Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer is the White House correspondent for TIME. He previously worked for Salon.com, Mother Jones, and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. A native of San Francisco, he graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

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Why the Endorsement of One New Hampshire Newspaper (With a Losing Record) Matters

Erik Kellar / AP

As the old Granite State saying goes, Iowa picks corn and New Hampshire picks Presidents. So what about the most powerful newspaper in New Hampshire, the Union Leader? On Sunday, the editorial board endorsed Newt Gingrich for President, rocking the presidential race. Suddenly, Gingrich has a very real, very current conservative credential that he can [...]

What You Missed While Not Watching the GOP National-Security Debate

Jim Bourg / Reuters

They call it a campaign, but it’s really a reality TV show. Each week or so, the contestants get on a stage, and are prodded to attack each other, equivocate and regurgitate sound bites. Dreadful stuff. At the end, viewers vote for one winner, who gets to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Welcome to Episode 11. American democracy as cheesy prime time programming. CNN’s Foreign Policy Debate in Washington, D.C.

With Supercommittee Failure, 2012 Election Offers False Hope

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

“Good riddance!” say the pundits on both left and right. The Super Committee is dead, and with it any short-term hope of a solution to the nation’s long-term deficit woes. For the right, this is a victory, because no tax increases were bartered away. “Good for America,” says Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich. For the [...]

Occupy Wall Street’s Day Off Message

Occupy Wall Street began with a simple idea: occupy Wall Street. By sitting, camping, sleeping at what many Americans still see as the symbolic scene of the crimes–both moral and legal–that led to the 2008 financial collapse, the message was clear. It was an act of civil disobedience that pointed the finger at the rich [...]

So Much Happening in New Rick Perry Ad, Except for One Verb

A while back, I argued that Rick Perry made good television ads, and his newest spot–”Lazy”–is no exception. But it is also, in the tradition of the best political advertising, inaccurate, fanciful and grammatically adventurous. So let’s break it down.

Amid Endless Solyndra Smoke, Some New Signs Of Fire

Another week, another disconcerting e-mail dump to push the Solyndra scandal deeper into the history books as an example of why industrial policy in the United States tends to go badly. According to newly released emails, the former Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison told officials at the Department of Energy that he wanted to announce a [...]

Occupy Wall Street’s Law-And-Order Problem

Mary Altaffer / AP

Mayor Michael Bloomberg left no question about his reasons for ordering a surprise overnight raid on Zuccotti Park to clear protesters after weeks of occupation. “The park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others,” Bloomberg said in a statement. In [...]

As Election Approaches, Obama Sharpens Rhetoric on China

Larry Downing / Reuters

Barack Obama’s first trip through Asia was about avoiding direct confrontation and modeling his new, un-Bush approach to foreign policy: More committed to international cooperation and deliberation, less aggressive in its expression of American power. Now Obama is again meeting with Asian leaders, as he prepares for a challenging re-election campaign. The stakes have changed, [...]

Chris Matthews Wormhole Opens, Swallows Universe

This really happened. You will never be the same after watching it. Make it your new ringtone. For context, watch the full clip here.

Van Jones’ Hopes (And Fears) for Occupy Wall Street

Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post / Getty Images

In the two years since he resigned from the government, under fire from conservatives for having once embraced “Marxist” ideology and other controversies, Van Jones has been seeking a way to recreate the grassroots energy of the Tea Party for the left. Since the Occupy Protests began, he has become one of their biggest cheerleaders, organizing a broad swath of liberal institutions, from labor unions to Planned Parenthood, to help support the cause and magnify the Occupy message.