As the House and Senate prepare to embark on their summer recess without having passed any health-care-reform bills, President Obama's dreams of radically restructuring the system have, at least for now, bumped up against the reality of Washington politics. But even if Congress manages to overcome the many obstacles and pass some kind of meaningful reform this fall, the goal of covering some 50 million currently uninsured Americans will encounter a whole new range of hurdles. Chief among them ...

Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock once sagely declared, "Live every week like it's Shark Week!" But what does that mean? You could say it means to seize the day, to live as if at any moment, a hammerhead might chomp through your torso. Or it could mean something else. Shark Week--returning Aug. 2 to Discovery Channel--is not actually a week when people get attacked by sharks. It is a decades-old TV ritual in which millions of people ...

Halfway through the first year of his historic administration, President Obama will give himself an early report card this weekend, assembling his Cabinet officials to review their performance and set new goals for the months ahead. All 22 Cabinet-rank officials will meet to discuss "priorities for the administration's agenda moving forward," a White House official said. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will kick off the two-day assessment with a dinner for the Cabinet on Friday evening at Blair House, ...

President Obama often talks about all of the forces lining up against his health care plan. But there's one critic who has remained relatively mum in the debate. David Scheiner, a Chicago, Illinois-based doctor, has taken a hard look at the president's prescription for health care reform and sees bad medicine. "This isn't that kind of health care program that I think is going to work," he said. So what makes Scheiner so special He was Obama's personal physician for ...

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here's an excerpt of the full transcript, which will be published on TIME.com on July 30. TIME: So how much of your day are you spending on this President Obama: Well, I think over the last two, three weeks I'd say I'm spending at least ...

A senior administration official said Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Department will be visiting the White House Thursday. The meeting among the three men will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday. Last week, Obama said he called Crowley and "there was a discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House." Gibbs said: "I think it was Sgt. Crowley's suggestion about the beer, and ...

A challenge that President Obama made to his Cabinet in April resulted in cost-cutting measures that more than doubled the original $100 million target, his administration said Monday. At his first Cabinet meeting, Obama asked Cabinet members to find $100 million in savings in 90 days. The deadline passed last week with no announcement, and the White House responded to reporters that information was being compiled. The Office of Management and Budget announced the results Monday, saying Cabinet members identified ...

After many months of agonizingly slow sales, automakers and dealers are anxiously counting on the cash-for-clunkers program, getting under way officially on Monday, July 27, to help clear their lots. They've got good reason to be nervous. With sales running at less than 10 million units annually — the lowest level in more than three decades — there is still a mountain of inventory sitting with dealers around the U.S. despite deep cuts in production, not only by the ...

A week of U.S. diplomatic maneuvering in the Middle East began Sunday with special envoy George Mitchell meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before heading to Israel. Top U.S. defense officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also will be in Israel this week to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security counterparts. Netanyahu, who has been at odds with President Obama's government on some key issues, welcomed the U.S. visitors. "These important visits are part of a thick and ...

Administration officials Friday indicated a second Guantanamo Bay detainee may be brought to the United States for a criminal trial, but cautioned no final decision has been made. Justice Department officials said they continue to review the case of Afghan detainee Mohammed Jawad, who has been held at the Guantanamo facility for more than six years. "The attorney general has now directed that (Justice) Department prosecutors expedite their review of his case so the department can decide whether evidence exists ...