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

Obama urges Ghanaians to seek honest, self-reliant government

Obama’s message, in a speech to Parliament and repeated throughout the visit, was to urge Africans to stop looking backward or to blame other countries for their woes but instead to become self-reliant, to adopt open and honest government, and to stop Africa's wars. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Obama said in his speech. | 07/11/09 16:17:00 By - Francis Kokutse and Steven Thomma

Administration took the lead in Honduras crisis only after OAS failed

The crisis in Honduras has proved to be a messy problem for the Obama administration. The President and Secretary of State sent out different messages the day after the army ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya over whether it was a coup or “evolved into a coup.” The administration turned crisis management over to the Organization of American states, until OAS fumbling helped lead to a near-confrontation between de facto and de jure presidents. | 07/11/09 15:29:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

'Ghana adores you' on the billboards as Obama tours

From taxi drivers to politicians, Ghanaians reveled Saturday in the first visit of an African-American president to sub-Saharan Africa. But President Barack Obama had a sobering message for Ghanaians and Africans in general: stop looking backward, don't blame other countries for your woes, but become self-reliant, adopt open and honest government and stand up against violence. “Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Obama said in a speech to the national parliament. | 07/11/09 14:25:00 By - Francis Kokutse and Steven Thomma

Obama, Benedict disagreed on bioethics during audience

President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI, during their first face-to-face meeting, spent a half and hour talking issues, including an extensive discussion about bioethics and abortion, a key area of disagreement. The Vatican gave Obama a document entitled "An Instruction on Certain Bioethical Questions," prepared by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, White House aides said. | 07/10/09 21:30:43 By - Steven Thomma

Obama plans no big public appearances in Africa visit

President Barack Obama isn't descended from slaves; his father was from Kenya, his mother from Kansas. However, his visit to Ghana, a place where slaves once were captured and shipped off to America, could be an emotional trek, particularly for first lady Michelle Obama, who like many African-Americans is a descendant of slaves and doesn't know for sure where her ancestors are from. | 07/10/09 21:30:30 By - Steven Thomma and Francis Kokutse

Obama proposes investor protections in wake of Madoff scandal

Fresh on the heels of new proposals to regulate mortgages and other consumer credit products, the Obama administration on Friday sent Congress proposed legislation designed to head off another Bernard Madoff-style fraud. | 07/10/09 18:42:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Obama campaign vow of public debate on health care fading

Campaigning for president, Barack Obama said repeatedly that any overhaul of the health care system should be negotiated publicly and televised for all to see. Throughout this year's negotiations, however, the big deals have been struck in secret. | 07/09/09 17:50:00 By - David Lightman and Margaret Talev

Secret Service set to save Obama if quake hits Italy

The Secret Service is confident it can get President Barack Obama out of harm's way if there is an earthquake at the G-8 summit. L'Aquila, site the the summit, was hit by an earthquake April 6 that killed 298. Aftershocks hit as recently as Friday. | 07/08/09 16:14:19 By - Steven Thomma

Hospitals agree to funding cuts but oppose government insurance

With the Obama administration's help, hospitals are moving aggressively to resolve their biggest objections to legislative proposals to overhaul the health care system. | 07/08/09 15:37:00 By - Eric Pianin and Phil Galewitz

Obama officials may prefer civilian trials for 9/11 plotters

The Obama administration has not yet decided where to try those accused of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who are now held at Guantanamo Bay, government lawyers told a Senate committee on Tuesday. The fact that the 9/11 attacks targeted civilians inside the continental United States argues for a civlian trial, said one. | 07/07/09 20:02:32 By - Carol Rosenberg

Did team Obama get it wrong on the stimulus?

Should the federal government be doing more to help the economy regain its footing? That's the question du jour following a dismal June employment report last week and Vice President Joe Biden's Sunday talk-show confession that the administration "misread" the economy. | 07/07/09 17:45:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman

Obama offers Russia cooperation, criticizes 'old assumptions'

President Barack Obama laid out a vision of greater cooperation between the United States and Russia Tuesday, in a speech which also contained a thinly veiled criticism of the Kremlin's authoritarian style of rule. | 07/07/09 10:50:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Global warming will be top issue at G8 Summit in Italy

One question could dominate this week's gathering of the world's top economic powers in Italy: Will the United States and Europe act by themselves to cut emissions of the heat-trapping gases that are causing long-term global warming and will they be able to persuade fast-developing nations such as China and India to go along? | 07/06/09 15:22:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama in Moscow: Can tense relationship be 'reset'?

When President Barack Obama flies into Moscow on Monday for meetings with Kremlin leadership, at the top of his agenda will be reducing the number of strategic nuclear weapons capable of destroying life on Earth. And that might be the easy part. | 07/05/09 14:27:00 By - Tom Lasseter

U.S. plans coordinated response if North Korea fires missile

If North Korea fires a missile at Hawaii on or around the July Fourth holiday, as Japanese reports have warned, the U.S. plans a measured response in coordination with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. | 07/02/09 17:48:00 By - Margaret Talev and Steven Thomma

U.S. taking cautious approach to Honduras political crisis

When the ousted president of Honduras hit Washington this week demanding a return to power, he got meetings with a White House adviser and a top U.S. diplomat. | 07/02/09 18:02:00 By - Lesley Clark

How hard will Obama press Israel on settlements?

The unresolved dispute between the United States and Israel over Israel's refusal to halt building Jewish homes in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank has created a pivotal dilemma for President Barack Obama: How hard should he push one of America's most important allies in the Middle East? | 06/30/09 00:41:09 By - Cliff Churgin

Senate ups ante on whether to build more F-22s

Congress and the White House are heading toward a showdown over the future of the F-22 jet fighter, as the Senate plans to consider adding seven more of the planes while the Obama administration warns that a veto is likely over the issue. | 06/29/09 18:05:00 By - David Lightman and Nancy A. Youssef

Democrats increasingly confident they'll enact health-care plan

WASHINGTON — Despite the strains of sky-high costs and public skepticism, the government is moving steadily toward a vast health care overhaul that would at least partly fulfill a six-decade quest for universal coverage and could rein in soaring costs for everyone else. | 06/28/09 00:06:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

In televised special, Obama calls for 'compromise' on health care

President Barack Obama on Wednesday intensified his campaign to overhaul the nation's health care system, as polls show Americans wanting but fearing change and as a divided Congress grapples over what to do. | 06/24/09 17:46:00 By - Margaret Talev and David Lightman

Obama gives backing to Kansas Republican's ridiculed plan

It wasn't too long ago that Kansas Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts took a pretty sharp elbow from a nonprofit government-watchdog group over a scholarship program he set up to train future intelligence officers. It turns out, though, that he might have been something of a visionary. At least, the Obama administration thinks so. | 06/23/09 14:16:00 By - David Goldstein

Obama's opening remarks at news conference 6-23-09

These are the opening remarks from President Obama's news conference, as prepared for release and distributed by the White House. | 06/23/09 14:16:06 By -

Honeybees overcome negative buzz, win White House welcome

Official Washington is all abuzz over honeybees. At the White House, two types of parasite-resistant honeybees developed by U.S. scientists will be delivered to the first family's new garden next month. | 06/21/09 06:00:00 By - Robert Hotakainen

In stark legal turnaround, Obama now resembles Bush

President Barack Obama is morphing into George W. Bush, as administration attorneys repeatedly adopt the executive-authority and national-security rationales that their Republican predecessors preferred. | 06/19/09 15:19:00 By - Michael Doyle

Michelle Obama and Cabinet officers will lead volunteer efforts

Led by Michelle Obama, top members of the Obama administration will fan out across the country next week to participate in community service projects as part of a high-profile effort to spark volunteer work through the summer. | 06/19/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama rolls out sweeping financial regulation package

President Barack Obama moved Wednesday to shift the pendulum of history, proposing sweeping new government regulation of the nation's financial system and turning sharply away from the anti-government, pro-free-market passion that's dominated American politics for three decades. | 06/17/09 18:03:00 By - Steven Thomma and Kevin G. Hall

How Obama's regulation plan aims to fix what went wrong

President Barack Obama's proposed overhaul of financial regulations aims to eliminate a number of the loopholes that contributed to the recession. Here's a summary of what went wrong and how his proposals would try to fix it. CLARIFICATION AT BOTTOM | 06/17/09 14:59:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Did Sacramento mayor's ties to Obama get investigator fired?

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is a hot topic in the D.C. Beltway blogosphere, with some charging that his perceived ties to the president played a role in the dismissal of a federal investigator. | 06/16/09 20:38:55 By - Ryan Lillis and Melody Gutierrez

In huge change, Obama'd strip Fed of credit card oversight

Under the plan Obama will announce Wednesday, the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators would lose their oversight over mortgages, credit cards and other financial products that are sold to consumers. Instead, power would reside with a newly created agency whose mission would be to protect the consumer, not financial institutions. | 06/16/09 18:46:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Tony Pugh

Obama rejects North Korea's bid to be nuclear power

Despite President Barack Obama's assurance Tuesday that he won't accept North Korea as a nuclear power, he has few options short of war and may have little choice but to find a way to live with the threat. The rogue nation already has the ability to make nuclear weapons and probably will keep it. | 06/16/09 17:09:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama drive for immigration reform faces an uphill road

Obama, Democratic congressional leaders and advocates of revamping the nation's immigration laws say that developing a comprehensive immigration bill this year is a top priority. They got a reality check on the bumps ahead when the White House postponed a bipartisan meeting on immigration that had been set for Wednesday — the second cancellation this month. | 06/16/09 16:45:00 By - William Douglas

Obama rejects North Korea's bid to be nuclear power

President Barack Obama on Tuesday brushed aside any suggestion that the United States would accept North Korea's desire to become a nuclear power. | 06/16/09 13:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama's proposal on regulating finance expected this week

The proposal will be the broadest rewrite of financial regulation since the aftermath of Great Depression. It will reshuffle the responsibilities of regulators, create new protections for consumers and investors, and should, for the first time, bring giant financial players such as hedge funds and private equity companies under direct federal supervision. | 06/14/09 16:20:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman

Iran election result makes Obama's outreach efforts harder

If Ahmadinejad stays in office with his legitimacy seriously compromised, experts said it could make it harder for the U.S. to trust negotiations with the regime over its nuclear program; fuel domestic pressure on Obama to take a harder line with Iran; increase tensions with Israel; and possibly affect stability in Iraq, where Iran has long been accused of supporting armed groups. | 06/13/09 16:15:00 By - Margaret Talev

No change: Obama ambassadorships still go to fundraisers, friends

President Barack Obama promised change, but he's following one time-honored tradition: doling out plum ambassadorships to friends and big-money party donors. | 06/12/09 18:28:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Poll: GOP risks loss of respect if it goes after Sotomayor

Republicans may have a window of opportunity to turn public opinion against President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, but a new poll finds that such a campaign could hurt their party's already weak standing with Americans, especially Hispanics, the nation's fastest-growing voter group. | 06/12/09 06:00:00 By - Margaret Talev

Supreme Court clears way for Chrysler's sale to Fiat

In a two-page, unsigned decision late Tuesday, the court lifted the temporary stay that had been imposed Monday by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The decision followed furious last-minute legal maneuvering and dire warnings of what might happen if the sale didn't go through. | 06/09/09 20:26:00 By - Michael Doyle

Yet another review ordered of Afghan policy — fifth this year

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has given the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan 60 days to conduct another review of the American strategy there, the fifth since President Barack Obama took office less than five months ago. The review comes even as the Pentagon said benchmarks promised on March 27 still are being drafted. | 06/08/09 18:42:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Obama with foreign leaders: All business, all the time

Speaking before crowds, President Barack Obama has displayed a gift for bonding personally with his listeners. One-on-one with foreign leaders, it seems to be all business all the time | 06/07/09 18:40:00 By - Margaret Talev

On Normandy beach, U.S. president salutes W.W. II victors, warns N. Korea, Iran

On the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy to free Europe from the Nazis, President Barack Obama saluted the elderly veterans who once stormed the beaches and achieved an "improbable victory" in World War II. It was a rare day of international unity, with the leaders of the country's the fought together in that war expressing solidairty on many of the world's current issues. At one point British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accidentally called Omaha Beach, where the commemoration was held, "Obama Beach." | 06/06/09 17:07:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama to visit D-Day site in France on 65th anniversary

President Barack Obama will visit the American cemetery and memorial in the French region of Normandy on Saturday to commemorate the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the U.S. role in ending the Nazi occupation of Europe. | 06/05/09 18:08:00 By - Margaret Talev

Full text of Obama's remarks at Cairo University

This is the full text of the speech President Barack Obama made at Cairo University, as provided by the White House. | 06/04/09 07:53:58 By -

Obama invites world's Muslims to seek 'new beginning'

President Barack Obama on Thursday spoke more bluntly than any U.S. president before him about the chasms dividing the Middle East and the political double talk behind them. He called Israel's settlements in the West Bank illegitimate. He chastised Arabs for crude caricatures of America and conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He called the U.S. invasion of Iraq a "war of choice." | 06/04/09 07:36:55 By - Margaret Talev, Dion Nissenbaum and Warren P. Strobel

President's Cairo speech to begin at 6:10 a.m. EDT

The president's speech at Cairo University will begin at 6:10 a.m. Thursday, according to the White House. It can be viewed here. | 06/03/09 19:56:29 By -

Obama to lay out vision of Muslim world's future

In his speech Thursday to Muslims around the world, President Barack Obama will speak in detail about extremism, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and "what he thinks needs to be done on all sides" to reach peace between Israelis and Palestinians, his aides said Wednesday. | 06/03/09 18:22:00 By - Margaret Talev

Reagan's larger-than-life statue unveiled at Capitol Rotunda

Ladies and gentlemen," the unseen announcer said, "the statute of Ronald Reagan." The blue drape fell, the applause rose. There he was, all right. Inside the Capitol Rotunda, the likeness of the late president stood idealized and larger than life. | 06/03/09 17:40:00 By - Michael Doyle

Muslim Brotherhood among invitees to Obama speech

Among those to receive invites are 10 of the 88 lawmakers associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Ayman Nour, the Egyptian politician who spent more than three years in prison after challenging Hosni Mubarak for president in 2005. | 06/03/09 14:32:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Academic freedom repressed at school where Obama will speak?

They rolled out the red carpet for President Barack Obama on Tuesday at Cairo University — sweaty workmen with measuring tape yelling over one another in Arabic about how to arrange burgundy runners down the main aisle of the conference hall — as Egypt's largest and oldest secular university made the final preparations for his arrival. | 06/02/09 16:41:00 By - Margaret Talev

Egyptians worry that Obama will inadvertently bless repression

Ayman Nour has been out of an Egyptian prison for 100 days, and already the one-time presidential candidate is prepared to go back. Faced with renewed intimidation, Egypt's best-known political reformer said his early release was serving as a fig leaf for President Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule. | 06/01/09 17:49:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Pakistan plan to attack Taliban haven promises wider war

After forcing the Islamist extremists from the Swat valley, Pakistan plans a fullscale assault on Waziristan, long a sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaida leaders. Western governments believe the offensive, likely to come this summer, will be critical to weakening Islamic extremists in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. But the Taliban is likely to respond by broadening its terrorist attacks throughout Pakistan. | 05/31/09 18:06:41 By - Saeed Shah

Climate and energy bill faces hurdles when Congress returns

Congress will return Monday ready to engage in a historic debate on whether the country should shift to cleaner and more efficient use of energy and reduce the heat-trapping gases building up in the atmosphere. | 05/31/09 15:30:00 By - David Lightman and Renee Schoof

Arabs hope Obama will offer a Palestinian peace plan

When President Barack Obama steps to the podium Thursday in Cairo to propose a new American partnership with the Muslim world, Arabs across the region will be waiting to hear what he has to say about Israel — as much as what he has to say about Islam. | 05/31/09 06:00:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

Addressing Muslim world, Obama will face many audiences

President Barack Obama has a sweeping goal for his speech Thursday in Cairo, Egypt: to begin remaking the dynamic between the United States and Muslims abroad. | 05/31/09 06:00:00 By - Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel

Sotomayor's greatest impact could come from who she is

Sonia Sotomayor may be remembered as much for who she is as for what she does. While her liberal record on the appeals bench will generate a summer-long clash of ideologies in Washington and a high-decibel battle on cable TV and talk radio, her ideology isn't likely to shift the court much, if at all. But her identity as a Hispanic female of working-class parents will have an immediate impact. | 05/26/09 09:39:00 By - Steven Thomma

Key West's 'Little White House' woos the Obamas

Newly restored — and air conditioned mdash; Harry Truman's former presidential retreat has put the welcome mat out for Barack Obama — and Bo, the presidential dog. | 05/25/09 16:05:55 By - Cammy Clark

Obama still debating how to try 9/11, USS Cole defendants

The president hadn't decided whether to continue prosecuting five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in military commissions or to move them to federal court. | 05/25/09 15:55:09 By - Carol Rosenberg

North Korean nuclear blast is test for Obama and diplomacy

President Barack Obama called the isolated communist dictatorship's latest test 'a matter of grave concern,' but differences at home and abroad about how to deal with North Korea will test the new president's political and diplomatic skills. | 05/25/09 19:00:09 By - Steven Thomma and Jonathan S. Landay

Obama's proposed Guantanamo legal plan rife with problems

President Barack Obama raised more questions than he answered Thursday about the legal prospects for Guantanamo Bay detainees. While politicians have been most concerned that detainees there not be transferred to prisons in the United States, the real legal quandary is about how to form new military commissions or detain terrorism suspects indefinitely without violating U.S or international laws. | 05/21/09 18:16:00 By - Marisa Taylor and Michael Doyle

GOP's best hope: Obama overreaches or underachieves

If history's any guide, the Republican Party's best hope for winning back power is a public backlash against Barack Obama. Whether the American people will turn against Obama is an open question. Even if they do, it could take years, well beyond the 2010 midterm elections or Obama's likely run for re-election in 2012. | 05/21/09 16:18:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama outlines plans for Guantanamo detainees

In a major national-security speech Thursday, Obama tried to convince Americans that he'll be tough on terrorists, but he failed to persuade lawmakers to give him the money to close the Guantanamo prison, and he deeply disappointed human rights groups, who heard a different message from the one last year from candidate Obama. | 05/21/09 00:09:00 By - Margaret Talev and David Lightman

Heading to a national park? Now you can pack heat

Here's a list of stuff the typical American family can legally carry into national parks this summer: sleeping bag, toothbrush, change of underwear . . . loaded guns. | 05/20/09 19:29:00 By - David Lightman

Obama set to outline Gitmo strategy amid rising worries

President Obama on Thursday will lay out a defense of his national security policies and assure Americans he won't let terrorists loose in the U.S. as he looks to ease fears about closing the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next January. | 05/20/09 19:02:00 By - Margaret Talev, David Lightman and Marisa Taylor

Obama, Bolden discuss future of NASA

President Barack Obama met Tuesday with former astronaut Charles Bolden to discuss his increasingly likely nomination as NASA chief and explore the former Marine Corp. general's vision for the beleaguered space agency. | 05/19/09 19:21:00 By - James Rosen

Schwarzenegger: White House invitation trumped special election

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger skipped out on California's special election Tuesday, but he had an excuse. "When the president asks you to come and to be part of a celebration and to sign an agreement, you do it, especially when you feel so passionate about the subject," the Republican governor told reporters Tuesday. | 05/19/09 14:03:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

No progress visible from Obama-Netanyahu talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged Monday from hours of meetings with President Barack Obama agreeing to restart the Palestinian peace process "immediately," but with conditions that indicated that no breakthroughs are imminent. | 05/18/09 18:39:00 By - Margaret Talev and Dion Nissenbaum

Environmentalists happy with Obama; industry less so

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was defiant as an aide slipped him a note during his testimony before the House interior appropriations subcommittee. Led by two Republican senators upset by the Obama administration's decision to cancel oil and gas leases near two national parks in southern Utah's Red Rock Canyon region, the Senate had just blocked the White House nominee for the No. 2 slot at the Interior Department. | 05/17/09 06:00:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Obama, Israel, could be headed for clash over settlements

President Barack Obama plans to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank during their first White House meeting Monday, U.S. officials said, potentially setting up a confrontation between the American president and a close U.S. ally. | 05/16/09 20:03:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Dion Nissenbaum

First lady tells grads to remember who helped them

"First" was the operative word Saturday as Michelle Obama delivered her first commencement address as the nation's first African-American first lady to the first full graduating class of the fledgling University of California-Merced. | 05/16/09 19:20:00 By - William Douglas and Danielle Gaines

Obama's revised terror court wins applause, scorn

President Barack Obama said Friday that he'll restart military commissions to try suspected terrorists — some of them perhaps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — but only after granting the suspects additional legal rights. | 05/15/09 00:03:00 By - Steven Thomma and Marisa Taylor

Deficits soar even with rosy Obama budget assumptions

The White House on Monday projected 2009 and 2010 federal budget deficits far higher than it forecast just two and a half months ago, even as it continued to defy most experts and predict that the economy is headed for a strong comeback starting late this year. Economists scoffed at the latest administration predictions. | 05/11/09 18:11:00 By - David Lightman

Champion Tar Heels visit Obama, the No. 1 hoops fan

President Barack Obama loved the gifts that the North Carolina Tar Heels gave him Monday, but he had one more request for the 2009 men's college basketball champs. | 05/11/09 16:09:00 By - James Rosen

Poll: Obama, headed to Middle East, is winning Arab hearts

As President Barack Obama prepares to journey to Egypt to address the Muslim world, his overtures to the Middle East are paying off in positive feelings from Arab peoples that far outpace the region's critical view of the United States, according to a new McClatchy/Ipsos Poll. | 05/10/09 23:35:45 By - William Douglas

Health care groups pledge to slow rising costs

A group of trade associations is pledging to reduce the growth rate of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points a year for the next decade in a show of support for President Barack Obama's call to overhaul the nation's health insurance system. | 05/10/09 21:00:00 By - Margaret Talev

Dear Obamas: Some advice to help find a new church home

I've read in the news that since your recent move your family has been looking for a church home. A lot of people in Charlotte can relate: This city of churches attracts thousands of newcomers every year. So here's some advice from pastors and others. | 05/09/09 14:51:25 By - Tim Funk

Obama selects Egypt, a risky choice, for speech to Muslims

President Barack Obama will go to Egypt on June 4 to deliver a long-planned speech aimed at Muslims worldwide. Egypt is a strategic but politically risky choice for such a venue. | 05/08/09 17:02:00 By - Margaret Talev and Jonathan S. Landay

Obama will travel to Egypt to address Muslim world

President Barack Obama will go to Egypt on June 4 to deliver a long-planned major speech aimed at Muslims worldwide. The speech is expected to be delivered in Cairo, historically the Arabic center of intellectual thought in the Muslim world, but a location has not been finalized, the White House said. | 05/08/09 17:09:12 By - Margaret Talev

Obama's proposed budget cuts don't add up to much

Once again, President Barack Obama has dramatically proposed budget cuts, but his reductions would trim less than half of 1 percent from his proposed $3.55 trillion fiscal 2010 budget | 05/07/09 17:15:00 By - David Lightman

Mayors group presses President Obama on aviation

About 70 mayors and other officials, including Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, are calling on President Obama to protect aviation-related jobs and their economic impact. In a letter to the President, they're asking him to use his bully pulpit to help change "toxic perceptions" about general aviation. | 05/07/09 07:11:32 By - Molly McMillin

Enough of politics: Let's talk Michelle Obama's fashion sense

In just a couple short fashion seasons, Obama has already inspired the I-word — iconic — gracing the covers of magazines from Vogue to People, and becoming the subject of at least two style books due out this year; the first, Michelle Style by Mandi Norwood, debuted Tuesday. A comic book biography and a Web site devoted to tracking her daily ensembles have already been launched. | 05/06/09 17:46:55 By - Audra D.S. Burch

Obama promotes biofuels in bid to boost economy, climate

President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced plans to boost the use of biofuels to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and break the country's dependence on foreign oil. | 05/05/09 19:04:00 By - Renee Schoof

A less-than-serious look at Obama's 100 days

We know what you were really focused on during these First 100 Days of Barack Obama's administration: the diversions and distractions that bounced outside of politics and landed directly in pop culture. The dog. The daughters. The fashion. The gaffes, the laughs and the tempest-in-a-teapot controversies that have, in these dark, frightening days, offered temporary respite from worries over job losses and nuclear testing, the auto industry and swine flu. | 05/01/09 07:45:56 By - Alyson Ward

Chrysler and Obama now inextricably linked

The terms and conditions President Barack Obama imposed on Thursday's rescue of Chrysler inextricably binds the fortunes of the storied carmaker to the fate of Obama's young presidency. | 04/30/09 19:14:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Margaret Talev

Biden's flu remarks create headache for White House

Vice President Joe Biden, already known for his gaffes, pulled a doozy on Thursday. The slip and the rush to damage control were the latest in a long line of misstatements, mistakes and outright gaffes that have marked Biden's career. | 04/30/09 18:18:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama: Bankruptcy will be part of 'real fix' for Chrysler

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Italian carmaker Fiat would buy Chrysler and that Chrylser would enter a surgical bankruptcy that would let the storied American carmaker shed debts that it could not negotiate away. | 04/30/09 00:54:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Margaret Talev

100 days: Obama makes broad assurances to country

President Barack Obama marked his first 100 days in office Wednesday with a broad assurance that the country is on the road to recovery and that there is no cause for panic on threats ranging from the swine flu to nuclear weapons in Pakistan. | 04/29/09 18:44:00 By - Steven Thomma and Margaret Talev

Obama's news conference will be available at McClatchy

The live streaming video from the White House of President Obama's news conference marking the 100th day he's been in office will be available at McClatchyDC.com beginning at 8 p.m. EDT. | 04/29/09 17:38:01 By -

LIVE VIDEO: White House Streaming Video

This is the streaming video feed provided by the White House. Click to start. | 04/29/09 17:34:20 By -

100 Days: Michelle Obama takes the country by storm

She's wowed Europe, planted a White House organic vegetable garden, is breaking in a new family dog and touring federal agencies to buck up morale on behalf of her husband. | 04/27/09 17:01:00 By - William Douglas

GOP uses Obama austerity call to slam wildlife spending

As President Barack Obama pushed his new $100 million campaign to cut government spending last week, the House of Representatives authorized $50 million to help protect cranes, snow leopards, wild African dogs and other endangered species | 04/27/09 16:37:00 By - David Lightman

Swine flu outbreak 'not a cause for alarm,' Obama says

Amid warnings from Europe against travel to the U.S., President Barack Obama worked Monday to assure the nation, and perhaps the world, that an outbreak of swine flu is a cause for concern but not alarm. | 04/27/09 14:12:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama marks Armenian tragedy but doesn't say 'genocide'

President Barack Obama on Friday broke a campaign pledge but mollified Turkey by formally remembering the mass murder of Armenians without using the diplomatically loaded term "genocide." | 04/24/09 15:02:00 By - Michael Doyle

Senior Justice Dept. nominee faces GOP roadblock in Senate

President Barack Obama's nomination of an Indiana University law professor to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is meeting stiff resistance in the Senate, stalled for a month by Republicans who say she's a polarizing figure because she aggressively criticized the Bush administration's legal rationale on torturing terrorism suspects and radical in her views on abortion rights. | 04/22/09 17:34:00 By - William Douglas

Obama signs bill vastly expanding national service corps

President Barack Obama, who got his political start as a community organizer, signed legislation Tuesday to more than triple the number of government-backed volunteers across the country at a cost of billions of dollars. | 04/21/09 18:33:00 By - Margaret Talev

Will Chavez and Obama continue to make friendly?

Presidents Barack Obama and Hugo Chavez unexpectedly rescued U.S.-Venezuelan relations from the deep freezer over the weekend at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. | 04/20/09 17:03:00 By - Tyler Bridges

Summit suggests 'new spirit of cooperation' in the Americas

Frank exchanges and the appearance of a new maturity breathed new life into this weekend's Summit of the Americas, a meeting that at least one member thought had outlived its usefulness before this weekend. | 04/19/09 21:53:44 By - Howard LaFranchi

Actions speak louder than words, Obama tells Raul Castro

President Barack Obama sent Cuban leader Raul Castro a message Sunday: It's your turn. If Castro wants to start a dialogue with the United States, he should start by releasing political prisoners and lowering the steep fees the Cuban government charges on money sent from abroad, Obama said. | 04/19/09 19:50:00 By - Frances Robles and Nancy San Martin

Bush-era interrogations: From waterboarding to forced nudity

The long-awaited release Thursday of four Bush-era memos lays out in clinical detail many of the controversial interrogation methods secretly authorized by the Bush administration — from waterboarding to trapping prisoners in boxes with insects — while former President George W. Bush was publicly condemning the use of torture. | 04/16/09 15:35:00 By - Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor

Some things to know about Bo Obama, White House dog

The much-anticipated arrival of the dog Obama promised his daughters during the presidential campaign finally occurred on Tuesday as the four Obamas showed off their pup for the first time on the South Lawn of the White House. The dog, confronted with 100 journalists, seemed, like his master, cool under fire. He didn't even bark. | 04/14/09 21:04:30 By - Margaret Talev

Obama urges patience, lower expectations on economy

President Barack Obama told Americans Tuesday to brace for "more job loss, more foreclosures, and more pain" in 2009, saying the recession isn't over yet despite some early promise from the government's massive spending on bailouts and economic stimulus. | 04/14/09 21:03:57 By - Margaret Talev

Todays' White House news briefing is scheduled for 1 p.m.

You can watch the daily White House news briefing here. Today's briefing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. | 04/14/09 12:39:53 By -

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Attention readers: The RSS feed for the White House section on McClatchyDC.com has moved here as part of an upgrade to improve service. Please update your subscription in your RSS reader. | 04/13/09 18:15:05 By -

UC Merced gears up for Michelle Obama's commencement address

Preparations for the University of California at Merced's 2009 graduation are in overdrive, with about a month before first lady Michelle Obama delivers the keynote address to the university's inaugural class. | 04/13/09 12:19:51 By - Danielle Gaines

It's Easter and the Obamas' doings are closely guarded

President Barack Obama and his family are spending the Easter holiday in the nation's capital — but where, and doing what? Church services Sunday? "He will go, but I'm not going to tell you where," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. | 04/10/09 14:38:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama wowed them in Europe, but was trip a success?

President Barack Obama headed home from his first trip overseas Tuesday confident of at least one thing: He'd managed to put his face indelibly on American foreign policy for much of the rest of the world. Leaders and average citizens praised and White House officials said they were satisfied. But it will take time to determine if Obama's approach to foreign affairs will pay dividends. | 04/07/09 18:22:00 By - Steven Thomma

In Baghdad, Obama tells U.S. troops that Iraqis must take over

President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to Iraq Tuesday, meeting commanders, troops and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki — and restated his commitment to remove U.S. troops by the end of 2011. . He landed in Baghdad after flying in secret from Istanbul, Turkey, on his way home to Washington after a five-country, eight-day trip. | 04/07/09 09:43:00 By - Leila Fadel and Steven Thomma

World leaders condemn N. Korea launch but have few options

World leaders criticized North Korea's long-range rocket launch on Sunday, but there appeared to be little appetite for escalating the confrontation with the isolated regime that defied international warnings with its early morning test. | 04/05/09 18:31:00 By - Steven Thomma and Warren P. Strobel

Up next for Obama, the Summit of the Americas

President Barack Obama will make his official entrance into Latin America next week when he attends the fifth Summit of the Americas. He will be one of 34 heads of government assembled in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, for what experts say will be a major step in reconciling a bruised and neglected relationship. | 04/05/09 15:35:35 By - Lesley Clark, Jacqueline Charles and Frances Robles

Obama commits U.S. to eliminating nuclear weapons

President Barack Obama on Sunday committed the United States to a long-term goal of ridding itself and the world of nuclear weapons and said his first step would be to downplay the United States' nuclear weapons as the keystone of its defense. He laid at a three-part plan that he said would cut the risk of nuclear proliferation. | 04/05/09 11:11:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama, others condemn North Korea rocket launch

President Barack Obama condemned a rocket launch by North Korea on Sunday as a provocation, saying it underscored his call for a broad new strategy to curb and even eliminate nuclear weapons. | 04/05/09 08:15:00 By - Steven Thomma and Warren P. Strobel

Obama to unveil plan for eliminating nuclear weapons

President Barack Obama will outline in a major speech on Sunday a blueprint for ridding the world of nuclear weapons that calls for the United States to reduce its reliance on history's deadliest arms and lead a new international effort to prevent terrorists from acquiring them. | 04/04/09 17:50:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel

G-20 reaches accord after Obama steps in to broker a deal

The G-20 adjourned Thursday agreeing to added spending to stimulate growth, new regulation over all "systemically important" financial institutions, an increase of $1 trillion for the International Monetary Fund and an effort to list tax havens as a way to "name and shame" them into becoming more transparent and cooperating with international rules. But the accord almost didn't happen because of a dispute between France and China. That was when Obama stepped in, according to White House officials. | 04/02/09 13:24:00 By - Steven Thomma

Another Obama grassroots drive leaves lawmakers unfazed

About 200 Democratic Party volunteers, trying to keep President Barack Obama's campaign spirit alive, blitzed Congress on Wednesday with tens of thousands of pledges from voters urging support for his federal budget bill. The grass-roots drive is a major effort by Obama's team to change the way Washington does business. Members of Congress barely noticed. | 04/01/09 17:52:00 By - David Lightman

Obama, Medvedev hail 'fresh start' in U.S.-Russia relations

President Barack Obama will travel to Moscow in July, part of what he and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, are calling a "fresh start" in strained relations between the nuclear powers. | 04/01/09 00:17:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama turns on charm to smooth ruffled British feathers

With a salute, a smile and maybe just a little sucking up, President Barack Obama worked hard Wednesday to make up for any diplomatic rift he may have caused several weeks ago in the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. | 04/01/09 00:05:00 By - Steven Thomma

Stakes are high for Obama, allies as G-20 summit opens

With economic peril spreading around the globe, President Barack Obama and other world leaders will convene Wednesday in London, desperate to avoid the mistakes that plunged the planet into the Depression in the 1930s and seeking common approaches to jolt their economies back to life. | 03/31/09 17:18:00 By - Steven Thomma and Kevin G. Hall

Obama signs massive wilderness bill

President Barack Obama on Monday signed into law a giant public lands bill that puts former Fresno-area congressman John Krebs in rare and exalted company. | 03/30/09 16:48:00 By - Michael Doyle

Obama flies into protests and discord on first trip to Europe

It won't be a love fest when Barack Obama sits down with other world leaders for talks on the world economic crisis at his European debut as president of the United States this week, and meanwhile, on the streets of London, throngs of protesters are planning to vent their outrage at bankers, bailouts and bonuses. | 03/29/09 16:40:00 By - Julie Sell

Democrats in Congress go along with Obama — so far

This week's congressional budget fight will reveal a lot about how Congress is likely to proceed this year on President Barack Obama's agenda. As long as Obama remains popular, most Democratic members of Congress will likely be loyal and only occasionally show flashes of independence. | 03/29/09 14:28:00 By - David Lightman

Obama sets a new standard for managing the media

In the past week, President Barack Obama spoke via video to Iranians and, separately, to viewers of a Latin music awards show, appeared on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" and on "60 Minutes," held a prime-time news conference at which he called on several special-audience publications and wrote an opinion column that ran in newspapers around the world. At the same time, the administration has continued the old-school White House tradition of leaking trial balloons through establishment news organizations. | 03/27/09 15:05:00 By - Margaret Talev

Geithner outlines regulatory changes for financial system

The Treasury Department unveiled proposed legislation Wednesday that would give it broad powers to shut down big financial institutions, the opening act to overhaul regulation of the nation's troubled financial system and a move that could pave the way for nationalizing banks. | 03/26/09 08:06:41 By - Kevin G. Hall

Obama rebuffs Texas' GOP senators on judicial nominees

With both of Texas' U.S. Senate seats held by Republicans, the White House on Wednesday said it has asked the 12 Democratic members of the Texas delegation in the House of Representatives to interview potential nominees to Justice Department and judicial branch appointments. | 03/26/09 07:16:46 By - Maria Recio

Even congressional Democrats intend to cut Obama's budget

Congress will begin rewriting President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion fiscal 2010 budget Wednesday, and key lawmakers are poised to change some of his most ambitious plans significantly. | 03/24/09 18:33:00 By - David Lightman

Geithner seeks expanded power to take over financial firms

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner called Tuesday for new powers to regulate giant non-bank financial companies such as insurance titan AIG, whose failure would endanger the U.S. economy. In a rare joint appearance before the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the AIG experience underscores that the Treasury needs to be able to take over failing financial institutions expeditiously. | 03/24/09 11:50:00 By - William Douglas

Toxic Assets Plan, Take 2: Will Geithner get it right this time?

After a disastrous first attempt, the Treasury Department is poised to announce Monday details of its plan to help get so-called toxic assets off of the balance sheets of the nation's largest and often most troubled financial institutions. | 03/22/09 19:20:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

After AIG bonuses, Congress sours on more bailouts

Any Obama administration bid to seek more taxpayer money for failing banks will face stiff resistance in Congress, where Treasury Department credibility is ebbing fast and lawmakers are bowing before a constituent revolt. "AIG has become the straw that broke the camel's back. It pushed people off the edge," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "Blanket bailouts have been taken off the table," added Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. | 03/22/09 06:00:00 By - David Lightman

Obama officials ask court to overturn Florida Cuba travel law

Wading into a legal battle between the state of Florida and 16 Miami agencies that sell travel to Cuba, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that controversial amendments to a state travel law "interfere with the federal government's ability to speak for the U.S. with one voice in foreign affairs." | 03/20/09 20:19:32 By - Lesley Clark

Despite Iran's tepid response, experts hail Obama approach

Obama's 3 1/2-minute videotaped message to Iran was unusual in two respects: he used the country's formal name, the Islamic Republic of Iran, something President Bush never did, and he twice offered Iran his "respect," something Iranian leaders have demanded. | 03/20/09 18:46:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

CBO: Obama's budget would double deficit over decade

The national debt held by the public would double over the next decade if President Barack Obama's budget is enacted into law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected Friday. | 03/20/09 18:23:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman

Palin slams Obama's Special Olympics crack

Gov. Sarah Palin, whose youngest child has Down syndrome, on Friday criticized President Barack Obama's gaffe about the Special Olympics, calling his off-handed remark on the Tonight Show "degrading," especially since it was "coming from the most powerful position in the world." | 03/20/09 18:24:57 By - Erika Bolstad

Obama on Leno: AIG anger and a politically incorrect joke

President Barack Obama's appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show" included expected slams on the AIG bonuses and a light-hearted reference to his bowling skills that compared them to the Special Olympics. | 03/20/09 05:57:01 By - Margaret Talev

Web news: Obama's Teleprompter has started a blog

On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh was making fun of President Obama on the air, needling him about some recent Teleprompter screwups — particularly one at the White House's St. Patrick's Day party where the wrong speech was loaded into the prompter and Obama began thanking himself for inviting himself to the party before he realized what was wrong. Mildly amusing. But then...the Barack Obama's Teleprompter answered back, in a blog of its own. | 03/19/09 15:59:35 By - Glenn Garvin

Sure, Obama's got game — but can he pick an NCAA winner?

Amid outrage over executive bonuses, an economic crisis and two wars, President Barack Obama, who played basketball in high school and is clearly the nation's first fan, took time out to explain which team he favored to win the monthlong tournament known as March madness. His choice? The Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the same team he picked last year, when it lost. | 03/18/09 18:55:00 By - Ryan Teague Beckwith

White House caves on veterans plan, but what was it thinking?

The Obama administration on Wednesday abandoned a controversial plan to make veterans who have private insurance pay for treatment of combat-related injuries. The decision came after a meeting Wednesday in the White House among officials of 11 veterans' advocacy groups and top White House officials. | 03/18/09 17:58:22 By - David Goldstein

Here're key documents related to AIG and the bank bailout

Since last fall, the U.S. Treasury Department has funneled money to banks under the TARP program, known formally as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The money is generally intended to bolster the financial health of banks, enabling them to lend money in their own communities. Banks receiving the money pay a dividend to the Treasury Department and will eventually pay the money back. | 03/18/09 17:51:04 By -

Veterans, lawmakers blast White House for benefits proposal

Angry advocates for veterans will return to the White House on Thursday to try to talk the Obama administration out of cutting benefits. | 03/17/09 19:00:00 By - David Goldstein

Vets recoil at idea of using insurance for service injuries

The Obama administration is considering a plan to make veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries. The proposal would be an about-face on what veterans think is a longstanding pledge to pay for health-care costs that result from their military service. | 03/17/09 11:13:26 By - David Goldstein

Obama to seek 'every legal avenue' to block AIG bonuses

President Barack Obama said Monday that he'll seek "every single legal avenue" to block the payouts of $165 million in executive bonuses by American International Group, the insurance behemoth that taxpayers are spending billions to bail out. | 03/16/09 15:04:00 By - Margaret Talev and Kevin G. Hall

Pew poll: Obama's public support is eroding

President Barack Obama's popular support is eroding, as a new poll by the independent Pew Research Center shows his approval rating dropping below the 60 percent threshold. | 03/16/09 00:50:00 By - Steven Thomma

Is Obama taking on too much at once, at economy's expense?

Is President Barack Obama trying to do too many things at the expense of focusing on Job One: the economy? While the world awaits a coherent plan to fix America's banks, the president also is urging a vast overhaul of health care, a plan to tax and thus limit tailpipe and smokestack emissions thought to cause global warming, the development of alternative energy systems, a dramatic shift of the nation's tax burden, ambitious new education initiatives and a rewrite of financial regulations. | 03/15/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Q&A: Obama's economics guru defends deficit spending

Lawrence Summers, President Barack Obama's closest economic adviser, broke a long public silence on Friday, asserting that today's economic problems stem from an unsustainable financial model, and he defended heavy deficit spending as a necessary evil to restore the economy to health. | 03/13/09 17:34:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Nearly a year later, Obamas still looking for a church home

President Barack Obama and his family are considering joining several churches of various denominations in the nation's capital but have yet to settle on one, and aides said that they're unlikely to decide before Easter. The delay reflects how the economic crisis has crowded out some personal considerations since Obama's inauguration in January, but it also underscores the complexities of this personal decision by a public man. | 03/13/09 14:55:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama: Troop move to Mexican border under consideration

President Obama weighed in Wednesday on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he was looking at possibly deploying National Guard troops to contain the violence but ruled out any immediate military move. | 03/11/09 19:02:00 By - Maria Recio

Obama: Moving Guantanamo inmates won't harm U.S. towns

President Barack Obama noted that U.S. prisons already hold convicted terrorists and that the decision of where to put detainees now held at Guantanamo would include avoiding "a situation that elevated the risks for surrounding communities." | 03/11/09 18:34:00 By - David Goldstein

Obama decries earmarks, signs law with 9,000 of them

As a candidate, Barack Obama once said that a president has to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Wednesday he proved it, though not in the way he had in mind. | 03/11/09 17:38:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Obama v. Limbaugh: Poll compares foes' approval ratings

The deepening recession is taking a slight toll on President Barack Obama's standing, but he's still twice as popular as archnemesis Rush Limbaugh, according to a new McClatchy-Ipsos poll. The numbers help explain why Obama and his team relish a pitched battle with Limbaugh, who's enormously popular with his fans but deeply unpopular with even more people. | 03/11/09 15:17:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama vows to put science first as he lifts stem-cell ban

President Barack Obama on Monday signed an executive order allowing federal financing of medical research using stem cells from discarded human embryos, the vanguard of a broader effort to end what he calls a Bush-era "war on science." He also signed a memo ordering a "strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making." | 03/09/09 18:36:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama to lift restrictions on stem-cell research funding

President Barack Obama plans on Monday to lift President George W. Bush's eight-year-old restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, a step long awaited by scientists and people who say it could speed treatments for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes and other diseases. | 03/06/09 20:12:00 By - Margaret Talev and Tony Pugh

Biden: old-school vice president, more Mondale than Cheney

President Barack Obama's been laying on the praise so thick for his vice president that even a guy as self-deprecating as Joe Biden might wonder if Obama's messing with him. | 03/06/09 15:35:00 By - Margaret Talev

It only looks different: Both parties love big government

Strip away the political finger pointing over President Obama's proposed budget and the fight boils down to a clash of values. Both major parties are really for big government — just big in different places. | 03/05/09 16:39:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama reverses Bush change to Endangered Species Act

Reversing a last-minute Bush administration rule change, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he'd require federal agencies to consult with government wildlife experts about whether new government projects such as highways or dams would harm endangered or threatened species. | 03/03/09 18:18:00 By - Renee Schoof

Obama urges anxious Americans to look at the long term

The $787 billion stimulus has begun flowing into the economy, but President Obama isn't done selling its merits to Americans. To counter ever-sliding stock prices and consumer angst, he's ramping up a marketing campaign. | 03/03/09 17:53:00 By - Margaret Talev

Americans write Obama — and here's what happens next

Got a plan to fix the economy or crush al Qaida? A setback that's left you desperate for help? The perfect name for the future First Dog? Thousands of Americans a day are e-mailing, faxing, calling, or taking pen to paper to write to President Obama and his family. | 03/02/09 11:44:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama outlines Iraq drawdown in visit to NC Marine base

In a midday speech at Camp Lejeune, N.C., President Barack Obama is expected to describe a plan to withdraw combat troops from Iraq within 18 months. | 02/27/09 07:22:38 By - Martha Quillin

As Obama unveils budget, deficit hits postwar record

President Barack Obama unveiled his first federal budget proposal Thursday, a $3.55 trillion plan for 2010 that would start to alter the course of American government dramatically. | 02/26/09 11:59:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Obama to propose raising taxes on wealthy for health-care fund

President Barack Obama plans to propose on Thursday the creation of a $634 billion fund over several years to finance major changes in health care, White House officials said Wednesday. | 02/25/09 19:27:00 By - Steven Thomma

CIA begins briefing Obama on global economic crisis

The CIA this week began sending the White House a new classified daily briefing on the worldwide economic crisis, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Wednesday, underscoring growing concern that the global financial meltdown could topple governments or lead to sharp swerves in the foreign policies of hard-hit nations. | 02/25/09 18:47:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

White House aides have too much power, Byrd says

The longest-serving U.S. senator in history, who's one of the nation's top authorities on congressional power, is challenging President Barack Obama for naming White House policy czars who can operate without the same legislative scrutiny as Cabinet officials. | 02/25/09 18:13:00 By - Margaret Talev

Third time's the charm? Obama makes another commerce pick

Taking note of his Chinese immigrant roots and calling him an "outstanding" public servant, President Barrack Obama on Wednesday nominated former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as the secretary of commerce.

The nomination requires Senate confirmation. | 02/25/09 13:23:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely, Obama tells Congress

Calling this a "day of reckoning" for years of mistakes, President Barack Obama worked Tuesday night to assure a recession-weary nation that he's charting a new course out of the depths and ultimately to a prosperous future. | 02/24/09 20:51:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama close to naming ex-Washington governor Locke for Commerce

Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, the nation's first Chinese-American governor, will likely be nominated to be secretary of Commerce, an administration official and Capitol Hill sources confirmed Monday. | 02/23/09 19:10:00 By - Les Blumenthal and Joseph Turner

Health care stressed at Obama's 'fiscal responsibility summit'

President Barack Obama will convene a White House meeting next week to address runaway health-care costs. On Monday he called it key to reining in federal spending as he tries to balance plans to spend the country out of recession with shoring up its long-term fiscal health. | 02/23/09 18:36:00 By - Steven Thomma

Big stimulus bill sparks long-term fiscal fears

Despite all the White House hoopla Monday about "fiscal responsibility," Washington is showing little inclination to practice what it's preaching. | 02/23/09 16:54:00 By - David Lightman

Obama's deficit plan based on optimistic assumptions

In order to achieve his goal of cutting the federal budget deficit in half, to $533 billion by 2013, President Barack Obama would need cooperation from Congress; the U.S. and world economies; Iraqi political and militia leaders; Afghan warlords and politicians; and perhaps even Iran, China and Pakistan. | 02/22/09 19:47:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and David Lightman

How will Obama frame his big speech Tuesday night?

As President Barack Obama prepares to address Congress and the American people Tuesday night in what's effectively his first State of the Union address, he faces three key questions about how he'll use the moment. | 02/22/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

Will Obama back 'truth commission' to probe Bush practices?

President Barack Obama and Congress are locked in a stare-down over how much to expose or punish Bush administration employees for any abuses they committed in waging the war on terrorism. | 02/20/09 18:05:00 By - Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor

Finding the capital a downer, Obama revives the campaign

Less than a month into office, President Barack Obama is trying to recapture the energy and common-man feel of the campaign trail to ease the harder task of governing. He's adopting the "permanent campaign" as a major tool for how he conducts his presidency, ditching Washington for the road, early and often. | 02/17/09 17:01:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama ready to tap offshore oil, wind power

Just weeks into his presidency, President Barack Obama has moved right past the should-we-drill-offshore question and plunged into a new debate about how best to tap resources on the Outer Continental Shelf. | 02/15/09 06:00:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Obama predicts California will be biggest job producer

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says the best way to judge his economic stimulus plan in the next two years will be whether it creates or saves from 3 million to 4 million jobs. | 02/11/09 18:57:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Is Obama following Bush's lead on official secrecy?

The Obama administration, which vowed to usher in a "new era of openness in our country," either has delayed action on requests for access to government records or refused to disclose them in three early, high-profile tests of the pledge. "It looks like the new administration is stalling for time," said Jameel Jaffer, the director of the ACLU's National Security Project. | 02/11/09 18:37:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Obama's Mideast policies face their first test in Israel

President Barack Obama's promise to seek Middle East peace aggressively faces its first test today, not at the negotiating table or on the battlefield, but at the hands of Israeli voters. | 02/09/09 18:55:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Unpaid taxes, uncowed GOP: Obama searches for his style

Obama has moved with blazing speed to put his imprint on his young administration. He's filled out his staff and Cabinet faster than anyone in at least three decades, blasted out executive orders and pressed Congress to pass the most expensive stimulus in history. In his rush He's also bypassed his own orders against hiring lobbyists, named three senior appointees with tax problems, been forced to admit that he "screwed up" and shifted political strategy on the stimulus. | 02/08/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

No crisis yet, but Obama finding world won't wait for him

In the midst of the presidential campaign last October, Barack Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, warned that within six months of Obama's election, "We're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." The prediction hasn't come true yet, but unfriendly nations and international competitors already are stepping up their efforts to challenge the young new president or at the very least get his attention. | 02/06/09 17:20:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Centrist compromise clears stimulus for Senate passage

Senators struggled Friday to agree on details of an economic recovery plan as President Barack Obama ratcheted up the pressure on lawmakers with some tough talk and a new plan to make personal pitches for support. | 02/06/09 17:13:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas

Is Obama's 16-month withdrawal timetable slipping?

Responding to a request by President Barack Obama, top military and diplomatic advisers on Iraq have submitted a report to the White House that spells out the risks of drawing down U.S. forces in Iraq over periods as long as 23 months. The multiple options are the first indication that the Obama administration may be willing to abandon a campaign promise of a 16-month withdrawal. | 02/05/09 20:30:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

Obama keeps Bush policies on faith-based groups

President Obama on Thursday created his own White House council to provide government assistance to faith-based groups that help the poor. In doing so, he left in place five executive orders Bush signed that allow groups receiving government funds to proselytize or refuse to hire non-believers, riling groups that favor separation of church and state. | 02/05/09 18:27:00 By - Steven Thomma

First Hoopster can choose from lots of capital courts

Now that he's living in the White House, where will President Barack Obama play pickup basketball? Anywhere he wants. But who knew he'd have so many choices? | 02/04/09 16:34:00 By - Frank Greve

Surely this isn't what Obama meant when he vowed change

These first days aren't going the way that President Barack Obama hoped when he promised to change the way Washington operates. He remains popular, with broad support from the American people, but the taint of politics as usual is challenging the aura of something new. | 02/03/09 18:41:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama turns to grassroots to sway Senate on stimulus

In an e-mail sent by the Democratic National Committee, Obama urged voters to host or attend a neighbor's "Economic Recovery House Meeting" this coming weekend, where a videotaped message from party chairman and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine would be played to answer questions about the stimulus spending. | 02/02/09 17:36:00 By - David Lightman and Margaret Talev

Obama takes a different tone, and Muslims say they like it

Former President George W. Bush often offered words of reconciliation to Muslim listeners, but President Obama, while saying much the same thing, has had a different impact after just 10 days in power. Now the question is whether the expectation Obama's words have raised can be met by changes in U.S. policies. | 01/30/09 18:38:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Obama finds partisanship still alive and well in Washington

President Obama has met repeatedly with Republicans, inviting several for cocktails at the White House this week even after they voted against his proposed $819 billion plan to boost the economy. He's asked more over on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl. But he's batting zero so far in the quest for bipartisanship. | 01/30/09 17:36:00 By - Steven Thomma

Will Obama support Karzai's re-election in Afghanistan?

Relations between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the U.S. are worse than at any time in the past eight years. Each side accuses the other of enabling the revival of the Taliban. U.S. and European officials say they've grown frustrated by Karzai's failure to curb corruption, cronyism and incompetence. Karzai has grown increasingly angry at the mounting civilian casualties in U.S.-led military operations. Now a question looms: Will Obama support Karzai's re-election? | 01/29/09 20:28:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Quietly, Michelle Obama lays the groundwork for policy role

While her inaugural wear, choice of a decorator and disapproval of unauthorized Sasha and Malia dolls make headlines, first lady Michelle Obama has quietly assembled a staff that's steeped in women's and workplace issues to support her role as a policy advocate. | 01/29/09 18:01:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama ethics question: New WH lawyer's firm sought bailout

President Barack Obama on Wednesday named a politically connected top executive of a financial services company that's seeking federal bailout money to be his chief legal counsel on the economy, a move raising ethical concerns with watchdog organizations and casting a shadow on Obama's campaign theme of change. | 01/28/09 19:47:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

ACLU tests Obama with request for secret Bush-era memos

In what could be a critical test of the Obama administration's commitment to transparency, the American Civil Liberties Union today asked the Obama administration to release Bush-era memos that provided the legal underpinning for harsh interrogations, eavesdropping and secret prisons. For years, the Bush administration refused to release them, but a new Obama executive order last week rescinded Bush restrictions on what can be made public. | 01/28/09 07:00:00 By - Marisa Taylor

GOP votes unswayed by Obama lobbying on stimulus bill

The House of Representatives is expected to approve on Wednesday an $825 billion plan aimed at reviving an economy that's rapidly falling into what may be the worst recession since World War II, but but President Barack Obama is likely to fall short of getting the strong bipartisan consensus he so badly wants. | 01/27/09 18:02:00 By - David Lightman

Obama urges Dems to dump family planning from stimulus

President Barack Obama has told congressional Democrats to drop a proposal to spend money on family planning from the proposed $825 billion plan to stimulate the economy. a White House aide told McClatchy. | 01/27/09 10:31:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama tells EPA to review rejection of state emissions standards

President Barack Obama took the first step Monday toward allowing California and 13 other states to implement tough new auto tailpipe emission standards, fulfilling a campaign pledge and reversing a controversial Bush administration decision. | 01/26/09 18:52:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Today, Obama will reverse Bush on states' emissions limits

Obama is expected to instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to sign a waiver that will allow California and 13 other states to set their own limits on vehicle emissions — something the Bush administration refused to do. Obama also is expected to announce tougher national fuel economy standards and plans for more "green" jobs. | 01/25/09 22:12:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama's first days: Dramatic actions with a lawyer's caution

From his inaugural address to his first orders and meetings, Obama signaled that he wants to change the country's course, just as he promised, but that he'll move cautiously at times, work to build consensus and reach out to the right. He closed Guantanamo, but gave the Pentagon a year to carry out the order. He lifted a ban on taxpayer-financed abortion counseling, but waited a day to do so so as not to conflict with anti-abortion demonstrations on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. | 01/25/09 06:00:00 By - Steven Thomma

In first weekly address, Obama pushes economic stimulus plan

President Barack Obama on Saturday pitched Americans on more details of an economic stimulus plan that could exceed $825 billion, hoping he can ease Republican resistance in Congress by building public support for spending on items as varied as health coverage, port security and home weatherization. In his weekly address, the president also painted a dire picture of the consequences of inaction. | 01/24/09 14:10:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama ends funding restrictions for family planning groups

President Barack Obama ended a prohibition on supplying federal family planning funds and contraceptives to international aid groups that provide abortions, abortion referrals or abortion counseling. | 01/23/09 18:32:00 By - Margaret Talev

Obama restores some of the 'Freedom' to FOIA

One curious soul on Feb. 8, 2001, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department. He or she is still awaiting a reply. As one of his first acts, President Barack Obama issued an order reversing his predecessor's approach toward the release of government documents. | 01/23/09 17:20:00 By - Michael Doyle

Obama's orders only the start of a detainee policy overhaul

The three executive orders that President Barack Obama signed on Thursday to shut the Guantanamo Bay and CIA prisons begin to untangle some of the legal, diplomatic and practical knots created by the Bush administration's war on terror policies. | 01/22/09 20:39:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Obama names new U.S. envoys to tackle old conflicts

President Barack Obama named a pair of veteran envoys on Thursday to be his point men for the Middle East and Afghanistan, cementing a high-risk commitment to grapple with two of the world's most intractable conflicts. In office little more than 48 hours, Obama used a visit to the State Department to show that diplomacy, rather than military force, will be central to his foreign policy. | 01/22/09 19:19:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Obama sends a message: the United States will not torture

On Day 2 of his administration, Obama ordered the closing of the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, outlawed aggressive interrogation techniques such as waterboarding on suspected terrorists and shut down secret CIA prisons. He also named a lawyer who'd objected to the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program to head the Justice Department's national security division. | 01/22/09 18:47:00 By - Steven Thomma

Another foreign challenge for Obama: Georgia-Russia

Eleven days before leaving office, the Bush administration signed a "strategic partnership" charter with Georgia that pledged cooperation with the former Soviet republic on defense, energy security and democratic development but made no specific U.S. commitments. To what extent Obama follows through may hinge on how the new president interprets the events of the Russia-Georgia war. | 01/21/09 16:11:00 By - Tom Lasseter

Obama retakes the oath of office after busy first day

Chief Justice John Roberts was ushered into the Map Room of the White House on Wednesday night to re-administer the oath of office to President Barack Obama because the original oath on Tuesday had a word out of sequence. The second swearing-in came after a day in which Obama huddled with advisers on the economy and over how to withdraw from Iraq, and announced policies to strengthen government ethics and expand access to public records. | 01/21/09 13:31:00 By - Margaret Talev

Bush, his approval rating in tatters, flies home to Texas

As former President George W. Bush's helicopter whisked him from the Capitol over the 2 million people on the National Mall to Andrews Air Force Base, parts of the crowd burst into a riff of "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye," a song usually reserved for losing sports teams. Correction at bottom. | 01/20/09 16:25:00 By - Maria Recio

Bush calls world leaders on final full day in office

George W. Bush, whose presidency was punctuated by the cacophony of the disputed 2000 election, the shock and awe of two wars and the howling ill winds of Hurricane Katrina, spent a quiet final full day in the White House on Monday privately contacting world leaders to thank them for their hospitality. | 01/19/09 15:29:00 By - William Douglas and David Lightman

It's party time in the capital to celebrate Obama's rise

On the eve of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday celebration and the approach of his own historic swearing-in as president, Barack Obama stood Sunday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, evoked the country's heroes and heritage and told the nation that "the dream of our founders will live on in time." | 01/18/09 18:14:17 By - David Lightman and Margaret Talev

Capital awash in Obama bling and bobble-heads

WASHNGTON — Barack Obama inaugural souvenirs are selling at three times the rate of the previous record holder, Bill Clinton, according to vendor Jim Warlick, veteran of eight inaugurals. | 01/17/09 13:51:00 By - Katherine Tandler

Obama calls for renewal as inaugural festivities begin

Barack Obama on Saturday began a journey filled with symbolism that will bring him officially to Washington D.C. for his inauguration as the first African-American president on Tuesday. The journey by train — a nod to Obama's political hero Abraham Lincoln, who made the same trip by train 148 years ago — started in Philadelphia. Obama recalled Philadelphia's role as the birthplace of America and said "the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed" in 1776 are needed today. | 01/17/09 12:24:57 By - Margaret Talev

In parting address, Bush stakes legacy on keeping America safe

In his final speech to the nation, President Bush acknowledged that not everything had gone as he had hoped and acknowledged that many people had not agreed with the decisions he had made. But he said he hoped people would appreciate that he was willing to make the tough decisions. | 01/15/09 17:48:00 By - David Lightman

Bush admits mistakes on Iraq, Katrina, but defends policies

President George W. Bush conceded Monday in a sometimes emotional, sometimes defiant farewell news conference that he'd made mistakes and had disappointments on Iraq and Hurricane Katrina policies but said that history would prove that his decisions generally were correct. | 01/12/09 10:58:00 By - David Lightman

Bush moves to protect deepest reaches of Pacific Ocean

President Bush declared three national monuments in the Pacific to protect some of the last places on earth where the ocean still looks like the abundant world of centuries or even thousands of years past. One of the new monuments includes the Mariana Trench, which is deeper than Mount Everest is tall. | 01/05/09 19:00:00 By - Renee Schoof

Bush first ex-prez to face limit on Secret Service protection

President Bush's post-presidency is shaping up to be pretty comfortable, with a Dallas office, staffers, Secret Service protection, a travel budget, medical coverage and a $196,700 annual pension, all at taxpayers' expense. But Bush won't get one perk previous ex-presidents have received: lifetime Secret Service protection. Under new law, Bush's protection expires after 10 years. | 01/04/09 14:01:00 By - Maria Recio

Even to his defenders, Bush's legacy is 'debatable'

The first chief executive with a master's in business administration is leaving President-elect Barack Obama a nation that's arguably in the worst shape since Herbert Hoover left Franklin Roosevelt the Great Depression and a world in which fascism was on the march 76 years ago. While scholars estimate that it takes at least a generation before a president's legacy can be analyzed objectively, many already are unflinching in their assessment of Bush. | 01/04/09 06:00:00 By - David Lightman

Obamas have a busy first week ahead as they arrive in D.C.

The historic Hay-Adams hotel, the new First Family's Washington home through Jan. 15, offers the Obamas a posh and well-secured suite, White House views, 24-hour room service and probably not much free time to enjoy it. For girls Malia and Sasha, Monday marks the start of classes. Their father has a host of meetings scheduled with still two weeks to go to his inauguration. | 01/03/09 17:20:02 By - Margaret Talev

Did Bush officials commit war crimes? Maybe, but trials aren't likely

Civil libertarians and human rights groups want the incoming Obama administration to investigate whether the Bush administration committed war crimes. They don't just want low-level CIA interrogators, either. They want President George W. Bush on down. But even those who believe top officials broke the law don't think criminal prosecutions are likely. The charges would be too difficult legally and politically to succeed. | 12/19/08 18:00:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Bush on economy moves: I didn't want to be Herbert Hoover

Bush offered Thursday what he dubbed "reflections by a guy who's headed out of town" to a friendly American Enterprise Institute audience at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. He spoke without notes and took questions for more than an hour. He conceded no serious mistakes and on issue after issue blamed his stumbles on Washington's convoluted ways. | 12/18/08 16:47:00 By - David Lightman

Obama's unusual transition: Already a co-president

President Bush and President-elect Obama have been working together in an unusual comity that Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer calls "the split-screen presidency." The unusual transition is born of the 24-7 nature of the global economic crisis and the fact a strong president-elect is succeeding a lameduck voluntarily leaving office. | 11/24/08 16:28:00 By - David Lightman

Bush promises more aid to banks if needed

President George W. Bush said Monday that Washington was ready to help other faltering financial institutions as it was helping Citigroup, the banking giant that just got a government guarantee for billions of dollars in risky assets and a $20 billion capital injection. | 11/24/08 00:01:00 By - David Lightman

Incoming, outgoing presidents offer dueling fixes for economy

The incoming and outgoing presidents Saturday urged solutions to the country's economic crisis that were worlds apart. Obama promised a sweeping, New Deal-like plan to jump-start the economy. Bush, meeting with international leaders in Peru, warned against government intervention in free markets after overseeing the largest government financial interventions in U.S. history. | 11/22/08 19:09:00 By - James Rosen

Obama brings the Chicago crowd to do his business in D.C.

A generation ago, it was a big deal when the late Mayor Richard J. Daley got invited to sleep in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom after delivering Illinois and the 1960 presidential election to fellow Democrat John F. Kennedy. It was a striking sign that an Irish Catholic from the South Side of Chicago had really arrived. Now a slew of Chicago Democrats are about to descend on Washington. | 11/16/08 15:38:00 By - Steven Thomma

Economic summit unlikely to burnish Bush's legacy

President Bush limps into the meeting of 20 world leaders with a domestic approval rating of 24 percent in a new Ipsos/McClatchy Poll released Wednesday, worse than any president's showing since the advent of modern polling more than 60 years ago. | 11/12/08 16:02:00 By - David Lightman

Obama visits Bush at White House for private chat

President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama, who was visiting the Oval Office for the first time, conducted cordial, wide-ranging talks Monday on economic and national security issues, but spokeswomen had little to say afterward. | 11/10/08 18:33:00 By - David Lightman

Bush Middle East efforts end with little progress

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is wrapping up the Bush administration's yearlong attempt to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace with little to show for her investment. The diplomatic initiative has helped to dispel the mutual distrust that chilled peace talks for seven years. But there have been few tangible successes. | 11/09/08 14:07:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum

EPA weakens new lead rule after White House objects

After the White House intervened, the Environmental Protection Agency last week weakened a rule on airborne lead standards at the last minute so that 60 percent fewer polluters would have their emissions of the potentially dangerous chemical monitored. | 10/23/08 19:34:00 By - Renee Schoof

Bush plans to establish U.S. diplomatic post in Iran

The Bush administration will announce in mid-November, after the presidential election, that it intends to establish the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran since the 1979-81 hostage crisis, according to senior Bush administration officials. | 10/23/08 17:21:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Report: Taxpayers paid for GOP politicking in 2006 elections

The White House dispatched cabinet members and other agency officials to more than 300 events nationwide to help Republican candidates in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, according to a House of Representatives committee report. | 10/15/08 16:29:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Cheney goes to hospital for irregular heartbeat

Vice President Dick Cheney went to the hospital Wednesday after experiencing an abnormal heartbeat and was scheduled to have an outpatient procedure to "restore his normal rhythm," his office said. | 10/15/08 14:33:00 By - William Douglas

Cheney in hospital for abnormal heartbeat

Vice President Dick Cheney went to the hospital Wednesday after experiencing an abnormal heartbeat and is scheduled to have an outpatient procedure to "restore his normal rhythm," his office said. | 10/15/08 14:01:06 By - William Douglas

Bush to remove N. Korea from terror list to save nuke deal

President Bush is set to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring nations as early as Saturday in an end-of-term bid to save a deal to eliminate the secretive communist nation's nuclear weapons program, State Department officials said Friday. | 10/10/08 18:40:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

What Laura wants: Bushes will build house in Dallas area

Highland Park, a 2.2-square-mile township within Dallas, is the Bushes' preferred location for their next residence. It's one of the wealthiest areas in Texas and near Southern Methodist University, Laura Bush's alma mater and the site of the Bush presidential library. | 10/08/08 17:44:00 By - Maria Recio

Prosecutor to probe White House role in attorney firings

Attorney General Michael Mukasey agreed Monday to appoint a prosecutor to continue investigating the firing of nine U.S. attorneys after the Justice Department's watchdog found "substantial" evidence that partisan politics played a role in some of the ousters. | 09/29/08 11:10:00 By - Marisa Taylor

In prime-time speech, Bush calls for bipartisan solution

President Bush told the nation Wednesday that "there is much agreement" among Washington lawmakers on key principles for a massive financial rescue plan as he prepared for White House talks on the crisis with John McCain, Barack Obama and congressional leaders. He made it clear he's edging away from his original $700 billion rescue plan. | 09/24/08 22:01:00 By - David Lightman

U.S., Poland sign pacts on missile defense

The United States will deploy anti-missile interceptors, upgrade Poland's air defenses and modernize its military under a strategic cooperation declaration signed Wednesday. | 08/20/08 10:21:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay

Russia working to destroy Georgia's wounded military

GORI, Georgia — Russian troops, in violation of a cease-fire agreement reached on Tuesday, embarked Wednesday on what Georgian officials called a deliberate and systematic attempt to demolish what remains of the Georgian military. | 08/13/08 20:18:00 By - Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S. Landay

White House aides must appear before Congress, judge rules

The ruling is a setback for the Bush administration's sweeping assertion of executive privilege to prevent Congress from questioning Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton and former White House counsel Harriet Miers about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. The judge said White House staffers can assert executive privilege in response to specific questions, but must appear in person to do so. | 07/31/08 13:08:00 By - Marisa Taylor

As deficit explodes, Obama, McCain say little about taming it

The federal budget deficit should soar to a record $482 billion in fiscal 2009, the White House said Monday, because of slow economic growth and taxpayer rebates. The numbers mean that the next president will begin his term facing intense pressure to find new revenue or cut spending dramatically. | 07/28/08 15:32:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas

Is Bush going out with 'a whimper'?

The White House wants the American public to think it's on the rebound, scoring important triumphs in Iraq and North Korea and on domestic spying while taking tough stands on oil drilling and relief for homeowners. | 07/18/08 17:26:00 By - David Lightman

A gloomy day for the economy, except at the White House (7/15/08)

President Bush tried Tuesday to reassure consumers that the economy was still growing, but his words had little effect. The Dow closed the day at its lowest level in two years, the government reported that prices had jumped at their sharpest pace in 27 years, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board warned that "significant challenges" lie ahead. | 07/15/08 13:36:00 By - David Lightman and Tony Pugh

Ex-EPA official: White House cut global-warming testimony

Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the White House demanded that all mention of how global warming harms human health be cut from testimony to Congress last fall, a former Environmental Protection Agency official who had a key role on climate policy said Tuesday. | 07/08/08 17:52:00 By - Renee Schoof

G-8 leaders aim to halve emissions by 2050

WASHINGTON — Leaders of the Group of 8 leading industrial nations on Tuesday set a goal of cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases in half by 2050 and said that all major economies should join the effort. | 07/08/08 16:09:00 By - Renee Schoof

Bush's final G-8 appearance starts Sunday in Tokyo

President Bush will continue his formal exit from the world stage when he arrives in Japan on Sunday for his final annual meeting with leaders from seven of the world's other top economic powers. With the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido as a backdrop, Bush and the other heads of the so-called "Group of Eight" nations will wrestle over what to do about the unsettled international economy, high oil prices and climate change. | 07/05/08 06:00:00 By - William Douglas and Kevin G. Hall

How did Bush policy lead to a deal with North Korea?

President Bush began his administration refusing to engage in one-on-one diplomacy with North Korea, a regime he reviled. He ends his presidency tit-for-tat trading North Korea nuclear concessions for U.S. fuel and trade concessions and earning brickbats from one-time political allies. What sparked the change? | 06/26/08 19:07:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

McClellan: Cheney's role in CIA officer's outing suspicious

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan testified before Congress that the White House remains under a "cloud of suspicion" for its conduct in the Valerie Plame affair and will remain there because officials refuse to disclose any more information. | 06/20/08 17:59:00 By - David Lightman

White House asserts executive privilege in air-quality case

Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House on Friday asserted executive privilege in denying a congressional request for thousands of pages of documents related to the federal government's rejection of California's efforts to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Congress is attempting to determine whether President Bush played a role in the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to deny California’s request for permission to impose tougher air-quality regulations than federal law called for. | 06/20/08 14:07:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

U.S. president has less power than candidates might lead you to think

Cut through the spin — think of how many times you've heard a president called the most powerful man in the world or that they "run" the country — and the fact is that the president isn't omnipotent. Not even close. | 06/19/08 13:52:00 By - Steven Thomma

Bush call for offshore oil drilling likely to go nowhere

President Bush proposed Wednesday to allow drilling off U.S. coastlines as part of a plan to boost oil supplies, but his plan is likely to go nowhere because of a reluctant Democratic-majority Congress, which fears environmental costs. Even if U.S. coastal waters were opened to exploration, experts agree that it would take at least seven and probably 10 years before any benefits were apparent. | 06/18/08 14:08:00 By - David Lightman

After praising German asparagus, Bush gets basketful from Washington state

His father doesn't like broccoli, but President Bush apparently likes asparagus, at least the German variety. After the president called German asparagus "fabulous" following a dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, two Washington state lawmakers decided it was time to introduce him to the homegrown variety. | 06/18/08 00:56:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Appellate court tosses out key conviction in Abramoff case

A federal appeals court overturned the conviction of a former White House official Tuesday in a significant defeat for prosecutors who are overseeing the investigation into the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal. David Safavian was convicted in 2006 of four charges related to statements he made to officials who were investigating Abramoff. | 06/17/08 17:39:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Abramoff met Bush at least 6 times, House panel confirms

Convicted superlobbyist Jack Abramoff had his photo taken with the president on six occasions, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said Monday, though it said it could not determine if Abramoff had lobbied the president personally on any issue. Still, the committee said its probe made it clear White House officials consulted with Abramoff. | 06/09/08 15:27:00 By - Marisa Taylor

Bush wants $600 million for Iraq police, but cuts aid to U.S. cops

The White House earlier this year proposed slashing the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which helps local law enforcement officials deal with violent crime and serious offenders, to $200 million in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. In 2002, the year before the Iraq war, the program received $900 million. | 05/27/08 17:33:02 By - David Lightman

Bush ends 5-day Middle East trip with few concrete gains

Wrapping up a five-day tour of the Middle East, President Bush on Sunday told his Arab allies that expanding democratic reforms and isolating Iran and Syria were crucial steps to a secure and prosperous future for the region. But Bush heads home to Washington with few, if any, concrete gains on his largely ceremonial tour. | 05/18/08 15:01:00 By - Hannah Allam

Can anything be done about skyrocketing oil prices?

President Bush lamented Tuesday that there was no magic wand to wave to lower oil prices, but there are simple steps he could take to lower the soaring price of crude. Here are some answers to questions about making oil cheaper. | 04/29/08 16:53:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Bush: Tapping ANWR would help lower gasoline prices

The president suggested drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one way to cut prices. He said he opposes tapping into the nation's strategic oil reserve. | 04/29/08 16:38:00 By - William Douglas and David Lightman

Bush sets climate change goal; scientists say it's too little

President Bush set a new target date Wednesday for stopping the growth of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 2025, presenting a strategy that the scientific community says is too little, too late, to prevent dangerous global warming. | 04/16/08 18:40:00 By - William Douglas

All the talk is about Iraq, but concern about Iran is mounting

President Bush warned Iran on Thursday that the United States will "act to protect our interests," as the White House heightened its rhetorical attacks on Tehran for allegedly shipping sophisticated roadside bombs to Iraq and supporting Shiite Muslim militias there. | 04/10/08 14:15:00 By - Warren P. Strobel

Bush: U.S. strategy in Iraq is working but needs more time

President Bush said Thursday that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will "have all the time he needs" to decide how and when to reduce American forces after the additional troops that were sent to Iraq last year are withdrawn by the end of July. | 04/10/08 13:41:00 By - David Lightman and Nancy A. Youssef

Will U.S. envoy to Armenia become an election issue?

President Bush once again is nominating an ambassador to Armenia. But the issue of whether Turks committed genocide against Armenians could derail the nomination and become a factor in the presidential race. | 04/01/08 16:36:00 By - Michael Doyle

White House aide resigns amid probe of Cuba funds

Felipe Sixto, a Cuban-American from Miami, was the special assistant to President Bush for inter-governmental affairs, dealing with Cuba, Native American issues, state legislators, Latino elected officials and Puerto Rico. | 03/28/08 19:19:00 By - Pablo Bachelet

As militia holds on, Bush calls Iraq battle 'a defining moment'

President Bush on Friday branded the recent eruption of violence across Iraq as a "defining moment in the history of a free Iraq" and insisted it was crucial to quash criminal elements eager to disrupt the new government. | 03/28/08 15:46:00 By - David Lightman

Iraqi prime minister softens ultimatum as militias stand ground in Basra

The United States stepped up its direct support for the Iraqi government offensive against Shiite Muslim militias Friday by using U.S. aircraft to bomb two targets in the oil hub of Basra, the British military said. | 03/28/08 00:50:00 By - Leila Fadel