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It was not a theoretical question: Mr. Obama has placed himself at the helm of a top secret “nominations” process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical. .... underscored just what a moral and legal conundrum this could be. Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding “kill list,” .... it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation. “He is determined that he will make these decisions about...

Many of President Obama’s fervent devotees are young enough not to have much memory of the political world before the arrival of The One. Coincidentally, Obama himself feels the same way—and the White House’s official website reflects that. The Heritage Foundation’s Rory Cooper tweeted that Obama had casually dropped his own name into Ronald Reagan’s official biography on www.whitehouse.gov, claiming credit for taking up the mantle of Reagan’s tax reform advocacy with his “Buffett Rule” gimmick. My first thought was, he must be joking. But he wasn’t—it turns out Obama has added bullet points bragging about his own accomplishments to...

Leadership: Lost in his gay marriage flip-flop was the president's claim that our armed forces fight for him, not their country. It was like following his spiking of the football over the Osama bin Laden kill with an end-zone dance. Few caught the revealing Freudian slip during President Obama's interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News in which he said he no longer considered what he described to evangelist Rick Warren in the election year of 2008 as the "sacred union" of marriage to be just between one man and one woman. But there it was, from the lips of...

Obama jumps the shark with student loan jam President Obama's 'celebrity status' reached perplexing new levels last night on comedian Jimmy Fallon's comedy show last night. After watching this sketch, I think it's fair to say that he has 'jumped the shark.' Last night on the Jimmy Fallon show, Obama "slow jammed" with Jimmy Fallon and his band about his plan to freeze interest rates for student loans, criticizing filibustering Republicans for blocking his plan. Warning that the interest rates for student loans will 'double,' Obama warned that "some hard working students would be paying about $1000 extra just to...

Obama in Colombia: ‘Part of My Job Is to Scout Out Where I May Want to Bring Michelle Back Later for Vacation’ By Terence P. Jeffrey April 15, 2012 (CNSNews.com) - Just two days after President Barack Obama gave a sharply edged response to news anchor Larry Conners of KMOV in St. Louis after Conners had asked the president about Americans who “get frustrated and even angered when they see the first family jetting around [to] different vacations and so forth,” Obama told a panel at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia that part of his job there...

BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's campaign blasted Mitt Romney on Tuesday for not paying his "fair share" of taxes, escalating the rhetoric against the leading Republican presidential contender to try to paint him as an elitist who is out of touch with ordinary Americans. Obama has made tax fairness a key part of his re-election message and he piled on the pressure by urging support for the "Buffett Rule" during a speech in Florida, which is likely to be a key battleground state in the November 6 general election. Named after billionaire investor and Obama supporter Warren...

There are few films that stir the heart and soul more than the 1962 classic To Kill A Mockingbird. To commemorate the Oscar-winning film’s 50th anniversary, President Barack Obama will introduce a special broadcast of a restored and digitally remastered print of the film on USA at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Saturday, April 7. Starring Gregory Peck as the heroically decent Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch, and based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by Harper Lee, the film will air with limited commercial interruption. In a rare public statement, Lee said she was “deeply honored” that President Obama would be participating...

The director of a new 17-minute campaign advertisement that President Obama’s reelection campaign has described as a “documentary” said Thursday night he couldn’t find a negative side of the president’s first term to put in the new film. “The negative for me was there were too many accomplishments,” Davis Guggenheim told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “I had 17 minutes to put them all in there.” Morgan pressed Guggenheim, who admitted to being “in awe of” Obama, on whether the film would be balanced. Guggenheim also admitted to taking a “pay cut” to make the movie. “I think there are negatives in...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president just couldn't say no: Mick Jagger held out a mic almost by way of command, and soon Barack Obama was belting out the blues with the best of them. The East Room of the White House was transformed into an intimate blues club on Tuesday night for a concert featuring blues all-stars of the past, present and future - and the president himself.

During his Google+ hangout Pres. Obama tells a woman that her husband shouldn't be unemployed from the growth he has seen in the economy. Obama said he finds it "interesting" because he is getting "the word" that someone in her husband's job field "should be able to find something right away." Obama offered to do something if she would just send him her husband's resume. The woman wants to know why Obama is extending visas for foreigners when there is tons of demand for American jobs by Americans. "I don't know what your husband's speciality [is], but I can tell...

Harsh Punishments for Poor Mourning The North Korean authorities have completed the criticism sessions which began after the mourning period for Kim Jong Il and begun to punish those who transgressed during the highly orchestrated mourning events. Daily NK learned from a source from North Hamkyung Province on January 10th, “The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine.” Furthermore, the source added that people who are accused of circulating rumors criticizing...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Senator John McCain voiced satisfaction Monday that late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is "in a warm corner of hell" and called for efforts to bring an end to his family's regime. McCain, a Republican lawmaker who was his party's nominee for president in 2008, said that Kim subjected his people to "dire poverty and cruel oppression under one of the most totalitarian regimes the world has ever known." "The world is a better place now that Kim Jong-Il is no longer in it," McCain said. "I can only express satisfaction that the Dear Leader is...

President Barack Obama and the First Family will attend Towson University's men's basketball game against Oregon State Saturday afternoon at the Towson Center, the school announced today. A capacity crowd is expected for the game, scheduled for 2 p.m. tip-off. To accommodate expected delays entering the Towson Center, the ticket office, will call windows and gates will open at noon. All fans must be in the arena by 1:45 p.m., according to the school.

You would think that with all the scrutiny Politico is getting as a result of its hit piece on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, the employees might want to hide their love for Barack Obama for the time being. Not White House correspondent Glenn Thrush who actually tweeted to his followers Monday evening about the President's "superhuman" blood pressure: "Obama's bp is like 107 over 71, which is superhuman..."

It is a huge hole in one of the world's most famous gardens - but nobody knows what it is for. Workmen have torn up an enormous section of the lawn in front of the White House for a mysterious, top secret project. Official explanations have ranged from an update of the air conditioning system to something 'security' related. But that has not stopped speculation that the President is installing something else entirely - from a swimming pool to a spa.

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending Congressional elections for the next couple of years. “I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, North Carolina, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.” Perdue said she thinks that temporarily halting elections would allow members...

President Obama plans to lay out his long-awaited jobs speech before a joint session of Congress next Wednesday evening -- which happens to be the same night of a Republican presidential debate. "I respectfully request the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 7, 2011 at 8 p.m.," Obama wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says the timing of the speech is not aimed at overshadowing the next Republican debate, which is cosponsored by NBC News and Politico,...

<p>Not surprisingly, all eyes have been on Barack Obama during his 9-day family respite in Martha's Vineyard this week.</p>

<p>He was a half hour late. His head turned from side to side as if he were attending a tennis match. He practically never looked in the camera, as if he were averting our gaze. And those were the strong parts of President Obama’s disastrous speech.</p>

Carney: Obama was the leader By ABBY PHILLIP & MATT NEGRIN | 08/02/11 4:12 PM Here’s what you need to know from Tuesday’s White House briefing with press secretary Jay Carney: -- Carney announced in the middle of his briefing, as he was talking about the debt ceiling agreement, “The president has signed the bill and turned it into law.” -- President Obama had a “substantial role” in negotiating the debt deal, Carney said. He added, “In the beginning, middle and end, this process moved forward because of the president's leadership.” -- Carney poked at members of Congress who were...

Bloomberg: link only! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-14/obama-said-to-consider-camp-david-summit-this-weekend-for-deficit-talks.html

A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off with reporters over the right to shout questions at the president during debt talks. Obama chafes at the time-honored practice of answering questions shouted at him during pooled, non-press conference events — and his staff has often opted for “stills sprays,” excluding print reporters or TV cameras who might capture Obama in the less than flattering non-act of snubbing a query. When asked today why TV crews and print reporters were barred from the...

A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off with reporters over the right to shout questions at the president during debt talks. Obama chafes at the time-honored practice of answering questions shouted at him during pooled, non-press conference events — and his staff has often opted for “stills sprays,” excluding print reporters or TV cameras who might capture Obama in the less than flattering non-act of snubbing a query. When asked today why TV crews and print reporters were barred from the...

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to stem the illicit flow of weapons into Mexico, the Justice Department announced Monday that all gun shops in four Southwest border states will be required to alert the federal government to frequent buyers of high-powered rifles. The new policy comes amid criticism of a failed federal probe aimed at dismantling large-scale arms trafficking networks along the Arizona border with Mexico. In the probe, called Operation Fast and Furious, several agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say they were inexplicably ordered by superiors to stop tracking some small-time "straw" buyers who...

In the ongoing debate over raising the debt ceiling, one option has not had much prominence: whether the Obama administration could ignore it altogether, and just spend the money it owes anyway. Would that be legal? Matthew Zeitlin at The New Republic spoke with a few political scientists, budget wonks and constitutional scholars who argue that it would be. An excerpt: Garrett Epps, a legal journalist and professor at University of Baltimore School of Law, has made an even broader argument in a pair of articles for The Atlantic’s website. In an interview, Epps told me that there was a...

President Barack Obama says technological innovations such as robots can help pump jobs into the economy and spur growth in clean energy and advanced manufacturing. In his radio and Internet address Saturday, the president echoed a plan he unveiled Friday in Pittsburgh to join the federal government, universities and corporations and re-ignite American manufacturing with an emphasis on cutting-edge research and new technologies. "Their mission is to come up with a way to get ideas from the drawing board to the manufacturing floor to the marketplace as swiftly as possible, which will help create quality jobs, and make our businesses...

Speaking at a plant in North Carolina about the tough economic times, PBO claimed that "what drives me every day as I walk down to the Oval Office" is the need to find jobs and economic security for everyone. But Obama opened his speech by bragging that "I have a better plane" than when he visited the same plant three years ago as a presidential candidate. Later, in explaining that he had brought the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness with him to North Carolina, Obama boasted "I travel with a bigger entourage" than he did as a candidate. View video...

Imagine a Republican president, giving a speech on tough economic times in which he claimed that the plight of Americans who are hurting is what is on his mind every day as he walks to the Oval Office. Imagine that same Republican president, in that same speech, bragging that he has "a better plane" and "a bigger entourage" than when he was a candidate. Now imagine the howls from the MSM about such president's vainglory and insensitivity. President Obama gave just such a speech today.

President Barack Obama is pivoting from diplomacy on the world stage to the intimate and delicate domestic task of acting as healer-in-chief to a devastated community. The president travels to tornado-wrecked Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, a day after returning from a six-day European tour of Ireland, England, France and Poland. After days of focusing on the U.S. relationship with the rest of the world, he'll turn to an even more critical connection: his own, with the American people. The president will visit with survivors and family members of the worst tornado in decades, a monster storm that tore through Joplin...

The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access to President Obama’s Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the newspaper’s front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly.” “I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit. “My point about the op-ed was not that you ran...

The White House said it is ending its long-running practice of having presidents re-enact televised speeches for news photographers following major addresses to the country, a little-known arrangement that fed suggestions of fakery when Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden. After Obama's live, late-evening address from the East Room of the White House on May 1, five photographers were ushered in to shoot pictures as the president stood at the podium and re-read a few lines of his speech — a practice that news organizations have protested for years. Even though The Associated Press and other news...

Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile By Pete Kasperowicz - 05/05/11 07:45 AM ET The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," an undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly. This follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven. Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT)...

The leader of the free world may be coming to Williamsburg for some rest and relaxation if Congress is able to come to agreement on the budget. President Obama and the First Family are planning to visit the area this weekend in what the White House described Wednesday as a "long-planned family trip to Colonial Williamsburg." But the trip might get grounded if a government shutdown can't be averted by Republicans and Democrats in Congress. On Thursday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration established a no-fly zone over Williamsburg that will be in place from Friday through Monday. Jessica Wharton, spokeswoman...

Obama is scheduled to speak at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C. about Libya at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

An uncritical one line report in Mike Allen's 'Playbook' column at Politico this morning says:"PRESIDENT OBAMA is taping his NCAA picks today, and they’ll be revealed tomorrow on ESPN."With our top Asian ally Japan facing an economic meltdown on top of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant crises--an economic meltdown that is already affecting the U.S. and global economies; with the Middle East in flames; with the U.S. government on the verge of bankruptcy; with the U.S. still involved in two wars, Barack Obama is focused on being the cool guy with the jocks in school by being filmed picking...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the passion and dignity demonstrated by the people of Egypt has been an inspiration. He says young protesters will reach their destiny. In brief remarks at the White House Tuesday evening, the president said, "We hear your voices."

Online poll Is the U.S. in good hands with President Obama in charge? Yes No Not sure

Obama reiterates calls for parties to play nice in weekly address By Julian Pecquet - 01/15/11 06:00 AM ET President Obama in his weekly address built on his Tucson memorial service plea for both parties to work together to meet the nation's challenges as the House resumes work this coming week. The president said the reaction to last weekend's shooting that left six people dead and injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 12 others was a reminder that "we are one American family, 300 million strong." "As business resumes," he said, "I look forward to working together in that same...

"At the memorial service for the victims of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, President Obama said that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time after his (Wednesday) visit. It was the first time she had opened her eyes since the shooting that wounded her Saturday outside a Tucson grocery store. "We all started crying," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said in a phone interview from Air Force One later Wednesday night. "Other than the birth of my children, it was the most incredible moment I have ever had." Also in the room were Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand...

President Obama will focus his speech at a memorial service in Tucson on Wednesday evening on the victims of the attack and on the idea of service to the country, avoiding any overt commentary on the debate over violence and the nation’s political culture. Instead, Mr. Obama, who was still working with his speechwriters on his remarks on Tuesday, will call for unity among Americans, while trying to honor the victims, including their service to government, as an example to all Americans. He will share the anecdotes about the victims that he has learned during private phone calls to the...

EXCERPTS "At the start of 2011, we’re still just emerging from a once-in-a-lifetime recession that’s taken a terrible toll on millions of families," Obama said. "We all have friends and neighbors trying to get their lives back on track." (snip) "In a few days, a new Congress will form, with one house controlled by Democrats, and one house controlled by Republicans – who now have a shared responsibility to move this country forward," Obama said. "And here’s what I want you to know: I’m willing to work with anyone of either party who’s got a good idea and the commitment...

Barack Obama lets his faith show By: Carol E. Lee December 28, 2010 04:28 AM EST HONOLULU — President Obama’s trip to church Sunday followed a steady rebirth over the past three months in public expressions of his Christianity. Obama has publicly mentioned his “Christian faith” more times in the past three months than he has over the past year. He has more frequently cited passages of the Bible, including repeated references to the spirit of Genesis 4:9 — “I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper” — which was a mainstay of Obama’s 2010 campaign stump speech....

"The president is making phone calls saying 'this is the end' of his presidency if he doesn't get this bad deal," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) told CNN. "I don't feel that way. I think this is potentially the end of his possibility of getting reelected if he gets this deal," DeFazio added.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A testy President Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed frustration at his own Democrats for attacking him over his tax-cut deal with Republicans, who he called uncompromising "hostage takers." Obama found himself in an unusual position a day after sealing a major tax-cut agreement -- praised by Republican opponents and denounced by liberal Democrats who felt he violated a pledge that helped get him elected in 2008. Liberals accused him of caving to Republican demands by agreeing to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts, even those for wealthier Americans, instead of their preference for limiting the tax cuts...

(CNN) - President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Friday on a surprise visit.

"I don't think about Sarah Palin," President Barack Obama tells Barbara Walters in a White House interview. Obama said he is concentrating on being "the best possible president" rather than the 2012 election, ABC News said in a preview of the conversation. "Obviously Sarah Palin has a strong base of support in the Republican Party, and I respect those skills," he said. "But I spend most of my time right now on how I can be the best possible president. And my attitude has always been from the day I started this job that if I do a good job...

(Reuters) - If President Barack Obama is not yet convinced that his international star power has faded, his next round of transatlantic summitry should clear up any lingering doubts. Coming off a marathon Asia trip where Obama often found himself rebuffed by fellow world leaders, he will head to Europe this week where the agenda will be clouded by a growing divide over economic strategy and a sense of neglect among traditional U.S. allies.His challenge is to reassure European partners that, despite political weakness at home and embarrassing setbacks abroad, he remains committed to better cooperation on issues ranging from...

Live coverage on India TV.NDTV-Mumbai

New Delhi, November 1, 2010: Not an inch of the ITC Maurya Sheraton will be without surveillance when US President Barack Obama arrives for a two – night stay. The luxury hotel is swarming with Delhi Police commandos a week before he checks in with wife Michelle. Obama arrives for a Nov 7 – 9 stay at the Presidential Suite of the south – west Delhi hotel and security is visibly tight even though police and hotel staff refuse to divulge details. Police commandos in combat gear have been stationed in Mercedes vans. Also fortifying the hotel are private guards...

HONOLULU (BNO NEWS) -- President Barack Obama and his family will be returning to the island of Hawaii to spend Christmas, according to a news report on early Saturday. The Honolulu-based Star-Advertiser reported, citing three unidentified sources, that Obama would return to Hawaii in December. It would be Obama's third year on Hawaii in a row during Christmas. Last year, the First Family spent 11 days at their vacation home in Kailua. The Star-Advertiser did not report how long Obama would stay this year. Obama was born in Hawaii.