President Obama speech – News Stories About President Obama speech - Page 5

Obama Pushes Tax Breaks for Small Businesses

Dec 8, 2009 1:08 PM CST

Obama Pushes Tax Breaks for Small Businesses

President lays out ideas to create jobs

(Newser) - President Obama proposed a series of job-creating ideas today to supplement the original stimulus plan, with an emphasis on helping small businesses through tax breaks and a suspension of their capital gains taxes. He also called for spending on highways and other infrastructure projects as well as the so-called “...

'Muslim President' Hates Charlie Brown: Tenn. Mayor

Dec 4, 2009 5:32 PM CST

'Muslim President' Hates Charlie Brown: Tenn. Mayor

Obama's West Point speech forced postponement of Christmas special

(Newser) - President Obama's speech on the Afghanistan troop buildup bumped the annual airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas, really ticking off the mayor of Arlington, Tenn. He apparently hasn't heard that nothing is private on Facebook, where he vented about TV scheduling: "Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit...

The Obama Campaign Is Over: Get Used to It

DAVID BROOKS

Dec 4, 2009 8:04 AM CST

The Obama Campaign Is Over: Get Used to It

The analytical balancing act is what the country needs

(Newser) - Many Democrats are complaining that the passion of the Obama campaign is missing from the White House but they should realize that upbeat rallies aren't what it takes to run a country, writes David Brooks. It requires endless amounts of prodding and compromise to get anything done in Washington and...

Obama Plan
Won't Make
America Safer

OPINION

Dec 4, 2009 1:22 AM CST

Obama Plan Won't Make America Safer

Afghan surge can't defeat terrorist ideology

(Newser) - President Obama should have used his speech to declare victory and announce the start of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan instead of an escalation, writes Eugene Robinson. Even if the surge achieves its immediate mission—at huge cost—the operation won't achieve its ultimate goal of making the US safer...

White House Piles on Rummy Over Afghan Troop Gripe

Dec 3, 2009 10:01 AM CST

White House Piles on Rummy Over Afghan Troop Gripe

'You go to war with the defense sec you have'

(Newser) - Donald Rumsfeld would prefer President Obama not disparage the previous administration by suggesting it ignored troop requests by US commanders in Afghanistan, as he did in Tuesday’s speech. That’s a “bald misstatement,” the former defense secretary says in a statement. “At least as it pertains...

Karl Rove: Obama Finally
Did Something Right!

we can still win afghan war

Dec 3, 2009 5:48 AM CST

Karl Rove: Obama Finally Did Something Right!

GOP can help prez overcome anti-war Democrats

(Newser) - President Obama's party may not be wild about his Afghanistan strategy but he has won high praise from Karl Rove. Obama "deserves to be cheered" for sending more troops to Afghanistan over the objections of his vice-president, Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal , predicting that the president will...

'Goldilocks' Strategy
Wins Prez Time

OPINION

Dec 3, 2009 1:24 AM CST

'Goldilocks' Strategy Wins Prez Time

Adopting centrist position is a gamble

(Newser) - President Obama's Afghanistan speech represented a brave foray into the middle ground of American politics, where those who venture tend to get crushed, writes EJ Dionne. His "Goldilocks strategy—neither too hawkish nor too dovish, but just right"—has split his party while failing to win any credit...

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Dexter Filkins

Dec 2, 2009 8:49 AM CST

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Surge relies on corrupt Karzai government, poorly-trained military

(Newser) - By announcing an 18-month timetable, Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet for an Afghan government and military that have so far proven unreliable. Hamid Karzai’s government is considered among the world’s most corrupt, but Obama seems to be betting that the withdrawal timetable will encourage it to...

Pundits Split on Obama's
'Churchill Moment'

afghanistan speech

Dec 2, 2009 7:51 AM CST

Pundits Split on Obama's 'Churchill Moment'

Some find president's resolve unconvincing

(Newser) - President Obama staked his presidency on the Afghanistan war last night, but pundits are widely split on how convincingly he made the case for escalation.

This was no George W. Bush on an aircraft carrier, writes Matthew Cooper in the Atlantic. This was a community organizer turned war president,"

...

Left, Right Assail Obama Plan

AFGHANISTAN SPEECH REACTION

Dec 1, 2009 9:25 PM CST

Left, Right Assail Obama Plan

GOP faults timetable; Dems fault surge itself

(Newser) - There was a bipartisan show of unity after President Obama’s speech tonight on Afghanistan—though hardly the unity Obama was looking for, as negative reaction echoed from his leftmost supporters to his rightmost critics. The 30,000-troop buildup irked Democrats, the Wall Street Journal reports, despite Obama pairing that...

Chris Matthews: West Point Was 'Enemy Camp' for Obama

AS MSNBC TURNS

Dec 1, 2009 8:45 PM CST

Chris Matthews: West Point Was 'Enemy Camp' for Obama

Conservative bloggers quick to pounce on MSNBC pundit

(Newser) - The conservative blogosphere was quick to jump on Chris Matthews’ statement on MSNBC that President Obama went “to the enemy camp” for his Afghanistan speech—indeed, an odd way to characterize the US Military Academy’s reception for the Commander in Chief. “When your mouth is bigger than...

Speech, Afghan Reality
Don't Quite Match

ANALYSIS

Dec 1, 2009 8:16 PM CST

Speech, Afghan Reality Don't Quite Match

Allies may not help; Afghan troops ineffective even if trained

(Newser) - President Obama’s speech tonight “raised expectations that may be hard to meet,” AP analysts Calvin Woodward and Robert Burns write, citing conditions in Afghanistan that don’t match Obama’s rhetoric:

US allies will add troops: In fact, this has always been a tough sell, and even

...

Obama to Send
30K Troops;
Home By 2011

AFGHANISTAN SPEECH

Dec 1, 2009 7:55 PM CST

Obama to Send 30K Troops; Home By 2011

President explains US troop surge at West Point

(Newser) - Saying that “Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,” President Obama explained his decision tonight to send 30,000 more US troops there. Speaking at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, he told the cadets in the audience, “I owe...

Obama Sounding
a Lot Like Bush

GLENN GREENWALD

Dec 1, 2009 1:55 PM CST

Obama Sounding a Lot Like Bush

Rationale for troop surge is the same that Bush used for Iraq

(Newser) - Glenn Greenwald finds the rationale for the Afghan troop surge President Obama will announce tonight to be "remarkably similar" to that used by George W. Bush when he argued for more troops in Iraq in 2007. The speech hasn’t been given yet, but the administration has been leaking...

Obama Talks Afghan
Strategy With Karzai

Dec 1, 2009 9:09 AM CST

Obama Talks Afghan Strategy With Karzai

Morning videoconference pleased Afghan president, sources say

(Newser) - President Obama spent an hour on the phone with Hamid Karzi this morning to discuss the new US policy for Afghanistan, a spokesman for the presidential palace reports. A close confidant of Karzai's who was with the Afghan president following the call said Karzai was happy with the videoconference conversation...