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WASHINGTON — President Obama had not even taken office before supporters were etching his likeness onto Mount Rushmore as another Abraham Lincoln or the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet what if they got the wrong predecessor? What if Mr. Obama is fated to be another Lyndon B. Johnson instead? To be sure, such historical analogies are overly simplistic and fatally flawed, if only because each presidency is distinct in its own way. But the L.B.J. model — a president who aspired to reshape America at home while fighting a losing war abroad — is one that haunts Mr....

Obama, Medvedev Call for Cut to 1,500-1,675 Nuclear Warheads Title only - story to follow

"(A)s a matter of constitutional law, the OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) memoranda’s most sweeping, categorical, and controversial conclusion – that at all events no statute or treaty may limit thePresident’s sole constitutional powers as military” Commander in Chief” to direct and conduct the use of U.S. force – is in my opinion unquestionably correct. The Office of Legal Counsel has long and consistently defended the view, both in Republican and in Democratic administrations,that the President’s constitutional powers under Article II of the constitution, as chief executive and as Commander in Chief of the nation’s military, afford the President substantial...

Obama's new budget plan includes a little-noted sea change in U.S. nuclear policy, and a step towards his vision of a denuclearized world. It provides no funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, created to design a new generation of long-lasting nuclear weapons that don't need to be tested. (The military is worried that a nuclear test moratorium in effect since 1992 might endanger the reliability of an aging US arsenal.) But this spring Obama issued a bold call for a world free of nuclear weapons, and part of that vision entails leading by example. That means halting programs that...

Now, this has occurred before with Bill Clinton, and it quite possibly could have been the same with Bush - the issue is how the MSM spins this and how it will report one way if you are affiliated with one party versus the other way when you have the “scarlet” R next to your name. From Flopping Aces: “Cheered wildly by U.S. troops,” begins Jennifer Democratic Operative Loven’s AP report on Obama’s surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday. Quite a contrast to the silent treatment Marines gave Obama at his Camp LeJeune speech in late February. Just how did...

US President Barack Obama issued strong messages of reconciliation between the United States and Turkey as well as the larger Muslim world during his trip to Istanbul. (AFPTV)

Gay Rights Activists Chagrined at Obama Administration Foot-Dragging on Overturning Don't Ask/Don't Tell March 30, 2009 7:57 AM Gay and lesbian rights advocates expressed chagrin Sunday at the lack of urgency President Obama seems to be giving his campaign promise to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged on Fox News Sunday that funds have been allocated for the 2010 budget to enforce the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy. "It continues to be the law," Gates said, "and any change in the policy would require a change in the law....

There has been some confusing reporting in the past few days regarding President Barack Obama's plans for the Defense Department budget. Officially, the Office of Management and Budget is claiming that it will increase the budget by 8 percent. But because most of the Iraq and Afghanistan war costs have been funded through supplemental appropriations rather than the regular department budget, total military funding remains a mystery. Mark me down as suspicious. I have been told by sources at the Pentagon that they have been told not to expect full funding of all existing programs. And there is evidence that...

In a recent interview with Chris Wallace, Vice President Cheney made the following claim about a President's ability to launch a counterstrike if the U.S. came under nuclear attack: The president of the United States now for 50 years is followed at all times, 24 hours a day, by a military aide carrying a football that contains the nuclear codes that he would use and be authorized to use in the event of a nuclear attack on the United States. He could launch a kind of devastating attack the world's never seen. He doesn't have to check with anybody. He...

Barack Obama denies having contact with the indicted Illinois governor who tried to sell his old Senate seat yet the president elect’s top advisor revealed last month that the men, longtime political pals, had in fact spoken about a replacement. When a massive federal indictment charging Rod Blagojevich with multiple corruption counts was made public yesterday, Camp Obama suddenly diagnosed the second-term Democrat governor with political plague. The nation’s soon-to-be commander-in-chief claimed to barely know his close political ally. After all, who wants to be connected to a notoriously crooked politician who just got arrested and charged with selling the...

“Barack Obama has never fired a gun. He has never so much as held a gun as far as anyone knows. Now he is Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces.”

Barack Obama will enter the White House without any military experience and with a playbook that emphasizes diplomacy, behind a president who waged two wars and presided over some of the largest-ever defense budget increases. So, how will President Obama be received at the Pentagon? Much depends on his first moves. One of his senior security advisers, former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), said even though the president-elect has experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he’ll need a strong defense team that works together well.

Nuclear Weapon Personnel Reliability Program: Cocaine History a Disqualifier I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though… (Barack Obama, “Dreams From My Father,” page 93, paperback edition. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/streetterms/ByAlpha.asp?strTerm=B, “Blow” = “Cocaine; to inhale cocaine; to smoke marijuana; to inject heroin”) The Obama campaign at least sanctions (and may promote actively) the spread of rumors to the effect that John McCain has a neurodegenerative disease, usually by citing age as a risk factor for such diseases. Dozens of posts to this nature appear...

Obama Ignorance Watch: What Do the Joint Chiefs Really Do? Before the long weekend began, Barack Obama made a semi-flip-flop regarding the situation in Iraq, even allowing that the surge had achieved some stability and that the next president would be foolish to fritter away those gains. Predictably, this acknowledgement of the obvious triggered howls of outrage on the left. Obama firmly stuck to his new position for almost two full hours before assembling the press once more to reaffirm his long-expressed intention to abandon Iraq. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war,” the longtime community organizer declared. “I...

Some endorsement! Barack Obama's greatest vulnerability as a candidate is, perhaps, his lack of national security credentials—the doubt in voters' minds as to whether he is qualified to be Commander-in-Chief. So if there was one thing Hillary Clinton could have done during her speech today to bolster Barack's resume, it would have been a clear-cut statement that, yes, she believes in his ability to be Commander-in-Chief. In the course of her speech, Hillary did manage to work in the fact that there was a Democrat qualified for that role. But, stunningly, the only person she mentioned as fit to be...

You'll recall Hillary Clinton's recent speech in which she attempted to play up her foreign policy experience by recounting her "harrowing" 1996 trip to Bosnia. "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Well, mainstream media has discounted that account, and such luminaries as comedian Sinbad have chimed in as well. It appears, however, that Clinton caved in too soon when she admitted overstating the dangers, as Barely Political...

I’ve been thinking about this for some time. I just did a bit of googeling but found no satisfactory answers, really none at all. Many jobs require background checks. Law Enforcement and military get even greater scrutiny, and as the job level and contact with sensitive data increases the level of scrutiny goes up. Do presidential candidates undergo Security background checks? If not, WHY NOT. Could Clinton or Obama pass a security background check for a high level job at say the FBI or CIA? If someone were to apply to those agencies and it was found out that their...

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) -- President Bush is serving notice that he's still running the Iraq war, and that he won't be influenced by what's happening in the race for his job. Bush told a friendly audience in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday that "the politics of 2008 is not going to enter into my calculations." He said that troop levels in Iraq will be driven instead by "the peace of the year to come."

SAN DIEGO The Navy has resumed sonar training off the coast of Southern California despite the continuing legal battle over how the exercises affect whales and other marine mammals. The training by the carrier strike group of the USS Abraham Lincoln is part of a broader exercise to prepare the group for deployment, the Navy said in a news release. During the exercises, which began Wednesday and were scheduled to last through February 1, sailors train in anti-submarine warfare, ocean security operations and other areas. The anti-submarine warfare exercises use mid-frequency active sonar that environmentalists say hurts whales and other...

MIDI - FAVORITE THINGS Trying to talk black, oh, yes, I will pander Having my spin team go out there and slander Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief On every issue both sides I am taking My Kool-Aide drinkers pretend I'm not faking Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief Do not try crossing me if you like breathing You will regret it if you caused my seething Voting for me as commander in chief Requires suspension of disbelief I'll keep fooling stupid people...what airheads, good grief I'll never be...