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... Obama said on Friday that America's history of racial discrimination had contributed to a persistent economic gap between blacks and whites in the 50 years since Martin Luther King's landmark "I have a dream" speech.

President Obama may cultivate an image as the unflappable Mr. Cool, but he can get hot under the collar too, according to a new book. In "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," by Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter, the author recounts a series of private blow-ups - including a particularly fiery one involving the nation's top military brass. "A presidential dressing down unlike any in the United States in more than half a century," is how Alter describes the October 2009 eruption. [Snip] But it's often the flashes of anger, not amour, that shine through Alter's tome, including: Asked...

I think these numbers are mostly an artifact of bad timing, for reasons I’ll explain, but … wow. A new, annual survey of American Jewish public opinion by the American Jewish Committee finds that Jews, by and large, continue to approve of Obama — 57 percent say they approve of the job he’s doing — and also back his handling of Israel. The 55 percent who approve of Obama’s Israel policy is a slight improvement on the finding in the same survey last year, while the disapproval number has ticked up slightly more. His net support on Israel has declined...

An unscientific CBS News poll evaluating President Obama's first year in office gives him – by an overwhelming margin – a failing grade. In the poll, which has been online for several weeks and has attracted thousands of comments, not even 3 percent of the respondents grade Obama with an "A," barely another 3 percent give him a "B" and about 4 percent give him a "C." Almost 26 percent give him a "D" and more than 63 percent him an "F." Said one person on the poll's comments section: "Obama may be a Harvard Law School graduate, but when...

Barack Obama ‘destroys first year in office’ Barack Obama Christina Lamb in Washington WHEN President Barack Obama took office last year he was compared to Superman, even joking at a dinner that he had been “born on Krypton and sent here ... to save the planet Earth”. Last January he appeared on the cover of Spider-Man. Now, with his ambitious legislative agenda in tatters, the once invincible president has moved from comic-strip hero to comparisons to one of the great flawed figures of American literature. Ten days ago a leading election analyst, Charlie Cook, compared Obama and his battle to...

Something has gone very wrong. Was it just a year ago that Democrats assumed more control in Washington than the party has had in my lifetime? It was. Was it just a year ago that President Obama promised a new era of change, bipartisanship and transparency? It was. Just weeks into office, the president pushed through a major stimulus package to save the American economy, restore credit, build infrastructure and create jobs. Now, unable to get Republicans to support what was their idea — a bipartisan commission on the deficit — the president has appointed one of his own, complete...

A year ago, Barack Obama's true believers were euphoric. The huge and jubilant gathering in Chicago's Grant Park on Election Night 2008 gave way to almost 2 million people on the Mall for the president's inauguration. He took office as the most popular incoming president in a generation. A movement had become a mandate of nearly 70 million votes. People hoped the new president would bring change to Washington, the hallmark claim of his historic candidacy. Now, the mood through much of the nation seems restive, even sour. It is almost jarring to look at the photographs from Grant Park,...

At 18, Ben Taber soaked up the stadium-size vibe of Barack Obama's nomination with a sense of wonder as he joined an unprecedented wave of young voters that would help carry their candidate to the White House. By the time he turned 20 this week, that emotional and philosophical bond with the president had been tempered by a steep learning curve about governance, and a stern reality check about the scope and pace of hope and change. "For the most part, the general tenor of this administration is something I like," says Taber, who worked as a U.S. Senate intern...

Well, is God blessing Barack Obama? The beleaguered US President must wonder about that every time he wakes up in the White House. Part of his problem, of course, is that when he ran for the presidency under the slogan of change, the electorate projected their own dreams and aspirations onto what was effectively a blank slate; some even saw him as a black messiah. The problem with being viewed in this way is that when expectations are not met, the messiah can quickly morph into the scapegoat. So what is it with Obama and God? Last week’s television programme...

Obama: "Why I'm willing to be away from my family for long stretches at a time, the financial sacrifices that so many of you have made, being subject to criticism constantly, you don't get in this for the fame, you don't get in this for the title"....Here's a man only used to crowds cheering and people fainting....

The curtain has come down on what can best be described as a brief un-American moment in our history. That moment began in the fall of 2008, with the great financial panic, and gave rise to the Barack Obama phenomenon. --snip--There had been that magical moment—the campaign of 2008—and the true believers want to return to it. But reality is merciless. The spell is broken.

What happened to the bright dreams, the hope and change? A year ago, fate handed President Obama one of the most tantalizing political opportunities in history. His party enjoyed a blowout election. The Republicans were leaderless and devoid of ideas. The Democrats had hefty majorities in both houses of Congress. Obama had stratospheric approval ratings and the support of a nation profoundly fearful of the future. And then he threw it all away. He outsourced chunks of his job to a left-wing congressional leadership that has learned nothing and forgotten nothing for the past 35 years. What came next was...

It’s been a year since Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, the first African-American to hold the nation’s highest office. It’s been a year of highs and lows, from winning the Nobel Peace Prize to adding trillions of dollars to the national debt by enacting massive government spending programs – while continuing to battle for a nearly $1 trillion overhaul of the nation’s health care system. His job approval rating also have gone from high to low, down nearly 20 points since taking office. How would you grade President Obama’s first year in office?

This is about the time Barack Obama becomes bored with his job. He's in his second year as president, and he's discovered that even with all the powers of office, he can't do everything he wants to do, like remake America. Doing stuff is hard. In the past, prosaic work has held little appeal for Obama, and it's prompted him to think about moving on. snip According to the book, the majority leader invited Obama to his office for a talk. "You're not going to go anyplace here," Reid told Obama. "I know that you don't like it, doing what...

Wall Street Trader: “Pretty Much Everyone Hates Obama” John Carney Jan. 27, 2010, 2:07 PM After a year in which his administration’s policies helped produce some of the best years on record for Wall Street firms, President Barack Obama has been struggling to recast himself as an adversary of the banks. He seems to have succeeded in taking on this role with one important group—the bankers themselves. “Pretty much everyone hates Obama,” a senior trader at a major Wall Street firm told us. "He's never been popular but this is a whole new level," he said. The trader explained that...

More than three-quarters of Americans said that the current economic conditions are the worst that they've ever lived through, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday, hours before President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address, indicated that 77 percent of the public feels that the rough economic times the country's currently facing are the worst in their lifetime, while 22 percent said they've lived through worse times. According to the poll, the economy remains the number-one issue on the public's mind, and six in ten Americans said it is extremely important...

This week marks the one year anniversary of Susan Rice’s confirmation by the United States Senate to represent the American people at the United Nations. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. has faced some serious foreign policy challenges such as Iran’s nuclear ambitions, North Korea’s ongoing nuclear weapons’ tests, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, freezing terrorists’ assets world-wide and now the on-going disaster in Haiti. But while the UN struggles to find common ground on these and other important issues, Susan Rice has chosen to spend several days of the work week over the last year in Washington, DC hanging out...

In the new movie The Young Victoria, the mother of Victoria and her chief overseer meet with the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, to discuss what role they’ll play now that Victoria has become queen of England. They’ve waged a fierce struggle to retain control over Victoria. Suddenly Melbourne cuts off the chatter and bluntly explains the situation. “You lost,” he says. That’s the situation that faces President Obama and his White House advisers. Months of polls on the president and his policies, the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s elections, then last week’s momentous Massachusetts Senate race – all have sent...

By May 2009, Americans began to lose confidence in Mr. Obama, and the god began to bleed. The numbers saying the country was on the wrong track crept back upward. Mr. Obama' public approval rating began its great decline, the most rapid of any first-year president, according to Gallup. The decline has been broad and deep; Mr. Obama has lost support nearly uniformly from men and women across all age groups and all incomes. The most striking slump occurred with the white middle class, which bears the brunt of Mr. Obama's wildly irresponsible fiscal policies. White approval dropped from 60...

Fox News was the top cable network in primetime last week, averaging the most total viewers between January 18th-24th. The last time FNC topped USA and came in first was during the week of the 2008 presidential election. In a week dominated by coverage of the earthquake in Haiti and the U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, FNC drew an average of 3.2 million total viewers in primetime (Mon-Sun). Fox was ranked 3rd in total day. CNN was 22nd in primetime and 19th in total day, and MSNBC was 25th in primetime and 31st in total day. Here's are the primetime...