Obama Creates White House Women's Council

Obama's Council on Women and Girls a misplaced gesture

(NEWSER) - When President Obama last week created the White House Council on Women and Girls—a body that looks out for the fairer sex in federal policy-making—it seemed an almost laughable “act of paternalistic magnanimity,” writes Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post. Unfortunately, it also perpetuates “the false notion that girls are a special class of people deserving special treatment.” The truth is, boys need far more help these days. More»

With so many vacancies, the president has an opportunity

(NEWSER) - Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers, Rahm Emanuel, Jim Jones: A lot of people have left the Obama administration, but that could be a good thing. The president has a successful team—but he needs “a new agenda, and new ideas,” writes Ezra Klein in Newsweek . He offers four people the White House needs:

• Mark McClellan: He led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for George W. Bush and helped implement the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, meaning he has “credibility with Republicans on health care and experience making a major health-care initiative work.”

Jarrett poised to take over for chief of staff who can't make nice

(NEWSER) - Rahm Emanuel’s frustration with the legislative process may lead him out of the White House, but it's not clear whether the president's volatile chief of staff will jump or be pushed. Emanuel, a former congressman, has a famously explosive temper that isn't going over well in the West Wing. Insiders tell the New York Post 's Page Six that top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett is likely to succeed him. More»

Briefed military last night, will reveal number and other details tomorrow

(NEWSER) - After weeks of deliberation, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and ordered the military to carry it out. The exact size of the troop escalation has not been announced, but sources put the number in the neighborhood of 30,000 more troops. The president started informing military leaders last night and will explain his plan in detail in a national speech tomorrow from the US Military Academy at West Point. More»

Clinton a strong secretary, but not yet administration's voice

(NEWSER) - Ask Hillary Clinton or her staff about President Obama and they’ll praise him and tell you the relationship between the two really is strong. But the tensions between the State Department and White House are starting to show, writes Joe Klein . The president’s foreign policy hasn’t yet yielded results, and on her recent Pakistan trip, Clinton gave the first hints that she’d like to assert her independence—and move beyond what Klein calls “the Rodney King ‘Can’t we all just get along?’ phase.” More»