Barack Obama: Latest News on the Former President - Page 185

Obama's Youth Mandate
Far Greater Than JFK's

Nov 8, 2008 9:42 AM CST

Obama's Youth Mandate Far Greater Than JFK's

His lead with under-30s is biggest in 'modern American history'

(Newser) - Barack Obama enters office with the biggest youth mandate in modern political history, Politico reports. He outpolled John McCain by 34 points—66% to 32%—among voters younger than 30. That's four times the margin that led John F. Kennedy to say, “The torch has been passed to a...

DC Anticipates 1.5M for Historic Inauguration

Nov 8, 2008 6:35 AM CST

DC Anticipates 1.5M for Historic Inauguration

More than 1.5 million expected for historic event

(Newser) - Hotel rooms will be as scarce as McCain-Palin T-shirts in Washington on Inauguration Day, the Wall Street Journal reports, as a record-breaking tide of Obama supporters—especially black Americans—makes a pilgrimage to witness the historic moment. More than 1.5 million people are expected to flood the city for...

Obama Kicks Off
Transition Fundraising

Nov 8, 2008 6:00 AM CST

Obama Kicks Off Transition Fundraising

President-elect seeks private funds to bankroll transition team

(Newser) - Barack Obama's campaign fundraising is over but his victory fundraising has only just begun, Politico reports. The president-elect is seeking cash from private donors to supplement the $6.3 million of public money his team will get to fund the transition. The practice has been common since the Reagan presidency...

What Now, Jon?

Nov 8, 2008 2:35 AM CST

What Now, Jon?

Jokes about Obama may not fly with left-leaning host, audience of The Daily Show

(Newser) - Yes, satirists and late-night comics seem to have trouble finding Obama jokes, but they'll survive, writes Dan Kois in New York magazine. What worries Kois is that his beloved Daily Show may not be so fortunate. Jon Stewart and crew simply may not have it in their hearts to take...

Obama Sorry
for Reagan 'Seance' Joke

Nov 7, 2008 7:33 PM CST

Obama Sorry for Reagan 'Seance' Joke

President-elect calls Nancy over 'careless and offhanded' quip

(Newser) - President-elect Obama called Nancy Reagan today to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House, the AP reports. At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said,...

Promised First Dog May Be
'a Mutt, Like Me': Obama

Nov 7, 2008 4:05 PM CST

Promised First Dog May Be 'a Mutt, Like Me': Obama

With daughter's allergies, choice of pooch will be 'a major issue,' president-elect grins

(Newser) - Of all the pressing questions looming before the Obama administration, one is dominating discourse at water coolers, around dinner tables, and even on the president-elect's website: What kind of dog are Malia and Sasha getting? The president-elect's first press conference today quickly turned to the family pet, which he laughingly...

Byrd, 90, Resigns as Appropriations Chairman

Nov 7, 2008 3:58 PM CST

Byrd, 90, Resigns as Appropriations Chairman

Senator, rumored to be under pressure from Reid, will be replaced by Hawaii's Inoyue

(Newser) - Robert Byrd resigned today as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, acquiescing to Democratic leaders who reportedly wanted him out of the job, the Hill reports. Byrd, 90, has been hospitalized three times in the past year, and said he was willing to leave the committee in younger hands—namely,...

White Comics Lack Nuance Needed to Mine Obama

OPINION

Nov 7, 2008 3:37 PM CST

White Comics Lack Nuance Needed to Mine Obama

President-elect not lacking in comic fodder; it's mainstream comedians who are lacking

(Newser) - Bill Maher recently said Barack Obama “needs to give comedians something to work with.” The President-elect is “too perfect,” he groused, and worse, liberals are afraid to laugh at black people. If only Dave Chappelle were working, laments Salamishah Tillet for the Root. He’d quickly...

Stocks Close Up 248
Despite Tough Jobs News

MARKETS

Nov 7, 2008 3:24 PM CST

Stocks Close Up 248 Despite Tough Jobs News

But Friday rally can't heal brutal weekly losses

(Newser) - Stocks gained today despite a big bump in unemployment last month and poor earnings reports, MarketWatch reports. The indexes looked positioned for another late-Friday bloodbath but instead rose sharply in what could be a vote of confidence for President-elect Obama’s economic team. The Dow rose 248.02 to 8,...

He's Got a Crush
on Obama—Michelle

Nov 7, 2008 3:18 PM CST

He's Got a Crush on Obama—Michelle

'I like him,' Biden says of boss; 'I love her,' VP-elect adds of Mrs. O

(Newser) - Well, this could get awkward: Joe Biden has a thing for an Obama, and not the one you might think. “I like him,” the VP-elect told a USA Today reporter who ran across him at a Chicago hotel gym today. “I love her.” Biden, who said...

McCains Urge Unity, 'Good Will'

Nov 7, 2008 2:56 PM CST

McCains Urge Unity, 'Good Will'

Vanquished GOP candidate presses supporters to 'get our country moving again'

(Newser) - John McCain released his first public statement today since conceding the election, congratulating President-elect Barack Obama and urging supporters to work together with the new administration, the Hill reports. “Although we were disappointed with the results,” the joint statement with wife Cindy said, “we must move beyond...

No Quick Fix
on Economy: Obama

UPDATED

Nov 7, 2008 2:39 PM CST

No Quick Fix on Economy: Obama

US 'strong and resilient,' president-elect says at first news conference

(Newser) - Barack Obama addressed the nation today for the first time since his presidential victory, focusing his remarks on the economy, the New York Times reports. “It is not going to be quick and it’s not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole...

Billy Graham Done Advising Presidents: Son

Nov 7, 2008 2:30 PM CST

Billy Graham Done Advising Presidents: Son

But influential pastor supports and would like to pray with Obama

(Newser) - Billy Graham, the pastor who has advised every president since Eisenhower, won’t be counseling Barack Obama, the AP reports. Graham, who turns 90 today and is in failing health, “feels like his time and day for that is over," said Graham’s son Franklin. "He would...

How He Almost Didn't Run

Nov 7, 2008 2:20 PM CST

How He Almost Didn't Run

Obamas struggled for months about Barack's White House bid

(Newser) - Barack Obama needed months to be persuaded that he should run for the White House, and wife Michelle, who had veto power, finally agreed on one condition: that he give up smoking. The tidbit appears in Part 1 of a seven-installment Newsweek series reported along the campaign trail on...

Allergies Complicate Obamas' Pooch-Vetting Process

Nov 7, 2008 2:08 PM CST

Allergies Complicate Obamas' Pooch-Vetting Process

Malia's issues have AKC pushing 'hypo-allergenic' breeds; docs say there's no such thing

(Newser) - Animal advocates are chomping at the bit to sway President-elect Obama’s choice of first dog, and they’re using daughter Malia's allergies to do it, the New York Times reports. The American Kennel Club suggests the Obamas buy a “hypoallergenic” breed like a poodle or Bichon Frise, but...

Obama Breaks Evangelicals' Grip on Politics

ANALYSIS

Nov 7, 2008 1:07 PM CST

Obama Breaks Evangelicals' Grip on Politics

Obama's coalition of religious supporters was defined by "a wild diversity" of faiths

(Newser) - Listen to too many campaign reporters, and you might forget that there are religious voters out there other than white evangelicals. But, writes Lisa Miller in Newsweek, Barack Obama built a coalition of religious voters by improving Democratic performance with virtually everyone else. “Indeed, it includes almost every committed...

Summers Vs. Geithner
for Treasury Chief

Nov 7, 2008 12:55 PM CST

Summers Vs. Geithner for Treasury Chief

Democrats divided on pick

(Newser) - The top candidates to become Treasury secretary, Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner, have Democrats split, and Politico looks at the resumes of both. Summers is a brilliant economist and close Obama adviser, but hardly smells of change, having backed deregulation and free-market strategies as Clinton’s Treasury chief. He's supposedly...

Obama Won Even Without Counting Kids

ANALYSIS

Nov 7, 2008 12:02 PM CST

Obama Won Even Without Counting Kids

Subtract under-30 voters, and the outcome's the same

(Newser) - Every left-leaning constituency in the country wants to chalk up credit for the Obama victory—labor put him over the top, Latinos put him over the top—but the support was so broad, an MSNBC analysis finds, that few individual claims are valid. Most surprising is the much-ballyhooed youth vote:...

Emanuel Will Be Obama's
Super Salesman

analysis

Nov 7, 2008 11:47 AM CST

Emanuel Will Be Obama's Super Salesman

(Newser) - The prospect of a presidential chief of staff with Rahm Emanuel's elbows-out style is winning praise from Democrats, censure from the GOP. Salon media critic Jack Shafer says his style of working with the press is right out of David Mamet: hyperaggressive salesman who uses "charm, insults, and bluster"...

Noonan:
Now the
Fun Really
Starts