Obama administration

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Obama Pledges Credit Card Reform
Obama Pledges
Credit Card Reform
Apr 23, 2009 2:44 PM CDT

Obama Pledges Credit Card Reform

Obama backs House bill limiting 'deceptive' practices

(Newser) - President Obama told senior executives of credit-card firms today that he supports congressional efforts to rein in some of their business practices, the Washington Post reports. Both the House and Senate are working on bills to codify new regulations by the Fed that restrict lenders’ ability to arbitrarily raise interest...

White House's Preferred First-100-Days Story Lines

Look out for these White House plugs next Wednesday

(Newser) - President Obama's savvy advisers may scoff at his 100th day as a "Hallmark holiday," but they're happy to tell reporters how to cover it. Politico lists what the White House is spinning:
  • Obama's not overambitious, just a promise-keeper—right down to that new pup.
  • His broader vision is
...

RFK Wanted to Lift Cuba Travel Ban, Too
RFK Wanted 
to Lift Cuba 
Travel Ban, Too 
OPINION
Apr 23, 2009 9:06 AM CDT

RFK Wanted to Lift Cuba Travel Ban, Too

Obama should quash 'inconsistent' rule, says former AG's daughter

(Newser) - Blocking Americans from traveling to Cuba is "inconsistent with traditional American liberties," according to the US attorney general. Eric Holder in 2009? Nope: Bobby Kennedy in 1963—who opposed prosecuting students who went to Havana and unsuccessfully pushed the Johnson White House to lift the ban. As daughter...

Obama's Apologies Create a Sorry Situation: Rove

No reason for contrition in GOP pundit's mind

(Newser) - Barack Obama has finished his "international confession tour," and Karl Rove can’t figure out what it was supposed to accomplish. After his public apologies on two continents, "our adversaries rejoiced," Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal. David Axelrod swears this will yield “very,...

Clinton: Cheney Not a 'Particularly Reliable Source'

(Newser) - No love lost between Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney. Asked today on Capitol Hill about Cheney’s request to declassify information related to the interrogation memos, Clinton responded, “It won’t surprise you that I don’t consider him a particularly reliable source,” the Los Angeles Times reports....

Fate of Dozens of CIA Detainees Still Unknown

(Newser) - The Bush-era CIA memos made public last week revealed that an al-Qaeda suspect, Hassan Ghul, had been held in one of the agency’s secret jails. But the inadvertent disclosure of one name merely highlights how much the public still doesn’t know about the network of secret detention facilities,...

GM Seeks Ways Around $1B Debt Payment

Automaker will swap for equity or seek court protection

(Newser) - General Motors won’t make a $1 billion payment on its debt June 1, an exec told the Wall Street Journal today, and will instead try to swap it for stake in the company—or turn to courts for protection. “They want us to be a viable entity when...

Memo Release Paralyzes CIA 'Shadow Warriors'

(Newser) - The ripples from the release of the torture memos continue to ruffle the CIA, David Ignatius writes for the Washington Post. “America will be better off, in the long run, for Obama's decision to expose the past practice of torture,” he acknowledges. “We all knew the political...

Clinton Threatens Sanctions If Iran Won't Come to Table

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton said today that the US is “laying the groundwork” for sanctions against Iran if it doesn’t participate in nuclear talks, the BBC reports. The secretary of State said a rebuff of US overtures or continued enrichment would lead to a “very tough” response. Iran is...

Firms Fight Overseas Tax Changes Worth Billions

Last year's sheltered earnings could have brought US $20B

(Newser) - Overseas tax reform plans in the works under President Obama would put a serious squeeze on top firms, which under current law can store foreign income abroad indefinitely, reports the Wall Street Journal. Ten of the biggest companies earned $58 billion in 2008 that’s now sheltered overseas—money that...

On Hot-Button Issues, Obama Keeps Cool
On Hot-Button Issues, Obama Keeps Cool
Analysis
Apr 22, 2009 10:56 AM CDT

On Hot-Button Issues, Obama Keeps Cool

Takes steps thought to be sudden death for pols—and scores

(Newser) - Barack Obama has been “dancing on cultural third rails with seeming impunity,” reports Jonathan Martin of Politico. He’s gone to France and called America “arrogant,” liberalized relations with Cuba, and eased up on medical marijuana—all moves that Bill Clinton wouldn’t have touched with...

Obama Pandered to Lefties With Memo Release: Cheney

Ex-VP slams Obama terror policies

(Newser) - Dick Cheney said President Obama’s release of Bush administration torture memos was meant “essentially to appease a certain element of the Democratic Party or because of campaign commitments,” Politico reports. Speaking on Fox News, Cheney did a mocking impression of al-Qaeda’s reaction: “Gee whiz, isn't...

Pentagon to Create New Cyber Command

Four-star general will lead efforts to fight digital attacks

(Newser) - The Obama administration is about to create a new military command to bolster American offensive powers in cyberwarfare and to coordinate defenses against digital attacks, reports the Wall Street Journal. A four-star general will lead the new command, which will have responsibility for protecting the country from attacks by hackers,...

Obama's Auto Boss Faces Charges of ... Nothing

Rattner's pay-to-play 'scandal' is common practice

(Newser) - The press is abuzz over Obama auto-recovery boss Steven Rattner’s ties to a pay-to-play scandal, but every story about Rattner mentions he’s not accused of anything. What he apparently did—paid to receive part of a public pension fund to manage—is “an open practice,” so...

Nonprofit Lobbyists Want Obama to Let Them In

White House ban bars experts, policy suffers

(Newser) - Nonprofit groups have launched a new campaign on behalf of their own lobbyists, the New York Times reports. Barack Obama’s current anti-lobbying rules don’t make any distinction between corporate influence peddlers and public interest advocates; all are barred from administration jobs. Case in point: Tom Malinowski, the Human...

Obama Open to Interrogations Probe

(Newser) - President Obama today said he’d be open to the idea of creating a panel to investigate the Bush administration’s interrogation methods in the war on terror. Obama and his aides have been dismissing the idea for weeks, but today in a press conference with King Abdullah of Jordan,...

If CIA Gets Pass on Torture, Why Not Lynndie?

Abu Ghraib convict's team cries foul over double standard

(Newser) - Among those infuriated at President Obama's decision to "turn the page" rather than prosecute officials who sanctioned torture at CIA prisons, and agents who conducted it, are supporters of Lynndie England, the jailed “face of the Abu Ghraib scandal.” They agree that her abuse of prisoners was...

Geithner Puts Brakes on Bank Repayments

Treasury sec reluctant to free Goldman, others from constraints

(Newser) - Tim Geithner is warning Wall Street that he will consider more than banks' individual financial fitness when deciding whether they can pay back bailout funds—and escape from the strings attached to them. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury secretary says that the whole banking system,...

Chrysler Gets New Aid, but End May Loom

Treasury pushes automaker toward Fiat deal or liquidation

(Newser) - The Obama administration has given a further $500 million to keep Chrysler afloat, but Washington signaled yesterday it increasingly believes Chrysler will not survive as an independent company. Treasury officials met yesterday with CEO Robert Nardelli, as well as the heads of the United Auto Workers and Italian automaker Fiat....

White House Targets Credit Card Chicanery

Issuers coming under pressure to halt unfair, misleading practices

(Newser) - The Obama administration is throwing its weight behind congressional efforts to crack down on credit card companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lawmakers are pushing legislation to ban practices like arbitrarily raising interest rates on existing balances and the president is expected to take a hard line on the issue...

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