Barack Obama

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

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Brzezinski Down on Idea of Afghan 'Surge'

Security expert: McCain camp on path to world war

(Newser) - The presidential candidates seem to agree that Afghanistan needs a troop surge, but Zbigniew Brzezinski doesn’t. Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, now a Barack Obama backer, says he's concerned that the US is “literally running the risk of unintentionally doing what the Russians did,” and being...

Mac: Maliki's 'Pretty Good Timetable' Beats Obama's

Blogosphere up in arms at candidate's parsing of Iraq plans—both for 16 months

(Newser) - In an interview with CNN today, John McCain called Nouri al-Maliki’s troop withdrawal plan a “pretty good timetable”—leading Josh Marshall, on Talking Points Memo, to call foul. So “Barack Obama's 16 month timetable is a catastrophe,” Marshall says, the difference being that the Iraqi...

Love Affair Between Press, Obama Is On the Rocks
Love Affair Between Press, Obama Is On the Rocks
analysis

Love Affair Between Press, Obama Is On the Rocks

Resentment gr

(Newser) - Might the much ballyhooed love affair between the press and Barack Obama be coming to an end? Republicans watching coverage of his Europe trip would scoff, but Gabriel Sherman writes in the New Republic of a growing resentment between reporters on the trail and a campaign staff seen as more...

Bush Hand: Maliki Nod 'Incredibly Damaging' to Mac

Iraqi PM's virtual endorsement of Obama plan may be 'game-changing event'

(Newser) - President Bush’s former communications director is decidedly off GOP message in a new interview, Politico reports, with Dan Bartlett, now in the private sector, saying, “Time will tell, but the al-Maliki comments about a timetable is very close to a game-changing event. That was incredibly damaging [to McCain],...

Paper Runs Obama's Western Wall Prayer

Dem wants to be guarded against 'pride and despair'

(Newser) - The prayer Barack Obama put in Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday was removed by a Jewish seminary student and published in a local newspaper, the AP reports. It read, “Lord—Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me...

Obama and Sarkozy Rendezvous in Paris

Dem attends press conference with French president in brief visit; London next

(Newser) - Barack Obama received an enthusiastic Paris reception today from President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said, “The French have been following him with passion”—and that the Democrat’s “adventure … rings true in the hearts in minds” of his country. The two men discussed cooperation on climate change,...

Obama's Antiwar Stance: That Was Then, This Is Now

2002 state vote not enough to hang a campaign on

(Newser) - There's no reason to assume that Barack Obama would have voted against the war if he’d been in the Senate in 2002, James Kirchick writes for Politico. As a state senator, Obama was aligned with his liberal constituency in opposing the Iraq invasion; as a thoroughly briefed US senator...

Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits
Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits
OPINION

Obama Speech Plays Well With Euro Pundits

Most praise it, with reservations

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s speech in Germany is drawing the full complement of responses in Europe, from glowing to scowling. Here are a few:
  • He’s “an idealist in the true spirit of the American success story,” writes Gerhard Spohl in Der Spiegel, and aspires to be "something
...

Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin
Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin
Opinion

Obama's Empty Rhetoric Starting to Wear Thin

Optimism needs substance, Brooks says

(Newser) - Say this for Barack Obama: He’s optimistic. Yesterday in Berlin he promised to “remake the world,” envisioned a “new dawn in the Middle East” and mentioned walls tumbling down no fewer than 11 times. It was trademark Obama rhetoric, writes David Brooks of the New York ...

Campaign Costly for Secret Service

Department nees $9.5 million more than budgeted, leaders say

(Newser) - The Secret Service has asked for an additional $9.5 million to cover the costs of protecting candidates during this year's campaign—already the longest and costliest in agency history, AP reports. The department had budgeted $107 million, up from $73 million in 2004, but between the marathon primary season,...

Maliki Pegs Obama as the Most Pliant: Krauthammer

Iraq PM thinks Dem can be manipulated, writes Krauthammer

(Newser) - Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's timetable for withdrawal from Iraq this week was "the earliest and most ostentatious absentee ballot of this presidential election," writes Charles Krauthammer. The Washington Post columnist thinks that the Iraqi PM gave Obama an electorial assist for a clear reason: between him...

Obama Hits Paris
 Obama Hits Paris

Obama Hits Paris

Candidate holds meeting, press conference with 'pal' Sarkozy

(Newser) - Barack Obama has arrived in Paris, where the candidate is holding talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before a joint news conference. Sarkozy rushed back from a summit in the southwest of France to meet Obama at the presidential palace, reports AP. The two first met in 2006 when Sarkozy...

Gimmickry Makes McCain the Howard Dean of 2008
Gimmickry Makes McCain
the Howard Dean of 2008
OPINION

Gimmickry Makes McCain the Howard Dean of 2008

His Berlins ad blast calls to mind antics Dem used in '03-04—when he didn't win, either

(Newser) - What’s the most apt parallel for John McCain’s underdog White House run? It’s Howard Dean’s gimmick-loving, maturity-lacking 2004 run, Ezra Klein writes in the American Prospect. McCain’s “whimsy” shone yesterday with ads in Berlin, NH; Berlin, Penn.; and Berlin, Wis. (with Barack Obama in...

Want Denver Coronation Tix? Be Prepared to Work

Activists with a plan will be rewarded with seats at Dem's acceptance speech

(Newser) - Barack Obama wants you to help fill Denver’s Invesco Field for his coronation at the Democratic convention—but you’ll have to work for it, the Denver Post reports. A campaign official says would-be spectators will have to outline a plan for activism before and after the Aug. 28...

Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy
Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy
opinion

Not Exactly JFK, But Obama Leaves Crowd Happy

His speech in Berlin is rather ordinary

(Newser) - Make no mistake, Barack Obama gave a fine speech in Berlin today, writes Shane Danielsen in the Guardian. But any comparisons to JFK can stop right there. His speech hit all the right notes but shaded more toward the ordinary than the memorable. The mood of the mostly young crowd...

The Democratic Party: Is Civil War Brewing?
The Democratic Party: Is Civil War Brewing?
OPINION

The Democratic Party: Is Civil War Brewing?

Maybe there's not enough room for both elites and blue collars

(Newser) - Democrats are undoubtedly ascendant in the US, Joel Kotkin writes in the American, but the demographic shift that made it so may undermine the party in the near future. That’s because the working-class party of FDR is now chock-full of elites—two constituencies with different values. The richer Dems...

McCain Ad Links Obama to Castro
McCain Ad
Links Obama
to Castro

McCain Ad Links Obama to Castro

'Guilt by endorsement' ad runs on South Florida websites

(Newser) - The McCain campaign is running an Internet ad composed of photos of Barack Obama and Fidel Castro side by side, with the caption “Fidel Castro thinks he is 'the most advanced candidate,'" the Huffington Post reports. The ad is running on websites catering to South Florida, home to...

Obama, in Berlin: There Are More Walls to Tear Down

Estimated 100K see Dem give long-awaited speech to Europe

(Newser) - Barack Obama told an estimated 100,000 in Berlin today that “America has no better partner than Europe.” Touching on climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, genocide, and human rights, the Democrat referenced Ronald Reagan’s famous plea to the Soviet Union—saying there are new “walls we must...

Obamas Keep Girls' Feet on Ground

Despite bid for White House, girls don't feel special because dad's running for prez

(Newser) - It can be hard enough to keep kids grounded, but Barack and Michelle Obama's task might be complicated by his quest to be the most powerful leader in the world. Not so, the Obamas tell People, in a look at how they keep it real on the campaign trail. The...

Free of History and Politics, Berlin Is Perfect for Obama

Even 'Victory Column' is associated now with a music festival

(Newser) - Forget the chatter about whether Barack Obama should be stopping in Brussels or giving Germany pride of place over France and Britain. Berlin is “quite an appropriate setting” for the candidate's big European speech, Cameron Abadi writes for the New Republic. The “existential angst of the Cold War”...

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