Barack Obama

Read the latest post-presidency news about President Barack Obama on Newser.com

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Pumped-Up Dems Fall Into Line on Health Reform

Obama's speech changed tone on Hill, but GOP votes still elusive

(Newser) - After a dispiriting summer for the Democrats, Barack Obama's address has energized the majority party, with progressives to Blue Dogs lining up behind the president. As Politico notes, the greatest change in tone came from Nancy Pelosi and other legislators who had insisted on a public option, many of whom...

Prez May Skip Trip to Pitch Chicago Olympics

IOC chief says there's no clear favorite ahead of next month's vote on 2016

(Newser) - President Obama is keeping the team behind Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics guessing on whether he'll head to Copenhagen to personally address the International Olympic Committee before members make their choice next month, the Chicago Tribune reports. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says he isn't aware of any...

'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right
 'You Lie' Rep 
 Essentially Right 



OPINION
Sep 10, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right

Joe Wilson not wrong about Obama wanting to insure illegals

(Newser) - Give Joe Wilson a break. It’s hard to fit the complexities of policy into an outburst during a presidential address, but the South Carolina congressman has a point: If you connect two of President Obama’s top policy priorities, he does want to give insurance to illegal immigrants. It’...

Obama Speech Effective, No Game-Changer
Obama Speech Effective, No Game-Changer
OPINION
Sep 10, 2009 12:01 PM CDT

Obama Speech Effective, No Game-Changer

Vitriol surrounding health care debate sure to continue

(Newser) - President Obama’s speech last night will probably prod Congress into passing health care reform, writes Joe Klein in Time. “But it will not end the public malignancy that has attended this debate, and threatens the democratic fabric of our nation.” Klein attended an Arkansas town hall recently...

Left: Obama Finally Steps Up
 Left: Obama 
 Finally 
 Steps Up 
OPINION Roundup
Sep 10, 2009 9:43 AM CDT

Left: Obama Finally Steps Up

(Newser) - Barack Obama delivered the speech many on the left were waiting for. Will it be enough? Here’s what they’re saying.
  • Obama seemed to shed his inner Adlai Stevenson, and discover “a new role model in the fighting Harry Truman,” writes EJ Dionne of the Washington Post.
...

Right: Angry Obama Exploited Kennedy, Failed to Compromise

President steps up, doubles down on health care reform

(Newser) - Conservative commentators were, predictably, less than impressed with the president's big speech on health care reform last night. Here’s what they’re saying:
  • Obama’s speech “was 40 minutes of boilerplate followed by a socko, emotional finish exploiting the death of Sen. Teddy Kennedy,” Fred Barnes writes
...

Forget Health Reform&mdash;We Can't Afford It
Forget Health Reform—We Can't Afford It
OPINION
Sep 10, 2009 8:50 AM CDT

Forget Health Reform—We Can't Afford It

The economy should be Obama's top priority: Henninger

(Newser) - Barack Obama makes health care sound like the most pressing issue in American life, but with unemployment at 10% and the country still officially in recession, Daniel Henninger wonders why he's "draining a dwindling reservoir of presidential capital." The cost of health care may be a problem for...

Hey, Jews Should Be Conservatives, Not Liberals: Podhoretz

Following 'false messiah' Obama is bad politics, bad religion: Podhoretz

(Newser) - Jewish voters backed Barack Obama over John McCain last year by a staggering 57 points—the most resounding mandate from any group other than African Americans. That bewilders neocon Norman Podhoretz, who argues in the Wall Street Journal that both Judaism and the Jewish experience endorse "the infinitely precious...

Boustany: Obama Should Start Over on Bipartisan Plan

(Newser) - Charles Boustany, who was upstaged last night by the impromptu opposition from his colleague, Joe Wilson, delivered the official response to Obama's speech, opening with his "disappointment" that Obama hadn't announced a do-over in the effort to reform health insurance. “Most Americans,  the Louisiana congressman said, wanted...

Fresh-Faced Prez Scores His Jimmy Stewart Moment

Mr. Obama goes to Washington

(Newser) - A joint session of Congress might not have been the perfect setting for Barack Obama's health care reform speech last night, writes Washington Post critic Tom Shales. All that "pomp, circumstance, and folderol," including 16 minutes just to get to the lectern, may have led voters to change...

Obama Losing Battle of Old Media, New Media

New media derails dream of new politics

(Newser) - Barack Obama burst onto the scene as a unifying figure, someone who was supposed to end divisiveness and transform political dialogue. But these days, the rancor is as high as ever, and an administration known for its new-media savvy is taking it on the chin regularly from the blogosphere and...

Let's Stop Giving Speeches, Start Twisting Arms, Obama

Health care votes are going to be won in the backroom, not at the podium

(Newser) - President Obama shouldn’t give a health care reform speech tonight. In fact, he should never give one again, writes Timothy Noah for Slate. He's already given a whopping 27 speeches on the issue. Every time he gets the urge to give another, he should instead sit down with Democratic...

What to Watch For in Obama's Speech
 What to Watch For 
 in Obama's Speech 
Analysis
Sep 9, 2009 9:43 AM CDT

What to Watch For in Obama's Speech

(Newser) - President Obama has promised to “answer many of the big questions” tonight, but Mike Memoli of RealClearPolitics will be looking for answers to small questions, like:
  • Which Obama will show up? Will he be the fiery campaigner from Monday’s AFL-CIO meeting or President Teleprompter? Sadly, Robert Gibbs says
...

Swallow It, Liberals: Obama Needs to Compromise

Pragmatic president must reassure his supporters tonight, Tomasky writes

(Newser) - "The summer has been a bummer for American liberals," writes Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky; after the heady optimism of President Obama's first 100 days, "reality has set in, and with force." Not only is conservative opposition "as Leninist as ever," but liberals...

Forget What You've Heard: Health Reform Is Nearly Done

Obama has party, public, industry support, despite a few town halls

(Newser) - Barack Obama goes into tonight's Congressional address amid talk that his health reform plan—and indeed his entire presidency—are nearly doomed. But the New York Times, in a front-page analysis piece, is far more optimistic, noting that August's town hall chaos did not substantially change public opinion, nor did...

Obamacare Will Make Us Poorer, Palin Writes

Former Alaska governor says in op-ed she won the debate on 'death panels'

(Newser) - Ahead of Barack Obama's clutch address to Congress tonight, Sarah Palin writes in the Wall Street Journal that the president's health reform plan "will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats." In a surprisingly wonky op-ed, the former Alaska governor lambastes...

Obama Needs to Find His Backbone for Health Speech

Prez should use speech to show leadership and rise above partisan bickering

(Newser) - President Obama needs to rediscover that "Yes We Can" spirit in a hurry if he's going to make a convincing case for health care reform in tonight's speech, Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post. The president needs to wrest control of the debate not just from the right...

McConnell Keeps Low Profile in Health Debate
McConnell Keeps Low Profile
in Health Debate
ANALYSIS
Sep 8, 2009 10:00 PM CDT

McConnell Keeps Low Profile in Health Debate

Conservative critics think Minority Leader should be fighting administration harder

(Newser) - Why haven’t we heard more from Mitch McConnell on health care? The Senate Minority Leader has kept relatively quiet on the administration’s reform efforts, a stance that has irked many conservative activists who feel McConnell is ducking his duties as de facto Republican Party leader, writes Stephanie Mencimer...

Forget GOP, Full Speed Ahead on Health Reform: Clinton

It's OK Obama's 'jamming a lot of change down the system'

(Newser) - Bill Clinton has a hopeful exhortation for Congressional Democrats trying to push through health care reform. “The president's doing the right thing. It is both morally and politically right,” Clinton tells Esquire. “I wouldn't even worry about the Republicans,” who are just “sitting around waiting...

Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial
Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial
OPINION
Sep 8, 2009 8:22 AM CDT

Obama Should Have Put Wall Street on Trial

But he didn't, and now GOP fat cats can somehow play populist

(Newser) - How can rich fat cats like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh pretend to be populists, while tarring Barack Obama as the establishment? Because Barack Obama missed his chance to strike a blow for the little guy and prosecute Wall Street, writes communications professor Jon Taplin. Instead, he listened to Wall...

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