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Facing rising unemployment rates and having seen uncertain results from the stimulus bill, President Obama is hosting a "jobs summit" at the White House Thursday that will be packed with business leaders and economists supportive of White House policies but lacks a diversity of opinion, several analysts say. Missing from a partial list of attendees released by the White House are the self-proclaimed voices of business - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business - both of which have been critical of Mr. Obama's proposed health care overhaul. Confirmed attendees include liberal economists credited with...

* US diplomat says destroying Qaeda real goal in Afghanistan * Core strategy is to help Afghans take responsibility of their own security LAHORE/WASHINGTON: Taliban can rejoin the “social and political fabric of Afghanistan” if they renounce Al Qaeda, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Tuesday. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Holbrooke said, “Majority of Taliban do not support Mullah Omar’s extreme views and that there is room for them to rejoin the social and political fabric of Afghanistan if they renounce Al Qaeda and reintegrate peacefully into Afghanistan. And that is a major part” of the Unites States...

President Barack Obama will deliver Tuesday's address on Afghanistan policy at 8 p.m. Eastern time from the United States Military Academy at West Point, the White House said Wednesday. The setting allows the commander-in-chief to talk directly to future officers as he announces a troop buildup in the eight-year war.

If you’re feeling queasy, look away now. The New York Times scales new heights of sycophancy in its report of the White House state dinner last night, which by their account was the most charming, imaginative, glittering – yet tasteful! – social event since Jackie Kennedy was Queen of Camelot. Indeed, it may even have surpassed Jackie’s standards, since Barack and Michelle added a deeply appropriate and thoughtful element of multiculturalism to the glamorous proceedings. And the decorative magnolia branches, I’m relieved to report, were “sustainably harvested”. Modern Flourishes at Obamas’ State DinnerBy RACHEL L. SWARNSWASHINGTON — It is an...

Not all revolutions begin in the streets with tanks and guns. Some advance slowly, almost imperceptibly, until a nation is transformed and the public realizes too late that their freedoms are gone. Such is the revolution now taking place in America. The '60s crowd has emerged from the ideological grave and is about to impose on this country a declaration of dependence in the form of government-run health insurance and treatment. It matters not what facts are known about this "coup," because to those from the '60s - whether they lived in that decade or were born later and adopted...

The Office of Personnel Management will be reviewing political appointees who have "burrowed in" to federal career jobs over the past five years, according a memo issued by Director John Berry to all government agencies and executive departments. "Burrowing in" is what Beltway insiders call it when someone who was appointed by say, President George W. Bush, leaves an appointed position to take a career job inside the government. "While political appointees may not be excluded from consideration for federal jobs because of their political affiliation, they must not be given preference or special advantages," Mr. Berry said in his...

President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning. The president's plan, which the officials said was under discussion before this month’s Democratic election setbacks, represents both a practical and a political calculation by this White House. On the practical side, Obama has spent more money on new programs in nine months than Bill Clinton did in eight years, pushing the annual deficit...

On a chilly morning, President Obama came to the Rose Garden Friday morning to try to offer reassurance in the wake of both the Fort Hood shootings and dismal economic news, suggesting -- regarding the latter issue -- that he was considering even more economic stimulus measures. (snip) Turning to this morning's news that unemployment has risen to 10.2%, the president also announced that he signed into law a bill that he said "will help grow our economy, save and create new jobs, and provide relief to struggling families and businesses," the need for which was "made clear by the...

At least one Democratic political strategist has gotten a blunt warning from the White House to never appear on Fox News Channel, an outlet that presidential aides have depicted as not so much a news-gathering operation as a political opponent bent on damaging the Obama administration. Political consultants are a staple of cable television talk shows, analyzing current events based on their own experiences working on campaigns or in government. One Democratic strategist said that shortly after an appearance on Fox he got a phone call from a White House official telling him not to be a guest on the...

It is no coincidence that Barack Obama held a key campaign rally last year in front of hundreds of thousands of adoring Germans, as though he were running for Mayor of Berlin. Obama remains in many ways a quintessentially European politician, a firm believer in big government, large-scale state intervention, social liberalism, supranational institutions, and the projection of soft power abroad. His political philosophy is frequently more attuned to Brussels or Strasbourg than it is to Washington. For a host of reasons however, President Obama is increasingly viewed by his natural allies in Europe- the left-wing intelligentsia in particular –...

For the past nine months, the Obama team has waged a campaign of political convenience against lobbyists. Its policies against so-called special interests include: a refusal to accept lobbyists' campaign contributions, a ban on employing lobbyists within the administration, discouraging lobbyists' contact with government workers, new rules that will result in the public disclosure of every lobbyist who visits the White House, and a directive to exclude lobbyists from serving on department and federal agency boards and commissions. All of this is meant to give the impression of purity. But this is illusory. At the same time that the White...

Just 14% of U.S. voters say Hillary Clinton would be doing a worse job as president than Barack Obama if she had won last year’s Democratic presidential nomination. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of voters think Clinton would be doing a better job as president while 49% say she would be performing about the same. Democrats who think things would be different with Clinton are evenly divided between whether they’d be better or worse. Republicans and unaffiliated voters who think things would be different tend to believe Clinton would have done a better job as...

Valerie Jarrett announced the other day that "we're going to speak truth to power." Who's Valerie Jarrett? She's "senior adviser" to the president of the United States - i.e., the leader of the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth. You would think the most powerful man in the most powerful nation would have a hard job finding anyone on the planet to whom to speak truth to power. But I suppose if you're as eager to do so as his senior adviser, there's always somebody out there: The supreme leader of Iran. The prime minister of Belgium....

While President Barack Obama still faces stiff headwinds on a range of major legislation on his agenda, he has been signing into law a slew of smaller initiatives that had gathered dust on the Democratic wish list for years. Many of the bills had been blocked by Republicans who considered the measures unnecessary expansions of government or too costly. But facing Democratic majorities in Congress, conservatives are picking their battles and in many cases letting the legislation roll through. Last week, Mr. Obama signed defense-policy legislation that included an unrelated measure widening federal hate-crimes laws to cover sexual orientation and...

White House senior adviser David Axelrod shot back on Sunday to scathing criticism by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. “It is a surreal day when you are getting lectures on humility by Rush Limbaugh,” Axelrod said on CBS’s "Face The Nation." “He is an entertainer. The president has to run the country.” Limbaugh called Obama “immature, inexperienced,” “narcissistic,” and “a child,” on "Fox News Sunday." He also accused President Barack Obama of “destroying” the economy, pursuing an “unconstitutional” health care reform plan, and “not caring” about the war in Afghanistan, in the Fox interview. “It’s no surprise that Rush Limbaugh...

States that allow gay marriage can't force the federal government to provide benefits to those couples, the Obama administration argued Friday in court papers in a lawsuit by Massachusetts. The Justice Department is at odds with Massachusetts - the first state to allow gay marriage - over a 1996 federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Massachusetts sued in July, saying that law is discriminatory and deprives gay couples in the state of some federal spousal benefits. The Obama administration agrees the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, is discriminatory and wants it repealed,...

National liberal groups are pressing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to act on one of President Barack Obama’s most controversial nominees. Nearly 40 organizations have called on Reid to schedule a vote on Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s pick to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is tasked with providing legal advice to the president. Several members of this coalition are frustrated that Johnsen’s nomination has languished in the Senate for nearly eight months despite Democrats’ control of 60 seats. Johnsen has run into strong Republican opposition because of her statements on sensitive political issues ranging from abortion...

The Obama administration is trying to strong-arm America’s colleges and universities into complying with a bill that hasn’t been signed into law yet. The bill, which would replace current subsidized-student-loan programs with a government-run system, passed the House last month, but its fate in the Senate is far from clear. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Education Committee, plans to use the budget-reconciliation process to pass the contentious bill with a simple majority, but The Hill newspaper reports that it might not even have 51 votes. The bill is far from a fait accompli, making the administration’s pressure campaign all...

The Federal Election Commission has presented the Obama administration with the choice between standing behind President Barack Obama’s campaign rhetoric or possibly threatening one of his pet causes – and maybe his reelection chances, not to mention highlighting his differences with his own lawyer, rumored to be under consideration for a top White House post. For all this, Obama can thank the FEC, the independent panel charged with overseeing campaign cash, and its partisan vote last week not to appeal a sprawling federal court ruling that could uncork a new wave of election spending by outside groups that some predict...

President Barack Obama has been in office just nine months and already he is defending his legacy, pushing back more aggressively against criticism of his record on health care, climate change, closing Guantanamo, reforming immigration laws and financial regulations and managing the war in Afghanistan. For the past two weeks, as he’s jetted across the country to fill Democrats’ 2010 coffers, Obama has been test driving a new speech that sounds a lot like one he’d be giving if he were on the ballot next year: A line-item defense of his record so far, and a sober reminder to supporters...