Obama's Pragmatism Rooted in Hyde Park

Conservative watchdog slams first lady's 'technical violation'

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama may have violated Illinois election laws by seeking support for her husband’s agenda at a Chicago polling station, holds the Daily Caller . The first lady was talking with voters, and reportedly urged them to support said agenda—but state laws ban political discussion near polling places, the site notes. Sure, it may be a mere “technical violation,” acknowledges a conservative watchdog, somewhat gleefully. “But what are mere technical violations of voting laws to the Obama administration!” More»

President turns 49 today

(NEWSER) - President Obama turns 49 today, and he’ll celebrate the occasion with his friends (but not family) in Chicago. Sources tell Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times that Obama will be dining out at a restaurant he frequents. “I think his plans for tomorrow are dinner with some friends in Chicago,” Robert Gibbs said yesterday, adding, “I think he is looking forward to spending the night in his house for a change.” More»

Then-gov considered media titan to succeed Obama as senator

(NEWSER) - As Rod Blagojevich considered possible successors to Barack Obama as US senator from Illinois, he came up with one name "no one can assail": Oprah Winfrey. As the former governor's corruption trial dragged on today in Chicago, prosecutors played a tape from December 2008—after Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett had withdrawn, the Tribune reports , costing Blago what he perceived as leverage with the president-elect—of Blagojevich and an aide tossing around names. More»

(NEWSER) - It's a big disappointment for Chicago, but how big a hit was yesterday's Olympic Committee put-down of the US's 2016 bid for the president, who stuck his neck out to go to bat for it? Of course Rush Limbaugh said it was huge, the "worst day" of Obama's presidency, and Obama had "wasted his country's time, and his prestige." Democrats, even some who advised against the trip, said it was "a stumble, not a fall," and the president should get points for trying. More»

President, first lady stump for their hometown ahead of Olympic vote

(NEWSER) - Barack and Michelle Obama made an impassioned call today to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, which the president called the "most American of American cities." In his pitch to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, the president told of how he became "a proud Chicagoan" after a peripatetic childhood and fell in love with the diversity and ambition of the Second City. The first lady made a deeply personal presentation. She spoke about how her father instilled a love of sports in all of his children despite his battle with multiple sclerosis. More»