barack-obama
Obama Still Enjoying Post-Assassination Popularity Boost
Jeff Neumann · 05/11/11 07:36AMThe results of a new Associated Press-GfK poll are out, and President Obama's approval rating now stands at 60 percent — his highest mark in two years (attributed mainly to the return of independent voters and the capping of Osama bin Laden). Good news for Barack Obama! His standing also improved on national security, with 73 percent saying they trust him to handle the threat of terrorism. Meanwhile, we still get to enjoy that never ending clusterfuck called the War on Terror and will continue to for some time. Yay, us.
President Obama Still Trying to Make Muslim Friends
Max Read · 05/10/11 10:54PMPresident Obama "is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days," The Wall Street Journal tells us. How exciting! Despite the fact that Obama is the most Muslim president of all time, besides Dwight Eisenhower, his approval ratings have dropped precipitously in the Arab world, and Pakistan is certainly not too pleased with him, either. So, Obama will "deliver a wide-ranging speech":
Would a Moat With Alligators Solve Our Illegal Immigration Problems?
Jim Newell · 05/10/11 04:11PMBarack Obama visited El Paso, Texas today to jump start the case for comprehensive immigration reform, yet again, as well as to make fun of Republicans. He mocks the party's ever-moving goalposts on border security, such as wanting more and more troops on the border and demanding an even "higher" fence. "Maybe they'll need a moat," he went on. "Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat." You mean we haven't even tried this yet? Well, now it's too late; alligator prices are through the roof these days.
U.S. Had Lawyers Ready for Bin Laden
Max Read · 05/09/11 11:19PMPresident Obama had "two teams of specialists" at the ready after the Osama Bin Laden mission: "One to bury Bin Laden if he was killed, and a second composed of lawyers, interrogators and translators in case he was captured alive." (Or so "senior officials" tell The New York Times.) If he had been captured alive, he'd have been taken, in order "to preclude battles over jurisdiction," to a Navy ship — the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, most likely — where he would have been interrogated. (Even so, "the mission," officials say, "was always weighted toward killing.") The question remains: Did the interrogators have six-packs? Was there a dog with the lawyers? Did it have titanium teeth? Because otherwise, seriously, bo-ring. [NYT; image via AP]
Osama Bin Laden Kept 'Natural Viagra' and other Bin Laden News
Max Read · 05/08/11 11:25AMNo, Obama Didn't Order the Removal of an American Flag from Ground Zero
Jim Newell · 05/06/11 02:30PMPost-Debate Focus Group Overwhelmingly Agrees: Obama Is a Socialist
Jim Newell · 05/06/11 12:42PMObama's Advice: 'You Do Not Want to Get Between Michelle and a Tamale'
Jim Newell · 05/06/11 11:47AMPresident Obama made it back from Ground Zero yesterday just in time for a packed White House Cinco de Mayo party. He prepared for the crowd all sorts of Mexico-related jokes, for which the First Lady served as a useful prop at times. Mexican food is Michelle's favorite, Obama said, adding that "you do not want to be between Michelle and a tamale." Not that she's fat or anything, he hastily adds — she exercises, too! Oh, to be a prop wife.
Republicans Ditching That Whole 'Privatize Medicare' Thing
Jim Newell · 05/06/11 11:21AMSecurity Scare at Obama's Ground Zero Ceremony
Jim Newell · 05/05/11 03:59PMNew York City police officers tackled and took away for questioning a "suspicious man" outside Ground Zero today, where President Obama was leading a wreath-laying ceremony. The man was walking his bike towards the World Trade Center area and saying, "Secret Service, Secret Service coming through," after which cops tackled him and searched through his messenger bag. And according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, "witnesses say may have pulled a gun out of a backpack as President Barack Obama's motorcade passed."
David Koch Doesn't Give 'Hardcore Socialist' Obama Credit for Killing Anything
Jim Newell · 05/05/11 02:55PMDavid Koch, the right-wing billionaire who funds much of the Republican party's ideological activities and whose towering persona makes for effective left-wing performance art, gave a rare public comment to New York magazine at some gala or another last night. Does he think the president deserves any credit for the Osama bin Laden mission? Of course not! Socialists don't deserve a farthing's worth of credit for anything.
Birthers Do Respond to Hard Evidence
Jim Newell · 05/05/11 01:35PMSome considered President Obama's decision to release his birth certificate last week a fool's errand, since those who didn't think he was born in the United States wouldn't ever respond to more definitive evidence. It still may have been a silly argument to engage — that press conference of him showing his papers will always seem beyond surreal, if not plain depressing. But now a whole 70 percent of Americans believe he was born in Hawaii! You know what that means: This issue is coming dangerously close to something that we'll never have to write about again.
Obama Lays a Wreath at Ground Zero
Jim Newell · 05/05/11 12:53PMHere's President Obama's relatively subdued appearance at Ground Zero, where he laid a wreath to honor the victims of 9/11 and then chatted up a nice police officer. No soaring speeches today, it seems. Before the ceremony he stopped at a local firehouse, and now he's meeting privately with 9/11 victims' families.
Is George W. Bush Irked Today?
Jim Newell · 05/05/11 12:03PMGeorge W. Bush turned down an Obama administration invitation to appear by his side at Ground Zero today, claiming he wants to stay out of the spotlight and that he already plans to be there for the 10th anniversary memorial in September. Fair enough! But this doesn't mean Team Bush won't leak bitchy comments to the Daily News just in time for Obama's visit, anyway.
Palin to Obama: Stop 'Pussy-Footing' Around
Jim Newell · 05/04/11 03:56PMStephen Colbert Chronicles the Politicization of the Bin Laden Kill
Matt Cherette · 05/03/11 11:39PMIt's only been about 48 hours since President Obama announced that the US had killed Osama bin Laden, and the issue has already been politicized. From Rush Limbaugh's faux congratulations for Obama, to conservative pundits crediting President Bush for the operation, it seems like things are back to politics as usual.
Bush Won't Go on Ground Zero Date With Obama
Max Read · 05/03/11 10:33PMFormer President George W. Bush declined President Obama's invitation to hang out with him at Ground Zero on Thursday, saying through a spokesman that he "appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight." Obama is visiting the World Trade Center site to meet with families of 9/11 victims and buy one of those "Go SEALs!" t-shirts; he extended the invitation to Bush after the guy from Five for Fighting Tweeted about it—and we all know how much Obama loved "Superman." [NYT; image via AP]