economic partner. But the U.S. does not have the economic...

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Fast facts on U.S.-China relationship

GDP: China's gross domestic product in 2008 was $7.10 trillion; U.S. GDP was $14.2 trillion. Debt: Public debt is about 16 percent of China's GDP, while 60 percent of America's GDP is public debt. Population: China has more than 1.3 billion people, making it the most populous nation in the world. The United States has more than 307 million. Workers: The Chinese labor force is 807 million, the largest in the world. The U.S. work force is 154 million, the fourth-largest in the world. Non-workers: The unemployment rate in China is about 4 percent while the U.S. unemployment rate is more than 10 percent. Poor: Eight percent of China's population lives below the poverty line,...

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Balance of power in U.S.-China relationship shifts to the east

President Obama is visiting Asia this week amid high expectations but waning influence for the United States in the region. The 10-day trip will focus on issues of trade and currency, climate, nuclear nonproliferation and the war in Afghanistan, among other topics. Obama will stop in Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea. "I think it's a common perception in the region that U.S. influence has been on the decline in the last decade, while Chinese influence has been increasing," said Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser to Obama. "One of the messages the president will be sending in his visit is that we are an Asia-Pacific nation and we are there for the long...

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Calling Ft. Hood attacks terrorism not simple matter for White House

President Obama heads to Fort Hood to honor those slain last week in a shocking act of violence, as the White House continued resisting enflaming high tensions by calling the incident an act of terrorism. "I am not a law enforcement officer," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "I think everybody has been shocked and dismayed by what happened." Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others in a shooting Thursday at a Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood in Texas. Many, like Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey have been adamant that the slayings were a...

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White House may be out of reasons for further delay on Afghan war decision

President Obama is expected to confer with his war council in the next few days and is closer to a decision on Afghanistan -- but pressure from lawmakers and the calendar are increasingly boxing him in. "I've described the process as coming to a conclusion," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said late last week of Obama's review of Afghanistan war policy. Obama on Wednesday is set to depart on a 10-day trip to Asia, and will likely announce his decision before then. Before he goes his schedule tentatively includes an event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington and a trip to Texas to for a memorial service at Ford Hood. On Saturday he visited...

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Will Obama excite the base or play to the middle?

President Obama moved to put this week's election behind him with a deep pivot toward the upcoming House vote on health care reform, but fallout from the voting is likely to follow him to Capitol Hill. The president made an unannounced stop in the White House briefing room to talk tough about the reform bill, touting endorsements by the American Medical Association and the American Association of Retired Persons. "They know it will protect the benefits our seniors receive, not cut them," Obama said. "So I want everybody to remember that the next time you hear the same tired arguments to the contrary from the insurance companies and their lobbyists, and remember this...

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Vote results seen keeping Obama on stump

This week's election results mean no letup for President Obama in the permanent campaign that has become the standard of his administration. With the 2010 midterm elections looming and Republicans looking to build on statewide wins in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats have a short window to cobble together a solid record to campaign on while they hope for an economic turnaround. "If there is no job growth and more rampant foreclosures in the next year, it's going to be a problem for incumbents regardless of party," said Keir Murray, a Democratic strategist. "When the public feels anxious, they tend to show up at the polls in a firing mood." Since coming to office,...

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Big GOP wins spell trouble for Obama and Dems

Voters' persistent economic concerns delivered stark electoral setbacks to Democrats and laid a marker for tough obstacles President Obama faces heading into next year's crucial midterm elections. Republican Bob McDonnell trounced Democrat Creigh Deeds for governor of Virginia. And Republican Chris Christie defeated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey, a heavily Democratic state that should have been easier but for Corzine's unpopularity. Still, the news wasn't all bad for Democrats. In New York's 23rd Congressional District, Democrat Bill Owens had a substantial lead over Conservative Doug Hoffman. In California, Democrat John Garamendi was expected to win the open House seat...

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White House moves to control waste and fraud

Buried amid the funding for veterans housing, highway construction and other routine expenditures in the federal government's $787 billion spending package are some surprises. Federal stimulus spending includes money for pet neutering programs, a study of Facebook use, a tax credit for golf cart purchases and what is emerging as a symbol of the sometimes strange excess of the stimulus program, a $3.4 million "ecopassage" or tunnel allowing turtles to walk under a Florida highway. Of the $787 billion allocated by Congress, some $300 billion remains unspent. Even so, the White House says the economy already has seen its biggest boost from the stimulus. Administration officials...

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White House battles to claim credit but avoid blame on economy

President Obama touted upbeat economic news as proof his stimulus spending was working, but Republicans cited the jobless recovery as a reason to shift priorities. "The steps we've taken have made a difference," Obama said at the White House. "But I also know we have a long way to go." The economy grew by 3.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, according to the Commerce Department. The positive growth ended four consecutive quarters of economic contraction. The news, better than many economists had predicted, was widely hailed as the beginning of the end of the recession. But critics noted that the improved consumer spending was partially attributable to car...

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White House rhetoric on public option tough to track

As official White House statements go, the latest on Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's plan to tack a government-run insurance plan onto the Senate's health care reform bill was uncommonly enigmatic. "As [President Obama] said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. But even in that Sept. 9 address, Obama was hedging his bets on the public option, saying the ultimate goal is affordability. "The public option is only a means to that end - and we should remain...

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Stakes rise for Afghan runoff election

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s top political rival ruled out a power-sharing government and called for a “dramatic increase” in U.S. troops for the war-strafed country. Abdullah Abdullah, the former Afghan foreign minister, faces Karzai in a Nov. 7 runoff brokered by U.S. officials after the August general election was pitted with vote fraud. “I think I should rule it out,” Abdullah told “Fox News Sunday” of a prospective joint presidency with Karzai, as some have called for. “I’m ready to go for a runoff.” Abdullah’s position, which echoes Karzai’s own stance, creates a new wrinkle for President Obama, who is...

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Deficit limits Obama's options for battling sluggish economy

A bleaker-than-expected report on new jobless claims has the White House defending its economic policies, even as persistent deficit worries threaten President Obama's larger policy agenda. And there could be more trouble ahead for Obama as the holiday season approaches and scrutiny of his efforts on the economy intensify. A big concern for economists is how the unemployment rate will hurt consumer spending -- a major part of the economy. On Capitol Hill, Christina Romer, chairwoman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, urged the Joint Economic Committee to resist any move to cut off federal stimulus spending. "The economic trauma of the past year has been extreme and...

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Obama expresses frustration at criticism

A new note is creeping in to President Obama's campaign speeches lately -- a frustrated tone sharply at odds with the hope and change themes of less than a year ago. As he travels this week on behalf of Democratic candidates in multiple states, Obama is lashing out at his critics, and those who won't give him credit for nine months of work. "I said this before, last week at a fundraiser -- I don't mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made, that's what I signed up to do," Obama said. "But while I'm there mopping the floor I don't want somebody standing there saying, 'You're not mopping fast enough.' Or, 'You're not holding the mop the right way.' " The...

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Confusion over Obama's Afghan decision mounts

President Obama praised Afghan President Hamid Karzai's willingness to face a runoff in his disputed election, amid mixed signals from the White House over whether the results could delay a decision on troop levels. "We have seen the candidates expressing a willingness to abide by constitutional law, and there is a path forward in order to complete this election process," Obama said, during an Oval Office visit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Karzai's decision followed intense pressure by the administration to accept a do-over on the Aug. 20 election. Obama, meanwhile, faces a pressing issue of his own to decide a new war strategy for Afghanistan. The two spoke on...

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Obama seeks to keep intact a shaky coalition on health care

With liberal groups intensifying pressure to include a government-run insurance program in Democratic health care proposals, the White House continued to hedge on the issue -- saying President Obama is most concerned about fairness. "What's important for all this process and for the end of this process is ensuring that at the end of this, we have in insurance markets the ability for people to have choice and competition," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "We'll evaluate proposals as they happen." Obama, meanwhile. continued his outreach to moderate Democrats, meeting privately with Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota who favors creating privately run...

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Emanuel redefining chief of staff job during health care debate

When White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met privately with lawmakers last week on health care reform, he took the key seat at the table and showed he meant business by removing his jacket. A day before, Emanuel was named by GQ magazine the most powerful man in Washington not named Obama or Biden. President Obama's sharp left jab is lately emerging from behind the scenes in the West Wing to claim a new, higher policy profile. An emerging force for the administration on health care reform, Emanuel also is recasting the chief of staff role, which historically has been more managerial, less political and somewhat obscure. Whether Emanuel's shifting style proves effective for...

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Cold shoulder from China, Russia chills Obama outreach on Iran

China's move to join Russia in declining President Obama's call for more sanctions against Tehran delivered a blow to the administration's tough new stance on Iran's nuclear program. Shortly after Russia rebuffed the administration on sanctions, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao signaled Beijing's interest in strengthening ties with Iran. The White House had been hoping for a united, international push against Iran. But both Russia and China hold veto power on the United Nations Security Council, making the prospects for meaningful sanctions highly unlikely. "It should be clear if there was any doubt that the Obama administration's attempt to hit the reset button on relations with Moscow...

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Obama ready to 'dig in' on health care

In a show of confidence, President Obama hailed the Senate Finance Committee's passage of a health care bill Tuesday as a "critical milestone" on the road to reform, but added that "we are not there yet." "This bill is not perfect, and we have a lot of difficult work ahead of us," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "But I do believe the work of the Senate Finance Committee has brought us significantly closer to achieving the core objectives I laid out early in September." With five bills through committee in Congress, the White House is poised to take a significantly more active role in shaping the final measure. The president, faulted by critics for...

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Heath care, Afghanistan linked for Obama

As he navigates a range of politically unappealing options for health care reform and the Afghan war, President Obama is finding the two to be linked The liberals in his own party are dismayed by Obama's apparent retreat on a public, government-run insurance program for health care, and his contemplated embrace of a ramped-up war plan for Afghanistan. Republicans want Obama to go big in Afghanistan, with more troops, a broader footprint and a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy being touted by military leaders. They don't see much they like in health care reform, and may force him to accept a partisan win on the issue in Congress. Both issues have become inextricably linked for...

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Gibbs is the man inside the Obama boy's club

When President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize last week, it was press secretary Robert Gibbs who woke him at 6 a.m. with the news. Gibbs also has been on wake-up duty for bad news: He roused Obama in April during an overseas trip to tell him North Korea had launched a rocket into the Pacific, grim tidings that traditionally would have been delivered by the national security advisor. "I don't ever recall any instance in my time when the press secretary would have done that," said Tony Fratto, who served as deputy press secretary for former President George W. Bush. None of Bush's press secretaries had quite the relationship with their boss as Gibbs has with Obama -- a closeness...

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Swing state job woes add pressure for second Obama stimulus

As the White House mulls a smaller, second round of economic stimulus, a key concern for Democrats is how best to help hard-hit political swing states with mounting unemployment. With a range of foreign and domestic issues pressing on President Obama, one still trumps them all: the economy. Without significant job creation, Democrats could see significant political setbacks come the 2010 midterm elections and beyond. "I think the urgency in getting our economy moving again now is the same urgency that, quite frankly, the economic team had the first day we walked in here," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "There's been a urgency around that ... throughout the...

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White House backs off deadline on Gitmo closing

With little hope for meeting President Obama's deadline for closing the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, a new message is emerging from the administration: Disregard our timetable. "We're not focused on whether or not the deadline will or won't be met on a particular day," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "We're focused on ensuring that the facility is closed, and doing that has to be done between now and the 22nd of January to make the most progress that we can that's possible." Obama two days into office issued executive orders closing the prison in a year and ordering a review of terrorism detainee policies. But the complexities of transferring...

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Obama tests political coalition on potential new Afghan war aims

While congressional leaders told President Obama they will back him on Afghanistan, Republicans said they want buy-in from military leaders before they commit. Obama, devising a new way forward in Afghanistan, is looking to piece together a domestic political coalition to get behind his eventual plan. But different options already are drawing their own constituencies, and Obama's slow pace is carrying its own risk. "It's pretty clear that time is not on our side," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said after a 90-minute meeting of lawmakers from both parties with Obama. "We need to act with deliberate haste." McCain is backing a proposal from Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal...

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White House not posting bills but taking small steps on transparency

Since campaigning on a promise to make government more transparent, President Obama has posted a record on openness that is decidedly mixed. The president promised to post bills passed by Congress for at least five days online before signing them, to allow for public review and comment. So far, he has mostly failed to do so. Watchdog groups, though, cheered recently when Obama reversed himself on releasing White House visitor logs. Previously, the administration had resisted sharing details of who was visiting the West Wing on key policy matters. But the Obama administration also recently moved to restrict media access to the prison at Guantanamo Bay and is pushing for a shield law...

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McChrystal 'isolated' after speaking out on troop plan

The White House is taking pains to downplay conflict between the executive branch and the Pentagon over Afghanistan policy, as President Obama steps up his focus on the still-unresolved war plan. "I get that the Washington game is to do the back-and-forth, I get that," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "It's being played well here." A spate of news reports over the weekend and a rare, Sunday talk show appearance by Obama National Security Adviser Jim Jones criticizing Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, combined to promote the notion of a rift, which the administration rejected. "Once the commander in chief...

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For Obama, politics is local

With key elections looming, President Obama is increasingly lending himself to Democratic political efforts -- but his limited coattails and the nation's restive mood are curtailing his role as campaign asset. At a lunchtime fundraiser for the Democratic Governors Association, Obama touted his administration's efforts to stabilize state economies, while conceding ahead of the release of a new employment report that job creation remains elusive. "I'm not going to rest, I know the governors and candidates here today are not going to rest, and I know that the American people are not going to rest until everybody who's looking for work can find a job," Obama said. With a job...

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Obama weighs a dramatic shift in his approach to Afghan war

As President Obama weighs his options for the future mission in Afghanistan, his options include -- but are not limited to -- to two discrete strategies. Within the administration, backers of counterterrorism favor targeting al Qaeda and other bad actors directly -- maintaining a smaller footprint, a limited military presence, and a narrower mission that uses pilotless drones and other methods, that ideally would allow for earlier troop withdrawal. Those calling for a counterinsurgency argue their strategy has a better track record: Bring the civilian population into the process with incentives to root out the terrorists, work with local military and police with an eye toward shifting...

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Obama tries to reclaim Afghan war debate

Facing intensifying criticism for slow-walking a decision on troop levels for Afghanistan, the White House is pushing back, saying President Obama won't let politics influence his decision. "The president's going to make the decision that he feels is in the best interest of the United States' national security," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "You know, the president is happy to hear the back-and-forth from both sides on this, but is going to take his time to decide what is right for the American people." Republicans this week accused Obama of dithering on a report from Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who warned of a...

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Confusion leads to misgivings about the Obama agenda

Six months ago, some critics said President Obama was taking on too many issues when he should be focused on the economy -- a notion that drew scoffs from the chief executive. "I'm not going to kick these problems down the road for another four years, another eight years, to the next president, the next generation," he told supporters. "We're going to tackle 'em now." Deeper into the first year of his presidency, a sense of confusion is apparent among an electorate that still says they like him and increasingly credit his work on the economy -- but may not be sure about what else he stands for. "The problem is that when they elected him, they thought they knew...

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Obama aims to please on global warming without causing job worries

President Obama, looking to burnish his credentials as a global environmental figure at a summit for world leaders in Pittsburgh, looks to satisfy his international counterparts without intensifying domestic economic worries. The Group of 20 gathering, largely focused on international economic issues, will include a pitch by Obama to phase out fossil fuel subsidies as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions. But Obama, who disappointed environmentalists and some fellow world leaders at the United Nations this week by sidestepping firm commitments or a timetable on U.S. climate change efforts, appears destined to come up short again. "He is going to be all hat and no...

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Obama plays for time with liberals

President Obama's climate change address at the United Nations disappointed some for its lack of specifics or a firm timetable on U.S. carbon limits -- making environmentalists the latest discontented Democratic constituency. Since taking office, Obama in quick succession has dashed the hopes of lesbians and gays, labor interests, anti-war Democrats, Hispanics and others, in part by keeping his own counsel and rejecting a path that pandered to his party's various factions. It's a risky move with the 2010 elections widely expected to return more Republicans to Congress, potentially making future legislative battles even harder. "This is a president who is always seeking the path of...

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Pressure mounts as Obama seeks Afghan delay

With his military leaders pushing for a troop escalation in Afghanistan amid waning political support for the conflict at home, President Obama is in a tough spot with no clear plan and a looming deadline. The leak of a status assessment by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal that the White House has apparently been sitting on ratcheted up the pressure on Obama, who is sounding increasingly reluctant to commit more troops to the fight. The report, which appeared in The Washington Post, warns that without more troops, the United States faces "failure" in Afghanistan. Even so, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs indicated Obama will not be rushed. "The president is going to...

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The 3-Minute Interview: John Gizzi

Washingtonian John Gizzi is political editor of the Human Events magazine, which calls itself the "headquarters of the conservative underground." Gizzi in 2002 was named journalist of the year by the Conservative Political Action Conference. Most days he can be found at the White House, digging up fodder for his weekly political column. What's is like being a conservative covering a Democratic White House? Some days it feels like a minnow trying to swim against a strong current. But most of the time, I enjoy myself and feel no different than I did with a Republican press secretary. Robert Gibbs answers my questions, although sometimes not to my satisfaction. But then again,...

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Obama raises stakes with address on health care

In a bid to regain command of the faltering health care debate, President Barack Obama next week will make a renewed case for reform to a joint session of Congress. The unusual and high-profile move is aimed at drawing coverage by the major television networks and creating a new dynamic for the president's signature policy proposal, after six weeks of diminishing political returns. The address, which follows an invitation from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, is set for 9 p.m. Wednesday. "Our nation is closer than ever to achieving health insurance reform that will lower costs, retain choice, improve quality and expand...

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Obama faces unrest from the Right and Left on Afghan war escaltion

President Barack Obama Wednesday is expected to receive a much-anticipated report on the war in Afghanistan -- one that could prove a major test of his presidency. The classified assessment by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, includes a revised strategy for dealing with extremists and is likely a precursor to a request for more troops. A central conundrum for Obama will be whether to commit more forces to an increasingly unpopular war and further alienate his political base, or risk losing the war's remaining supporters with half-measures that could drag the conflict out. The administration has signaled a willingness to consider more...

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After a short vacation, Obama takes a 'staycation'

With a week on Martha's Vineyard behind him, President Barack Obama was back in Washington on Monday and raring to go -- to the golf course. The president, in khaki pants and a blue polo shirt, headed to the private Army Navy Country Club for an afternoon round with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, press office staffer Ben Finkenbinder, and trip director Marvin Nicholson. That health care debate? He'll get to it next week. "I mean, if he hits Marvin with a golf ball, I guess he'd become more active in health care," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. It was hard to miss the Obama family's glum faces when they returned Sunday evening from their...

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Obama looks for a way to reframe health proposals

A central challenge for President Barack Obama is rebranding health care reform into something shiny, new and salable, in the short window before lawmakers return from recess in September. The political atmosphere is fluid. Raucous town halls, troubling new federal deficit projections and a poll showing Obama with a new, low public approval rating may have substantially changed the game. "I don't know what Obama's got left in his bag of tricks that he hasn't already used before," said Michael F. Cannon, a health policy expert at the Cato Institute. "Nothing seems to be going their way." The same old pitch hasn't been working. During August, the administration lost...

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Put up The Duke!

Baby, I'm back! If Newt Gingrich, Chuck Norris, Bill Clinton and very possibly Eliot Spitzer have taught us anything this past year, it's that there are second acts in American life. Michael Dukakis! Welcome back. Massachusetts state leaders are mulling a temp to fill Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat pending a special election. But Massachusetts is a small state, and apparently most Bay State Dems not currently serving in the U.S. Senate would like to do so. Who to get? Notes Sue Davis (honk) in the WSJ: The two names most frequently mentioned: Vicki Kennedy, who is well-liked, politically astute, and would be a reliable Senate vote if Congress succeeds in passing a health care...

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The Last Lion Roars No More

Edward M. Kennedy, the youngest son who emerged from the long shadow of two murdered brothers and a legacy of family sorrow to find his political destiny in the United States Senate, died Tuesday night after a struggle with brain cancer. President Barack Obama said he and wife Michelle were "heartbroken" by the news. The president is vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, just 20 miles across Nantucket Sound from the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, where the senator died at home, "An important chapter in our history has come to an end," Obama said. "Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest...

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A busted budget by the numbers

A trillion here, a trillion there -- pretty soon you're talking about incomprehensible numbers. The White House on Tuesday revised its 10-year deficit projections to show a $9 trillion increase to the national debt, up from its earlier estimate of a $7 trillion shortfall. In happier news, it also scaled back this year's budget deficit projection -- from $1.84 trillion to $1.58 trillion. What do the numbers mean? Save your pennies: To pay off the federal deficit, every man, woman and child in America would have to send the government $30,000, according to the Heritage Foundation. Health care: President Barack Obama's health care reform agenda carries an estimated price tag of $1...

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Budget forecast may doom Obama aims

President Barack Obama's ambitious domestic policy agenda collided with spiraling deficit figures that project bulked-up federal spending will add more than $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade -- doubling the nation's obligation to creditors. This year's record $1.6 trillion budget deficit will be the biggest since World War II, according to the White House and nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Last year's budget deficit was $459 billion. "I know there are going to be some who say this report proves we can't afford health reform," said White House Budget Director Peter Orszag. "The fiscal gap is precisely why we must enact well-designed and...

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Obama pushes ahead on Afghan war despite waning support

With a growing-yet-ambiguous mission and no clear exit strategy, the war in Afghanistan is fast becoming a key political liability for President Barack Obama. Last week, the White House gamely tried to characterize Thursday's Afghan elections as a milestone for democracy. But the administration's tepid relationship with presumptively re-elected President Hamid Karzai is one symptom of a larger struggle for Obama. "Our goal is clear: To disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and their extremist allies," Obama said of Afghanistan. "This is not a challenge that we asked for; it came to our shores when al Qaeda launched the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan." Obama has...

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White House stirs hornets' nest with use of religion on health plan

President Barack Obama’s efforts this week to inject a religious argument into the health care reform debate has successfully fired up activists — on the other side of the issue. “Apparently the president thinks the Bible says government should help the poor, instead of the Bible calling upon Christians to give to the poor,” said Don Swarthout, president of Christians Reviving America’s Values. Saying, “I am my brother’s keeper,” Obama told progressive religious leaders on a conference call that passing health care reform was a moral and ethical obligation. The remarks, combined with the administration’s inability to effectively...

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Obama tries to reunite Democrats on health reform

August was not supposed to go down like this. President Barack Obama Wednesday led back-to-back conference calls with progressive religious leaders and his own grassroots supporters, looking for some backing on health care reform. After nearly three weeks spent in the horse latitudes of death panels, appearing to waffle on the public option and alarming seniors with proposed changes in Medicare, the Obama administration is no closer to building consensus behind the reform agenda. "Obviously the president will talk about the importance of providing access to affordable health insurance for millions of those that currently don't have it," said White House press secretary...

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Demystifying health cooperatives

The Obama administration is working hard to convince supporters that the president is still fighting for a government-run health insurance plan open to all Americans. The scramble is to convince liberals that the president hasn’t already accepted the idea of a non-profit health care co-operatives — an alternative plan offered by moderate Democrats in the Senate. But with Americans increasingly resistant to the idea of a big, expensive plan, the co-op idea might be the only one that could survive in Congress. But could a co-op help solve the problems facing American health care? What is a health cooperative? Cooperatives are organizations formed by members, generally as...

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The insurance co-op is already in your neighborhood

It's like a good neighbor -- and State Farm Insurance is probably American's most successful and best-known member-owned cooperative. Whether the government could replicate its success by creating health care co-ops is far from certain -- and highly unlikely. "When the Senate says we are going to have a co-op, what they are really saying is we are going to have a government-run program that will remain so until the government decides to turn it over to members," said Michael Cannon, a health care policy expert at the Cato Institute. "There is a lot of reason to doubt." Barry Manilow reportedly wrote the schmaltzy jingle the insurance giant uses to this day. The...

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Obama adopts tough talk on Afghan war

President Barack Obama adopted the more combative tone of a war president associated with his predecessor as he made his strongest case yet for escalating the war in Afghanistan. "Our new strategy has a clear mission and defined goals: To disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies," Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Phoenix. "This will not be quick, nor easy, but we must never forget: This is not a war of choice, this is a war of necessity." Obama will need Republican support to keep the war in Afghanistan funded and progressing. His military advisers have been signaling plans to ask for more combat troops for Afghanistan --...

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Health fight brings back bad memories for Democrats

With its swift boat references and invocations of critics standing for things before they were against them, the 2009 health care reform debate is sounding like the 2004 presidential campaign. Whether either party learned the right lessons from 2004 to apply to the current health care fracas is an open question. "We're confident that the American people will support this legislation," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We're going to make sure that health care reform does not get swift-boated during the month of August." Since the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 helped sink the presidential...

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White House struggles to regain control of the message on health

Bogged down in trying to refute death panel rumors amid polls showing their efforts having little effect, the White House is losing the message war on health care reform. President Barack Obama is hosting back-to-back town hall meetings Friday and Saturday in Bozeman, Mont., and Grand Junction, Colo., in a last-gasp effort to gain control of the debate before his late-August vacation. But so far, Obama's cool, professorial explanations have been no match for heat and passion on the other side. And the White House's determination to stay above the bickering fray and not engage directly has placed the administration on the outer fringes of its own, national conversation. "The...

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Obama takes on "death panel" claims

Scoffing at claims his health care policy would "pull the plug on grandma," President Barack Obama said he does not support so-called "death panels" to decide the fate of the elderly and disabled. "Let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed," Obama told a town hall in Portsmouth, N.H. With health care reform growing increasingly contentious, the White House is pushing back against critics and the news media, saying both are distorting the issues. "No offense, but you guys cover a lot of process and you cover a lot of noise and heat and light, but I...

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Obama delay on immigration complicates health reform

Warning that he needs to pace major initiatives, President Barack Obama said his administration will tackle comprehensive immigration reform -- next year. "Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No," Obama said at a North American leaders summit in Mexico. "There are going to be demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable." Immigration is deeply intertwined with health care reform, the administration's top legislative priority. Obama has said he does not support extending health care benefits to illegal immigrants. But an estimated 59 percent of...

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In health care debate, post-partisanship gives way to mudslinging

The rapid descent of the nation's health care debate into charges of manufactured outrage and comparisons with Nazism was a grim reminder of partisan battles over immigration and Social Security. President Barack Obama is hoping the outcome will be different this time. The efforts to overhaul immigration policy and Social Security foundered after intense public bickering eliminated any chance of compromise or consensus. "Any time you make references to what happened in Germany, in the '30s and '40s, I think you're talking about an event that has no equivalent," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "And I think any time anyone ventures to compare anything to...

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Obama's dropping poll numbers create whiff of failure

At the 200-day mark, President Barack Obama's public support is at its lowest ebb yet -- brought down hard by concern over jobs and health care, according to new polling. Behind the numbers is a worrisome trend for Obama in the eroding faith of many people who strongly backed him for president. After campaigning on hope and the promise of change, Obama has struggled with a bad economy, the partisan realities of Washington and his own political limitations. "What is bothering people is that it sounded like he had good ideas, but he can't get them implemented," said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida. "He has too many distractions and...

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Obama cites economy in push for health care plan

Struggling to keep health care reform moving, the White House is stepping up claims that President Barack Obama's economic policies are beginning to show results. Within the administration, a growing awareness that public doubts about the president's stewardship of the economy are dragging down support for health care has the White House shifting message -- away from the merits of its plan to a broader claim about recovery. "In the last few months, the economy has done measurably better than expected," Obama said. "And many economists suggest that part of this progress is directly attributable to the recovery act." He added, "This and the other difficult but...

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Obama's grade after six months: Incomplete

In the six months since the high-flying oratory of his January inaugural address to the earth-bound realities of his July poll numbers, President Barack Obama has seen mixed success on a flurry of early promises. Much hinges on the next several weeks, which could decide the fate of his signature proposal on health care reform and whether his costly stimulus gamble on the economy pays off. At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to issue a six-month self-assessment of the administration. The president's job approval rating has dropped more than 10 percentage points to 56 percent since taking office, according to Gallup. "I think he did tell you that he was not...

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White House resists calls for compromise on health care

President Barack Obama restated his commitment to include a public option in health care reform, even as a key, bipartisan Senate panel was stripping the provision from their plan. The disparity sets up a showdown as the clock ticks down to lawmakers' August recess, amid a White House offensive to keep reform alive. "We do think that it makes sense to have a public option alongside the private option," Obama told an AARP town hall. "I think that helps keep the insurance companies honest, because now they have someone to compete with." Members of the Senate Finance Committee were devising a bill that would create a nonprofit cooperative to sell insurance, in lieu of...

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Obama looks to allay Chinese fears on U.S. debt

With critical issues pending between the United States and China over mounting debt, trade imbalance and foreign policy, President Barack Obama tried to stress commonality over conflict. “Our countries have now shared relations for longer than we were estranged,” Obama told the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. “I believe that we are poised to make steady progress.” Chinese officials are in Washington for two days of meetings with U.S. counterparts. China, the top foreign holder of treasury debt with more than $800 billion in U.S. notes and bonds, wants to see U.S. currency value improved and the federal deficit reduced. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner...

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Obama finds the old moves harder to make

The Obama administration loves Twitter and Facebook, but a more apt analogy for the increasingly chaotic atmosphere around President Barack Obama may be the arcade games of the early 1980s: The farther you go, the harder it gets. With a constantly accreting policy agenda, numerous political distractions and a strategy to continually push the message through news media and the Internet, the Obama administration often appears to be playing through successive game stages without a cohesive plan. "The early video games teach you to just keep playing through challenges until you fix them," said Joe Tuman, a political scientist at San Francisco State University. "Obama comes...

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Police won't back down on arrest despite chiding by Obama

Police in Cambridge, Mass., defended a sergeant whose arrest of prominent black professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct drew an unusually sharp rebuke from President Barack Obama. "I do not believe his actions were in any way racially motivated," Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said of Sgt. James Crowley. Crowley told a local Boston radio station, "It's disappointing that [Obama] waded into what should be a local issue." The White House tried with no success to tamp down the race-related firestorm sparked the night before, when Obama was asked at a prime-time news conference about the arrest of Gates, a Harvard professor and personal...

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Obama defends health care spending

In a direct acknowledgment that his economic policies are holding back health care reform, President Barack Obama took on critics of his massive federal spending. "Everybody who's out there who has been ginned about this idea that the Obama administration wants to spend and spend and spend, the fact of the matter is that we inherited an enormous deficit, enormous long-term debt projections," Obama said. "We have not reduced it as much as we need to." In his fourth prime-time news conference as president, Obama also said Cambridge, Mass., police had "stupidly" arrested noted Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates for breaking into his own house when...

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Obama-LBJ analogies on health care strain the facts

President Barack Obama's intensified health care lobbying is drawing historic parallels to another president and former lawmaker who muscled through a major reform of government medical care. But President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 success with Medicare was years in the making, took all of Johnson's skills as a veteran Capitol Hill deal maker, probably benefited from the assassination of his predecessor and delivered health care to seniors -- a limited sector of the population. Obama's challenge is markedly different. His brief turn in the Senate comes far short of LBJ's career, and he is trying to completely remake health care delivery for all Americans, in less than a...

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Tender or tough? Obama mixes messages on health care

A day after complaining that Republicans want to make health care his "Waterloo," President Barack Obama abruptly changed course, calling for an end to partisan sniping. The American people "don't care who's up or who's down politically in Washington," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "They care about what's going on their own lives -- they don't care about the latest line of political attack." The president's quick reversal underscores the challenge the administration faces in developing a consistent and effective message on health care reform, amid eroding public support for the plan. The sharp contrast to his harsh rhetoric a day earlier also signaled...

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Doctor access still the sticking point in health care debate

With health care reform advancing fitfully through Congress, President Barack Obama hit back on one of the key disputed issues in the debate. "I know a lot of Americans who are satisfied with their health care right now are wondering what reform would mean for them," Obama said. "Let me be clear: If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep them." Whether the government overhaul would come between satisfied consumers and their family doctor has emerged as a central argument in the increasingly partisan fight over reform. Versions of the health care bill being worked on in Congress do not explicitly take physician choice away from consumers. But...

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Obama swipes at critics as White House downgrades economic forecast

Amid grim new deficit numbers attributed in part to his own spending programs, President Barack Obama pushed back at those blaming him for the continued bad economy. "I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy," he told supporters in Michigan. "That's fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe." With massive federal spending programs coming up short on job creation and the federal deficit topping a record $1 trillion, the White House is trying to regain control of the economic debate -- without much good news to shake up the message. "We had a...

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White House looks for much-needed win with Sotomayor

Looking for a win anywhere it can get one, the White House this week is hoping widespread predictions of an easy confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor hold true. With health care reform and energy legislation both facing delays and disputes, President Barack Obama needs the restorative effects of a successful Supreme Court confirmation to restore momentum to his broader agenda. "Every victory matters to a president, and a Supreme Court confirmation is always a big one," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey found that 47 percent of Americans want the Senate to confirm Sotomayor, while 40 percent do...

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Obama takes focus from jobs despite growing worries

With his domestic agenda in peril, unemployment expected to rise and a new poll showing fewer Americans think he's good in a crisis, President Barack Obama is heading to Ghana. Promoting African democracy is the final stop in a weeklong overseas trip that so far has produced limited results and focused the president away from his own top priorities. "He's kept in regular contact," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters as Obama prepared to wrap up a world leaders conference in Italy. "He has talked fairly regularly with staff back at the White House." Even so, a new CNN/Opinion Research poll found a 9 percentage point drop among Americans who say Obama is...

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Resistance grows to Obama agenda amid mounting job losses

A sobering new round of polls shows President Barack Obama's public support flagging as the economy shows little improvement and talk of a second stimulus persists. "They are definitely spooked by recent continuing job losses and the failure of the economy to convincingly find a bottom," Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said of the administration. "Now they're worried about the second half of '09 being flat." Some economists have been calling for a second round of stimulus spending, saying the $787 billion bill Obama signed in February was too small and hasn't produced the job creation used to sell it. The administration has declined to...

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Health care savings may not materialize

The White House on Tuesday was heralding an agreement with hospitals that officials said could produce $155 billion in savings to fund health care reform over the next decade — the third such nonbinding agreement between the government and industry. With the president overseas and Congress at work on health care, the White House is intent on keeping pressure on Obama’s plan to overhaul the system and extend benefits to the uninsured. But the hospital deal, expected to be released by the administration this week, is the latest in a series of largely amorphous concessions from industry that may not produce the savings Obama is touting. “The administration wants...

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Clinton takes reins on Honduras with Obama overseas

With the political crisis in Honduras deepening and President Barack Obama out of the country, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is leading a U.S effort to restore that country's ousted president to power. Clinton on Tuesday is expected to meet in Washington with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, whose thwarted attempts to re-enter his country since being arrested in his pajamas June 28 unfolded Sunday in a bizarre, international fly-around. "We do call for his return," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. "We're just very focused on the need for a dialogue, to restore him back and restore the democratic order." Obama started the week in Moscow before heading...

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Obama uses emotion to make health care case

Summoning Debby Smith of Appalachia, Va., from a town hall audience to receive a hug, President Barack Obama on Wednesday called her story "Exhibit A" in the case for health care reform. Fighting back tears, Smith, 53, told the president that she lost her job after becoming disabled battling kidney cancer. Now she has no health insurance -- and a new tumor. "I'll try not to cry," Smith said. The president responded, "I don't want you to feel like you're alone on this." Obama, pushing hard for his health care agenda amid polls showing public support may be slipping, embraced Smith and promised to help in an emotional -- and carefully staged -- moment at the...

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Obama will filter questions for Virginia town hall

With Congress away on recess, President Barack Obama is stepping up his sales pitch for health care reform, tapping online social media in a new end run around the traditional news filter. At a town hall today in Annandale, Obama will answer questions from a live audience, and also from users of popular online communities including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. "The president wanted to continue the conversation that we started last week with town halls," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. It's "a continuing conversation about how to move health care reform forward." Although the format opens up the opportunity for questioning Obama to a potentially...

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Obama downplays global warming in effort to sell new regulations

Touting the economic benefits of his energy bill while playing down the climate change aspects, President Barack Obama expressed confidence the measure will clear the Senate. "Thanks to members of Congress who were willing to place America's progress before the usual Washington politics, this bill will create new businesses, new industries and millions of new jobs," Obama said at an event announcing new regulations on U.S. light bulbs, "all without imposing untenable new burdens on the American people or America's businesses." The House late last week narrowly approved a bill that includes a cap-and-trade provision requiring industry to reduce emissions associated...

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As the president escapes to links, the first lady redefines her role

After six months in the White House, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are getting restless — he is finding solace in golf, and she wants a more substantive policy role. Their escape routes are a direct departure from the deliberate roles they crafted for themselves as the busy president, defying critics who say he’s doing too much, and the first mom taking a break from corporate hassle to focus on her children. “You feel almost normal in the sense that you’re not in the bubble,” the president told CBS News about his frequent golf game. “When you’re up there in the tee box and you’re hacking away and hitting some...

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Obama pushes the limits of media exposure

The Obama administration is responding to unfavorable trends in public opinion polls by intensifying its message discipline and seizing as many opportunities for publicity as the schedule allows. President Barack Obama on Wednesday taped a series of exclusive interviews for different ABC News platforms, all highlighting health care reform — a day after a major news conference also addressed health care. Although 72 percent in a recent CBS News/New York Times poll said they supported health care reform, three different polls have shown support waning for Obama’s fiscal policies. The administration is not taking any chances on losing the health care fight. “The...

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Obama turns from policy battles and toward personal narrative

With uncertainty growing over his domestic and foreign policy efforts, President Barack Obama closed out a tough week by turning to his most effective political strategy — focusing on fatherhood and personal responsibility. “What truly makes a man a father is the ability to raise the child and invest in that child,” Obama told a town hall highlighting fatherhood at the White House. “We need fathers to be involved in their kids’ lives, not just when it’s easy.” The president’s deep pivot from violence in Iran and his troubled health care reform effort was timed to highlight his personal strengths on Father’s Day, and comes with a...

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White House relaxes deadline on health care reform

The White House on Thursday backed off from a July 31 deadline for health care reform amid new polls showing public support slipping for President Barack Obama’s broader agenda. Obama and Democratic allies hoped to finalize health care reform before Congress departs for August recess. But warring proposals and a trillion-dollar cost estimate are slowing lawmakers down. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that this is going to take some time to do. It’s an issue that we’ve been discussing for 40 years,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. “The president isn’t pessimistic about being able to get this through Congress this...

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Obama’s larger role in foreign policy is new test in relationship with Clinton

With Iran and North Korea at a boiling point, the White House is taking a more vigorous role in foreign policy, largely eclipsing efforts by the State Department. If Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is bothered, she hasn’t shown it. Her tranquil working relationship with President Barack Obama has been one of many surprises in the new administration. “I was skeptical this arrangement would work out, and I was shocked when he picked her,” said Clark Ervin, a former State Department official and member of Obama’s transition team currently at the Aspen Institute. “Now it appears they have a seamless partnership.” Their first months in office have...

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The emerging divide on health care

President Barack Obama is headed to Chicago to address the American Medical Association — a powerful group wary of his idea to include a government-run option in a Democratic health care plan. Whether he succeeds in his push for a federal insurance provider and who the plan will require to have mandatory coverage are central issues in the reform debate. There once seemed to be enough Democratic votes to pass the plan with a big government component and mandatory insurance for all. But those issues, amid ballooning deficit spending, has some moderate Democrats looking for a way to make the Obama plan more politically palatable. Paying for the plan - The White House has...

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Obama talks up restraint in bid for health spending

President Barack Obama abruptly changed course Tuesday and called for governmentwide fiscal restraint, a day after announcing ramped-up federal stimulus spending. But his push to require all spending to be balanced by equal cuts or tax increases had a broader aim than just reining in a budget deficit expected to quadruple this year. By appealing to fiscally conservative Democrats, Obama was shoring up support for health care reform. Fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats have been pushing Obama on spiraling deficits, and he needs their support on reforming health care. “We are in a deep fiscal hole,” said Rep. Charlie Melancon, a Louisiana Democrat and co-chairman...

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First lady starts taking risks, pushing boundaries

She is far and away the most popular figure in the Obama administration, but several recent moves by Michelle Obama could put some tarnish on her sterling public image. “She is taking some risks,” said Cindy Rugeley, a political scientist at Texas Tech University. As new figures released Friday showed the nation’s unemployment rate the highest in 26 years, the first lady jetted to Paris with daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to meet up with the traveling president and stay a few extra days to celebrate Sasha’s eighth birthday. Michelle Obama has intentionally stayed out of the public policy fray — until last week, when she delivered a high school...

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Obama’s motives hazy for Biden’s role on spending

When President Barack Obama tapped Vice President Joe Biden to oversee a massive federal spending program, it was unclear whether he was aiming to give Biden a serious portfolio, or something to keep him out of trouble. “We know some of this money is going to be wasted,” Biden told business leaders in New York on a trip promoting the stimulus plan. “People are being scammed already.” It turns out there is not much that keeps Biden out of trouble, even as he takes on a roster of serious issues in carving out his own interpretation of the vice presidency. “I’m not going to change,” Biden told NBC News earlier this week. “Look, I am who I am....

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Obama administration tries economic argument to sell health care reform

The White House and backers of comprehensive health care reform are repositioning the issue as one that will restore health — to the U.S. economy. The administration’s intensifying economic message dovetails with new advertising from advocacy groups that also says fixing health care is key to shoring up the economy. President Barack Obama called the weeks leading up to the congressional August recess “the make-or-break period” for devising a workable plan. The president summoned Democratic leaders to the White House for a collective push on health care before he leaves the country for a five-day swing through Europe and the Middle East. “He kept coming...

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Obama tries auto sales pitch to car buyers, taxpayers

President Barack Obama tried out a sales pitch that might have been at home in a car lot as he made his announcement of the government’s 60 percent ownership share of the once-mighty General Motors. “And I want to remind everyone that if you are considering buying a GM car during this period of restructuring, your warranties will be safe and government-backed,” Obama said, heralding a “new GM” that “can produce the high-quality, safe, and fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow.” But the bigger sales job for the president was to convince American taxpayers that his decision to make them “reluctant shareholders” of GM was the best option...

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Despite ghosts of 2008, McAuliffe likely Obama’s man in Va.

They are an unlikely duo, and may never be fast friends — but President Barack Obama needs Terry McAuliffe to win the Virginia governor’s race. “Virginia was one of Obama’s big breakthrough states,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “He wants to preserve those gains for 2012.” The 2010 midterms also are a concern for Obama, who trounced McAuliffe’s candidate and close friend Hillary Clinton in Virginia’s 2008 Democratic primary, before beating John McCain for the historically Republican state in the general election. McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee...

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White House brightens outlook on economy

After months of warning the economy would get worse, and then speaking of reasons for hope, the Obama administration is shifting course and declaring the nation’s financial picture is looking better. “It is safe to say we have stepped back from the brink,” President Barack Obama told supporters at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, Calif. Recent positive signs from the economy bolster the administration’s contention. Home resales are up, along with consumer confidence. The administration this week released a report showing the president’s $787 billion stimulus program was showing results. At the same time, unemployment rose to 8.6 percent in the past week,...

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Obama shifts focus from domestic to foreign issues

Even as he touted domestic accomplishments, President Barack Obama was preparing to pivot toward foreign affairs, ahead of a key visitor from the Middle East, new threats from North Korea and his own address to the Muslim world. Since taking office, Obama’s focus has repeatedly shifted between escalating demands at home and abroad. The still-struggling economy and his newest Supreme Court nominee compete for his attention with the Middle East, two wars, and nuclear-armed Iran and North Korea. Obama today hosts Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, as part of his ongoing effort to jump-start the stalled Middle East peace process. Next week he will visit...

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Weeks ahead to try Obama’s relationship with Congress

President Barack Obama’s sometimes uneasy relationship with the Democratic-led Congress faces crucial tests in the coming weeks, with key priorities pending and a Supreme Court nominee yet to come. On a number of issues — including the recent flare-up over closing Guantanamo Bay prison — the administration is renewing pledges to work with lawmakers. “I have always believed that it is better to talk than not to talk, that it is far more productive to reach over a divide than to shake your fist across it,” Obama said recently. “This has been an alien notion in Washington for far too long.” Congress is on Memorial Day recess for two weeks, which...

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Guantanamo becomes dividing line in U.S. politics

President Barack Obama’s November election was supposed to have settled the Guantanamo Bay prison question once and for all. But anxious congressional politics, public doubts and the persistent ghosts of the Bush administration are creating uncertainty in the face of Obama’s resolve to close the prison and prosecute detainees on U.S. soil. Far from decided, the issues attending Guantanamo Bay are, as former Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday, “the great dividing line in our current debate over national security.” Obama and Cheney highlighted deep divisions over the prison and its satellite issues of torture, detention, secrecy and security in back-to-back...

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With fellow Dems leery, stakes high for Obama on Gitmo speech

With his plans to close Guantanamo Bay detention center held up by his own party in Congress, President Barack Obama will try to regain command of the issue today with a showcase speech on detainee policy. Former Vice President Dick Cheney will roll out a speech of his own today, continuing his harsh critique of the administration’s national security policies. It’s a tough spot for Obama, who on his first day in office signed an order to close the prison at Guantanamo, to cheers from Democratic supporters. “There’s no doubt Obama is learning, as all presidents do, that it’s easy to campaign and pretend there are easy solutions,” said Aubrey Jewett, a...

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Obama must choose whom to pay for his health plan

President Barack Obama’s determination to reform health care this year has the White House confronting a familiar dilemma: Figuring out how to pay for it. The Senate Finance Committee this week put forward a series of options, including taxing sugary soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, nonprofit hospitals, private employee insurance benefits and more to create new revenue sources for health care. Reforming the system is expected to cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. Obama so far has set aside half that amount in the federal budget. Raising taxes to pay the balance appears increasingly likely. “I think the American people are willing to understand the...

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Courts to test decision to withhold detainee photos

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday the administration would defend in court a decision by President Barack Obama to withhold the release of detainee abuse photos. “I think the president has made a decision that is consistent with the best interest of our troops,” Holder told the House Judiciary Committee. Obama’s reversal on new, post-Abu Ghraib abuse photos has put the administration at odds with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and aligned it with Republican and military leaders who had urged the photos remain secret. Ultimately, the president’s flip-flop on the issue may better serve his own, long-term political interests, experts...

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Obama: ‘Stars are aligned’ for health care reform

President Barack Obama said Wednesday “the stars are aligned” for health care reform, as Democratic leaders promised a House vote by the end of July. “Too often ef­forts at comprehensive reform have fallen apart, due to special-interest lobbying and petty politics and the failure of all sides to come together,” Obama said. “You’re starting to see a shift in these patterns.” With an already-loaded fiscal and public policy agenda, Obama is staking much on the health care gamble — a complex and divisive issue freighted with warring interests. “There is a tension between wanting to do things early when Obama has a lot of popularity...

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Obama’s budget plan includes $17B in cuts

President Barack Obama on Thursday released more details of his $3.5 trillion budget plan, but the White House was quickly on the defensive over some $17 billion in proposed spending cuts. “A few of the programs we eliminate will produce less than $1 million in savings — and in Washington, I guess that’s considered trivial,” Obama said. “Outside of Washington, that’s still considered a lot of money.” House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said Obama’s proposed cuts “don’t go far enough.” “And they appear to be a diversionary tactic,” he said, “an effort to change the subject away from the...

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Obama says Chrysler deal with Fiat gives automaker ‘new lease on life’

President Barack Obama said Thursday a deal brokered by the White House for Chrysler to enter bankruptcy and then team with Fiat will give the troubled automaker “a new lease on life.” “We simply cannot keep this company, or any company, afloat on an endless supply of tax dollars,” the president said. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection and announced a partnership agreement with Italian automaker Fiat. The White House pushed for the deal after rejecting Chrysler’s latest restructuring proposal and concurrent request for more bailout funds. The Obama administration, which initially supported the bailout for automakers, has grown less enthusiastic...

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‘Politicized’ CIA probe hard for Obama to avoid

President Barack Obama, facing pressure from within his own party, signaled Tuesday he may support prosecution of Bush administration officials who greenlighted harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists. “With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general, within the parameters of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that,” Obama said during an Oval Office meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan. The president has previously said he would not support prosecution of those who followed Bush administration-era policies. His latest remarks indicate he makes a...

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Mmmm-hmmm: WH communications director doesn't make it to 100 days

Ellen Moran: We hardly knew you (ap photo) Eyebrows are aloft at the White House over the abrupt departure of Ellen Moran, Obama communications director, for a spot at the Commerce Department. Ellen who, you say? The low-profile West Winger will be chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Politico tracked down the elusive Moran near her office this morning: “This is a perfect fit for me professionally and personally,” Moran said. “And when I had the opportunity, I jumped at it.” Asked why she’d leave the White House for a staff job in the cabinet, Moran said: “That’s all I got for you” and walked away. That's not much...

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Stylin' at the State Department

Clinton and the Moammar's youngest: Tell your Dad 'Hey' (ap photo) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday met with Mutassim Qadhafi, Libyan national security advisor, international fashion plate and the youngest son of that Qadhafi, still the Libyan dictator. Read about the family's antics here. Here's what went down in the State Department's Treaty Room: CLINTON: I am very pleased to welcome Minister Qadhafi here to the State Department. We deeply value the relationship between the United States and Libya. We have many opportunities to deepen and broaden our cooperation. And I'm very much looking forward to building on this relationship. So, Mr. Minister, welcome so...

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Obama focuses more on issue czars, less on Cabinet

The Obama administration is piling up more czars than a Russian history book. Though President Barack Obama had been in office for almost 90 days before his first Cabinet meeting Monday, he has already installed more than a dozen so-called issues czars in his administration. The most recent came as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last week named former federal prosecutor Alan Bersin the nation’s border czar, tasked with confronting drug trafficking and illegal immigration. Bersin joins more than a dozen other czars tasked with pushing the president’s agenda. Each has Obama’s ear to varying degrees, and, unlike the existing 22 Cabinet-level positions past...

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Obama gun control move likely to fuel fires among right-wingers

As conservatives back home fumed over an administration report on extremist groups and veterans, President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico on Thursday pledging to curtail the flow of guns over the border. “At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the borders, it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative, but also on our side of the border, in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south,” Obama told Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The president hopes to give new life to a languished treaty,...

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Dana Perino gets hired

Hey, vixen! Former Bush administration spokeswoman Dana Perino -- lately a denizen of cable news green rooms and impossible lunches with wistful journalists -- is joining former Clinton adviser Mark Penn at public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Her job is "chief issues counselor," notes the WSJ: Ms. Perino, 36 years old, likely will focus on communications strategies for clients in the looming Washington policy debates over issues such as energy, climate change and health care. She may also develop business among newer defense and technology firms. Penn, the firm's CEO, told the Journal that Perino has "been through some incredibly difficult experiences at some of...

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Obama takes NATO aid request to French public

STRASBOURG, France - President Obama on Friday opened his pitch to secure greater international assistance in Afghanistan, warning that Europe is still a target for terrorism. “I understand that there’s doubt about this war in Europe,” Obama said at a town hall-style meeting here. But, “if there is another al Qaida attack, it is just as likely, if not more, that it will be here in Europe.” Obama is in France and Germany this weekend attending NATO’s 60th anniversary meeting. At the top of the president’s agenda is a push for other countries to back his plan for redoubling efforts to secure Afghanistan. “We have no interest in occupying...

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Leaders get behind global regulation, aid

President Barack Obama and 19 other world leaders agreed Thursday on a vigorous agenda to loosen credit, expand international financial regulations and direct more resources to the poorest victims of global economic meltdown. On his last day in London before heading to a NATO meeting in France today, Obama expressed confidence that nations working in concert is the best way out of crisis. “At home I’ve often spoken about a new era of responsibility, and I believe that this era must not end at our borders,” Obama told reporters at the Group of 20 economic summit. “In a world that’s more and more interconnected, we all have responsibilities to work...

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Obama gets royal reception, reaffirms Anglo-U.S. bonds

President Obama got his audience with Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, an iconic moment for both leaders with shades of the traditional and the new. Following a whirlwind day of meetings with world leaders, the president, joined by first lady Michelle Obama, headed to Buckingham Palace for a private audience with the queen and her husband Prince Philip. “It was a wonderful visit,” Obama shouted to reporters as he left the palace with his wife. “Her majesty is delightful.” Michelle Obama, whose classic American style is a story line of its own in London, wore a flared black skirt, cream-colored blouse, demure black coat and pearls with black satin, kitten-heeled...

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Obama makes Russian arms deal, will travel to Moscow and Beijing

LONDON – President Barack Obama emerged Wednesday from his first talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with an agreement to work together on nuclear arms reduction. Both leaders said they viewed their meeting as a chance to “reset” a relationship that had grown increasingly chilly in recent years. At Medvedev’s invitation, Obama said he would visit Moscow in July. “As I’ve said in the past, I think that over the last several years the relationship between our two countries has been allowed to drift,” Obama said. “What I believe we’ve begun today is a very constructive dialogue.” The meeting between the United States and...

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Obama looks to shore up Britain relations

President Barack Obama arrived here Tuesday for high-wire economic talks with world leaders, a visit to Buckingham Palace — and a chance to redeem himself in the gift-giving department. Obama, traveling with his wife, Michelle, a massive entourage of staffers, official vehicles and an emergency supply of type AB blood, will meet privately today with the leaders of Russia and China, and also with Queen Elizabeth II. “Obviously, this is President Obama’s chance to be among his peers in the alliance, to establish his style of leadership,” said Stephen Flanagan, an international security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington....

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Obama looks to dial down expectations

As President Barack Obama begins a major push for his $3.6 trillion budget, among his greater challenges is maintaining public support while managing expectations about how soon he can show results. It’s a tricky balancing act for the president, who campaigned on big promises and now faces eroding public confidence as the nation’s recession grinds on. “It’s important to remember that this crisis didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t result from any one action or decision,” Obama said at the White House. “It took many years and many failures to lead us here, and it will take many months and many different solutions to lead us out. There...

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Stumbling along the learning curve

When President Barack Obama was on the campaign trail, he frequently invoked a line about the American story, and how it’s “never been about things coming easy.” - York: Candidate Obama vs. President Obama - Mason: Stumbling along the learning curve - Carney: AIG mess clips the wings of high-flying Obama team - Tapscott: When America becomes Obamaland - York: Obama pushes his agenda, deficits be damned - Stirewalt: Politics as hardball, not as higher calling - Tapscott: Bush spent big, Obama spends even bigger...

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‘Outrage’ for Obama over AIG’s bonus program

Amid growing outrage over insurer AIG’s generous bonus program, President Barack Obama on Monday blamed recklessness and greed for the company’s straits and said he’s looking for ways to block the payouts. “It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay,” Obama said at the White House. “I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping this company afloat?” The president had planned to use the day highlighting new programs benefiting small businesses, but instead found his agenda hijacked by AIG. The insurer received $180 billion in federal bailout...

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Obama agenda’s expense spurs congressional Dems to defect

With President Barack Obama’s agenda growing bigger and more expensive by the day, a major challenge for the White House is keeping congressional Democrats focused and supporting him. Democrats already are making significant alterations to Obama’s $3.5 trillion proposed budget, tinkering with his tax policies and working to restore slashed farm subsidies, among other moves. The $410 omnibus spending bill making its way through Congress has become a political target for both parties. It is loaded with earmarks but Obama, who campaigned against earmarks, is still expected to sign it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, asked if he would start using a stronger hand...

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Obama’s spending splurge confounds D.C.’s establishment

Even as he campaigned for change last year, Barack Obama’s history and demeanor signaled that once he reached the White House, he would lead with cool deliberation and consensus. Instead, the first seven weeks of the Obama administration have been a gusher of major policy initiatives with huge price tags, one after the other. Change, as expressed in the opening days of this presidency, is more whiplash revolution than incremental policy building. “We probably all thought he would be a little more deliberative, but frankly things are falling apart,” said Sean Theriault, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. “The American public expects him to...

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Obama calls for sacrifice — and more spending

President Barack Obama on Tuesday acknowledged public outrage over bank bailouts and misspent federal dollars, but made an urgent pitch for continued spending as a way out of crushing recession. In a nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, Obama said “it’s not about helping banks” but about helping people and the economy. “I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you — I get it,” Obama said. “But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My...

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Will anybody be messing with Joe?

It may be the worst job in Washington, and President Barack Obama has given it to Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. “We got to follow the money here,” Biden said Wednesday, at his first weekly oversight meeting on the federal economic stimulus package. In a nationally televised address to Congress the night before, Obama declared that “nobody messes with Joe” and tasked Biden with managing billions in federal spending. “I’m going to be a bit of a pain in the neck,” Biden warned Cabinet members and agency staffers 12 hours later in the Roosevelt Room. “This is just a different deal.” Essential to Biden’s task is making sure $787...

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Jindal appreciates Obama’s bipartisan efforts, but disagrees with approach to economy

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday he appreciates President Barack Obama’s efforts at bipartisanship but disagrees strongly with the administration’s approach to the economy. Jindal, who was at the White House for a gathering of the National Governors Association, will deliver the Republican response Tuesday to Obama’s national address. “We absolutely, Republicans or Democratic governors, we want our president to succeed,” Jindal told reporters in the White House driveway. “When we disagree with him, we will certainly offer alternative ideas and solutions.” A rising star in his party and prospective 2012 presidential...

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Obama assures Harper on ‘buy American’ provision of stimulus

President Barack Obama on Thursday moved to reassure business and trade partners that the “buy American” provision of the economic stimulus package will not further harm the economy. Critics of the measure, including foreign trade partners, business groups and even some U.S. industries that use steel and other products, have called “buy American” protectionist and complained it will drive up the cost of business. Obama, who met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for several hours in Ottawa, said he told his counterpart the United States would abide by existing trade pacts. “I want to grow trade and not contract it,” Obama said. “And I...

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Gray Lady to Iseman: No apologies

By Julie Mason Examiner White House Correspondent The New York Times never actually said John McCain had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman in their curious Feb. 21 2008 front page story -- but Iseman certainly thought it was implied. She sued the paper for $27 million in December, claiming the story "falsely communicated" an improper relationship. The piece, also denounced at the time by McCain, cited "several aides" who worried the senator was too close to the lobbyist. The New York Times announced a settlement Thursday -- no money for Iseman, and no apology from the newspaper. Notes Editor and Publisher: Washington Bureau Chief Dean Baquet told staffers in a...

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Biden: Please tip your waiter!

By Julie Mason Examiner White House Correspondent Vice President Joe Biden today swore in new CIA Director Leon Panetta, telling his audience at the agency that, “My name is Joe Biden and I’m proud to be one of your leading customers.” Biden, whose bursts of humor already seem to be at least slightly irritating to President Obama, doled out the laughs intentional and otherwise – including one reference to the “intelligent community.” Panetta also got into the act, thanking White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for showing up and adding, “I taught him everything he knows. So on the other hand, if he screws up it’s not my...

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GOP attacks Obama’s foreclosure-rescue plan

A first round of questions about President Barack Obama’s proposed $75 billion foreclosure rescue Wednesday centered on prospects for abuse and potential inequities in rewarding deadbeat homeowners while doing little for those merely struggling. Even before Obama delivered his plan to stem home foreclosures Wednesday, Republicans had organized events to blunt his efforts — sending a signal that his plan may be a tough sell with lawmakers. While giving few details of exactly how the massive outlay will be monitored, Obama said there was no provision for rewarding the “unscrupulous or irresponsible.” “The plan I’m announcing focuses on rescuing families...

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Feds have high hopes for automakers’ reorganization plans

By Julie Mason Examiner White House Correspondent 2/18/09 The White House on Tuesday remained hopeful that reorganization plans from two Detroit automakers would help save the industry — but declined to rule out bankruptcy if they don’t. “I wouldn’t close the door” on bankruptcy, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Chrysler and General Motors late last year received a combined $13.4 billion in federal loans to stay in business, on the condition they return by Tuesday with plans to repay the money and remain in operation. The plan submitted by GM calls for eliminating almost 50,000 additional jobs and seeking another $30...

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