For two years, Barack Obama has been talking about lifting the U.S. out of a financial hole. In his second State of the Union, buoyed by recent legislative successes, his successful speech in Tucson and a brightening economic forecast, he began charting a path forward.
That’s not to say the address harked back to the soaring oratory …
The Illinois Supreme Court has issued a stay of an appellate court order that Rahm Emanuel be tossed off the ballot in the race for Chicago mayor because of a failure to meet residency requirements. It’s an indication that the Supreme Court will hear the case, although it’s yet to confirm that, and a big win for the former White House …
The promise to pare back spending propelled Republicans to power in the House. Getting the details on paper has been trickier. Here’s a Time.com piece on how the GOP is trying to get specific about spending cuts, and why a recent proposal could prove to be a problem.
On Jan. 5, the day Nancy Pelosi passed the House speaker’s gavel to John Boehner, Democratic Senators Tom Udall, Tom Harkin and Jeff Merkley introduced a package of rules changes geared toward increasing transparency and accelerating the pace of an institution whose innate incrementalism has veered into “obstruction and dysfunction.” …
In a stunning setback, an Illinois appellate court tossed Rahm Emanuel off the ballot for next month’s Chicago mayoral race, ruling 2-1 that Emanuel was ineligible for the job.
The appeals court’s decision, which overturns rulings by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners and a Cook County court, argues that Emanuel failed to …
As Crowley wrote this morning, in reference to Republicans’ recent penchant for tossing out massive spending-cut targets and avoiding the specifics, “At some point the GOP will need to stop manufacturing debate and start manufacturing real budget cuts.” Right on cue, the Republican Study Committee offers up a plan that identifies $2.5 …
Quick recommendation for those interested in a (carefully vetted) behind-the-scenes peek at life in the White House: check out a Time.com gallery of photographer Pete Souza’s favorite snapshots from Obama’s first two years. The gentle portraiture may rankle our resident right-wingers, but there are some good shots.
It is no longer a “job-killing” health-care law, at least to the House Republican leaders spearheading tonight’s effort to pass HR 2, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In deference to the shootings in Tucson, the GOP nomenclature of preference appears now to be “job-destroying.” Other than that, it’s been Groundhog Day on the House …
So what did we learn from Sarah Palin’s powwow with Sean Hannity, her first interview since the Tucson tragedy? She won’t sit down. She won’t shut up. She’s not sorry about using the historically loaded phrase “blood libel.” She’s still staying mum on a potential bid for higher office. The kerfuffle over her political target map was a …
The Republican National Committee has decided to turn the page on Michael Steele’s tumultuous chairmanship by installing Steele’s former right-hand man.
After seven rounds of balloting, Reince Priebus, chair of the Wisconsin GOP and the committee’s former general counsel, notched 97 votes of 168 votes, eclipsing the 85 needed to win …
At Wednesday night’s memorial service in Tucson, Michelle Obama cut a somber figure even as broad swaths of the crowd appeared to find catharsis through laughter or cheering. Mrs. Obama, the mother of a nine-year-old girl, seemed particularly emotional during the sections of her husband’s speech that focused on Christina Taylor Green, …
A joint dispatch from Katy Steinmetz and myself:
TUCSON–They started lining up in the early morning, and by mid-afternoon, more than 20,000 Tucsonans had queued up under cloudless skies to get into the University of Arizona’s McKale Center to pay tribute to the fallen. The unruly line snaked for blocks through the downtown Tucson …
President Obama is wheels up on his way to Tucson, and locals have long since started queuing in hopes of getting into the University of Arizona’s 14,000-capacity McKale Center for tonight’s memorial, “Together We Thrive: Tucson and America.” In addition to Obama, the university’s president, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Homeland Security …
