Will Clinton’s Obama Attacks Backfire?

Correction Appended: December 11, 2007 It started in earnest a couple of weeks ago when Hillary Clinton questioned how much Barack Obama’s time spent living in Indonesia as a child could actually help him make foreign policy decisions as a commander-in-chief. “Voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next President will face,” Clinton said November 20 in Shenandoah, Iowa. “I think we need a President with more experience than that.” Then Clinton announced in an interview with CBS that she was sick of being a punching bag for Obama and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and that she intended to fight back

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A Historian’s Take on Obama

Last year’s gripping campaign and the wave of popularity behind Barack Obama have focused tremendous attention on the White House and the presidency. As the country marks Presidents Day, TIME spoke with author and historian Richard Norton Smith about America’s “schizoid” relationship with its President, the lofty expectations for Obama and the way history’s verdicts can shift over time. What interests you as a historian about our new President There is a theory, and I think it holds some credence, that every 30 years or so America is in a regenerative mood

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Air Force One is one ‘spiffy ride,’ Obama says

During the first couple of weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has made good use of his "spiffy" new ride. The president, who has made several trips around the country in Air Force One, was particularly excited during his first trip on the plane as commander in chief, when he flew to the House Democrats’ annual retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia, last week. “Thanks for giving me a reason to fly Air Force One,” he told the House Democrats after his flight, which took him away from a week of fighting for the economic stimulus bill

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Who’s hurt the most? Obama or Gregg?

President Obama is vowing the loss of a Republican in his Cabinet will not stop his efforts to bridge the partisan divide. Sen. Judd Gregg said Thursday he was withdrawing his nomination as commerce secretary, citing “irresolvable conflicts” over the administration’s stimulus bill and the upcoming 2010 census

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In Defense of the Recession Blame Game

Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, except that right now everyone wants a little piece of it. The mob has been chanting for months, ever since former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson arrived in late September on Capitol Hill to warn of disaster, pass around his three-page plan and demand $700 billion to fix the problem. Most members of Congress were so spooked they were ready to write a check, until their phone lines started melting with the angry voices of taxpayers demanding details about the likely return on the investment

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Congress’s New Love Affair with Twitter, for Better or Worse

In today’s carefully stage-managed Washington, the last thing anyone expects from members of Congress is candor or spontaneity. So perhaps it’s not all that surprising that Representative Pete Hoekstra unwittingly triggered a maelstrom of criticism last weekend when he Twittered about his trip to Iraq

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France’s Sarkozy in Iraq to rebuild ties

French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a surprise visit to Baghdad Tuesday on a trip seen as aimed at raising his country’s stake in Iraqi reconstruction and easing frictions with Washington over the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Sarkozy, the first French president to visit the country, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during the brief trip ahead of a tour of Gulf states. The French leader described his visit as a vanguard of French economic involvement in rebuilding Iraq and an attempt to strengthen European ties

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Poll finds Obama more popular than his stimulus package

A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, but the economic stimulus package he’s trying to push through Congress is not nearly as popular. Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday gave Obama a thumbs-up on how he’s performing his duties, while 23 percent disapproved.

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George Obama Arrested

Obama’s Kenyan relative arrested on drug duty NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan drug squad say the half member of President Barack Obama has been arrested for possession of marijuana. Area law enforcement agency principal Joshua Omokulongolo said George Obama was picked up Saturday and was being held at the Huruma riot police post in the […]

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