“Headwinds” from the first half of 2011 are holding back the recovery, President Obama and his advisers argued on Friday, reacting to an undeniably abysmal June jobs report. While Obama didn’t dismiss the discouraging data as a “bump in the road to recovery” as he did in May, the White House is trying to blame transitory factors such as …
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June Jobs Number Threatens Debt Talks — and Obama
Friday morning’s miserable jobs report delivered a blunt-force blow to Obama’s overall economic approach and posed a serious threat to the country’s recovery. More immediately, it complicates the President’s already difficult debt ceiling negotiations with Speaker John Boehner by adding an urgent priority: getting another stealth …
There’s Big Talk in Washington of a Deficit Deal. Can the Center Hold?
Though President Obama and House Speaker Boehner have yet to outline a single idea or, so far as we know, commit to anything, both Democrats and Republicans have begun attacking a so-called “grand bargain” for deficit …
Nancy Pelosi Wants a Little Respect (But That’s Not All She Wants)
The protagonists in the debt-limit dealing are obviously President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, the golfing buddies and party leaders. The Senate’s 60-vote threshold for legislation—and the potential for random …
Behind One of These Three Doors Is a Debt Ceiling Deal
Washington these days feels like a 1960s game show. Our lucky contestants, House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama, are on the stage in front of three doors, listening intently to the audience cheer before they …
What Congress Can Cut: Anatomy of a Grand Bargain
For all the melodrama in weeks of Washington’s deficit reduction talks – Republicans walking away from the table, President Obama calling them on the carpet, Wednesday’s purely symbolic vote on “shared sacrifice” from the …
Obama: No Short-Term Deal on Debt Limit
Never mind the mix of taxes and spending. With a potential default on the national debt less than a month away, President Obama and congressional Republicans can’t even agree on how much more borrowing authority any debt limit deal should involve. On Tuesday, Texas Senator John Cornyn became the latest Republican to suggest that the kind …
On Libya, a Split in Congress Means an Obama Win
The Obama administration continues its effort to outmaneuver Congress on the ongoing mission in Libya this week. On Tuesday afternoon the Senate will hold a cloture vote on the bill approved last week 14-5 by the Foreign Relations committee. It’s a narrow bill that authorizes Obama’s Libya war for a year.
Administration and …
Romney’s Recession Riddle
The political media is having fun with a new Mitt Romney flip-flop, namely that the former Massachusetts governor first said, last week, that Barack Obama’s policies made the great recession worse, then denied having saying said that*, and then repeated the original charge in New Hampshire on Sunday, saying that “the recession is deeper …
Tim Geithner Owns the Economy, Too
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the last remaining principal from President Obama’s original economic team, apparently may step down once the debt ceiling gets sorted out. The obvious point to make about Geithner is that …
A Closer Look at Obama’s Big Legal Win on Health Reform
The majority opinion by a 6th circuit panel Wednesday upholding Obama’s health care reform law is a victory for the administration on its face. But to understand just how big a victory it is, you have to read the concurring opinion by Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a …
Obama to Congress: Do Your Job
When in doubt, bash Congress. It’s a handy rule of thumb for almost any President, and in his East Room press conference on Wednesday, Barack Obama offered a clear lesson in how to do it.
The central issue of Obama’s presser …
Did Obama Win on War Powers?
In his press conference on Wednesday, President Obama tried to embarrass Congressional opponents of the military mission in Libya for making it a “cause celebre.” And in some ways he has emerged the victor in his confrontation with Congress over the War Powers Resolution. Last Friday, the GOP-led House failed to pass a bill that would …