Team Obama Weighs Priorites Amid Obstacles

Obama favors free-market approach

(NEWSER) - Horrified by President Obama's stimulus plan, conservatives are calling him a European-style socialist—when in fact he's all-American, Jacob Weisberg writes in Newsweek. Obama envisions “cradle-to-grave opportunity, as opposed to the European model of cradle-to-grave security,” writes Weisberg, who explains that Obama’s plans to tackle hot issues like health care and climate change are all market-based. More»

First look at proposed 2011 budget shows sharp break between haves and have-nots

(NEWSER) - President Obama delivered his proposed 2011 budget to Congress today, and the Washington Post drills down to find the winners and losers. Winners first:

• K-12 education: The Department of Education's budget will increase by 6%, or $3 billion.
• Research: The proposal pumps up the Energy Department's budget 7%, or $2 billion, and the National Science Foundation's budget climbs 8%.
• The military: The Defense Department's budget rises 3.4%, and that's not counting spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

(NEWSER) - President Obama has big plans for the economy, and that’s too bad because he knows nothing about it, Fred Barnes writes in the Weekly Standard. All of his proposals and angry jabs at Wall Street are counter to his professed interest in growth and job creation. “Obamanomics pays lip service to a free market economy,” Barnes writes. “But Obama hasn't a clue what makes it work.” More»

(NEWSER) - The public is rapidly losing faith in President Obama, new polls show. His overall approval rating is below 60%—a USA Today/Gallup poll gives him 55%, putting him 10th among the 12 post-World War II presidents after six months in office. A Public Trust Monitor/Politico survey finds 54% trust Obama, down from 66% in March. Only 42% trust the Democratic Party. More»

Numbers drop on health care, economy, deficit

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s approval rating on health care has dropped from 57% in April to below half for the first time, as resistance heats up, even among Democrats, to the reform bill working its way through Congress, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds. Some 49% approve and 44% (up from 29%) disapprove of Obama’s handling of health care, and while 44% of independents approve, 49% don’t. At 59%, his overall approval rating beats his issue-by-issue numbers, but is below 60% for the first time. More»