Obama Effect Drove Lebanon Allies to Victory

Colin Powell 'concerned' by Obama's spending

(NEWSER) - Joe Biden conceded today that the Obama administration “misread” how bad the economy actually was and that now the unemployment rate is “much too high,” The Hill reports. In an interview taped in Iraq with This Week, the vice president also said the US doesn’t intend to slow its withdrawal plans from Iraq even if violence surges after American forces leave. More»

(AP) - Vice President Joe Biden visited Lebanon today to reinforce US support for the government ahead of key parliamentary elections. The vote in two weeks could see a pro-Western majority ousted by a coalition led by the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Biden is the highest-ranking US official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years and the second from the Obama administration in about a month, following in the footsteps of Hillary Clinton. More»

Officials fear they will be executed

(NEWSER) - More than a dozen CIA spies have been caught in Lebanon and Iran over the last six months, and the US worries they’ll be executed—or already have been. "If they were genuine spies, spying against Hezbollah, I don't think we'll ever see them again," an ex-CIA officer tells ABC News . The capture of the spies—who ABC describes as paid informants recruited by the CIA—marks a major setback for US intelligence efforts related to Hezbollah's plans and Iran's nuclear ambitions. And while some insiders point to the inherent risk of such work, others say "sloppy" methods are partially to blame. More»

US more unpopular there now than it was under Bush

(NEWSER) - You know President Obama’s plan to reach out and win hearts and minds in the Middle East? It’s not going well. In a stunning new Pew Poll spotted by Glenn Greenwald of Salon , only 10% of residents in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates said they had a positive view of Obama, and less than that had a positive view of the US—putting the numbers at sub-Bush levels. More»

Busy veep takes lead on everything; what's Obama doing?

(NEWSER) - President Obama has tapped Joe Biden to try to sort out the budget mess on Capitol Hill, hoping he can work the same magic he worked in passing December’s tax cut deal, and the 2009 stimulus, the Washington Post reports. Which makes Andrew Malcolm of the LA Times wonder: “What isn’t Joe Biden in charge of these days?” Obama also recently had Biden head up discussions with Wisconsin’s embattled unions, handle Iraq’s political crisis, and more. More»