The capital on Saturday faced another tough political battle after venerable Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement from the bench. President Barack Obama vowed to quickly name a replacement for Stevens, the court’s liberal standard-bearer, and said he would select an advocate for “ordinary” Americans, in comments which put his conservative foes […]
Just ahead of Tax Day, President Barack Obama is urging Americans to take advantage of tax credits for first-time homebuyers, college students and others. Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to promote some of the tax benefits in last year’s stimulus bill, saying they could save people hundreds or even thousands of […]
President Barack Obama’s advisers plan to remove terms such as “Islamic radicalism” from a document outlining national security strategy and will use the new version to emphasize that the U.S. does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terrorism, counterterrorism officials say. The change would be a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, […]
White House propagandists hit the talk show circuit Sunday to claim success in reversing the longest recession since the Great Recession but the glowing claims downplayed the economic reality of a slow recovery that will do little to help the millions of Americans who remain unemployed and have little hope of finding jobs in the […]
In a repudiation of the Bush administration‘s now-defunct Terrorist Surveillance Program, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs provided enough evidence to show “they were subjected to warrantless […]
The initial blush of President Barack Obama‘s health care triumph immediately gives way to a sober political reality — he must sell the landmark legislation to an angry and unpredictable electorate, still reeling from the recession. Voters may not buy it. And that could mean a disastrous midterm election year for Obama and his fellow […]
The government’s use of legal exemptions to keep records secret rose during President Barack Obama‘s first year in office, despite promises of increased openness, an Associated Press review found. The review of annual Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 major agencies found that overall, the use of nearly every one of the open-records […]
A witchhunt orchestrated by George W. Bush supporters against government lawyers representing Guantanamo inmates has backfired, as conservatives joined the outcry against the McCarthy-like attacks. “Who are these government officials? Eric Holder would only name two. What’s the secrecy behind the other seven? Whose values do they share?” asks the video ad posted online by […]
President Barack Obama‘s intense juggling of domestic issues reflects all the realities he faces: a vast agenda, a smaller window for results this year and a need to keep promises to constituencies that will have a huge say in the fall congressional elections. Obama is in the heart of a period in which he has […]
Democrats are tying the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul to a fast-track process that will make the bill tough for Republicans to derail in the Senate. But GOP lawmakers will still be able to force votes and make arguments that could give them ammunition for November’s congressional elections. Some questions and answers […]