Free Republic

A familiar air of indecision preceded President Obama’s pep talk to the nation. The first draft of his schedule for Monday contained no plans to comment on the downgrading of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor’s. Then the White House announced that he would speak at 1 p.m. A second update changed that to 1:30. At 1:52, Obama walked into the State Dining Room to read his statement. Judging from the market reaction, he should have stuck with his original instinct. “No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a AAA country,”...

"When President Bush made the same mistake during his campaign for President in 2000, he was roundly criticized as unintelligent."

Having already passed a law telling Americans what kind of health insurance they must buy, President Obama is preparing to dictate what type of cars everybody must drive. If Obama opts for the higher goal, it could increase car prices by nearly $10,000, and cost 1.7 million jobs, according to a study by the Center for Automotive Research, as cited by Popular Mechanics. Not only do CAFE standards restrict choice, they can kill. A 2002 report by the National Academies of Sciences found that the increase in fuel economy standards in the 1970s and 1980s boosted the production of lighter-weight...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed the congressional criticism of his decision to wage war against Libya as political and argued that any sign of support from Washington for strongman Moammar Gadhafi makes no sense. Pushing back against Republicans and Democrats, Obama defended his decision to order U.S. military action more than three months ago and insisted he had not violated the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires congressional authorization within 60 days of the first military strikes. The president claims Americans supporting the NATO-led operation are not engaged in full-blown hostilities, making congressional consent unnecessary.