Supreme Court Steps Into Thorny Case on Jerusalem

...and 5 failures bigger than you realize

(NEWSER) - Obama clearly ran a successful campaign—but what kind of a job did he do running the country in his first year at the helm? While the president "has not been overmatched, he has not yet mastered the role either," Mark Halperin writes in Time . Some things he's done better than you realize:

• Use Congress: The Obama White House understands the "egos and rhythms of legislators hungry to put their own stamp on every measure," and have parlayed that knowledge into legislative successes.

Rep predicts Senate abortion language won't pass House

(NEWSER) - The White House would really rather Bart Stupak keep his opinions about the abortion funding “compromise” in the Senate health care bill to himself, but the staunch rep isn’t playing ball. “They think I shouldn’t be expressing my views on this bill until they get a chance to try to sell me the language,” Stupak tells the conservative CNS News . “I don’t need anyone to sell me the language. I can read it. I’ve seen it.” And he doesn’t like what he’s seen. More»

GOP faithful can't fathom why press goes so easy on new president

(NEWSER) - Supporters of George Bush are miffed about the passes the media has given President Obama for trespasses the former president would likely have been excoriated for. “We have a joke about it. We’re going to start a website: IfBushHadDoneThat.com,” former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie tells Politico. Some examples of perceived media bias: More»

Calls for health bill this year in opposition to congressional GOP's wish for do-over

(NEWSER) - Arnold Schwarzenegger today became the highest-ranking elected Republican to back President Obama's push for health care reform. California's governor urged lawmakers "on both sides of the political aisle at the national level to move forward." He spoke after New York City's Mike Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent, also endorsed reform. While more prominent Republicans are doing so, not many of them are currently in Congress, notes the Washington Post. More»

Nancy Pelosi still wants it in House-Senate compromise

(NEWSER) - As health care reform chugs through the Senate Finance Committee, Mike Madden checks in on the prospects for a public option and finds it's not quite dead yet. A big test comes today when the committee votes on amendments from supporters of the public option, such as Jay Rockefeller. "Don't count it out," says Chuck Schumer, sounding not exactly like his usual "bulldog" self, notes Madden, writing for Salon. More»