The New York Times’ deep dive into President Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy offers a revealing look at targeted killings overseas, how they are approved by the current Administration and carried out by the Central …
White House
A Tale of Two Economies: Mitt Romney vs. Republican Governors
The great recession has left the state of Ohio battered and bruised–and Mitt Romney would have you believe it’s Barack Obama’s fault. Writing in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer on May 4, Romney advised Ohioans that the President has …
Audacity of Dope: Tales of a Toking Teenage Obama
We knew Barack Obama smoked weed in high school because he wrote about it in his books. What we didn’t know, until Buzzfeed posted these choice nuggets (I’m so sorry) from David Maraniss’s new book on the President’s younger years, were the giggle-worthy details of his “Choom Gang” lifestyle, which are right out of a buddy stoner flick. …
Obama’s European Stimulus Challenge
Barack Obama’s reelection may well depend on stimulus. Not the stimulus bill that passed Congress in 2009. Or the monetary injections administered by the Federal Reserve. This stimulus won’t even be debated in Washington. …
From Obama’s Diary: ‘What If I Lose?’
Dear Diary,
Still stressed. I know I shouldn’t watch Fox, but Hannity seems more smug than usual lately. Doesn’t he ever get sick of Jeremiah Wright? I’d feel better if the gay marriage thing had gone better. (Thanks for …
Why Can’t President Obama Get Surrogates You Can Believe In?
It’s one of the great unexplained frustrations of the Obama presidency: Perhaps the most telegenic political leader of his generation has not been able to recruit a bench of top-flight, telegenic spinmeisters–called “surrogates” …
Vice President Biden Responds To Rev. Wright Super-Pac Proposal
On his way home from a two day swing through Ohio, Vice President Joe Biden stopped off at Hog Father’s Old Fashioned BBQ in Washington, Penn. After working the crowd, and trading stories with patrons and waitstaff, he made his way to the back of the restaurant, where I asked him about the report today of a planned Super-PAC ad campaign …
Michelle Obama on the Campaign Trail
The First Lady has been hard at work from Berkeley to Bethesda drumming up support for her “Let’s Move” exercise initiative, as well as her husband’s re-election campaign. TIME’s photo editors bring you her best moments from the trail.
Two More Fed Nominees Blocked: A Missed Chance for Obama
Two years ago, in April of 2010, President Obama nominated economist Peter Diamond to the board of the Federal Reserve. Four months later, after Republicans in the Senate blocked his appointment, Obama nominated him again. After almost a full year of waiting, Diamond gave up and withdrew his name from consideration last summer. …
Was the bin Laden Raid Really ‘Not a Tough Decision’?
On Wednesday, Donald Rumsfeld joined the bin Laden-anniversary party by declaring that it was “not a tough decision” for Barack Obama to order the Navy Seal raid in Abbottabad, and that to decide otherwise would be “dumbfounding.” Set aside for a moment the fact that a guy as tough as Rumsfeld’s successor as Defense Secretary, Robert …
Obama’s Love Letters: The Power of the Poetry Nerds
I don’t know if it means anything — it might mean nothing — but two of the most powerful people in the world, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, apparently spent a lot of time in college thinking, writing or speaking about T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets.
What Is President Obama’s Problem With Medical Marijuana?
For a brief moment in 2009, medical marijuana advocates exhaled. A new President had taken office promising to call off the federal prosecutors in states that had legalized weed for the sick. “What I’m not going to be doing …
On Unannounced Visit, Obama Outlines ‘New Chapter’ for U.S. Role in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama on Tuesday made his third unannounced trip to Afghanistan – the first in more than two years — this time to sign a strategic pact that will guide U.S. relations with the country for the next decade. The …