President Obama nominated Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general and state lawmaker, to run the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Sunday. The announcement comes just four days before the CFPB, set up in …
obama
Compromise or Contingency: The Path Forward on the Debt Ceiling
There is a certain irony in the fact that the two men who spoke the least at White House debt ceiling negotiations over the last week will likely be responsible for forging the path ahead. And like any grand compromise in …
Obama Fails to Budge Arab Opinion
The economy and the budget may be consuming Barack Obama’s presidency, but don’t forget that his candidacy was largely–perhaps even mostly–about foreign policy. At the core of Obama’s rationale for running in 2008 was his promise to restore America’s international strength, and diminish the threat of terrorism, by withdrawing our …
Obama vs. Cantor: Tempers Flare as Debt-Ceiling Negotiations Take a Dramatic Turn
President Obama and House majority leader Eric Cantor engaged in a high-stakes test of wills during Wednesday’s debt-ceiling negotiations at the White House, trading dramatic ultimatums in the most intense round of talks yet. …
The Fed Is Debating Whether to Give the Economy Another Jolt: Does Obama Care?
The most important news to emerge from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting and Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Wednesday testimony before Congress is that the central bank is open to taking further action to juice the economy if the recovery remains stalled, and that the Federal Open Market Committee is divided on what to do. Another round of …
Debt Ceiling Negotiators’ Task: Getting Cantor to Deal
Updated
There’s currently a lot of movement on the chess board of Washington’s debt ceiling game, and much of that action has one goal: returning the pieces back to their original positions — the king next to the queen and the pawns all in a row.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s startling proposition on Tuesday that …
Obama Mobilizes Big Business in Debt Talks
This letter from Big Business to all of Washington’s political leaders urging a speedy resolution to the debt limit debate was partly in response to a push by the Obama administration to up pressure for a deal. In recent days …
In the ArenaViewpoint
Accept McConnell’s Debt Ceiling Deal
Mitch McConnell proposes simply raising the debt ceiling. This is supposed to be some sort of brilliant political move. Obama will be blamed for the ever-increasing debt ceiling. The Republicans will be able to hammer him with it …
Don’t Mess With the Stimulus! It Had All Your Creamed Spinach and More
Oh, Joe, it is on! You can trash-talk me or my family or even my questionable taste in basketball teams. But how dare you take a backhanded swipe at my dearly beloved stimulus? You know, the poor thing has no one to defend it but me. And me again. And yet again. So, its infrastructure spending was too “rushed,” and sent cash to the …
In the ArenaViewpoint
Eat Your Creamed Spinach
The President was masterful, and prohibitively Cheshire catty, in his debt-ceiling press conference Monday morning. He was in the position he likes best: way above both parties, asking sacrifices from all, the grownup in a roomful of Congressional infants. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself, which is nice–he deserves a little …
In Debt Press Conference, Obama Enjoys the Upper-Hand
At a press conference on Monday, President Obama rebuffed congressional leaders for their recalcitrance to make concessions in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, and continued to make his case for an ambitious, all-inclusive …
With Clock Ticking, Washington Debt Talks Move Beyond a Grand Bargain
President Obama and congressional leaders met again on Sunday night for 75 minutes at the White House as they tried to hash out an agreement on a deficit reduction deal tied to the impending deadline to raise the federal debt …
No Grand Bargain: Boehner Walks Away From Big Deficit Deal
After days of hype in Washington, House Speaker John Boehner threw cold water on the prospect of a grand bargain on deficit reduction Saturday night, effectively scaling back negotiations on a deal tied to the effort to raise the …