Obama Rolls Out Sunday Best for TV Talkers

At long last, a reason to fight, says Dana Milbank

(NEWSER) - President Obama's debt-reduction tax-the-rich plan may be unrealistic and "highly partisan," but it's thrilling, declares Dana Milbank in the Washington Post . At last, "the president hasn’t conceded the race before the starter’s gun, hasn’t begun a game of strip poker in his boxer shorts," he notes. For once it was "refreshing to see the president delivering a speech that appealed to the heart rather than the cerebrum." The "class warrior" presented a choice: "Either ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in taxes," or turn to the less fortunate to pick up a bigger burden. More»

New book says Obama's team routinely undermined him

(NEWSER) - In March 2009, in the throes of the financial crisis, Barack Obama told Tim Geithner to focus on a proposal to dissolve Citigroup—but the Treasury Secretary ignored him and never developed a plan, according to former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind’s new book Confidence Men. In the book, which was obtained early by the AP and the New York Times , Suskind writes that Obama’s “authority was being systematically undermined or hedged by his seasoned advisers.” More»

School renovations, unemployment benefit extension part of strategy

(NEWSER) - President Obama plans tomorrow to unveil a $300 billion jobs strategy that will involve tax relief for workers and spending on public works projects such as road repair and school renovations to put America back to work, according to sources familiar with the plan. Half of the stimulus will come from tax cuts, including a year-long extension of a Social Security payroll tax reduction for workers and a possible cut in payroll taxes paid by employers, according to Bloomberg . The plan also involves the extension of unemployment benefits, offering job training for the unemployed, and a program to prevent teacher layoffs, reports the Los Angeles Times. More»

But today's the absolute last one—right?

(NEWSER) - Today is, supposedly, the absolute last day for debt limit legislation to be introduced in the House if the US wants to avoid defaulting on Aug. 2. As we wait to see if lawmakers make the deadline, Uri Friedman, writing in in the Atlantic Wire, looks at all the deadlines they've missed so far:

1. May 16: Timothy Geithner originally named this as the date the US would risk default, but when it passed without Congress raising the debt ceiling, the Treasury shuffled some clamshells to postpone the default date to Aug. 2—at which point "the borrowing authority of the United States will be exhausted."
2. June 31: On June 1, John Boehner said that a deal must be made in the next month in order to avoid "rattling investors."

'We shouldn't let up on the gas,' Gates warns

(NEWSER) - The military is digging in its heels against the idea of a swift withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I think we shouldn’t let up on the gas too much, at least for the next few months,” Robert Gates told troops yesterday, as he finished his final trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary. Gates' comments come after a meeting with General Petraeus, who is working on a suggested withdrawal plan, the New York Times reports. More»