Free Republic

A senior administration official who read the book says "the President comes across in the review and throughout the decision-making process as a Commander in Chief who is analytical, strategic, and decisive, with a broad view of history, national security, and his role." The official says of the descriptions of the infighting in the book that "the debates in the book are well known because the policy review process was covered so exhaustively." White House officials are still matching New York Times excerpts with anecdotes in the book but one says not all the quoting is fair, especially Vice President...

The Muslim cleric behind plans to build a mosque close to the Ground Zero site has blamed politicians such as Sarah Palin for fuelling a "growing Islamophobia" that led to the burning of Korans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The Reverend Terry Jones abandoned his "international burn a Koran day" in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday but there were isolated instances in Tennessee and New York of the Muslim holy book being set alight. "What has happened is that..certain politicians decided that this project would be very useful for their political ambitions," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said,...

President Obama acknowledged Friday that bouncing back from the recession has been "painfully slow," but he insisted that the economy continues to grow as he pushed his administration's new economic proposals at his first news conference in months. Obama once again urged the Senate to pass his small-business jobs bill, saying it has been blocked by "a partisan (Republican) minority." He praised Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, for announcing that he would not help GOP leaders block the bill. Still, he said, there is "room for discussion" on competing tax plans. "If the Republican leadership is prepared to get serious ......