Barack Obama

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

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Not Everyone 'Fawning' Over Prez Obama

Tongue-in-cheek column mocks critics

(Newser) - You might be euphoric after Barack Obama’s inauguration, but “not everyone feels the ‘Obama high,’” writes Lloyd Garver on the Huffington Post. These “Democrat-haters” who “enjoy puncturing balloons of hope” probably viewed Inauguration Day through slightly less rose-colored glasses than you did: For...

For Afghanistan, Obama Looks Beyond Karzai

Washington loses patience, courts rivals as election looms

(Newser) - Four key rivals of Hamid Karzai have arrived in Washington for meetings with the Obama administration, as speculation grows that the Afghan president may lose the backing of the United States. Once seen as America's best hope in Afghanistan, Karzai has seen his standing deteriorate as widespread corruption and worsening...

Castro Hints at His Own Failing Health

He says he may not be lucid in 4 years; again praises Obama

(Newser) - Fidel Castro hinted in a new column that his health is failing, the AP reports. The 82-year-old former Cuban leader wrote yesterday in his online column that Cuban officials "shouldn't feel bound by my occasional reflections, my state of health or my death." He also had warm words...

Anti-Abortion Ad Borrows Obama's Life Story

(Newser) - Barack Obama may support a woman's right to choose, but a new anti-abortion ad uses his own life story to argue against it, writes David Waters in his "On Faith" blog for the Washington Post. The spot shows a fetus in a womb as words appear on the screen:...

36 Years After Roe, Obama Affirms Support for Choice

Thousands protest on anniversary of landmark abortion ruling

(Newser) - President Obama acknowledged the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade today by reaffirming his support for the abortion rights that ruling secured, CBS reports. “I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose,” Obama said in a statement, adding that, regardless of political persuasion, reducing unwanted...

Mitchell, Holbrooke Named Special Envoys

Former senator gets Mideast portfolio; ex-ambassador Afghanistan and Pakistan

(Newser) - President Obama and newly minted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton moved quickly today to build the administration’s diplomatic efforts, naming George Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke special envoys, Reuters reports; both appointments were expected. Former Sen. Mitchell will focus on facilitating peace talks between Israel and Palestine, while ex-UN ambassador...

McGovern to Obama: Call 'Time-Out on War'

War not the best solution to terrorism, ex-candidate argues

(Newser) - George McGovern would like to take the “war” out of the war on terror. The 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, writing in the Washington Post, cautions President Obama against diving headlong into Afghanistan, a battleground that has broken two empires already. “Let me suggest a truly audacious hope for...

Obama Stokes Lefty Pride In More Ways Than You Think

Democrat is sixth southpaw among postwar presidents

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s inauguration continues the lefty domination of the White House—after all, five other postwar presidents have been southpaws, too, MSNBC reports. Only about a tenth of the population is left-handed, but that includes a disproportionate number of politicians, athletes, and artists. “From a statistical standpoint, it...

Closing Gitmo Will Be Tough
 Closing Gitmo Will Be Tough 
ANALYSIS
Jan 22, 2009 1:16 PM CST

Closing Gitmo Will Be Tough

Detainees should be tried or released, but dangerous ones worry Obama, lawyers

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s pledge to close Guantanamo Bay has been widely hailed, but it’s not going to be easy, the Christian Science Monitor reports. There’s broad agreement that many detainees can be tried in federal or military courts, while others can be released. But some are deemed too...

10 Democrats Obama Must Watch Out For
10 Democrats
Obama Must
Watch Out For
ANALYSIS
Jan 22, 2009 1:05 PM CST

10 Democrats Obama Must Watch Out For

Conyers, Feinstein, Biden could be pains in president's rear

(Newser) - The good vibrations can’t last forever. Sooner or later,  President Obama is bound to run afoul of members of his own party. Glenn Thrush, in Politico, scopes out the suspects:
  • John Conyers: The irrepressible House Judiciary chairman wants to investigate the US attorneys scandal and other potential Bush-era
...

Obama's Staff Finds High Office Means Low Tech

'Kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,' one says of White House's rigid apparatus

(Newser) - Tech-savvy Obama staffers had a rude awakening on their first day at the White House, saddled with disconnected phone lines, limited Internet access, and 6-year-old PCs, the Washington Post reports. “It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,” a spokesman said of the disconnect...

Obama Signs Order to Close Gitmo

(Newser) - President Obama today signed orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year, review the military terror trials, and ban the harshest interrogation techniques, the AP reports. “There we go,” the president said with satisfaction after signing the orders, which promise to fundamentally reshape the country's...

Absence at Oath Re-Do Not Matter of Biblical Proportion

Chattering class sure to run with Obama's omission, though it's a perfectly legal one

(Newser) - Huge news out of Washington: Barack Obama didn’t use a Bible when he re-took the oath of office! Is he really the president? Well, yes, says Alex Koppelman of Salon. “Legally, the president can be sworn in on a copy of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue ...

Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry
 Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry 
Jan 22, 2009 4:13 AM CST

Prez Will Keep His BlackBerry

Spy-proof smartphone tech means Obama won't have to give up beloved 'BarackBerry'

(Newser) - Security agents aren't going to have to pry the BlackBerry out of Barack Obama's hands after all, Marc Ambinder reports in the Atlantic. A government agency has added super-encryption technology to a standard BlackBerry, which the president will be allowed to use for routine and personal messages. It's not known...

Obama Grabs Highest TV Ratings Since Reagan

Web audience sends numbers skyrocketing

(Newser) - Barack Obama's inauguration was the most-watched ever but it failed to set a TV ratings record, USA Today reports. Neilsen estimates 37.8 million television viewers tuned in for the ceremony, while 41.8 million watched Ronald Reagan's 1981 inauguration. But internet viewership broke records and sent figures through the...

'Just to Be Safe,' Obama Should Redo Oath: Experts

Lawyers advise he retake fudged oath to avoid controversy

(Newser) - OK, it's probably not going to come up in court, but some constitutional lawyers tell the San Francisco Chronicle that Barack Obama should retake his flubbed oath just to be on the safe side. Presidents Coolidge and Arthur did after similar gaffes. It "would take him 30 seconds, he...

Lab Is Top US Dog, 18 Years and Counting

Yorkshire terrier is second; bulldog now at No. 8 and gaining fast

(Newser) - The Obamas’ pup could change things, but for now the playful Labrador retriever remains America’s most popular purebred, the American Kennel Club calculates. It's the Lab’s 18th consecutive year as king; the Yorkshire terrier and German shepherd are second and third, Reuters reports. Bulldogs moved up two spots,...

Obama Vows Transparency, Freezes Top Salaries

(Newser) - President Obama announced today that he was freezing the salaries of top White House staff who take in more than $100,000 a year, the AP reports. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” he said. Obama is also requiring federal agencies to respond more actively...

Sports World Full of Obama Fans
 Sports World 
 Full of Obama Fans 
OPINION
Jan 21, 2009 12:28 PM CST

Sports World Full of Obama Fans

Usually politically quiet, sports stars come out in favor of new prez

(Newser) - Barack Obama's powers of inspiration and unification reach beyond the political world: "All around the country, athletes responded to the new president," Gwen Knapp writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. The inauguration sparked tears from big men who take physical punishment for a living, and Obama's rise has...

No, We Can't: Meet the Pessimist in Chief

Despite the rhetoric, Obama offers realism, not hope: Finkelstein

(Newser) - Barack Obama, elected on a tide of optimism, insisted yesterday that a new generation could meet the challenges of the age. Yet he described economic crisis and a collective failure of will, with no promise of rebirth or redemption, Times of London columnist Daniel Finkelstein observes. And that may be...

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