"That is a big win for not just women but for families and for the American people. It’s a law that’s going to save lives and help more Americans live free from fear"
Painful spending cuts may have led the White House to halt public tours, but President Barack Obama and Republican senators could need to loosen their belts, not tighten them, after their peacemaking dinner at a superswank Washington, D.C., restaurant on Wednesday. How swank? The eatery featuresa menu with a $1,776—per person—price tag, excluding tax and tip.
Amid spending cuts, Obama and GOP to dine in style
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
"The challenge for Obama in the State of the Union is the mismatch between the magnitude of the current economic malaise and the resources that he can summon to deal with it."
Obama campaigned in 2008 as a fierce critic of George W. Bush’s national security policies, but he has apparently learned to stop worrying and love nearly unfettered executive power—the literal power of life and death over fellow U.S. citizens overseas thought to be consorting with extremists groups that may be targeting America. So, under what circumstances does he have the right to act?
The memo says “an informed, high-level official of the U.S. government” must decide that the target is a “senior operational leader” of al-Qaida or “associated forces,” “poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States,” and that an attempt to capture that individual is “infeasible.”
Obama memo justifies drone-war killing of Americans (Olivier Knox)
Obama taps McDonough as White House chief of staff in shake-up
Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough at an interfaith forum in 2011 (Cliff Owen/AP)
Three days into President Barack Obama’s second term, and it’s clear he’s not the man he was in his first term. Just ask the fly.
A pesky Musca domestica (per pooler Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo) landed on the president’s face during a press conference to announce his picks to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Obama swatted at the fly a couple of times, and the official White House transcript records, “This guy is bothering me here—(swatting at a fly.)” The insect eventually left the commander in chief alone.
But the Obama of just a few years ago—of June 2009, to be precise—might not be impressed. That’s because that Obama successfully killed a fly during an interview with CNBC, boasting “I got the sucker.”
"The crowds will be smaller and President Barack Obama will be grayer when he takes the stage on Monday to deliver his second inaugural address. Will the orator in chief reclaim his mantle of eloquence with a big, bold speech? Or will he play it safe and keep it short?"
Can Obama avoid the second-term curse?
Presidential second terms have a bad reputation. It’s almost enough to make you wonder why President Barack Obama wanted the job.
President George W. Bush saw his popularity dragged into the cellar in his second term by the unpopular Iraq war, the botched government response to Hurricane Katrina and the failed push to privatize Social Security. Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was exposed and led him to become just the second U.S. president to be impeached. Sordid details of his affair with the White House intern made Clinton a punchline and drew headlines around the world.
President Ronald Reagan faced the “Iran-Contra” scandal in which Tehran, though designated a state sponsor of terrorism, received arms shipments with Washington’s blessing. And Nixon? Watergate!
Obama to nominate Hagel to defense, Brennan to CIA:
President Barack Obama on Monday will formally nominate Republican former senator Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary and top White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. Obama’s 1:05 p.m. announcement follows his nomination of Democratic Senator John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.Hagel, who earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam and still carries shrapnel in his chest, would be the first former enlisted soldier to head up the Pentagon. His rumored nomination has drawn fire from a handful of Republican senators, who point to his votes against sanctions on Iran and complaints about the “Jewish lobby” for Israel. The former Nebraska senator has moved to defuse objections on another front, apologizing for anti-gay remarks in 1998.
(Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)
