Obama will skip next month's NAACP convention
President Barack Obama will not be attending the NAACP convention in Kansas City next month as its supporters had hoped. Michelle Obama will instead. The first lady, who had been invited along with the president, will be the headliner at the July 10-15 gathering. | 06/24/10 18:39:13 By - David Goldstein and Dave Helling
BP's oil recovery stats show how wrong leak estimates were
BP recovered 18,600 barrels of oil from its gushing Deepwater Horizon well on Wednesday, the most so far, but still just a fraction of what is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The amount serves as a reminder of the weeks-long reluctance of both BP and the Obama administration to recognize the full extent of the disaster. | 06/17/10 13:19:45 By -
From Oval Office, Obama vows to restore Gulf Coast
President Barack Obama on Tuesday night used his first Oval Office address to try to change Americans' perceptions of his handling of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that's gushed out of control for nearly two months and to make the case that he and his team are finally in the driver's seat. | 06/15/10 21:49:54 By - Margaret Talev
Obama tells Florida he'll do "whatever it takes"
Hours before President Barack Obama was to address the nation, he came to Florida's ground zero on the Gulf oil spill crisis and pledged that his administration would do "whatever it takes" to deal with the mess. | 06/15/10 21:49:36 By - Jennifer Lebovich, Niala Boodhoo and Carol Rosenberg
Poll: Obama's doing OK overall, but not on the Gulf spill
While 50 percent of the American people approve of how President Barack Obama is doing his job overall, a 41 percent plurality disapproves of how he's handling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and only 33 percent approve, according to a new Ipsos-McClatchy poll. | 06/15/10 21:49:18 By - Robert A. Rankin
Transcript of Adm. Thad Allen's Tuesday BP oil leak briefing
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the National Incident Commander for the Deepwater BP Oil Spill response, and Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, briefed reporters Tuesday. This transcript was provided by the White House. | 06/08/10 19:02:25 By -
Obama's comments Monday on the BP Gulf oil spill
This is the White House transcript of President Obama's comments after meeting with Cabinet secretaries on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. | 06/07/10 21:03:53 By -
Transcript of Thad Allen's White House briefing Monday
This is the transcript of the White House briefing Monday with Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. | 06/07/10 14:28:05 By -
With oil spill in patches, Coast Guard cuts use of dispersants
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said Monday that the Gulf oil spill has broken into "hundreds or thousands" of oil patches, forcing federal officials to adapt their plans to keep up. He also made clear that the amount of oil flowing from the Deepwater Horizon well is far greater than previously acknowledged. | 06/07/10 14:11:03 By - Steven Thomma
Helen Thomas, under siege about Israel comments, retires
Helen Thomas, the longest serving White House correspondent, retired Monday after White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her anti-Israel comments reprehensible, and the White House Correspondents Association called them indefensible. | 06/07/10 12:40:07 By - Steven Thomma
Muslim praise for Obama dries up a year after Cairo speech
A year ago Friday, President Barack Obama stood in Cairo and vowed "a new beginning" in a speech about how he'd change U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Egyptian vendors sold T-shirts portraying Obama in King Tut regalia, and Muslims throughout the region thrilled at his middle name: Hussein. | 06/03/10 21:44:40 By - Miret el Naggar and Margaret Talev
Obama orders firms to change drill plans that mimic BP's
The Obama administration ordered oil companies to resubmit dozens of exploration plans that were virtually identical to BP's and that also called major spills and environmental damage "unlikely." The action came after McClatchy informed the White House and Interior officials that it had reviewed 31 deepwater exploration and development plans approved for the Gulf under the Obama administration and found that all of them downplayed the threat of spills to marine life and fisheries. | 06/02/10 20:24:20 By - Shashank Bengali
Obama's remarks after meeting with oil spill study chairmen
Obama met with former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and former EPA administrator Bill Reilly on Tuesday. They are the co-chairs of a presidential commission investigating the cause of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the official transcript of Obama's remarks. | 06/01/10 15:11:13 By -
Thunderstorm forces Obama to cut Memorial Day appearance
A violent, fast-developing thunderstorm Monday forced President Barack Obama to cut short his Memorial Day remarks at a national cemetery outside Chicago and urge guests to take shelter in their cars until the storm passed. | 05/31/10 14:07:31 By - Steven Thomma
White House: Appointment offer to Sestak was proper
The Obama administration said Friday that it used the promise of a presidential appointment to try to get a Pennsylvania congressman to abandon a planned primary challenge to White House favorite Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and that it used former President Bill Clinton as the middleman. | 05/28/10 12:03:21 By - Steven Thomma
A frustrated White House press corps bites the hand that feeds it
President Barack Obama Thursday grudgingly faced his first full-blown East Room news conference at the White House in almost a year, and it was no love-fest. A press corps that's been accused of treating him with kid gloves has grown increasingly critical, and the result was more aggressive and skeptical questioning. | 05/27/10 20:28:49 By - Margaret Talev
Rahm Emanuel travels in Israel, and right-wing protesters follow
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's visit to Israel with his family was meant to smooth over tensions between the two countries, but right-wing Jewish activists cursing him as a "hater of Israel" did their best Thursday to disrupt the visit. | 05/27/10 17:50:37 By - Sheera Frenkel
NCAA champ Duke evens the score at White House
The Rose Garden ceremony honoring the 2010 NCAA men's basketball champions was Krzyzewski's fourth trip to the White House. It was his first chance to personally remind the current leader of the free world that Duke shouldn't be counted out of anyone's bracket, even the president's. | 05/27/10 17:50:15 By - Barbara Barrett
Obama concedes mistakes in oil spill as he halts drilling
President Barack Obama on Thursday tried to regain Americans' sinking confidence in his response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying "from the moment this disaster began the federal government has been in charge of the response effort." He also formally announced his administration is suspending the planned exploration of two locations off the Alaskan coast and halting other drilling operations. | 05/27/10 14:04:14 By - Steven Thomma and Margaret Talev
An Obama win: Senate passes financial reform bill, 59-39
The bill would be the most sweeping changes in government regulation of the nation's financial institutions since the Great Depression, including strong new consumer and investor protections and provisions that seek to shine a bright light on the dark corners of Wall Street. The bill must still be reconciled with a House version passed six months ago. | 05/20/10 21:02:28 By - David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall
Low estimate of oil spill's size could save BP millions in court
BP's estimate that only 5,000 barrels of oil are leaking daily from a well in the Gulf of Mexico, which the Obama administration hasn't disputed, could save the company millions of dollars in damages when the financial impact of the spill is resolved in court, legal experts say. | 05/20/10 19:53:26 By - Marisa Taylor, Renee Schoof and Erika Bolstad
Obama's state dinner guest list includes bank executives
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was on the guest list for Wednesday's state dinner, along with a smorgasbord of other financial heavy-hitters. American Express CEO Ken Chenault, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Sen. Chris Dodd, head of the Senate banking committee, were also on the guest list. | 05/19/10 21:58:05 By - Rick Rothacker and Christina Rexrode
Change you can believe in? Secrecy still veils Guantanamo hearings
The military commission hearings on Canadian Omar Khadr's claim of abuse at Guantanamo and in Afghanistan opened with a new rule book and closed with the Pentagon banishing four veteran reporters. One of the witnesses was subpoened in secret, six testified under pseudonyms, and security officers closed the court to screen a video that's available on YouTube. Critics say the spectacle underscored that military commissions under Barack Obama are no more transparent than under George W. Bush. | 05/17/10 12:56:34 By - Carol Rosenberg
Here's what Obama said on the Gulf oil spill and regulation
This is a transcript of the president's remarks Friday on the Deepwater Horizon oil well disaster. | 05/14/10 21:35:25 By -
Obama calls BP, Transocean testimony 'ridiculous spectacle'
President Obama, usually calm, reserved and above the fray, dressed down BP and the other companies connected to the Gulf oil spill in remarks from the Rose Garden at the White House. He promised to end the cozy relationship between the oil industry and the government agency that oversees it. | 05/14/10 13:05:06 By - Margaret Talev
Obama administration recruits outside experts to help BP
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said they'd recruited the experts to inject what Chu called "intellectual firepower" into BP's efforts to figure out how to stanch the flow from the Deepwater Horizon well. Salazar and Chu met with reporter briefly outside BP's headquarter in Houston. | 05/12/10 14:55:14 By - Dave Montgomery
Washington state's Gregoire on short list to replace Kagan
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is on the short list to replace Solicitor General Elena Kagan, an administration official confirmed Wednesday. Gregoire, who has been one of Obama's favorite governors attending meetings at the White House on everything from health care to education, is a two-term incumbent and former state attorney general. She endorsed Obama early, before the 2008 Washington state caucuses. | 05/12/10 13:39:31 By - Les Blumenthal
National soda tax, regulation not part of Obama obesity plan
The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity issued a blueprint Tuesday that's thick with ideas but doesn't put the hammer down yet on taxpayers or private industry. A national soda tax? Worth further study, but not this year. New regulatory authority over food marketing to children, or changes to agricultural subsidies to make fresh fruit and vegetables cheaper? Possibilities down the road, but why not first encourage more voluntary steps by the private sector? | 05/11/10 10:00:00 By - Margaret Talev
Obama to visit Gulf Coast as oil spill threatens Louisiana
President Barack Obama will travel to the Gulf Coast on Sunday as a massive oil spill lurked just off the Louisiana shore and could spread to other Gulf Coast states in the next several days. The well, 50 miles offshore in waters 5,000 feet deep, continued leaking more than 200,000 gallons of sweet crude oil a day, though some estimates were far higher. | 05/01/10 19:08:32 By - Les Blumenthal
U.S. may send Navy to oil spill as threat to environment grows
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday designated a widening oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico as "a spill of national significance" as government officials acknowledged that the amount of oil spewing daily from the well is far more than earlier thought. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration may dispatch military ships to the area. | 04/29/10 12:50:55 By - Lesley Clark and Curtis Morgan
At Missouri ethanol plant, Obama touts biofuels
President Barack Obama visited Macon, Mo., Wednesday and told 200 people that green energy was a key to the country's future. Speaking at Missouri's first ethanol plant, which produces 46 million gallons a year, he said that the biofuel was important to the country's move to green energy. | 04/28/10 17:09:38 By - Steve Everly
White House, mountain resort mum about Obamas' getaway
No one at the White House, or in the city of Asheville, N.C., or at one of the nation's most posh resorts will talk much about what President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle might be doing on this weekend retreat to the mountains of western North Carolina. | 04/22/10 17:37:55 By - Barbara Barrett
Obama, mine safety head to discuss West Virginia disaster
President Barack Obama's scheduled meeting with federal mine regulators is being hailed as a refreshing change by mine safety advocates following the deadliest U.S mining disaster in 40 years. The bodies of four missing miners were found early Saturday in Montcoal, W. Va., bringing the death toll from the disaster to 29. | 04/09/10 19:38:23 By - Halimah Abdullah
2012 preview? Obama, Palin trade insults on nuclear policy
President Barack Obama and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin traded barbs over nuclear policy Friday, with each mocking the other's experience in an early look at what a 2012 presidential campaign might look like. | 04/09/10 15:35:17 By - Steven Thomma
Obama has plans for Asian-American judge: So does GOP
Goodwin Liu couldn't speak English until kindergarten, but he went on to become his high school's co-valedictorian, then a Rhodes Scholar and a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Now he's under attack on Capitol Hill, where Republicans are opposing his nomination to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. | 04/07/10 18:27:22 By - Rob Hotakainen
Obama hardens stance over Cuba's crackdown on dissent
President Barack Obama, in his harshest censure of Cuba's repression of dissent, Wednesday said Havana had used "a clenched fist" against "those who dare to give voice to the desires of their fellow Cubans." Obama also appeared to hint that his efforts to improve U.S. relations with the Raul Castro government have lost steam in the face of the recent string of tough actions by Havana. | 03/25/10 07:08:36 By - Juan O. Tamayo
House Democrats poised to enact sweeping health care overhaul
With Democrats increasingly confident they have enough support, the House of Representatives planned for an historic vote Sunday that would enact the most dramatic changes in the nation's health care system in decades. As a sign of that confidence — and to quiet concerns among Democrats as well as Republicans — House leaders Saturday abandoned a plan to approve the Senate's health care legislation without a direct vote. | 03/20/10 19:35:31 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Obama's popularity declines in California, according to poll
President Barack Obama's popularity is declining in California, with slightly more than half of the state's voters still approving of his job performance, according to a Field Poll released Friday. The poll found 52 percent of Californians giving Obama good marks, down from 56 percent in January and 65 percent a year ago. At the same time, Californians gave a resounding thumbs-down to Congress, with only 12 percent of the state's voters approving of its performance. That's the lowest assessment since Field began tracking Congress two decades ago. | 03/20/10 06:40:40 By - Rob Hotakainen
House Democrats draw closer to having votes for health bill
Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives continued scouring for votes Friday among reluctant anti-abortion and conservative Democrats in search of enough "Yeas" to triumph in Sunday's historic vote on a $940 billion health care overhaul — and they appeared tantalizingly close to their goal. | 03/19/10 12:38:13 By - William Douglas, David Lightman and Margaret Talev
Idaho's Crapo will serve on Obama's debt commission
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, has been selected as one of six congressional Republicans for the debt-reduction commission created last month by President Barack Obama. The 18-member commission will be made up of 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans. | 03/13/10 19:02:33 By - Erika Bolstad
Obama expects health care vote by 21st, delays foreign trip
President Obama now expects Democrats can get the votes in Congress for final passage of the health care overhaul by March 21 — the calculation that triggered his announcement today that he will delay by three days his trip to Guam, Indonesia and Australia. The president's plan to expand coverage to 31 million more Americans and impose new regulations on the insurance industry is his biggest domestic policy promise. | 03/12/10 11:22:55 By - Margaret Talev
Haiti's Preval seeks renewal of direct U.S. aid to government
Haitian President Rene Preval said he lobbied both President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for direct payments to help support government services in Haiti. The U.S. had cut such payments in 2008 out of concerns about corruption in the Haitian government. But Preval said without money, the government will have to cut services, with dramatic consequences. | 03/10/10 15:15:19 By - Lesley Clark
Money hunt turns aid agencies into rivals in shaken Haiti
At an encampment on the outskirts of Haiti's capital, physicians from three international aid agencies provide identical services. On a charter flight to Miami, competing doctors get into a shouting match before takeoff. And at a search-and-rescue operation, one international team claiming ownership of the effort asks another to leave -- although the departing group has the equipment to do the job. The reason: a grab for cash. | 03/10/10 08:10:59 By - Jacqueline Charles
Robert Harding is named to take over the TSA
The last nominee to head the Transportation Security Agency withdrew after Sen. Jim DeMint put a hold on his appointment over concerns about union membership. The new nominee, retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding, is a former operations director for the Defense Intelligence Agency. | 03/08/10 17:25:56 By - Margaret Talev
Obama: The future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq
President Barack Obama congratulated the people of Iraq for voting in the face of violence. He pledged to continue the U.S. withdrawal. "By the end of next year, all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq," he said. The White House released the full text of his remarks. | 03/07/10 18:11:55 By -
Text of Obama's speech on reconciliation and health care
The White House released this text of Obama's speech in which he called for Democratic leaders in Congress to use the controversial reconciliation procedure to pass health care legislation. | 03/03/10 14:47:53 By -
Obama still using nicotine replacement to fight smoking
The president underwent a physical on Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was reported in good health, with slightly elevated cholesterol. He's still fighting a smoking habit. | 03/01/10 05:47:07 By - Margaret Talev
Few signs that Obama summit moved needle on health care
There was little evidence on Capitol Hill Friday that Obama's 7 1/2-hour bipartisan summit on health care had boosted momentum to pass a massive overhaul of the health care system. More likely, Congress will take up smaller issues for which there's consensus. | 02/26/10 17:48:17 By - David Lightman
No word on substance of White House meeting with atheists
A spokesman for the Secular Coalition for America, a group that includes atheists, said its representatives met for nearly 90 minutes with Obama administration officials. Paul Fidalgo, however, said he couldn't offer any details about what Obama aides said in the meeting because of an agreement that their discussion be kept private. | 02/26/10 15:18:02 By - Margaret Talev
You can watch the White House health care summit here
This is the live stream from the White House of today's health care conference. The summit runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. | 02/25/10 09:58:20 By -
Conservatives hail DeMint as he slams Obama for 'selling socialism'
More than 1,000 delegates to the annual convention sponsored by the American Conservative Union gave Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a rousing hero's welcome, urging him to run for president and delivering a sustained standing ovation. | 02/18/10 18:13:26 By - James Rosen
Can Obama's debt commission overcome Congress' politics?
Experts think the chances are not good. Republicans won't consider tax hikes and Democrats won't cut programs, so the likelihood is that Congress will still be gridlocked, whatever the commission proposes. That's especially true with the GOP expecting big gains in November's elections. | 02/17/10 17:29:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Obama sidesteps Congress to create bipartisan debt panel
University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson, a Republican, will lead a bipartisan commission to recommend ways to rein in the nation's escalating federal debt under an executive order that President Barack Obama plans to sign on Thursday. | 02/16/10 19:23:00 By - Margaret Talev and David Lightman
Obama grants loan guarantee to build new nuclear reactors
President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced his administration's first nuclear energy loan guarantee — $8.33 billion to build the first new U.S. reactors in nearly 30 years. | 02/16/10 18:08:00 By - Renee Schoof
GOP hopes to capitalize on Latino disappointment with Obama
As one of the first Latinos in the nation to endorse Barack Obama, Democratic state Sen. Gilbert Cedillo of Los Angeles campaigned hard for the president, but he's disappointed now. | 02/15/10 15:31:00 By - Rob Hotakainen
U.S. begins Mideast push for ideas on Iranian solution
The top U.S. military officer and the secretary of state kicked off a series of visits throughout the Middle East Sunday, reaching out to the Arab world as the Obama administration pushes for tougher sanctions against Iran and its nuclear ambitions. | 02/14/10 16:42:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
U.S. apologizes for killing of 12 Afghan civilians
Twelve Afghan civilians died Sunday after U.S. rockets mistakenly hit a house during the much-trumpeted offensive to clear the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, a loss of life that is likely to seriously undermine the operation and the renewed American-led mission to win the trust of the population. | 02/14/10 14:53:00 By - Saeed Shah
Surprise tactic in Afghanistan offensive befuddles Taliban
U.S. Marines and Afghan forces airlifted over Taliban-laid minefields into the center of Marjah town Saturday, apparently surprising the insurgents and taking strategic positions from them, according to military officials. The first day of the offensive saw only sporadic fighting. | 02/13/10 17:04:00 By - Saeed Shah and Janan Zerak
Casualties mount in Afghan campaign against Taliban
The massive Marine-led offensive in southern Afghanistan against the last remaining Taliban stronghold in Helmand province claimed the first two casualties from coalition forces. | 02/13/10 11:17:00 By - Saeed Shah
White House predicts weak job growth for rest of year
President Barack Obama's top economic advisers offered a cautious forecast on Thursday that U.S. job gains for 2010 will average 95,000 a month, with analysts expecting hiring to expand by spring. | 02/11/10 06:00:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Job talks between Obama, black leaders focused on region, not race
President Barack Obama met with three prominent African-American leaders Wednesday on how to improve economic and employment opportunities for all Americans — not just minorities. | 02/10/10 17:32:00 By - William Douglas
When Washington freezes over: Work with me, Obama asks GOP
President Barack Obama urged Republicans Tuesday to work with him and Democratic lawmakers on ways to create jobs, saying that it's critical to agree on something even if neither side gets all it wants. Republicans countered that they've yet to see the Democrats' complete jobs proposal or its price tag. | 02/09/10 18:26:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman
Obama's remarks at CIA memorial service
The following transcript of President Barack Obama's remarks at a memorial service for seven CIA workers killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan was released by the White House on Friday. | 02/05/10 16:41:14 By -
Obama tells CIA 'win this war' at service for 7 killed in Afghanistan
Security was tight this morning around the CIA's suburban Washington headquarters as President Barack Obama joined agency leaders and personnel for a memorial service for the five CIA officers and two contractors who were killed by a suicide bomber in Khost, Afghanistan, on Dec. 30. | 02/05/10 11:20:41 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Democrats in Congress balk at Obama's debt outlook
President Barack Obama's 2011 budget got a cool — at times frosty — reception Tuesday from the lawmakers he needs most, as congressional Democrats offered a host of reasons they're skeptical of the White House plan. | 02/02/10 18:00:00 By - David Lightman
Did Obama tackle too much? Poll finds divided views
Americans hold mixed views of President Barack Obama's first year in office, with 41 percent saying that he tried to do too much, 35 percent concluding that he did about the right amount and 19 percent saying that he didn't do enough, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll. | 02/02/10 16:20:00 By - William Douglas
Obama's budget would boost funds for health research
The Obama administration, in an effort to forge ahead with its controversial effort to compare various medical treatments, is proposing a big boost in funding for the agency that oversees the research. | 02/02/10 14:35:00 By - Mary Agnes Carey and Julie Appleby
Obama's budget sober on jobs, optimistic on growth
The Obama administration projects rosier economic-growth prospects than most mainstream economists do but a sobering jobless recovery, according to documents released Monday about underlying assumptions in the government's $3.83 trillion federal budget for 2011. | 02/01/10 18:50:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Obama's budget deficits to rise from wars, recession
Fighting wars and lingering effects from a deep recession, President Barack Obama will run up a record $1.56 trillion budget deficit this year and is proposing a 2011 federal budget that would spend $1.27 trillion more than the government takes in next year. | 02/01/10 17:05:00 By - Steven Thomma
Obama budget foresees deficits for a decade
President Obama's proposed 2011 budget, which will be officially unveiled today, calls for spending $1.3 trillion more than the government takes in — then continue with deficits of more than $700 billion a year for at least a decade. The proposal would keep in place Bush-era tax breaks for those earning under $250,000, but let them expire for those making more. | 02/01/10 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma
Obama budget aims at solidifying women's support
With women's advocacy groups voicing growing unease with administration policy, President Barack Obama will propose a $3.8 trillion budget on Monday that would exempt programs for women and girls from spending restrictions he's proposed for other programs. | 01/31/10 19:44:00 By - James Rosen
China responds angrily to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan
China curtailed military exchanges with the United States on Saturday and threatened to sanction U.S. firms in retaliation for proposed American weapon sales to Taiwan. China has cut off U.S. military exchanges before, but threatening sanctions on U.S. companies is new and may signal China's willing to use its growing economic power in diplomatic disputes. | 01/30/10 16:13:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama outlines plan to boost small business hiring
Two days after he announced that job creation is his administration's top priority, President Barack Obama detailed a proposal, which he unveiled Friday in Baltimore, to encourage small businesses to start hiring. | 01/30/10 09:10:08 By - Allison Stice
Bipartisanship? Well, at least Obama and House GOP talked
In a session that was intended to foster bipartisanship with Republicans in the House of Representatives, President Barack Obama blasted them Friday for distorting his health care plan to the point that "you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot." | 01/29/10 18:09:00 By - William Douglas
Moving 9-11 trial could have wide repercussions for Obama
President Barack Obama's willingness to consider moving the trial of self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of New York reflects the trouble that Obama's facing in Congress, not just from Republicans but also from Democrats in this tough midterm election year. | 01/29/10 17:36:00 By - Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
2010: Analysis: Obama channels Reagan, 'Stay the course'
Despite the stinging defeat his party suffered in Massachusetts, the erosion of his own political support and calls from Republicans and moderate Democrats to change his agenda, Obama signaled that he'll make no abrupt turn from the path he set more than a year ago. | 01/27/10 22:26:00 By - Steven Thomma
2010: Obama: 'I will not give up,' and neither should lawmakers
Acknowledging Americans' frustration with the slow pace of the nation's economic recovery, President Barack Obama dedicated more than half of his first State of the Union address Wednesday night to pocketbook themes, from jobs to tax breaks to taming the national debt. He revived his campaign theme that Republicans and Democrats must work together for the nation's good — as he said previous generations did for centuries, to do "what's best for the next generation." | 01/27/10 19:59:00 By - Margaret Talev
Geithner, predecessor and Fed defend AIG payments
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, his predecessor Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke denied Wednesday any wrongdoing in secretive decisions surrounding the September 2008 bailout of failing insurance giant American International Group. | 01/27/10 11:46:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Greg Gordon
Obama to emphasize jobs, economy in State of the Union
The Barack Obama who'll deliver the State of the Union address Wednesday night faces a grimmer, more dubious audience than the popular new president who was riding high when he first addressed Congress last February did. | 01/26/10 17:55:00 By - Margaret Talev and Steven Thomma
Obama thanks Kentucky basketball team for Haiti fundraiser
What started as an effort to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief led to the University of Kentucky basketball team being thanked via telephone by President Barack Obama Tuesday in Columbia, S.C. And it was clear the nation's No. 1 ranking basketball fan knows the nation's top-ranked team well. | 01/26/10 16:57:04 By - Seth Emerson
Aspiring teacher to watch speech from first lady's box
Should the television camera pan to the first lady's box at the State of the Union address Wednesday night and find a young former Marine in a dark blue suit, viewers can expect to see a smile. Julia Frost, an aspiring teacher who left the military on disability, tends to find the good in life. | 01/26/10 13:25:00 By - Barbara Barrett
Obama quietly continues to defend Bush's terror policies
Although the FBI has acknowledged it improperly obtained thousands of Americans' phone records for years, the Obama administration continues to assert that the bureau can obtain them without any formal legal process or court oversight. | 01/22/10 17:45:00 By - Marisa Taylor
Obama moves to restrict banks, takes on Wall Street
Obama's proposal is designed to limit the size of the nation's largest commercial banks and reduce the risks they take in complex and exotic investments. It stopped short of a return to the days when commercial banks just lent money and were completely locked out of investment activities, but the shares of the largest banks declined in trading. | 01/21/10 13:07:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Steven Thomma
How will Obama adjust, and will it save his presidency?
President Barack Obama grappled Wednesday with the fallout from the stunning Republican Senate election in Massachusetts, a stinging loss that could drive him to stay the course in tough times — a la Ronald Reagan in 1982 — or tack toward the center and work more with the Republicans — as Bill Clinton did after 1994. | 01/20/10 18:40:00 By - Steven Thomma and Margaret Talev
Obama tells Senate to wait on health care overhaul bill
Obama said Senate Democrats should wait on health care until after Republican Scott Brown, the victor in Tuesday's Massachusetts election, takes his Senate seat. "The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through," he told ABC News. He also said leaders should sift through recently passed legislation and find those elements on which there is wide agreement. | 01/20/10 18:19:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Obama gets an 'incomplete' in foreign policy for first year
A year after he took office to global acclaim, President Barack Obama has yet to translate his mantra of "change" into foreign policy success or to define how he'll use America's clout to advance its security, economic and political interests. | 01/18/10 15:10:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama: More than a Senate seat at stake in Massachusetts
President Barack Obama put it on the line Sunday for the people of Massachusetts — the entire Democratic agenda ranging from expanded health care to fighting big banks may rest on whether they vote Tuesday to send a Democrat to fill out the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's unexpired term.The president's stake in the outcome is huge, particularly for getting an overhaul of the nation's health insurance. The Democrats must keep the seat to maintain the 60 votes they need in the Senate to pass the health care proposal over Republican objections. | 01/17/10 19:58:38 By - Steven Thomma
Obama taps former Presidents Clinton and Bush for Haiti relief
President Barack Obama tapped former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton Saturday to head a fundraising effort to underwrite Haiti's long-term recovery. The three men said a Web site, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, has been established to accept donations for the relief and reconstruction effort. | 01/16/10 14:08:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev
It isn't going to get easier for Obama in the second year
There'll be no parade this time for President Barack Obama. No grand speech from the west front of the Capitol, no fireworks, no glittery balls to kick off the second year of his presidency on Wednesday, as there were for the first. | 01/15/10 18:23:00 By - Steven Thomma and Margaret Talev
Lawmakers, regulators have banks' bonuses in their sights
With public furor rising over big bonuses for bankers, the White House, Congress and financial regulators all suddenly say they want strong restrictions on executive pay. They're offering bold ideas, probing hearings and a pledge that something finally will get done. | 01/13/10 18:04:00 By - David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall
Senate leader Reid apologizes to Obama for racial remarks
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., apologized Saturday for newly revealed racial remarks he made about Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama accepted his apology, but Reid's comments could hurt his re-election hopes. | 01/09/10 18:01:47 By - Steven Thomma
Obama takes responsibility, won't order firings in bomb plot
President Barack Obama Thursday declined to fire anyone for the lapses that allowed a suspected terrorist carrying explosives to board a plane for Detroit on Christmas Day, and said for the first time that he bears the ultimate responsibility for any breach that endangers Americans. | 01/07/10 17:45:00 By - Steven Thomma and Margaret Talev
Obama: Feds knew more about terror suspect, but didn't act
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence officials had had more warnings about the alleged Christmas airplane attacker, including reports that al Qaida was working with him and the group was planning attacks on American targets in Yemen and the United States. | 01/05/10 19:01:00 By - Steven Thomma
Obama links al Qaida affiliate to Christmas bombing attempt
President Barack Obama on Saturday gave his most detailed comments to date on the failed attempt to bomb a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day, blaming an al Qaida affiliate for training and equipping the man who allegedly smuggled explosives aboard a Detroit-bound airliner. | 01/02/10 17:18:00 By - Renee Schoof
Obama sets Tuesday meeting on air bomber security failures
In a statement released Thursday from Hawaii, where he's been vacationing with his family, Obama said he'd meet in Washington with multiple agency heads to address the investigation into how a 23-year-old Nigerian was able to board a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives on Christmas Day. In Washington, some federal agencies already were moving to improve their procedures. | 12/31/09 16:51:00 By - Margaret Talev
Text of White House briefing on investigation of Christmas Day attack
This is the transcript provided by the White House of a background briefing by a senior administration official Tuesday on what a preliminary investigation has found about intelligence failings in the Christmas Day attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. | 12/29/09 22:44:09 By -
Obama calls airline security breach 'totally unacceptable'
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed "systemic failure" in the nation's national security and anti-terror system for allowing a Nigerian man to board a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives, even after his father had warned the government of his extremist views. | 12/29/09 22:08:00 By - Margaret Talev
Obama's remarks on the 'systemic failure' that led to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253
The White House provided this transcript of Obama's remarks Tuesday on the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner in which he blamed the intelligence community for missing signs that might have prevented the suspect, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, from boarding the place. | 12/29/09 21:04:09 By -
Obama: 'Intelligence community' blew air bomber tip
Obama blamed the intelligence community for failing to share "bits of information" that would have resulted in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab being placed on a no fly list after his father warned U.S. officials of his son's extremist views. "It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect's name on a no-fly list," Obama said. | 12/29/09 17:52:00 By - Margaret Talev
Despite Obama's campaign vow, federal budget still a mess
2009 was supposed to be the year that federal budgeting was finally done smoothly and efficiently. It didn't happen. Spending on discretionary items, or those under White House and congressional control, is expected to run about 4 percent higher than last year, well above the rate of inflation. Still, that's less than the 7.5 percent annual average increase of the last 10 years. | 12/27/09 15:40:00 By - David Lightman
The lingering Bush legacy: What to do about those tax cuts
In the back of every Washington politician's mind is this sobering fact: Unless Congress acts, the temporary tax cuts it passed when George W. Bush was president will expire at the end of next year. If Democrats who control Congress do nothing and let the tax rates on the highest income brackets return to their pre-2001 levels, their Republican rivals and many Americans will slam them as tax hikers. | 12/25/09 14:42:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Here's what Obama said about Senate health care vote
This is the official transcript from the White House of the president's remarks after passage by the Senate of health care overhaul bill. | 12/24/09 09:43:05 By -
Obama names conservatives to Legal Services board
Sacramento-based attorney Sharon L. Browne is a Republican and a principal attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which promotes limited government. But she also voices support for the Legal Services Corp.'s goal of providing legal services to low-income Americans. Obama also named Victor B. Maddox, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to the board. | 12/22/09 18:31:28 By - Michael Doyle
Obama's sleigh, er, motorcade, calls on Boys and Girls Club
He was dressed all in a suit from his head to his foot, but President Barack Obama was channeling Santa when he dropped in on a Boys and Girls Club in Northeast Washington Monday with a basket full of Christmas cookies and a copy of "The Polar Express" tucked under his arm. | 12/21/09 18:57:00 By - Margaret Talev
New turmoil in Pakistan threatens to stall Obama's Afghan strategy
WASHINGTON — Less than a month after he unveiled it, President Barack Obama's Afghanistan strategy is in trouble, overtaken by new political turmoil in Pakistan that threatens to distract its bickering leaders from the fight against al Qaida and its Afghan and Pakistani allies. | 12/20/09 17:54:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
After Senate passage, compromise begins for a real health care law
WASHINGTON — The Senate began its final, frantic steps toward passage of historic health care legislation on Sunday, as lawmakers and interest groups began turning their attention to the difficult battles over abortion, taxes and the public option that lie ahead. | 12/20/09 16:38:00 By - David Lightman
Senate now poised to adopt historic health care bill
Senate passage of historic health care legislation seemed all but assured Saturday after Democratic leaders won the support of the final senator they needed to bring the measure to a vote. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., announced he'd vote for the measure after changes that would put limits on federal abortion funding, increase Medicare taxes on the wealthy and create a federally supervised health care alternative. | 12/19/09 16:01:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Frustrated liberals voice discontent with Obama
On health care, the war in Afghanistan, civil liberties and the economy, President Barack Obama is meeting growing resistance from the very group that propelled his election last year: liberal Democrats. | 12/18/09 18:20:00 By - Margaret Talev and David Lightman
Once the 'change' candidate, Obama now a changed man
Nearing the end of his first year in office, President Barack Obama is in many ways a changed man. Governing has proved to be far different from campaigning. The world looked different once elected. The economy raced even faster toward collapse and Afghanistan worsened. Congress turned out more difficult. The world proved resistant to his charms. | 12/18/09 17:55:00 By - Steven Thomma
Michelle Obama urges donating gifts for older children
First lady Michelle Obama is asking Americans who plan to donate to the Marines' Toys for Tots program but haven't yet to choose gifts for 11- to 14-year-olds, an age group for whom she said there was a dearth of gifts this year. | 12/16/09 17:51:00 By - Margaret Talev
Stimulus II: Congress ponders aid for cash-strapped states
Washington soon could come to the aid of California, New York and other cash-strapped states that face the need to raise taxes or cut spending again next year to balance their books. | 12/16/09 16:51:00 By - Rob Hotakainen
Pelosi: Obama's on his own to win money for Afghan buildup
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that it's up to President Barack Obama to persuade reluctant Democrats to fund his Afghanistan troop buildup — his most important foreign policy initiative — because she has no plans to do so herself. | 12/16/09 15:27:25 By - William Douglas and David Lightman
Obama might not get health care overhaul for Christmas
President Barack Obama tried mightily Tuesday to jolt the Senate's stalled health care overhaul effort, but after an hour-long closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats, the fate of his top 2009 domestic priority remains unclear. | 12/15/09 19:24:00 By - David Lightman
'Start lending,' Obama tells the bankers
President Barack Obama gave the nation's top bankers an earful Monday, telling them in no uncertain terms that it's time for them to start lending again to help boost the economy after being bailed out themselves by the nation's taxpayers. | 12/14/09 16:20:00 By - Steven Thomma
Unlikely support: GOP loved Obama's Nobel speech
By using his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech Thursday to justify expanding the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama won over some Republican critics at home, even as he preached messages of multilateralism, diplomacy and civil disobedience that resonate in anti-war circles around the world. | 12/10/09 08:37:15 By - Margaret Talev
Obama choice to head Alaska pipeline project wins bipartisan praise
President Barack Obama has nominated Larry Persily, a former journalist and political aide, to serve as the federal coordinator for the Alaska natural gas pipeline project, a multi-billion dollar project that would carry natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48. Persily, who worked in Alaska's D.C. office when Sarah Palin was Alaska's governor, was recommended for the post by U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. | 12/09/09 19:49:52 By - Erika Bolstad
Poll: Obama, Democrats end the year politically weaker
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party end the year far weaker than they started it, according to a McClatchy-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. | 12/08/09 17:28:00 By - Steven Thomma
Obama: Use leftover bank bailout money to create jobs
President Barack Obama's call Tuesday to spend much of the $200 billion in "extra" bank bailout funds on job creation efforts embodies Democrats' strategy to make a second economic stimulus more palatable to wary taxpayers. | 12/08/09 13:00:00 By - Margaret Talev Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman
Obama, Biden phoned Kurds to press Iraq election deal
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden intervened personally to save an agreement allowing Iraq's elections to proceed, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Monday, highlighting the stakes in the deal for an eventual American troop withdrawal. | 12/07/09 17:47:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Jones: Obama still wants Guantanamo closed in 2010
President Barack Obama is insisting that his administration still close the prison camps at Guantanamo in 2010 despite the missed Jan. 22 deadline, National Security Adviser James Jones said Sunday, predicting closure by summer. CNN's John King could not get Jones to commit to a specific new deadline but, when pressed, Jones said he expected the camps emptied within six months. | 12/06/09 22:31:29 By -
U.S. action on climate policy is key to international treaty
Negotiators in Copenhagen will try to nail down all the main elements of a treaty to curb global warming in the next two weeks, but a final agreement won't be possible until the United States figures out what it will do to reduce emissions of heat-trapping pollution. | 12/04/09 17:56:00 By - Renee Schoof
Will Obama's heartland visits convince Americans he cares?
President Barack Obama traveled to small-town Pennsylvania Friday to tell Americans that he empathizes with their pain from the deep recession, that he's working hard all the time to create jobs and that his plans will work. It was the first stop of a campaign-like effort to connect to Americans at a time when they may not think he's paying enough attention to their top priority: jobs. | 12/04/09 16:57:00 By - Steven Thomma
Afghanistan was Tuesday. Now, what to do about jobs?
With the jobless rate rising and his approval ratings sinking, President Barack Obama hosted academics and leaders of business and labor at a White House jobs summit Thursday, seeking advice on how to boost employment. The White House gathering came a day before the Labor Department is expected to report that the 10.2 percent unemployment rate has risen further. | 12/03/09 19:08:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman
U.S. steps up pressure on Iran over missing ex-FBI agent
The White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Thursday for Iran to divulge any information it has about Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing from a Persian Gulf island in March 2007. The statement from the White House came as the Coral Springs, Fla., man's family marked the 1,000th day of his disappearance with meetings at the State Department and the FBI. | 12/03/09 17:50:00 By - Lesley Clark
Fresno mayor face of economic woes at White House forum
Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin carried a heavy burden Thursday at a high-level White House jobs forum and brainstorming session. | 12/03/09 17:27:00 By - Michael Doyle
3 Secret Service officers placed on leave over party crashers
The head of the Secret Service accepted full responsibility Thursday for last week's security breach at President Barack Obama's first state dinner, but insisted that the president and Vice President Joe Biden were never in danger from a party-crashing couple who shook hands and posed for pictures with them. | 12/03/09 14:51:00 By - William Douglas
California woman helps decorate White House for Christmas
For Julie Reinking, this is a Christmas dream come true. After years of trying, the Carmichael nurse helped deck the White House halls. For five days in Washington, D.C., Reinking dutifully hot-glued decorations and hung handmade ornaments. With Secret Service hovering nearby, she fussed over intricate floral arrangements and straightened garlands under presidential portraits. | 12/03/09 06:55:31 By - Debbie Arrington
White House staff gets partial blame for party crashers
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs cited "separation of powers" in explaining why White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers won't talk to a congressional committee investigating how a Virginia couple crashed a state dinner last week. Meanwhile, a White House memo says that the White House staff did not do "everything we could have" to prevent the interlopers from being admitted to the event. | 12/02/09 15:36:14 By - Steven Thomma
Lawmakers confused, divided over Obama's Afghanistan plan
The Obama administration sent what many lawmakers saw as vague and sometimes confusing signals Wednesday about its intentions in Afghanistan, leaving members of Congress unsure how to proceed as they consider his plan to deploy 30,000 more American troops there. | 12/02/09 00:48:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Congress casts wary eye on Obama's Afghanistan buildup
Obama's biggest challenge will be his fellow Democrats, who control 60 of the Senate's 100 seats and 258 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Worried about retaining their majority in next November's elections at a time when polls show the public turning against them and the war in Afghanistan, they are by no means ready to throw their support behind Obama's plan to escalate the U.S. war effort. | 12/01/09 17:58:00 By - William Douglas and David Lightman
What the Salahis told the Today Show about their White House invite
| 12/01/09 16:06:21 By -
Obama faces steep challenges in new Afghan policy
With eight years of blood and treasure already spent and perhaps his presidency hanging in the balance, President Barack Obama will tell the world Tuesday how he'll escalate the war in Afghanistan — and how he hopes his risky decision will lead finally to a path home for U.S. forces. | 11/30/09 19:00:00 By - Steven Thomma and Nancy A. Youssef
As U.S. focus turns to Afghanistan, Iraq challenges remain
While President Barack Obama prepares to announce that he's sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, his problems in Iraq are far from over. The country's power struggles among Sunni and Shiite Muslim Arabs and between Arabs and Kurds are unfinished, and whether they will turn violent again remains uncertain. | 11/30/09 18:01:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Secret Service takes blame for White House party crashers
The director of the Secret Service took the blame Friday for security failures that allowed a publicity-hungry couple from Virginia who weren't on the guest list for President Barack Obama's first state dinner to slip through security and directly encounter the president. | 11/27/09 19:01:00 By - Margaret Talev
White House says world moving toward new Iran sanctions
The United Nations nuclear agency Friday blasted Iran for obstructing investigations into its suspected nuclear weapons program and demanded that the Islamic Republic stop construction of a once-secret facility. | 11/27/09 14:12:00 By - Margaret Talev and Nancy A. Youssef
Obama vows to 'get the job done' in Afghanistan
In a preview of his speech next week announcing his plan to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama Tuesday vowed that he'll "finish the job" of stabilizing the country and destroying the al Qaida terror network. | 11/24/09 19:50:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay, Steven Thomma and John Walcott
GOP senators, Holder clash over New York trials for 9/11 plot
Attorney General Eric Holder said he foresaw no judicial obstacles to convicting the five terrorism suspects and putting them to death, despite complaints from the Republican senators about the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused terrorist conspirators in New York. Meanwhile, Obama said he was confident they'll be found guilty. | 11/18/09 18:42:00 By - James Rosen
Obama orders financial fraud task force beefed up
Citing a wide belief that "Wall Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the creation of a sweeping state-federal task force to uncover crimes contributing to the recent financial crisis or threatening to cause one in the future. | 11/17/09 17:47:00 By - Greg Gordon
New president, same result on China currency flap
China's rebuff this week of President Barack Obama's call to stop controlling the price of its currency sparked renewed calls for legislation to allow U.S. retaliation against Chinese-made goods. | 11/17/09 19:08:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
China, U.S. announce they'll work together on clean energy
President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao agreed Tuesday that U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers will work together to speed the widespread use of electric cars, buildings that need far less energy and coal-fired power plants that don't pump out gases that cause global warming. | 11/17/09 15:28:00 By - Renee Schoof
Book: Edwards tried to trade Obama endorsement for VP nod
Democrat John Edwards tried to cut a secret deal with both Barack Obama and perhaps Hillary Clinton during last year's presidential primaries, offering his endorsement in exchange for the vice presidential nomination, according to a new book by Obama's campaign manager. Obama ruled out any deals, and Edwards' endorsement in May 2008 anyway. | 11/17/09 10:23:30 By - By Steven Thomma
Obama will huddle privately with China's President Hu
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet Tuesday in Beijing to talk privately about issues ranging from North Korea's nuclear threat to currency and trade disputes. U.S. policy advocates also expect the leaders to announce new joint projects on clean energy. | 11/16/09 06:58:25 By - Margaret Talev
Palin publicity tour part campaign, part Twitter- and Facebook-fest
By now, nearly everyone with a television has seen the teases for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance Monday on Oprah Winfrey's show. (Will Levi come to Thanksgiving dinner? Stay tuned!) | 11/16/09 06:00:00 By - Erika Bolstad
Obama begins China visit with citizens' questions, a full agenda
President Barack Obama kicks off his visit to China with a town-hall meeting Monday in Shanghai, a rare chance for the Chinese people — university students in the audience and people of all ages who sent questions via the Internet — to communicate directly with a Western leader. | 11/15/09 13:07:00 By - Margaret Talev
Bill would boost money for literacy programs
There are zero-book children, 1,000-book children, the summer slide, Early Readers, Reading First, Striving Readers and programs, methods and studies with names and acronyms that won't quit. It's all part of the effort to teach the nation's children to read. | 11/15/09 00:01:00 By - Les Blumenthal
In China, Obama will glimpse world's new center of gravity
When President Barack Obama lands here Sunday night in China's largest city, he'll find many of its 20 million people intrigued by him and welcoming, but hardly deferential, and some openly skeptical of his promises of change. | 11/14/09 14:32:00 By - Margaret Talev
Within hours, Obama ordered intelligence review of Fort Hood shootings
Within 24 hours of a killing spree at Fort Hood, Texas, President Barack Obama, ordered a high-level review of how U.S. officials handled warning signs that might have pointed to last week's attack. The suspect, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, has now been charged with murder. | 11/12/09 18:54:00 By - Steven Thomma and Leila Fadel
White House allies say Obama bungled Guantanamo closing
President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House. | 11/11/09 14:47:10 By - Steven Thomma
President Obama honors fallen troops at Fort Hood
President Barack Obama, on his first presidential visit to Fort Hood, the day before Veterans Day, memorialized 13 soldiers on Tuesday, all of them killed, authorities believe, by a fellow soldier Thursday afternoon. | 11/11/09 07:42:02 By - Chris Vaughn
Not so fast: House health care vote is just the first step
Democratic leaders were all smiles as they celebrated the passage of a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. health care system Saturday. But any momentum from Saturday's historic vote is likely to be short-lived as the focus moves to the Senate, where progress has been stalled for weeks. | 11/08/09 15:06:00 By - David Lightman
House passes historic health care bill, with one GOP vote
The House of Representatives Saturday passed, by a vote of 220 to 215, historic health care legislation that would require virtually all Americans to obtain health insurance and create a government-run health insurance plan to help them do so. If passed by the Senate, the bill would bring about the most sweeping change in the American health care system since Medicare was created 44 years ago. | 11/07/09 23:26:00 By - David Lightman
House OKs historic health care overhaul, with one GOP vote
The final 220-215 vote came after a day of rancorous debate and a personal push from President Barack Obama. The bill, if ulitmately adopted into law, would bring about the most sweeping health care revamp since Medicare was approved 44 years ago. Critical to the bill's success was a last-minute deal to ban government-subsidized health insurance policies from covering elective abortions. | 11/07/09 15:54:00 By - David Lightman
Obama leaning toward 34,000 more troops for Afghanistan
Administration officials have told McClatchy that the decision is likely to include the dispatch of 23,000 combat and support troops, 7,000 troops for a new headquarters in Kandahar, and 4,000 additional trainers for the Afghan army. Obama may not announce the decision for several weeks, as he talks with allies and it could change. The plan falls short of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal's ultimate "low-risk" option of 80,000 more troops. | 11/07/09 14:22:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef
Supreme Court seeks White House views on hiring illegals
The Obama administration will enter the politically tricky immigration arena, courtesy of the Supreme Court. On Monday, the court asked the administration for its views in a challenge to an Arizona law that punishes companies for hiring illegal aliens. Other states with large immigrant populations will watch the next steps closely, because their own laws and ballot measures could be on the line. | 11/02/09 15:50:00 By - Michael Doyle
Challenger's pullout leaves Afghan government of dubious legitimacy
The withdrawal of challenger Abdullah Abdullah from Afghanistan's presidential runoff leaves a major question about the legitimacy of President Hamid Karzai, who is certain to continue in power for five more years. U.S. officials say they will demand that Karzai address the alleged rampant corruption that plagues his government. | 11/01/09 17:35:00 By - Hal Bernton and Hashim Shukoor
Fearing fraud, challenger may quit Afghan presidential runoff
Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister, couldn't persuade Afghan President Hamid Karzai to fire several top aides over the massive vote rigging that marred the first round presidential elections Aug. 20 and now is on the verge of withdrawing from the runoff set for next Saturday. | 10/31/09 17:59:00 By - Hal Bernton and Hashim Shukoor
Turns out Obama really did consider Hillary to be VP
A new book by the manager of Obama's presidential campaign says both he and Obama adviser David Axelrod were surprised by how seriously Obama was considering picking vanguished rival Hillary Clinton for the vice presidency. Hillary didn't make the final cut, David Plouffe writes, because of concerns about Bill Clinton. The nod went to Joe Biden after the other top contenders, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Tim Kaine of Virginia, were rejected as not having the proper heft or experience. | 10/30/09 14:38:39 By - Steven Thomma
Obama honors fallen U.S. troops in predawn visit to Dover
President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit in the predawn darkness Thursday to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where he paid respects to 18 U.S. soldiers and drug enforcement agents killed in Afghanistan. The president's unscheduled visit, for which he departed the White House just before midnight Wednesday, comes as he prepares to announce his decision on troop levels in Afghanistan. | 10/29/09 11:02:42 By - Margaret Talev
Obama's Florida trip agenda doesn't include Gov. Crist
President Barack Obama will make his second trip to Florida as president next week, but don't expect Gov. Charlie Crist to join him this time. Obama's last trip — to Fort Myers on Feb. 10 — came as he was pitching his economic stimulus plan. At the time, the Republican governor's embrace of the $787 billion spending plan earned him the wrath of fiscal conservatives. | 10/21/09 07:01:30 By - Lesley Clark and Beth Reinhard
Almost 40 years late, unit honored for bloody Vietnam battle
Pfc. Paul Evans was rocking and rolling on his M-16 on a long-ago afternoon in Vietnam, spraying fire toward an unseen enemy hidden deep within the jungle. He was a terrified 18-year-old who knew, as other men fell around him, that he was about to die. Then out of nowhere, American tanks thundered out of the jungle, Evans later recalled. Alpha Troop had arrived. Tuesday, nearly 40 years after the battle, President Barack Obama gave about 100 veterans of Alpha Troop the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award for valor that a military unit can earn. | 10/20/09 18:01:00 By - Barbara Barrett
Senators ask Obama to review personality-disorder discharges
At issue is whether the Pentagon is avoiding treating soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder by claiming they had a personality disorder before they were sent to Iraq or Afghanistan and discharging them from the military. Four senators wrote Obama this week, remding him that as a senator he fought for better mental-health care for troops. | 10/20/09 17:22:00 By - David Goldstein
House leaders urged to post legislation well before votes
As Congress prepares to consider historic changes to the nation's health care system, Democratic leaders are balking at supporting a change in the rules that would let the public see the bills' texts 72 hours before a vote. | 10/20/09 15:03:00 By - David Lightman
Obama adds a carrot for Sudan in addition to the stick
President Barack Obama announced a shift in strategy toward Sudan on Monday, saying he'll offer incentives to the government if it will end a humanitarian crisis in its Darfur region. His willingness to work with the government of President Omar al Bashir signaled a break from the previous hard-line approach. | 10/19/09 10:30:00 By - Steven Thomma and Shashank Bengali
Obama tells New Orleans: 'We won't forget you'
On his first presidential visit to this still-struggling city that was ravaged four years ago by Hurricane Katrina, President Barack Obama promised residents Thursday, "We will not forget about New Orleans." He also took the opportunity to bash insurance companies that he said are trying to block his health care plan to protect their profits. | 10/15/09 17:32:00 By - Margaret Talev
Michelle Obama visits Miami's Freedom Tower
First lady Michelle Obama will arrive at Miami's Freedom Tower to attend an education fundraiser today -- and will make history at one of the city's most iconic buildings. | 10/15/09 11:01:18 By - Luisa Yanez
Obama vows unqualified support for gay rights
President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for gay rights Saturday night, saying that he'll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military and that he'll work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman. | 10/10/09 21:59:37 By - Steven Thomma
Obama to visit New Orleans for a post-Katrina survey
When President Barack Obama visits New Orleans this week to survey how its recovery is going four years after Hurricane Katrina, he'll have a lot to tout about the help his administration's given -- and plenty to worry about as the nation's top Democrat in a city quaking with political change. | 10/09/09 14:33:00 By - Margaret Talev
Obama's Nobel win is a reflection of hope
Like his campaign, President Barack Obama's surprising win of the Nobel Peace Prize can be summed up by one word: hope. It reflects not so much a record of accomplishment as the yearning of the prize committee that Obama is changing America's course in international affairs. | 10/09/09 08:10:07 By - Steven Thomma
Are Obama staffers divided over White House basketball?
The news media was barred from President Obama's pickup basketball game Thursday that featured four Cabinet members as well. There was no real explanation, but events seemed to indicate a rivalry over the game may be splitting the White House staff. | 10/08/09 19:39:30 By - Steven Thomma
Obama's No. 1 -- most foreign travel by first year president
With his visit to Denmark to pitch Chicago as the site for the 2016 summer Olympics, President Obama has now visited more countries in his first year in office than any other president did -- 16. The previous record holders: George H.W. Bush, who hit 15 countries in his first year, 1989, and Gerald Ford, who also jetted off to 15 nations after taking office midway through 1974. | 10/07/09 15:01:00 By - Steven Thomma
Republicans press Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan
Republican congressional leaders urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to send more U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying he should act quickly lest any delay endanger troops who already are there and are facing a deteriorating situation. | 10/06/09 19:00:00 By - Steven Thomma
Another faux issue: Obama's 'czars' are nothing new
Conservative talk show hosts and some Republican lawmakers have accused Obama of embarking on an unprecedented czar-appointment spree in a bid to circumvent Congress' authority over top executive appointments. But the allegations overlook the history of such appointments, experts told a Senate panel Tuesday. | 10/06/09 18:12:00 By - William Douglas
Democrats in Congress push Obama for Iran sanctions
Congressional Democrats pushed the Obama administration on Tuesday to get behind tough economic sanctions against Iran, and they voiced deep skepticism that direct negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions will prove fruitful. | 10/06/09 18:10:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Warren P. Strobel
U.S. public backs Obama in dealing with Iran on nukes
When it comes to dealing with Iran as a nuclear threat, two polls out Tuesday find that Americans agree with President Barack Obama's approach of combining diplomacy and the threat of sanctions. | 10/06/09 18:07:00 By - Margaret Talev
Obama orders feds to cut energy use, emissions
President Barack Obama on Monday ordered the federal government -- the nation's largest energy user -- to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce its impact on the environment. Obama's edict is the first time a president is requiring the federal agencies to reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions. | 10/05/09 19:32:00 By - Renee Schoof
Gates to Army: We'll follow Obama's orders on Afghanistan
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a gathering of Army officers Monday that the Pentagon would follow any strategy that Obama orders. The comments, including what seemed to be a rebuke of Afghanistan commander Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, came amid growing Pentagon frustration with White House discussions of Afghan strategy. | 10/05/09 18:43:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
With Olympics, Obama takes a hit along with Chicago
The International Olympic Committee's stinging first-round elimination of Chicago on Friday as the site of the 2016 Summer Games probably won't count much in how history judges Barack Obama's presidency. | 10/02/09 18:15:00 By - Margaret Talev
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
80 percent agreement on health care? No way that's true
President Barack Obama has said this repeatedly: Members of Congress agree on "about 80 percent of what needs to be done" to overhaul America's health care system. Democratic congressional leaders have echoed that claim. No one, however, can offer specifics about what that 80 percent entails. | 09/30/09 17:31:00 By - David Lightman
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
Read transcript of White House background briefing on Iran's new nuclear site
This is the White House transcript of a briefing with senior administration officials on the Iranian nuclear facility that Obama and the leaders of France and Great Britain denounced Friday. | 09/25/09 13:30:01 By -
Supreme Court faces decisions on two key terror cases
The Supreme Court will meet Tuesday to consider two legal disputes that could become the highest-profile national security conflicts of the court term that begins Oct. 5. | 09/25/09 06:00:00 By - Michael Doyle and Marisa Taylor
U.N. unanimously backs Obama on nuclear disarmament goal
With President Barack Obama in the chair at the U.N. Security Council, world powers Thursday endorsed his goal of a nuclear weapons-free world and pledged to strengthen the shaky international system for preventing the spread of nuclear arms. | 09/24/09 17:31:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
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
U.S. alone can't solve world's problems, Obama tells U.N.
Making his inaugural address to the U.N. General Assembly, President Barack Obama pressed world leaders to abandon reflexive anti-Americanism and join the U.S. in solving pressing global problems. Obama's remarks betrayed frustration that after eight months in office in which he's changed the tone and substance of policies he inherited from his predecessor, he's received little favor in return. | 09/23/09 00:40:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Branch's Bill Clinton book source materials go to UNC
On Jan. 4, a new window into Bill Clinton's presidency will open at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. That's when a trove of source material Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch used for his new book on the Clinton presidency will become publicly available at the Southern Historical Collection at UNC-CH. | 09/23/09 07:29:47 By - Eric Ferreri
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. | 09/22/09 19:20:34 By - Steven Thomma, Jonathan S. Landay and David Lightman
China, U.S. promise bold steps to protect climate
Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao of China - the leaders of the two countries that emit the most greenhouse gases - pledged at a United Nations summit Tuesday that their countries would take bold actions to protect the Earth's future climate from irreversible damages. | 09/22/09 18:44:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Renee Schoof
U.N. session will test whether Obama can deliver
President Barack Obama is about to make his first pilgrimage to the United Nations, where he'll be under scrutiny from fellow world leaders, much as he is domestically, to see whether he can deliver results as well as rhetoric. | 09/18/09 18:57:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Military growing impatient with Obama on Afghanistan
Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them. | 09/18/09 18:48:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
There's no denying Obama's race plays a role in protests
While protests focusing on the president are an occupational hazard of living in the White House, some of the criticism of Obama has the unmistakable stench of racism. For example, a recent poster making the rounds shows Obama outfitted in full African witch doctor gear, complete with headdress, above the words "OBAMACARE coming to a clinic near you." But would it have been different had Hillary Clinton won? | 09/18/09 17:29:00 By - Tony Pugh
Obama scraps controversial long-range missile defense shield
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he is scrapping the Bush administration's controversial missile defense shield, citing new intelligence showing a diminished threat from long-range Iranian missiles the system was supposed to guard against. | 09/17/09 11:01:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev
Elephant in the room: Race also present in rebuke of Wilson
In their effort to admonish Rep. Joe Wilson, both white and black lawmakers in the House of Representatives voiced deep concern over a string of what they think are racially motivated attacks on the nation's first black president. The push, experts said, reflects growing anger in the black community over how President Barack Obama is being attacked with venomous and false charges that he's a socialist, born in Kenya, a Muslim, and somehow un-American. | 09/16/09 23:20:56 By - William Douglas
White House issues yardsticks for success in Afghanistan
The White House Wednesday presented Congress with eight general yardsticks to measure success in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but didn't say how they'd help the administration determine how well U.S. policy in the region is working. | 09/16/09 20:23:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
U.S. military closes huge prison in southern Iraq
The U.S. military on Wednesday announced the closing of the sprawling Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, transferring $50 million in infrastructure and custody of all but 180 of the site's detainees to the Iraqi government. | 09/16/09 18:18:00 By - Hannah Allam
Obama challenges Wall Street to support his regulations
A year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers ushered in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama said Monday that although the nation was "beginning to return to normalcy," Congress still must pass new regulations on the financial industry to avoid a repeat. | 09/14/09 17:14:00 By - Margaret Talev and Kevin G. Hall
Democrats in Congress growing antsy over Afghanistan
Congress will examine next week the future of American military involvement in Afghanistan, a future that many key lawmakers hope won't include sending more U.S. troops than President Barack Obama already has committed. | 09/11/09 18:38:05 By - David Lightman and Warren P. Strobel
Texas school district apologizes for snubbing Obama speech
Arlington, Texas, Schools Superintendent Jerry McCullough issued the apology on Friday, acknowledging that his decision not to show Obama's live speech to school children on Tuesday was particularly controversial because the district plans to bus 500 fifth-graders to a stadium later this month to listen to former President George W. Bush. | 09/11/09 17:00:08 By - Eva-Marie Ayala
Obama's speech fails to move many lawmakers' votes
If President Barack Obama was looking for a big bounce in support from lawmakers Thursday from his health care address to Congress on Wednesday night, he didn't get it. Moderate to conservative Democrats remained concerned about the cost of Obama's proposals. | 09/10/09 19:12:00 By - William Douglas and David Lightman
The highlights of Obama's health care plan
Here are the key points of the health care plan that President Barack Obama outlined in his speech Wednesday night to a joint session of Congress: | 09/09/09 21:00:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers
Obama offers compromises to get health care bill passed
President Barack Obama on Wednesday laid out a series of compromises he's willing to make to get a health care overhaul through a nervous Congress this year, including diluting his vision for a new public insurance program and embracing ideas floated by Republicans. In a rare evening address to a joint session of Congress, Obama tried to seize control of the Democratic Party's highest domestic priority after months of party disarray and raucous public debate across the country. | 09/09/09 20:25:00 By - Margaret Talev, David Lightman and William Douglas
Few students opt out of Obama's nationwide pep talk
The number of students who opted not to listen as President Barack Obama gave his controversial pep talk on studying hard and staying in school appears to have been minimal throughout the country. After days of controversy and pledges of boycotts, the speech seems to have caused little drama. | 09/09/09 19:13:46 By - Steve Lyttle and Ann Doss Helms
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
Obama blasts Israeli plan to keep on building settlements
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to approve the construction of hundreds of new homes in the occupied West Bank before he considers a freeze on building new Jewish settlements. The homes would be in addition to 2,500 houses that already are under construction in the West Bank. | 09/04/09 13:34:00 By - Cliff Churgin
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
What a difference an election makes: GOP now likes polls
Republicans are using ammunition they scorned for years to attack Obama's proposed health care overhaul: polls. Over the August congressional break, House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio issued regular news releases about health care surveys. But that follows years of GOP disdain for opinion surveys when President Bush's approval ratings were tanking. | 09/02/09 14:35:00 By - James Rosen
What must Obama do to take control of drifting agenda?
As he retreats to Camp David for a final summer getaway, President Barack Obama is mapping out a post-Labor Day plan to regain the political offensive, including a private meeting next Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Advice from both Democrats and Republicans sounds similar. "It's time for the president to be the president," said former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican. | 09/01/09 18:55:00 By - Margaret Talev and David Lightman
Cheney condemns Obama's probe of CIA interrogations
CIA interrogators were justified in exceeding even the broad authorizations the Justice Department gave them to handle terrorist suspects, former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview for broadcast Sunday, suggesting that any aggressive tactic was justified in the goal of preventing another terrorist attack. | 08/28/09 18:46:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama creates new agency to oversee terrorist interrogations
The Obama administration, moving to break with Bush-era interrogation policies, announced Monday that it would create a new interagency group to manage the questioning and transfers of terrorist detainees. The new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group would be housed within the FBI, whose agents were among the most vocal opponents of harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA during the Bush years. | 08/24/09 20:19:06 By - Margaret Talev, Marisa Taylor and Warren P. Strobel
If you liked health care brawls, you'll love CIA torture probe
By naming a special prosecutor to investigate whether CIA officers or contractors violated the Bush administration's interrogation policies, Attorney General Eric Holder has struck a middle course that isn't likely to satisfy anyone and could complicate President Barack Obama's broader political agenda. | 08/24/09 19:43:40 By - Margaret Talev
Obama welcomes NASCAR champ to White House
Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who can turn left about as well as anyone, was honored by President Barack Obama on Wednesday in a ceremony that praised NASCAR as a "uniquely American sport" filled with patriotic, dedicated drivers. | 08/19/09 19:16:00 By - Barbara Barrett
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
Source: Congress has been told of 6 pending Guantanamo releases
The Obama administration has filed classified notices with Congress of plans to transfer six Guantanamo detainees to foreign countries under a new congressional reporting rule created to hamper the closure of the controversial detention center. All six so-called risk assessments and notification of transfers were filed Aug. 7, meaning the first transfers under the new notification bureaucracy could occur over the weekend. | 08/18/09 19:06:12 By - Carol Rosenberg
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
Nixon, Brazil dictator discussed overthrowing Castro, Allende
In 1971, President Richard Nixon and Brazil's military dictator discussed coordinating efforts to help Cubans and Chileans overthrow Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende respectively, according to a recently declassified White House memo on their meeting. | 08/18/09 07:03:59 By - Juan O. Tamayo
Huckabee slams Obama in pro-settlement Israel visit
Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee slammed President Barack Obama's policies toward Israel on Monday in a visit here that underscored the tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over Jewish settlements in what traditionally have been Palestinian areas. | 08/17/09 17:02:00 By - Cliff Churgin
How a GOP senator's proposal gave rise to 'death panels'
When U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, takes the floor at a meeting at Vineville United Methodist Church in Macon on Thursday, he's expected to face tough questions about why President Barack Obama credits the Republican lawmaker as the inspiration behind the Democrats' push for end-of-life counseling efforts that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some fellow conservatives call "death panels." | 08/12/09 18:14:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Obama honors achievers — and shapes America's self-image
Every president has his rough-and-tumble or mundane days, but also some that float above the norm and compel him to take stock of society's changes. America's first black president took a breather from the health care fight to honor the first Hispanic to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. | 08/12/09 17:30:00 By - Margaret Talev
Survey finds Obama birthplace still an issue in N. Carolina
Public Policy Polling surveyed 749 North Carolina voters Aug. 4-10, and found that 54 percent believe that Obama was born in the United States. Twenty-six percent of those surveyed said they do not believe Obama was born in the U.S., and 20 percent said they were not sure. | 08/12/09 07:06:58 By - Raleigh News & Observer
Where did that bank bailout go? Watchdogs aren't sure
Although hundreds of well-trained eyes are watching over the $700 billion that Congress last year decided to spend bailing out the nation's financial sector, it's still difficult to answer some of the most basic questions about where the money went. | 08/09/09 06:00:00 By - Chris Adams
Obama heads to Mexico for North American summit
President Barack Obama will meet Sunday in Guadalajara, Mexico, with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts for a summit of North American leaders that will be long on vision and short on anything concrete. In the midst of a punishing global economic downturn, that's not bad. | 08/07/09 18:20:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Science called key to economic, energy, health care challenges
Science and technology are key to solving the interconnected challenges of the economy, energy, climate change and health care, President Barack Obama's science advisers said this week. | 08/07/09 16:48:00 By - Robert S. Boyd
Republicans bet on attacking Democrats
Republicans are aggressively spreading a simple but tart message across the nation this summer: Democrats only want to tax and spend wildly and expand an already-bloated government. | 08/07/09 15:38:00 By - David Lightman
Clinton pledges more U.S. support for troubled Somalia
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged Thursday to send more help to Somalia's besieged interim government to prevent radical Islamist militias from turning that troubled country into "a future haven for global terrorism." She hinted that a recent U.S shipment of some 40 tons of weapons and ammunition to the Somali government had helped stave off an offensive by the well-armed radical group al Shabaab, which U.S. officials say is linked to al Qaida. | 08/06/09 00:14:00 By - Shashank Bengali
U.S. to spend $2.4 billion to boost use of electric vehicles
Declaring that electric cars could help put Americans to work and reduce dependence on oil, President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the federal government would spend $2.4 billion in stimulus money to build batteries and get the first batch of thousands of U.S.-made electric vehicles onto the roads. | 08/05/09 18:51:00 By - Renee Schoof
Poll: Americans a bit more optimistic than a month ago
Americans are growing slightly more optimistic about the path the country is on, according to a new Ipsos-McClatchy poll. | 08/05/09 16:12:00 By - William Douglas
McCain to vote 'no,' but Sotomayor confirmation certain
The Arizona senator said he could not accept what he saw as her activism as a federal judge. The Senate is expected to begin debate on Obama's first Supreme Court nominee Tuesday, with a final vote — and overwhelming confirmation — expected later in the week. | 08/03/09 18:12:45 By - David Lightman
Obama's 'beer summit' yields symbolic image, but little else
Each man's beer of choice was respectfully made available in glass mugs for their meeting at a table on the White House South Lawn Thursday evening: Bud Light for President Barack Obama, Sam Adams Light for Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, and Blue Moon for Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley. | 07/30/09 19:06:00 By - Margaret Talev
Lawmakers report health care progress in House, Senate
Four Democratic moderates in the House of Representatives brokered an agreement Wednesday to move ahead with a health care-overhaul plan, as the Obama administration and party leaders said they'd cut $100 billion from their initial proposal and postpone any floor votes until after Congress' August recess. | 07/29/09 14:39:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Poll: Dissatisfaction growing with Obama, Democrats
According to a bipartisan poll released Wednesday, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party may be putting themselves in political jeopardy with their expensive and ambitious agenda, which has yet to show benefits for the country. Overall, Obama and the Democrats still have popular support. But majorities in the poll think the administration is spending and doing too much. | 07/29/09 17:40:00 By - Steven Thomma
Democrats may drop public option from health bill
The idea — beloved by President Barack Obama and liberal Democrats — that any overhaul of the nation's health care system should include a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers is losing important political momentum. | 07/28/09 17:55:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Obama's beer with Crowley, Gates set for 6 p.m. Thursday
Weather permitting, President Obama will host Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambrdige Police Sgt. James Crowley at a picnic table at the White House. The White House said the get-together, intended to smooth over the controversy over Crowley's arrest of Gates, has no set agenda. | 07/28/09 18:46:36 By - Margaret Talev
Sotomayor clears judiciary panel; Senate to vote next week
The committee voted 13-6, with only one Republican, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, breaking ranks to join the 12 Democratic members in support of Sotomayor. Graham said that while he would not have chosen Sotomayor himself, President Barack Obama's decision to nominate the first Latina to the high court was "a big deal" and that "America has changed for the better with her selection." | 07/28/09 12:55:52 By -
Health care hard to revamp because big change is scary
Why is it so difficult to get an agreement on overhauling America's health care system? There's a simple answer: "It's going to affect everybody," said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif. | 07/24/09 17:06:00 By - David Lightman
Distrust of government blunting Obama's pursuit of new programs
That's a major reason he's having such a hard time selling his plan to overhaul the nation's health care. Even if they like Obama himself, people just don't think that the government can handle anything big, let alone something as personal to them as their health care. | 07/24/09 17:59:00 By - Steven Thomma
Full text of Obama's remarks on his phone call to Cambridge, Mass., police officer
This is the White House transcript of Obama's remarks on his phone conversation with Sgt. James Crowley, the police officer who arrested Harvard University professior Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home last week. | 07/24/09 15:25:12 By -
Obama recants on Gates arrest: both probably overreacted
Obama made a surprise appearance at Friday's daily press briefing to personally announce that he'd spoken with Sgt. James Crowley. "I could have calibrated those words differently," Obama said. The president maintained that the arrest was "an overreaction" but said that "Professor Gates probably overreacted as well." | 07/24/09 15:11:36 By - Margaret Talev
Obama, police group clash over black scholar's arrest
The Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest law enforcement organization, chastised President Barack Obama Thursday for saying the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" for arresting prominent African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates at his home last week. Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates, defended his actions Thursday in a Boston radio interview. | 07/24/09 11:04:20 By - William Douglas
Federal official fired by Obama sues to get job back
Gerald Walpin, the Americorps inspector general fired by President Obama in the wake of Walpin's investigation of Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking his reinstatement. | 07/24/09 11:03:20 By - Sam Stanton
Slipping in polls, Obama tries to shore up health overhaul
President Barack Obama Wednesday tried hard to create momentum for his ailing health care overhaul plan, offering a lengthy, methodical — and at times defensive — explanation of why Americans should embrace his changes. | 07/22/09 19:23:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman
LIVE STREAM: Obama news conference begins at 8 p.m. EDT
President Barack Obama's news conference will begin at 8 p.m. ET and will be available by live stream from the White House at McClatchy. | 07/22/09 16:15:45 By -
GOP's Lindsey Graham says he'll vote 'yes' on Sotomayor
Graham's decision had been considered an important barometer of whether Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, would attract strong bipartisan support. | 07/22/09 14:58:38 By - David Lightman
DeMint puts nominees on hold over Obama's Honduras policy
Sen. Jim Demint, R-S.C., who opposes the Obama administration's handling of the crisis in Honduras, blocked scheduled votes by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Obama's nominees to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and ambassador to Brazil. DeMint argues that Obama is wrong in insisting that ousted President Manuel Zelaya be reinstated. | 07/21/09 18:18:00 By - Lesley Clark
Democrats unsure Obama health care deadline can be met
Despite President Barack Obama's push for the Senate and the House of Representatives to approve their health care overhauls by early August, Democratic leaders expressed doubts Tuesday that they can meet the deadline. | 07/21/09 17:37:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas
Obama victory: Senate votes to kill additional F-22 funding
The Senate voted Tuesday to strip $1.75 billion in increased spending for the F-22 jet fighter following a protracted fight between the Obama administration, top Pentagon officials and a bipartisan group of lawmakers and a faction of military leaders and members of Congress whose districts benefit from the aircraft's construction. The vote to strip the money from the Defense appropriations bill was 58-40. | 07/21/09 13:14:00 By - Halimah Abdullah
Judge accuses CIA officials of fraud, unseals secret files
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said the CIA misled him on the undercover status of a defendant in a 15-year-old lawsuit and demanded that former CIA director George Tenet and five other CIA officials explain why they didn't reveal until 2008 that the defendant's cover had been lifted in 2002. | 07/20/09 20:06:00 By - Michael Doyle
Health care debate's biggest players turn up volume
The health care scare is on. With the House of Representatives and the Senate hoping to vote on comprehensive health care bills by the end of this month, opponents and proponents of the measures are intensifying their rhetoric and saturating the media to move public support to their sides. | 07/20/09 18:47:00 By - William Douglas
Firefighter Ricci, GOP can't halt Sotomayor confirmation drive
Republicans launched a last-ditch effort Thursday to heighten doubts about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's judicial temperament, grilling her hard on a key affirmative action case, gun rights and other volatile issues. But even Republicans agreed that she's likely to be confirmed. That vote is now expected in the week of Aug. 3. | 07/16/09 00:41:00 By - David Lightman
Health legislation might bar some from public insurance
President Barack Obama and leading Democrats have stressed that people who like their employer-sponsored insurance would be able to keep it under a health care overhaul. They haven't emphasized the flip side, however: that people who don't like their coverage might have to keep it. | 07/15/09 17:08:00 By - Mary Agnes Carey and Julie Appleby
McChrystal says he won't pull punches on Afghan proposals
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Sunday that when he gives his assessment to the Obama administration next month of what is needed to defeat the Taliban, he won't be deterred by administration statements that he cannot have more U.S. troops. | 07/12/09 18:00:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Few fireworks expected at Sotomayor hearing
Don’t expect fireworks from the Senate Judiciary Committee as it begins hearing testimony on whether Sonia Sotomayor should be the next Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor has much in her favor: She has a lengthy judicial record, was first nominated by a Republican president and has been endorsed by respected legal and law enforcement groups. | 07/12/09 15:02:00 By - David Lightman
Why'd Obama fire investigator probing Sacramento mayor?
Why Gerald Walpin was fired by President Barack Obama as inspector general investigating the Sacramento mayor for misuse of federal grant funds is still unclear. Walpin believes he was fired for doing his job. His detractors say he was booted for a series of clashes with officials at the company that oversees Americorps. | 07/12/09 14:34:40 By - Sam Stanton
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