Free Republic

"It's been a long, tough journey. But we have made some incredible strides together. Yes, we have. But the thing that we all ought to remember is that as much as good as we have done, precisely because the challenges were so daunting, precisely because we we were inheriting so many challenges, that we're not even halfway there yet. When I said 'change we can believe in' I didn't say 'change we can believe in tomorrow.' Not change we can believe in next week. We knew this was going to take time because we've got this big, messy, tough democracy,"...

During a visit to a Rio de Janeiro slum, President Barack Obama joined a group of children as they kicked around soccer balls. (March 20)

Is it cowardice? Is it indecisiveness? Or is it clever diplomacy? Depending on who you ask in Washington, you'll get a different explanation for President Barack Obama's silence, to date, on the subject of Libya. Since the uprising began, he has made only one extended comment on the Libyan rebellion, and it was thoroughly anodyne. He declared – surprise! – that the US "strongly supports the universal rights of the Libyan people." He said he had "instructed his administration to prepare the full range of options that we have to respond to this crisis." And then he concluded: "The change...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Calling the Declaration of Independence more than words on an aging parchment, President Barack Obama marked the Fourth of July on Sunday by urging Americans to live the principles that founded the nation as well as celebrate them. "This is the day when we celebrate the very essence of America and the spirit that has defined us as a people and as a nation for more than two centuries," Obama told guests at a South Lawn barbecue honoring service members and their families. "We celebrate the principles that are timeless, tenets first declared by men of property...

OBAMA got his ass kicked in Massachusetts last week. Perhaps I should repeat this, since it seems that neither Obama nor his White House Insiders understand exactly what happened when Independent Republican Scott Brown ate Democrat Martha Coakley’s breakfast, and came back later for her lunch. The people voted AGAINST Obama. It wasn’t just about Healthcare, Cap and Trade, Card Check, Stimulus Squandering, the lack of Transparency in the White House, Dirty Backroom Deal-Making, treating BLOOD-THIRSTY Moslem TERRORISTS as though they are common criminals, taking over Banks and Insurance Companies, taking over two thirds of the American Auto Industry, indebting...

President Obama's Gallup approval ratings are the most polarized of any president on record, according to a review one year into his term. Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones writes Monday: "The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats' (88%) and Republicans' (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton. "Overall, Obama averaged 57% job approval among all Americans from his inauguration to the end of his first full year on Jan. 19. He came into office seeking to unite

BOSTON, MA (PIO) -- Officials say security screeners at Logan International Airport failed to spot a nuclear device in a passenger's carry-on satchel last month, but the man turned himself in when he realized his attempt to terrorize Americans was a total failure. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Jack Haas said in a written statement Wednesday that the unidentified man became agitated when stewardesses failed to take notice of him even as he hollered "Allahu Akbar!" and wildly waved the five-foot warhead. Even the efforts of passengers who tackled the man and tried to snatch the device’s detonator failed to raise...

With unpopular legislation such as ObamaCare and an unserious approach to protecting Americans, Democrats have effectively done what Republicans could only dream about. Democrats have declared a fatwa against...Democrats. Tuesday’s announcements by North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan and Connecticut Democrat Christopher Dodd that they will not seek re-election to the Senate in 2010 are two more by-products of a Democratic Congress which refuses to represent the wishes of its constituents. The failed stimulus, high unemployment, Cap & Trade and concerns about presidential dithering in regards to the war in Afghanistan have added to the confidence gap many Democrats are now...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (PIO) -- Spurred by sinking support for his health care plan and skyrocketing veterinary costs, President Barack Obama has called for universal health care for an additional 200 million Americans. Dubbed OllamaCare, the proposal aims to extend health care benefits to all American animals including Representative Alan Grayson of Florida’s 8th congressional district. In a closed-door session attended by Democratic senators and several members of SEIU representing their brethren in the wild, the president said he sees health care as a birthright for all living things and swatted a fly with aplomb. Even so, he asserted that a...

A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism. The FBI is investigating and President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was told of the incident about three hours after the plane landed, officials said. Obama has told White House officials that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel, a spokesman said. Nevertheless, officials said, they are not prepared to raise the terrorism alert level, currently at orange -- or the second-highest of five levels -- for domestic and international air travel.

Here is video of Michelle Malkin talking on Fox and Friends this morning about the "thug tactics" the White House is using to push "DemCare" through the Congress. Malkin was commenting on reports that the White House has contacted Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak and told him to be quiet about problems he may have with abortion language in the Senate Health Care Bill. Malkin said Obama and the Democrats are ready to use "brass knuckle" tactics to force Democrats into line to support the eventual conference report that will reconcile the House and Senate Bills. Stupak forced Democrats to put...

Obama 'entirely dissatisfied' with jobless rate 15 mins ago WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he is "entirely dissatisfied" with the level of US unemployment and cannot congratulate himself on his first year in office between the jobless rate is so high. "I am entirely dissatisfied with where we are right now in terms of jobs, and the fact that families out there on the eve of Christmas are still really worried," Obama said in an interview with public television station PBS. "And so I don't pat myself on the back at the end of this year,"...

With the conference at Copenhagen collapsing and China balking at anything more than a mission statement, some have begun to wonder whether Barack Obama will follow through on his commitment to attend it this weekend.  After all, Obama has already come home from Copenhagen empty-handed once this year.  Would he risk doing it again?  ABC’s Sunlen Miller and Yunji de Nies say yes: Despite some rumors swirling in Copenhagen that the lack of progress at the ongoing climate change summit will cause President Obama to cancel his attendance tomorrow, the White House says no – the President is still committed...

WASHINGTON, DC – December 17, 2009 – In a prepared speech this afternoon, President Obama told reporters that he is fighting to overturn more than two centuries of freedom from monarchy and “a capitalist system that does not allow the commoner the chance to share in the riches of the business owner and the selfish.” “I am working hard to reverse the problems this nation faces as a result of over-throwing a lawfully hereditary monarchy in favor of the failed, “free” capitalist system we now have,” he said. A year is hardly enough time to make the corrections we need....

WASHINGTON -- After nearly a year in office, the defining political image of President Barack Obama has yet to emerge. Is he a hawk or dove, a liberal or a moderate? His Nobel Peace prize speech exposed his ambivalence. He harkened back to the Roman Catholic theologians to defend his "just war" in Afghanistan -- but he also expressed his ideals for a better world. Measuring Obama’s performance is truly in the eyes of the beholder. To those who were enthralled with Obama’s eloquence in the presidential campaign, reality is setting in. News flash: He doesn’t walk on water. But...

I’ve grown accustomed to people thinking I’m something of a dope but every once in a while, when they least expect it, I surprise them by being right. But this one is tough to admit. It turns out I’m one of three people in the country who think George W. Bush will go down in history as a great president. This isn’t bad, because I’m used to being in the minority. Last November I was part of a small minority of American voters who felt Barack Obama was highly intelligent, attractive, handsome and spoke beautifully, but in the end he...

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and 19 other GOP senators today called for a hearing into reports that the Obama administration used the future of Offutt Air Force Base as bargaining chip in the health care debate, according to a press release by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has flatly denied that Offutt came up in connection with the health care bill or any other piece of legislation. The White House also has described those reports as "absurd." The group of Republican senators called for a hearing in a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin,...

Hopes for rapid progress on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul dimmed Wednesday as Republican delaying tactics complicated the work of Senate Democratic leaders to line up 60 votes and move the bill. Obama repeated his demand for action, telling ABC News "the federal government will go bankrupt" if the health care bill fails. He said Medicare and Medicaid are on an "unsustainable" path if no action is taken.

Do you agree with President Barack Obama that he deserves a “Good, Solid B Plus” grade for his first year in office?