President Obama

Read the latest post-presidency news about President Barack Obama on Newser.com

Stories 5361 - 5380 | << Prev   Next >>

Why Gates Should Stay &mdash;and Why He Shouldn't
Why Gates Should Stay
—and Why He Shouldn't
ANALYSIS
Nov 21, 2008 1:25 PM CST

Why Gates Should Stay —and Why He Shouldn't

(Newser) - Conventional wisdom has it that Barack Obama will ask Robert Gates to keep his post as Secretary of Defense, but there’s no conventional wisdom about how wise that is. “It has more minuses than pluses,” opines one ex-Pentagon official, but others disagree. Some pros and cons:
  • Gates
...

Napolitano Pick Suggests Focus on Immigration
Napolitano Pick Suggests Focus on Immigration
ANALYSIS
Nov 21, 2008 12:45 PM CST

Napolitano Pick Suggests Focus on Immigration

Rumored Homeland Security nominee has hawk cred on border

(Newser) - If Janet Napolitano is indeed Barack Obama’s pick for Homeland Security chief, it likely signals a shift in the department away from terrorism and toward immigration issues, CQPolitics reports. The Arizona governor has been on the front lines of the immigration battle. “She would do a pretty serious...

Obama Will Wait on 'Don't Ask' Repeal

Wants to prioritize consensus-building; heeds Clinton's mistake

(Newser) - President-elect Barack Obama plans to wait a bit before pursuing a campaign promise to overturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals, reports the Washington Times. The new administration may not bring up the ban on gays in the military until 2010, in order...

Obama Team Weighs Streamlined Auto Bankruptcy

A 'prepackaged' plan likely would include government financing, take less time

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s transition team is looking at a streamlined, “prepackaged” bankruptcy for the Big Three automakers, Bloomberg reports. In a “prepack,” the companies already would have financing lined up when they go to court, and would have to reach agreements with banks, workers, and suppliers. The...

Obama Gun Question Has NRA Crowd Up in Arms

Transition questionnaire item enrages NRA crowd

(Newser) - In its questionnaire for job seekers, the Obama transition team is asking applicants if they own guns, and to provide detailed registration information on any that they do or did, Politico reports. The team says the question is just aimed at ferreting out any potential gun law violations, but gun...

Would She Rather Stay in the Senate?

Obama team says State is a done deal; Times has her waffling

(Newser) - The Clinton agonizing continues, the New York Times reports, as friends said yesterday she was "back in the indecisive column," and Senate Democrats said  they'd offer her a substantial leadership role if she doesn't end up as Barack Obama's secretary of state. Obama's team put the word out...

Verizon Staffers Breached Obama Cell Phone Records

Company probing extent of data breach after snooping uncovered

(Newser) - Verizon has suspended all employees who accessed Barack Obama's personal cell phone records after learning that some workers snooped into the account without authorization, the Washington Post reports. Company executives, who didn't specify what kind of information had been viewed, apologized to the president-elect. Verizon is investigating and has notified...

Obama 'On Track' to Name Clinton to State

Aides say he plans to do so just after Thanksgiving

(Newser) - Barack Obama remains "on track" to name Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state and plans to do so shortly after Thanksgiving, senior aides to the president-elect tell Politico. They said Clinton is expected to accept the offer and added that disclosure issues related to the complicated funding of...

DC-Bound Obama Has Even More on His Plate

Plates on presidential limo symbolic nod to those pro-vote

(Newser) - The list of contentious issues awaiting Barack Obama in Washington includes a local favorite: whether the presidential limo will sport "Taxation Without Representation" license plates. Bill Clinton's ride had the plates, which support DC residents' bid for a Congressional vote, but they were one of the first things...

Someone Get the President- Elect a Cigarette
Someone Get the President- Elect a Cigarette
OPINION
Nov 20, 2008 1:19 PM CST

Someone Get the President- Elect a Cigarette

Obama probably still smokes—and we should be OK with that

(Newser) - America has elected a member of a hated minority as president. That’s right, Barack Obama is a smoker. Oh, sure, he claims to have quit, but Michael Kinsley of the Washington Post isn’t convinced. Obama admitted falling off the wagon in June, yet no reporter has asked him...

Billionaire Passes on Commerce Post
Billionaire Passes on Commerce Post
UPDATED
Nov 20, 2008 12:49 PM CST

Billionaire Passes on Commerce Post

Top Obama fundraiser Pritzker takes herself out of the running

(Newser) - The hotel heiress Barack Obama was seriously considering as commerce secretary has taken herself out of the running, the Chicago Tribune reports. Penny Pritzker—whose family empire includes Hyatt hotels, casinos, and banks—led Obama's record-breaking fundraising effort, but the vetting process bogged down for “business reasons,” an...

Constitution May Sink Hillary's State Chance

Lawmakers can't take federal post for which their Congress raised the salary

(Newser) - Should Barack Obama nominate Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, the confirmation process could be the least of her worries, the Washington Post reports. The Constitution prohibits any member of Congress from assuming a federal post whose salary has been increased during the lawmaker’s term; cabinet salaries have risen...

Kerry Replaces Biden on Foreign Relations Committee

Nuclear nonproliferation among agenda items as Mass. Dem takes over from Biden

(Newser) - John Kerry will be the next chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Boston Globe reports, replacing Joe Biden when he assumes the vice presidency in January. Kerry plans to use his new post to ramp up anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to curb the spread of...

Waxman Unseats Dingell to Chair Key House Committee

Energy and Commerce Committee will see much legislation from Obama

(Newser) - House Democrats elected Californian Henry Waxman to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee today, the Hill reports. Waxman’s new post will hold considerable influence over how the next administration will effect its legislative agenda; his selection over Michigan’s John Dingell, who has served on the committee for...

Hillary Leaks Infuriate Obama's Camp
Hillary Leaks Infuriate Obama's Camp
Nov 20, 2008 10:42 AM CST

Hillary Leaks Infuriate Obama's Camp

(Newser) - The steady stream of leaks about Hillary Clinton’s Cabinet prospects is infuriating Barack Obama’s notoriously tight-lipped organization, the New York Daily News reports. “This isn’t coming from our shop,” said one Obama official, voicing the widely held sentiment that Clintonites have been strategically leaking the...

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
...

Next Stab at Health Reform Looks More Promising

Industry claims to be ready to compromise

(Newser) - If health care reform passes this time, a major factor will be that its erstwhile enemies are now rooting for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. An industry roadblock killed the Clinton administration’s attempt in the early 1990s, but this time, insurers are playing ball. “You see a...

Sources: Napolitano Tapped for Homeland Security

Insiders say Arizona governor has accepted the job, subject to vetting

(Newser) - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is Barack Obama's first choice to head Homeland Security, transition insiders tell CNN. Napolitano, the focus of Cabinet speculation for weeks, plans to accept the job following vetting from the president-elect's team, according to sources. Napolitano's office, contacted by the Arizona Republic, declined to confirm—or...

Faith in Petraeus May Lead Obama Astray in Afghanistan

Could 'yes we can,' become dangerous optimism?

(Newser) - President-elect Obama’s biggest decision in the war on terror is defining the nature and extent of the military commitment in Afghanistan, Russ Hoyle writes for the Daily Beast. While the US has Gen. David Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, there is no unified, coherent plan for battling the resurgent...

Finally: Mac Wins Missouri
 Finally: Mac Wins Missouri 
Nov 19, 2008 1:55 PM CST

Finally: Mac Wins Missouri

Last state to be called leaves tally at Obama 365, McCain 173

(Newser) - Missouri, the last state up for grabs, looks to have gone Republican by less than a 1% margin, leaving John McCain with 173 electoral votes to Barack Obama’s 365, the Kansas City Star reports. There are still 3,000 uncounted provisional ballots, but McCain’s margin is large enough...

Stories 5361 - 5380 | << Prev   Next >>