Recently in Barack Obama Category

I remember this term from my history classes. The whole idea of it seemed so absurd. As Sting said in one of his early solo efforts, "I hope the Russians love their children too." When the Soviet Union tumbled it seemed like this was going to be something for the history books. Something that today's children could only imagine. For most of us, we lived it for a good portion of our lives. We thought...

Mr. President, What. The. Hell. Are. You. Thinking?"At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation's budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost...

From The Hill yesterday:"The White House, seeking an agreement to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2, on Monday said it would not insist that any deal include an end to former President George W. Bush's controversial tax rates on the wealthy...The White House said the president is pushing the GOP to agree to eliminate some tax breaks for businesses and loopholes for wealthier taxpayers, but is not seeking to eliminate the...

Extreme conservative House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has pulled out of the ongoing debt ceiling talks in Washington.Republican Senator John Kyl of Arizona--who has a problem with facts--has also left these talks.It appears that additional stimulus  and possible tax increases for those most able to pay may be on the table as needed steps to help the economy.What a welcome difference from the Republican strategy of working to keep the economy from recovering in order to hurt President Obama politically.I'm wary of all sides...

In an address to the country tonight, President Obama is expected to announce the beginning of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. The Washington Post is reporting that the numbers will be 5,000 by the end of this summer, another 5,000 by the end of the year and possibly another 20,000 by the end of 2012. Not enough and not fast enough for me, and according to Pew, not for the majority of the American people:Numbers which...

From an editorial in the St. Petersburg Times, May 21, 2006:"[T]he changes that George W. Bush has made to our nation's constitutional firmament may not depart with the first family's bags. His disregard for the separation of powers has so dramatically distorted the office of the president that he may have engineered a turning point in American history....Bush has taught tomorrow's leaders that, if there are no consequences for ignoring legal constraints on power and...

I give the Obama administration points for creativity, if nothing else:"The White House, pushing hard against criticism in Congress over the deepening air war in Libya, asserted Wednesday that President Obama had the authority to continue the military campaign without Congressional approval because American involvement fell short of full-blown hostilities. In a 38-page report sent to lawmakers describing and defending the NATO-led operation, the White House said the mission was prying loose Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's...

FDR, 1936:  "We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob. Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as...

Washington acts quickly....when they want to:"Congress on Thursday passed a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. Votes taken in rapid succession in the Senate and House came after lawmakers rejected attempts to temper the law enforcement powers to ensure that individual liberties are not abused.Following the 250-153 evening vote in the House, the legislation to renew three terrorism-fighting authorities headed for the president's signature...

President Obama will be Texas today.The President is scheduled to visit El Paso and Austin.(Above--President Obama at Texas A & M University in 2009. President Obama and Texans get along just fine--Unless some folks would claim that the photo is a fake.)   Because the Johnson Space Center Houston was not awarded a retired space shuttle, and because the President has not declared a federal emergency over ongoing wildfires in Texas, some feel Mr. Obama does not like Texas.This...