By Peter Baker With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities. Mr. Obama has not given up hope of progress on Capitol Hill, aides said, and has scheduled a session with Republican leaders on health care later this month. But... 

US President Barack Obama suffered a painful defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday. With mid-term elections looming, it means that Obama will have to fundamentally re-think his political course. German commentators say it is the end of hope. US President Barack Obama has had a number of difficult weeks during his first year in the White House. Right after he took office, he had to wade through a week... 

By Erica Werner Labor leaders are pushing hard on President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats to drop a proposed new tax on high-value health insurance plans, warning of political consequences. The White House has indicated the tax may change so it hits fewer workers – but it’s not going away. A Monday evening meeting at the White House between Obama and about a dozen heads of the country’s... 

By Maureen Dowd Our president came down from the mountaintop. He had applied the freshness of his independent thought to the critical matters at hand. He had convened his seminar, reviewed the reviews, analyzed the intelligence every which way, thought anew about everything, and lo and behold, he finally emerged to tell us some stuff we already knew. (Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com … Share/Save Read More →

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb accused President Obama of using his network as a “political football” during the presidential campaign, citing the president’s broken pledge to televise health care reform negotiations on the nonpartisan channel which is devoted to covering Washington. Lamb, speaking on liberal host Bill Press’ radio show Wednesday, said Obama had “no right”... 

This employee says that despite statements from the Obama Administration, such information was flagged and given higher priority during the Bush Administration, but that since the changeover “we are encouraged to not create the appearance that we are profiling or targeting Muslims. I think career employees were uncomfortable with the Bush procedures and policies and were relieved to not have... 

President Obama wants the final negotiations on health care reform – a reconciliation of the House and Senate versions of the bill – put on a fast track, even if that means breaking an explicit campaign promise. “The House and Senate plan to put together the final health care reform bill behind closed doors according to an agreement by top Democrats,” House Speaker Nanci Pelosi... 

Can’t you see?  I’m on vacation? Share/Save Read More →

The failures that allowed the unsuccessful Christmas Day terrorist attack have marred President Barack Obama’s relaxation schedule in Hawaii, CBS’s Jeff Glor and Chip Reid regretted Thursday night as Reid fretted Obama had “hoped to spend this vacation recharging his batteries, but now he appears to be spending most of it working” and assured viewers Obama is moving fast to protect Americans:... 

Presidential politics is about storytelling. Presented with a vivid storyline, voters naturally tend to fit every new event or piece of information into a picture that is already neatly framed in their minds.   Share/Save Read More →

By Michael Barone Comes the news that Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore of the 3rd district of Kansas is not running for reelection. Interesting. Congressman Moore was reelected by a 56%-40% margin in 2008, and Barack Obama carried his district 51%-48%, while losing the other three congressional districts in Kansas. Share/Save Read More →