Obama administration – News Stories About Obama administration - Page 36

Poll

Oct 28, 2009 11:47 AM CDT

US Glum on Economy —and GOP, Too

Republican Party lacks opposition bump usually accompanying hard times

(Newser) - Americans are bummed about the economy, but that hasn’t given Republicans the usual opposition party boost in Washington. “The mood in America may be blue, but attitudes toward Washington are just jet black,” a pollster tells the Wall Street Journal . Some 58% of respondents think the economy...

Forget the $250 Checks, Obama: Say No to Grandma

David Leonhardt

Oct 28, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

Forget the $250 Checks, Obama: Say No to Grandma

To cut deficit, we have to cut benefits to seniors

(Newser) - Economists are none too impressed with Barack Obama's proposal to send each senior a cool $250, and David Leonhardt can see why. The over-65 set has weathered the recession better than anyone—many of them purchased real estate well before the housing bubble burst, and few work in the most-battered...

Afghan Surge Gains Favor; Public Sours on DC

POLL NUMBERS

Oct 27, 2009 6:20 PM CDT

Afghan Surge Gains Favor; Public Sours on DC

Support for public option also grows; GOP isn't more popular, though

(Newser) - New poll numbers out today hold good news and bad for the Obama administration. Support is rising for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey finds, and nearly half now favor a public option in the health-care reform measures now under consideration. The bad news: 58% said...

Where Bush Was
Bashed, Obama
Gets Free Pass

ANALYSIS

Oct 27, 2009 2:35 PM CDT

Where Bush Was Bashed, Obama Gets Free Pass

GOP faithful can't fathom why press goes so easy on new president

(Newser) - Supporters of George Bush are miffed about the passes the media has given President Obama for trespasses the former president would likely have been excoriated for. “We have a joke about it. We’re going to start a website: IfBushHadDoneThat.com,” former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie tells Politico....

Meet Michelle's
'Body Woman'

Oct 27, 2009 1:40 PM CDT

Meet Michelle's 'Body Woman'

Kristen Jarvis came up in Obama's Senate office, and has proven stellar

(Newser) - Kristen Jarvis has had tough jobs. She joined Barack Obama’s office in 2004, when he was a newly minted senator. But that was nothing compared to last year’s presidential campaign, when she was given a different charge: Michelle Obama. As her "body woman," Jarvis did everything...

Fox Ratings
Soar After
Obama Tiff

Oct 27, 2009 12:07 PM CDT

Fox Ratings Soar After Obama Tiff

Conservative station still trounces cable news competitors

(Newser) - Maybe Roger Ailes is on Barack Obama’s Christmas list. His administration sure seems to have given Fox News a gift anyway; in the two weeks since Anita Dunn publicly slammed the network, its ratings are up 9% overall, and 14% among the all-important 25-to-54 demographic. Shepard Smith’s show...

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It

JUAN COLE

Oct 27, 2009 11:17 AM CDT

B+ for Obama Foreign Policy, F for Not Owning It

New prez is doing fine in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, but no one notices

(Newser) - Despite the howls of protest over President Obama's Nobel Prize and the administration’s "dithering" on Afghanistan, the fact is that the new president’s foreign endeavors deserve good marks, says Juan Cole. Cole gives Obama an A for his Iranian statesmanship, a B for pulling out of Iraq...

Obama Tags $3.4B
for Smart Energy Grid

Oct 27, 2009 10:04 AM CDT

Obama Tags $3.4B for Smart Energy Grid

Plan will create tens of thousands of jobs and cheaper electricity

(Newser) - President Obama will roll out a plan to use $3.4 billion in stimulus funds to modernize the nation’s electrical grid today. The “smart grid” spending will go to private contractors, utilities, and municipal governments in grants of between $400,000 and $2 million. The administration expects $4....

Ex-Marine: Afghan War Not Worth Fighting

Interview

Oct 27, 2009 7:35 AM CDT

Ex-Marine: Afghan War Not Worth Fighting

Former official explains why he resigned his post in protest

(Newser) - When Matthew Hoh resigned in protest last month, it sent a small tremor through the Pentagon and White House. Hoh, an ex-marine, was the US’ top civilian in Zabul province, until he reached the conclusion that the war wasn’t worth fighting. “My resignation is based not upon how...

Get a Clue,
Washington:
You Can't Do
Everything

DAVID BROOKS

Oct 27, 2009 5:10 AM CDT

Get a Clue, Washington: You Can't Do Everything

Effort to restructure exec pay smacks of arrogance

(Newser) - Clamping down on arrogant, risk-taking execs with an overconfident attempt to overhaul private sector pay structures shows that the arrogance has migrated to the Obama administration, writes David Brooks. The government is trying to micro-manage compensation packages at a wide variety of firms when pay regulation should be done, humbly,...

Public Option a Go: Reid

health care reform

Oct 26, 2009 4:07 PM CDT

Public Option a Go: Reid

Senate bill will include government health plan, with opt-out

(Newser) - Harry Reid will include a public insurance plan in the pending health care reform bill, with a provision allowing individual states to refuse to participate. The Senate majority leader’s bill is likely to include an “opt-out” version of the public plan, taken from the Senate health committee, as...

Republicans Stonewall Obama's Judges

Doug Kendall

Oct 26, 2009 2:13 PM CDT

Republicans Stonewall Obama's Judges

Procedural maneuvers help Senate GOP stall confirmation process

(Newser) - Despite the 95 yawning vacancies on the federal bench, Senate Republicans are blocking virtually all of President Obama’s nominees. Only three of Obama’s 22 nominees have been confirmed, as Republicans take the “partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory,” writes Doug Kendall for Slate. Both...

Obama's Golf Game Goes Coed

girls allowed

Oct 25, 2009 4:43 PM CDT

Obama's Golf Game Goes Coed

Presidential foursome includes a woman for the first time

(Newser) - Within hours of a New York Times story spotlighting the West Wing's alleged "boys' club" atmosphere, President Obama played golf with a woman today for the first time since being sworn in. Melody Barnes, the White House chief domestic policy adviser, hit the links as part of Obama's foursome...

Actually, Fox Is
a Legit News Operation

Clarence Page

Oct 25, 2009 2:13 PM CDT

Actually, Fox Is a Legit News Operation

Obama must start following through on campaign promises

(Newser) - Risking his wife's wrath, Clarence Page has to admit he agrees with Sean Hannity. The Fox News host has correctly called President Obama on the disconnect between campaign rhetoric and the attempted boycott of Hannity's employer. "It is disingenuous for right-wing pundits to accuse Obama of dividing the country,...

Biden on Cheney's Afghan Bluster: 'Who Cares?'

Oct 23, 2009 6:40 PM CDT

Biden on Cheney's Afghan Bluster: 'Who Cares?'

In Europe, VP calls predecessor's review of conflict 'irrelevant'

(Newser) - Joe Biden’s in Europe, but his latest opinion of Dick Cheney’s continued attacks on President Obama isn’t getting lost in translation. Asked about Cheney’s criticism that Obama is “dithering” on Afghanistan, Biden replied: “Who cares?” Biden added that a review of the conflict late...

Moderate Dems Fret Over Obama Attacks on Fox

Oct 23, 2009 8:47 AM CDT

Moderate Dems Fret Over Obama Attacks on Fox

...and worry picking fight with Chamber of Commerce will backfire

(Newser) - Moderate Democrats are nervous about the Obama administration’s efforts to marginalize tough critics like Fox News. “It’s a mistake,” Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire tells Politico. “I think it’s beneath the White House to get into a tit for tat with news organizations.” And...

Obama Assault
on Fox News
Is 'Nixonian'

Charles Krauthammer

Oct 23, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

Obama Assault on Fox News Is 'Nixonian'

White House needs to recognize the legitimacy of opposition

(Newser) - The Obama administration is over the line in its war on Fox News, seeking not only to criticize it, but to delegitimize and marginalize it, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post. “There’s nothing illegal about such search-and-destroy tactics,” he argues, but they do violate “Madisonian...

It's Not Bush's Mess Anymore

PEGGY NOONAN

Oct 23, 2009 5:47 AM CDT

It's Not Bush's Mess Anymore

Obama needs to stop complaining about what he inherited, start fixing it

(Newser) - President Obama needs to stop complaining that he inherited a mess and realize that the mess is now all his, writes Peggy Noonan. The White House is once again reminding people what dire straits the country was in when Obama's presidency began, but—as the president's free-falling poll numbers prove—...

President Has Delivered
Real Change in Education

DAVID BROOKS

Oct 23, 2009 5:35 AM CDT

President Has Delivered Real Change in Education

Race to the Top program has sparked a 'quiet revolution' in education

(Newser) - President Obama's huge success in education reform has been overlooked amid all the carping about his failure to deliver as much change as expected, writes David Brooks. The $4.3 billion Race to the Top fund Obama and Arne Duncan established has helped accelerate real reform in education and has...

White House:
Cheney's the
Irresponsible One

Oct 23, 2009 4:38 AM CDT

White House: Cheney's the Irresponsible One

He helped get us into mess, Pelosi adds

(Newser) - What Dick Cheney calls dithering, "President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday, rejecting Cheney's charge that the Obama adminstration is taking too long to decide its Afghanistan strategy. "...