Obamas host Halloween at the White House President Barack Obama welcomed area students and children of military families Sunday to celebrate Halloween at the White House. Joined by his wife, Michelle, the president handed out treats to the gaggles of costumed children gathered on the lawn. Neither the president nor his wife dressed up. The trick-or-treaters -- ranging in age from 6 to 14 -- were from schools in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia areas, the White House said. They were greeted by ...

Obama Sticks to a Deadline in Iraq When President Obama approved a plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq  this summer, it was based on the assumption that a newly elected government would be in place by the time Americans headed home. Fourteen months later, that assumption is exploding but the plan remains the same. The delay and messy aftermath of the Iraqi election mean it may be months before the next government is formed, even as tens of thousands of American ...

AP Analysis: Karzai Remarks Risk US-Afghan Rift President Hamid Karzai's startling threat to join the Taliban if foreigners don't stop meddling in Afghanistan and his strident criticism of the West's role have worsened relations with Washington at a time when the U.S. military wants closer cooperation ahead of a potentially decisive offensive this summer. Karzai has been fuming for months about what he considers Washington's heavy hand. He's gambling that blaming outsiders for the troubles in a society with a long tradition ...

Is CIA morale going to suffer from the Justice Department's opening of an investigation into the agency's use of harsh interrogation methods under the Bush Administration? To a degree, yes. But there's a stronger case that the CIA was damaged the moment the White House picked it to conduct the interrogation of "high value" al-Qaeda prisoners. What everyone seems to forget is that the CIA is a civilian intelligence organization never designed, trained, or staffed to interrogate prisoners ...

President Obama and his family are hoping for a chance to unwind during their weeklong getaway to Martha's Vineyard. The first family, along with Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and the first dog Bo, arrived on the Massachusetts island Sunday. The Obamas are staying at a secluded 28-acre private estate. The No. 1 priority on Obama's vacation agenda is "To get a little break," White House spokesman Bill Burton said Monday. "He certainly appreciates the hospitality of the folks who ...

After smiling broadly for the TV cameras and complimenting one another, U.S. President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak provided little food for thought about what really transpired between them in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday. (CNN) -- After smiling broadly for the TV cameras and complimenting one another, U.S. President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak provided little food for thought about what really transpired between them in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday. Historically, the ...

If Washington wants health care reform with bipartisan support, experts say consider what former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did as governor in Democratic Massachusetts. "You don't have to have a public option," Romney said. "You don't have to have the government getting into the insurance business to make it work." Three years after enacting its own version of reform, Massachusetts now has near-universal coverage. Taxpayer watchdogs say it's affordable. "There is this widespread assumption, that is treated as fact, ...

The Obama administration is looking hard at pushing through a health care reform bill without Republican backing, top Democrats close to the White House told CNN. The Democratic majority in the Senate has been stymied in the health care debate by Republicans and conservative Democrats, leaving them short of the 60-vote filibuster-proof margin needed to pass the bill. Democratic success could depend on an obscure tactic called reconciliation, a type of budget maneuver that requires only a simple majority -- ...

George Orwell never wrote about health insurance, but his ghost hovers over the current health-care debate, providing inspiration for all manner of fears about Big Brother-like intrusions by the government into the lives of ordinary Americans. First was the rumor—promoted by high-profile Republicans like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Iowa Senator Charles Grassley—that Democratic health care plans would create "death panels" which would pass judgment on which citizens deserved to live. Next, a White House suggestion that people who have received ...

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the medical ethicist and oncologist who advises President Obama, does not own a television, and if you catch him in a typically energized moment, when his mind speeds even faster than his mouth, he is likely to blurt out something like, "I hate the Internet." So it took him several days in late July to discover he had been singled out by opponents of health-care reform as a "deadly doctor," who, according to an opinion column ...