President Obama: Latest News - Page 254

I'll Fight for 'Hardworking Families': Solis

Jan 9, 2009 2:35 PM CST

I'll Fight for 'Hardworking Families': Solis

Union foes challenge Labor nominee, but confirmation expected

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s pick for labor secretary vowed today to “improve the opportunities for hardworking families,” CNN reports. “My vision for the Department of Labor is rooted in who I am,” said Rep. Hilda Solis, the daughter of two union members. The four-term congresswoman from Los...

'First Grandma' Moving Into
White House

Jan 9, 2009 2:05 PM CST

'First Grandma' Moving Into White House

(Newser) - Michelle Obama’s mother is moving into the White House, at least temporarily, the New York Times reports. Marian Robinson, 71, is already in Washington helping out the family, much as she did with the Obamas’ daughters during the campaign. “She will determine in the coming months whether or...

Wall Street Dominates List
of Inaugural Donors

Jan 9, 2009 1:30 PM CST

Wall Street Dominates List of Inaugural Donors

Big banks (yeah, those big banks) have bundled huge donations for the bash

(Newser) - Private donations to defray the cost of Barack Obama's inauguration festivities total $27.3 million—and large donors, including Wall Street executives flush with bailout cash, chipped in $24.8 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. That runs counter to the vow to remain independent of special interests that led...

Obama's Contagious Calm
Keeps Us Cool

OPINION

Jan 9, 2009 12:59 PM CST

Obama's Contagious Calm Keeps Us Cool

Prez-elect presents smooth-sailing image

(Newser) - How is it that Barack Obama’s warnings of impending doom manage to console, rather than panic, the nation? First, he’s contagiously calm, “more deliberate in his speech patter than John Wayne in a firefight,” writes Jack Shafer in Slate. The president-elect adopts a paternal tone when...

Holder Pushed Clemency
for Puerto Rican Militants

Jan 9, 2009 12:36 PM CST

Holder Pushed Clemency for Puerto Rican Militants

Obama's attorney-general pick helped commute sentences for PR nationalists

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s attorney-general nominee fought for clemency for 16 militant Puerto Rican nationalists during his time in the Clinton administration, the Los Angeles Times reports. Eric Holder pushed Justice Department subordinates to pave the way to Clinton’s clemency grant, documents show, sparking fury from law-enforcement officials who’d...

Ambassador Anna? Rumors Have Vogue Ed Paris-Bound

Jan 9, 2009 10:25 AM CST

Ambassador Anna? Rumors Have Vogue Ed Paris-Bound

Wintour rumored new French ambassador

(Newser) - Rumors are flying that Vogue editor Anna Wintour will become ambassador to France, the New York Post reports. Wintour's rumored replacement at the pinnacle of fashion journalism would be Carine Roitfeld, editor of French Vogue. But is the scuttlebutt, which appears to have originated with the Fashion Week Daily website,...

Amtrak Expects Throngs Along Obama's Route

Jan 9, 2009 7:20 AM CST

Amtrak Expects Throngs Along Obama's Route

Crowds will line 137 mile rail route to DC

(Newser) - Crowds of Barack Obama supporters are expected to line the railroad tracks between Philadelphia and Washington when the president-elect retraces Abraham Lincoln's journey to Washington the weekend before his inauguration, the AP reports. Authorities don't know how many people will throng the 137 miles of tracks but are using the...

Obama's Cure Not Potent Enough for Economic Ills

OPINION

Jan 9, 2009 5:50 AM CST

Obama's Cure Not Potent Enough for Economic Ills

Call for bold action on economy followed by plan that falls a long way short

(Newser) - Barack Obama's call for aggressive action on the economy hasn’t been backed up by a plan bold enough to do the job, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. Plunging levels of investment and consumer spending will leave a gap of around $2 trillion between what America produces...

Dems Don't Like Obama Tax Cuts

Jan 9, 2009 5:35 AM CST

Dems Don't Like Obama Tax Cuts

Hill leaders doubt plan's stimulus power, say prez-elect trying too hard to woo GOP

(Newser) - Barack Obama's proposed tax cuts are opening a rift with his former congressional colleagues, the Hill reports. Democratic lawmakers are skeptical as to whether the cuts—which are 40% of the proposed stimulus package—will give the economy the necessary boost. Some think the president-elect is trying too hard to...

Spider-Man Meets Obama-Man

Jan 9, 2009 3:11 AM CST

Spider-Man Meets Obama-Man

President-elect joins Spidey in Marvel comic special

(Newser) - Spider-Man is about to hook up with a high profile sidekick, reports AFP. Marvel Comics is publishing a fist-bumping Spider-Man special next week featuring Barack Obama. "When we heard that the president-elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew these historic figures had to meet," said...

Obama Is 'Prepared
to Talk to Hamas'

Jan 9, 2009 1:49 AM CST

Obama Is 'Prepared to Talk to Hamas'

Secret contact under consideration: sources

(Newser) - President-elect Barack Obama is prepared to break with Bush administration policy and open lines of communication with Hamas, sources close to the transition team tell the Guardian. Advisors believe that ostracizing Hamas isn't working and support a move by Obama to quietly contact Hamas, perhaps through intelligence agencies—the same...

Obama Wants
to Delay Digital TV Switch

Jan 8, 2009 7:32 PM CST

Obama Wants to Delay Digital TV Switch

Too many people unprepared, he tells Congress in letter

(Newser) - The push to delay pulling the plug on analog television gained an important convert today: Barack Obama. The president-elect's transition team sent a letter to Congress urging it to push back the Feb. 17 conversion date to all-digital TV, the Los Angeles Times reports. It cited in particular the Commerce...

Conyers Raps Obama Surgeon General Pick

Jan 8, 2009 3:27 PM CST

Conyers Raps Obama Surgeon General Pick

Gupta 'lacks the requisite experience,' congressman charges

(Newser) - Barack Obama's apparent choice for surgeon general, Sanjay Gupta, is drawing fire from within his own party, ABC News reports. John Conyers of Michigan, the House Judiciary Committee chair, sent a letter to his fellow legislators today encouraging them to join him in protesting the nomination of the CNN fixture...

$800B Stimulus Too Much for GOP, Too Little for Dems

Jan 8, 2009 3:14 PM CST

$800B Stimulus Too Much for GOP, Too Little for Dems

Adding to already-enormous debt worries Republicans; excess of caution has other side jumpy

(Newser) - The GOP responded today to Barack Obama’s calls for immediate action on the economy, cautioning that too bold a move could have dire consequences, the Hill reports. “Let’s not use the obvious need as a way to make the problem worse,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch...

Daschle:
Health Reform
About Facts,
Not Ideology

Jan 8, 2009 2:11 PM CST

Daschle: Health Reform About Facts, Not Ideology

Obama nominee pledges bipartisan effort despite controversial plan

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services promised today a bipartisan effort to reform health care, the New York Times reports. “When it comes to health care, we really are in it together,” Tom Daschle said during Senate confirmation hearings, where chairman Ted Kennedy...

DTV Date Switch Gains
Momentum in DC

Jan 8, 2009 1:50 PM CST

DTV Date Switch Gains Momentum in DC

Fund to aid consumers' conversion has run dry; June 1 may be alternative

(Newser) - Pressure from an influential consumer group and a change in attitudes on Capitol Hill may push back the mandated switch to digital television, Broadcasting & Cable reports. A letter from the Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, to key lawmakers and the Bush and Obama administrations urges them to reconsider...

Fashion Needs
an Obama Stimulus

Jan 8, 2009 12:20 PM CST

Fashion Needs an Obama Stimulus

One-woman bailout goes to work by getting dressed

(Newser) - Fashionistas are hoping the new first lady can be a one-woman bailout for their struggling industry, the New York Times reports. Presidential spouses always move the needle a little, but Obama’s youthful look and sartorial smarts put her ahead of the pack. “She could potentially do what Jackie...

Scarlett: 'I'm
Not Pregnant'

GLOSSIES

Jan 8, 2009 11:59 AM CST

Scarlett: 'I'm Not Pregnant'

Actress not pregnant, not dishing on wedding

(Newser) - Scarlett Johansson wants to run a brothel—in the movies, that is. “It's only so long that people are going to want to see me in a corset. So I might as well do it now,” she tells Harper’s Bazaar. The famously tight-lipped actress also addresses rumors—...

Obama Pitch:
We're Doomed
Without Stimulus

UPDATED

Jan 8, 2009 10:42 AM CST

Obama Pitch: We're Doomed Without Stimulus

(Newser) - Barack Obama went for the hard sell today, making the case for his huge stimulus plan. “I don't believe it's too late to change course,” Obama said in a speech at George Mason University, “but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as...

Obama Fills West Wing With Powerful Czars

analysis

Jan 8, 2009 9:58 AM CST