Battery Maker Files for Bankruptcy. Obama vowed to break from Bush’s national security policies. How’s he doing? | The Ticket. (ABC News) President Barack Obama came to office vowing a clean break from George W. Bush's national security policies: He would end the war in Iraq, order a halt to harsh interrogation practices that met international definitions of torture and close Guantanamo Bay. Three and a half years later, how's he doing?
The independent investigative journalistic outfit Pro Publica has a handy interactive chart to let you know. "Interact with the whole thing," as no one says. Now running for re-election, Obama has been highlighting the troop withdrawal from Iraq and the planned draw-down from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 (though he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai just signed an agreement that could have American soldiers stay in that war-torn country until 2024). "For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq," Obama told cheering supporters in Richmond, Va., on May 5. But Guantanamo Bay is still open. The timeline format is necessarily a bit spare. Memo to Republicans: Obama Is Tougher on Iran Than George W. Bush - Jeffrey Goldberg - Politics. Michael Shear has a useful round-up about continuing Republican efforts to paint Barack Obama as soft on Iran: Mitt Romney has called Iran's nuclear ambitions Mr.
Obama's "greatest failing" and said during a debate in New Hampshire last month that the president "did not do what was necessary to get Iran to be dissuaded from their nuclear folly. "Rick Santorum has accused Mr. Obama of acting "naively and cavalierly" about Iran's potential for nuclear weapons, saying on his Web site that "if Barack Obama has taught us anything, it's that experience matters. " These are not serious attacks. There is another reason we have arrived at this moment of high tension: The Obama Administration, through its stalwart opposition to the Iranian nuclear program, has narrowed Iran's maneuverability, and forced the regime to make some obvious errors (the alleged sponsorship of an attempt to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington, for instance).
This War Is Not Over Yet. Obama Versus the Pesticide Record-Keeping Program. Barack Obama's Super PAC Conundrum. President Barack Obama's decision to give his "reluctant blessing" to a super PAC supporting him, Priorities USA Action, has created something of a low-grade mess for his campaign team, which has had to spend the past few days fending off charges of hypocrisy from the press. This is understandable! President Obama, after all, famously defamed the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that has allowed these secretive organizations to flower and flourish. And the president has taken his share of shots from those on his side of the aisle as well: Russ Feingold characterized Obama's embrace of the super PAC system as "dancing with the devil. " Of course, the argument in favor of getting into bed with super PACs is equally compelling and typically involves the phrase "unilateral disarmament.
" But I'm not. My feeling is that if Obama is not going to unilaterally disarm, that's fine. Indeed, if you want to change the system, unilateral disarmament seems like a pretty bad way to go about it. California Tea Party Politician Calls For Assassination Of Obama And His Children On Facebook Post. Submitted by Epiphany. Socialist Party Derides Rick Perry 'Fairy Tale' Of Obama As Socialist. The Socialist Party USA is more than a little skeptical of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's claim Sunday that President Barack Obama belongs in their ranks. "The notion that Barack Obama is a socialist ranks among the greatest fairy tales in American society -- right up there with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the idea that if you work hard enough your children will live a better life than you," Socialist Party spokeswoman Lynn Lomibao said in an email.
"Socialists know what Obama is: another corporate funded politician placed in the White House to protect the wealth and status of the 1 percent. " Perry made his claim during the Sunday morning Republican presidential debate, when asked if he considered Obama opposed to the "founding ideals" of the United States. "I make a very proud statement and a fact that we have a president that's a socialist. " Perry said. "When Americans needed a solution to mass unemployment, Obama gave away billions in cash to bail out the banks," Lomibao wrote. Fact Checker - Obama's unsubstantiated boosterism.
Posted at 6:00 AM ET, 02/ 8/2011 By Glenn Kessler "We have the most productive workers, the finest universities and the freest markets. "--President Obama, Feb. 7, 2011 On Monday, the president walked across Pennsylvania Avenue and entered the lion's den, er, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The business group has been a bete noire of the administration, battling hard against Obama's push for a health-care bill and more financial regulation. A reader wondered whether this was just the usual "rah-rah America" or whether there are facts to back up the president's statement. The Facts Obviously, there are many surveys that might come up with different rankings, especially when ranking universities or markets.
Let's first tackle worker productivity. And the United States isn't even close to first: the Norwegians earned $73.26 per hour worked, compared to $57.54 for workers here. There are, of course, other measures and other reports. One well-known survey is the U.S. 1. The Pinocchio Test. Electric car maker and U.S. loan recipient Fisker cuts jobs - Feb. 6. The Fisker Karma is a beautiful car, but do the company's financial problems threaten it? NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Fisker Automotive, the electric car company that received $528 million in Energy Department loan guarantees, announced layoffs at its Delaware production facility on Monday. The Energy Department agreed to support two Fisker electric car projects: a luxury model -- the$103,000 Karma, which is on sale now -- and a more affordable sedan, the Nina.
The loans were to be paid in phases, but Fisker has missed production goals, keeping much of the federal funding out of reach for now. Fisker said it is working to renegotiate the loan agreement with the government. "We have temporarily delayed work at the plant based on ongoing discussions with the DOE regarding funding for the Project Nina program.
The Energy Department has drawn criticism in the past year when some of the startups it backed went belly up. Vice President Joe Biden, Delaware Gov. Behind closed doors, Obama administration politicizes the regulatory process. When former Harvard Law Professor and eclectic intellectual Cass Sunstein was named administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), conservative, industry-oriented Wall Street Journal editorial writers enthused that his appointment was a “promising sign.” A slew of subsequent events has proved their optimism well placed, as we have noted repeatedly in CPRBlog. But nothing beats hard, empirical evidence. In a report released yesterday, CPR announces the results of an exhaustive six-month analysis of the barebones information OIRA has eked onto the web regarding 1,080 meetings held over a 10-year period (October 2001-June 2011) with 5,759 outside lobbyists, 65 percent of whom represented industry and 12 percent of whom represented public interest groups.
The results were shocking even to us, long-time and admittedly jaded observers of OIRA’s one-way ratchet toward weakening public health and other protections. Obama’s OIRA changes more rules than Bush’s did. E-mails questioned huge contract for firm with ties to Obama administration. Democratic activist and fundraiser Ronald Perelman is the controlling shareholder of Siga Technologies. In May 2011, Siga Technologies won a no-bid, nearly $433 million HHS contractInternal government e-mails obtained by CNN show questions were raisedSiga's controlling shareholder is a longtime Democratic Party activistHHS says "after a rigorous market analysis" the contract was based on Siga's ability to produce WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A series of e-mail exchanges between officials at the Department of Health and Human Services shows growing alarm at the amount of projected profit from a government contract for a drug company whose controlling shareholder is a longtime Democratic Party activist.
Ronald Perelman is controlling shareholder of Siga Technologies and a longtime Democratic Party activist and fundraiser. He's also a large contributor to Republicans, but has been a particular friend of the Obama White House. Sweetheart deal with your money? Sweetheart deal with your money? Part 2. William Daley to step down as Obama's chief of staff.
Preserving Cabrini-Green's images In the sharp sun of an April afternoon, Nate Lanthrum walks through the remains of Cabrini-Green giving away what he has taken. He looks out of place, a white guy carrying a $1,500 Nikon D700 camera, but the residents are used to him by now and greet... Blackhawks thrilled to have Brent Seabrook back Starting with Game 6 Sunday, Brent Seabrook's timeout will be over and the defenseman will be back on the ice — so long as he promises to play nice. NFL draft preview: Defensive ends As the NFL draft nears — it takes place May 8-10 — we're taking an 11-day, position-by-position look at what's out there and what the Bears need.
In May 1974, Tribune delivered 2 Watergate bombshells Forty years ago this Thursday, Tribune readers found an extraordinary special section in their morning paper — a 44-page transcript of taped Oval Office conversations, the long-sought smoking gun of Watergate, perhaps the greatest political crisis... Northwestern women win at Wrigley.