CORRESPONDENTS

Steven Thomma

Poll: If talks fail, Americans back military strike on Iran

The survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found 63 percent of Americans approve of direct negotiations with Iran, seemingly endorsing Barack Obama’s pledge as a candidate to meet with Iran or any other rogue nation. But Americans are skeptical about the prospects -- 64 percent say the talks won't succeed, in which case 61 percent say it’s critical to stop Iran, even if it takes military action. | 10/06/09 15:16:03 By - Steven Thomma

Despite Iran progress, Obama faces a world of hard trouble

When Iran agreed Thursday to let inspectors into its previously secret nuclear plant, it appeared to be at least a small victory for the United States and the coalition trying to stop the rogue nation from getting nuclear weapons. But it was just one step on a long road with the Iranians. And it was just one spot on the globe. | 10/02/09 15:46:00 By - Steven Thomma

Now even an Olympics bid becomes fodder to knock Obama

When President Barack Obama decided to go to Denmark, he hoped to win international support Friday for the U.S. bid for the 2016 Olympics to be in Chicago. The moment he signed on, however, he also generated a storm of criticism from the right at home. | 10/01/09 16:28:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama camp is optimistic Chicago will win 2016 Olympics

Team Obama starts arriving Wednesday in Copenhagen, the vanguard of a high-profile effort to win the 2016 Olympics for Chicago, the president's adopted hometown. | 09/29/09 17:10:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama wins praise for orchestrating response to Iran

The revelation Friday that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility capped a calculated effort by President Obama to assemble a unified international response to Iran's nuclear program ahead of a six-nation meeting next Thursday in Switzerland. | 09/25/09 18:38:00 By - Steven Thomma

Sebelius: Swine flu vaccine will be available in October

The first doses of vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus will be available the first week of October, federal officials said Thursday, with millions more shipped every week after that. | 09/24/09 16:32:00 By - Steven Thomma

More U.S. troops to Afghanistan? Obama's caught in a vise

With the military and Republicans publicly pressuring him to send more troops to Afghanistan soon and his own administration now deeply divided about how to proceed there, President Obama may be facing a defining moment of his presidency. He can escalate an unpopular and open-ended war and risk a backlash from his liberal base or refuse his commanders and risk being blamed for a military loss that could tar him and his party as weak on national security. | 09/21/09 19:37:00 By - Steven Thomma, Jonathan S. Landay and David Lightman

Obama unveils new ways to boost retirement savings

Obama announced the plans in his Saturday radio address. The new options will make it easier for more businesses to automatically enroll their employees in 401(k) accounts, allow people to invest tax refunds in savings bonds, and allow employees to direct payments for unused vacation to their 401(k) accounts. | 09/05/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Biden: Many stimulus projects happening ahead of schedule

Vice President Joe Biden claimed Thursday that the $787 billion stimulus plan "is doing more, faster, more efficiently, and more effectively than we had hoped." | 09/03/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama summons Congress for primetime health-care pitch

Eager to turn the page after a politically damaging month, President Barack Obama will launch a new push next week to overhaul health care, highlighted by an evening address next Wednesday to a joint session of Congress. | 09/02/09 18:35:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Summer of our discontent: Why is America so angry?

Finger pointing and yelling at town hall meetings this summer are just some of the signs of a country that's been building toward a boiling point for several years. Threats and inappropriate messages to federal judges and court personnel doubled from 2002 to 2008. The number of people refusing to pay taxes to a government they claim is illegitimate rose so much in recent years that the Internal revenue Service last year created a National Tax Defier Initiative to fight them. And the mood predates Obama. | 08/28/09 16:31:00 By - Steven Thomma

Secret camps and guillotines? Groups make birthers look sane

Is the federal government building secret camps to lock up people who criticize President Barack Obama? Will it truck off young people to camps to brainwash them into liking Obama's agenda? Are government officials planning to replicate the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, using the guillotine to silence their domestic enemies? No. The charges, of course, are not true. | 08/28/09 15:16:00 By - Steven Thomma

Fighting false health care claims, Obama repeats one of his own

President Barack Obama participated in a scripted online discussion of his health care overhaul with a friendly audience of religious voters and pastors Wednesday. It ended with him bemoaning those who bear "false witness" against his plans — and then making a claim of his own that's been widely shown to be false. | 08/19/09 18:49:00 By - Steven Thomma

At White House, Mubarak urges speeding up Mideast peace talks

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak used a newfound welcome mat Tuesday at the White House to urge the United States to accelerate Mideast peace talks, skipping past temporary steps that he said have led nowhere and moving instead to a final negotiation about the status of Jerusalem, the status of refugees and borders. | 08/18/09 17:49:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama's hint that he'd drop public plan provokes ire

Concerned that the president might be ready to negotiate away one of their key goals, liberal Democrats pressed President Barack Obama on Monday to resist conservative opposition and maintain support for a government insurance option as part of his health care overhaul. | 08/17/09 18:52:00 By - Steven Thomma

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