White House

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Obamas Can't Check in Early to White House Guest Pad

President-elect told he can't move into official guest house early

(Newser) - Washington's hotels are booked solid for January and the Obamas have joined those struggling to find a place to stay, the New York Times reports. The president-elect and his wife had hoped to move into Blair House, the official White House guest house, in time for the girls to start...

Maybe Cigarettes Make Him Better: Let Obama Smoke

Obama's trouble with cigs proves he's fallible, after all

(Newser) - Snooty media-types are giving Barack Obama a hard time for his dodges and weaves about trying to quit smoking. But we should all leave the poor addict alone, writes Ron Rosenbaum in Slate. Do we really want a nervous, edgy president dying for a cigarette while he's got his finger...

Big 3 Bailout Plan Goes to White House
 Big 3 Bailout Plan 
 Goes to White House 
UPDATED

Big 3 Bailout Plan Goes to White House

Measure has provision for watchdog, but other questions remain

(Newser) - A draft of the multibillion-dollar bailout agreement for the Big Three automakers went from Capitol Hill to the White House this afternoon and found a chilly reception, the AP reports. The draft legislation calls for a government watchdog appointed by the Bush administration to oversee the companies' operation, but its...

'I Won't Smoke in White House,' Obama Vows

Obama working to stay on the wagon

(Newser) - Barack Obama promised the nation yesterday that he won't be sneaking smokes at the White House. The president-elect, who has been trying to kick his habit, told Meet the Press that he'll respect the mansion's smoke-free policy. He admits having "fallen off the wagon" in the past, but seemed...

New Releases Show How Vietnam Weighed on Nixon

Defense secretary urges against plan that would become 'Christmas bombing'

(Newser) - Newly declassified documents and tapes from the Nixon era show how conflicted the administration was over public dissatisfaction with the war in Vietnam, the AP reports. One October 1969 memo from Defense Secretary Melvin Laird advises the president against adopting a proposal for a massive assault on North Vietnam, noting...

Full-Court Press: Obama Seeks New DC Hoops Spot

President-elect's basketball jones subject of intense speculation

(Newser) - With inauguration approaching, Washington is gripped by an all-important question, the New York Daily News reports: Where will Barack Obama play basketball? Will he keep his campaign promise to build a court in the White House? Will he play at a nearby military base? Or, as rumor has it, hit...

Bush Contemplates His Legacy
 Bush Contemplates His Legacy 

Bush Contemplates His Legacy

'I didn't sell my soul:' Bush

(Newser) - President Bush wants to be remembered foremost as someone who "did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process." In an intimate interview conducted by his sister Doro for an oral history project of the Library of Congress, Bush lists liberating Iraqis, fighting AIDS in...

Obama Girls Will Keep Chores: Mom

(Newser) - Barack and Michelle Obama say their young daughters will still have to do chores in the White House and won't get out of doing homework just because they're the president's children. In an interview with Barbara Walters airing tonight, the Obamas said Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, will have lives...

Indian Army in Gunfights With Terrorists at Hotels

American officials safe: state department

(Newser) - The Indian army is engaged in gunfights with terrorists at two five-star hotels and a hospital in the financial hub of Mumbai, IBNLive.com reports. The fate of hostages—media reports say Americans and Britons are being held, but details are impossible to pin down—remains unclear. The city remains...

Obamas' Chicago Pal to be Social Secretary

Desirée Rogers will run White House functions

(Newser) - A Chicago businesswoman and close friend of the Obamas will be White House social secretary, the Tribune reports. Desirée Rogers, 49, will be the first African American to run functions and ceremonies at the president’s residence, working with the first lady. A Harvard MBA, Rogers has been a...

Gibbs Will Meet the Press
Gibbs Will Meet the Press

Gibbs Will Meet the Press

Obama taps aide as press secretary, names 2 others for communications

(Newser) - Barack Obama today named Robert Gibbs as White House press secretary, the Washington Times reports. Gibbs, 37, worked for 2 years as an Obama spokesman on the campaign trail and was widely expected to take the job. Well-liked by reporters, Gibbs flared up at times on the campaign and is...

Big Choices for Obamas: Chef, Church

Special interest groups want to pick Obamas' puppy, church, chef

(Newser) - With the incoming first family's private decisions being scrutinized as breathlessly as the president-elect's cabinet picks, you already know about the battle over the puppy, and the private-or-public-school competition. New York reports on three other hotly contested issues:
  • The French-trained chef hired by Laura Bush may be replaced to reflect
...

Obama Girls Join Exclusive White House Sorority
Obama Girls Join Exclusive White House Sorority
GLOSSIES

Obama Girls Join Exclusive White House Sorority

If predecessors are any sign, Malia and Sasha are in for 'a helluva good time'

(Newser) - If Malia Obama sneaks a boy into the White House, it won’t be an action without precedent. The generations of girls who occupied what Margaret Truman billed “the Great White Jail” form a sort of underground society, Lauren Collins writes in the New Yorker. The Johnson sisters, for...

Clinton Trial Lawyer Tapped as White House Counsel

Gregory Craig will advise Obama on legal issues

(Newser) - Barack Obama has chosen Gregory Craig, Bill Clinton’s lead impeachment trial lawyer, as White House counsel, Politico reports. Craig, 63, left the Hillary Clinton camp early in the primaries to support Obama, and knows his new boss well: He played John McCain in debate prep. He also advised Obama...

Jarrett Takes White House Job
Jarrett Takes White House Job

Jarrett Takes White House Job

Obama brings on friend, transition co-chair as senior Oval Office adviser

(Newser) - Family friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett today agreed to be Barack Obama's senior White House adviser, CBS reports. She will share the job title and probably split duties with David Axelrod, Obama's chief political strategist. Jarrett was already named a co-chair on Obama's transition team. She was rumored as...

Political Office Is Gray Area at White House

Obama won't say he'll shutter nerve center of 'perpetual campaign'

(Newser) - Barack Obama made transcending partisan politics part of his campaign pitch, but he remains noncommittal on a proposal to abolish the White House political office. A Reagan Administration creation, it played a vastly different role under Karl Rove than it had previously, Politico reports. John McCain has called for eliminating...

Arugula as 'Hope Salad,' and Other Obama Changes

How president-elect can deliver, concretely, on campaign mantra

(Newser) - In case you haven’t heard, Barack Obama wants to bring change to America. Culture11 offers a list of what that change might mean:
  • When daughters ask for a puppy, Daddy shouts: "Yes we can!"
  • French win fries debate in White House cafeteria. Arugula now known as “
...

Race Is on for Laura's Memoirs; Dubya Not So Much

Book deal could be worth millions; lame-duck President must shelve ambitions

(Newser) - Laura Bush is likely to net millions from publishers bidding on her memoirs, the New York Post reports—not exactly the case for her lame-duck husband. “The wives of presidents generally write books that have a greater public interest,” one insider says. “Husbands usually try to rewrite...

Michelle Gets the Lowdown
 Michelle Gets the Lowdown 

Michelle Gets the Lowdown

Bushes give Obamas grand tour and discuss raising White House kids

(Newser) - The first lady gave her successor some tips on White House living during the Obamas' visit yesterday, and the moms discussed the difficulties of raising daughters in the fishbowl environment, Reuters reports. Laura Bush, meeting Michelle Obama for the first time, showed her around every room of the Obamas' future...

Obamas Check Out White House
 Obamas Check Out 
 White House 
UPDATED

Obamas Check Out White House

Obamas wrap up White House visit, though details are scarce

(Newser) - The First Couple and the First Couple-elect met at the White House this afternoon. After the Bushes greeted the Obamas, President Bush took Barack Obama to the Oval Office for a private meeting, while Laura Bush showed Michelle Obama around the residence. The meetings lasted about an hour, the Chicago ...

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