Tag Archives: Obama

2-min Bio: Valerie Jarrett

Chicago businesswoman Valerie Jarrett has earned all sorts of nicknames as an aide to President-elect Barack Obama — from “First Friend” to “big sister” to “the other half of Obama’s brain.” As co-chair of his transition team, Jarrett has spent the past week denying rumors, parsing policy changes and insisting that she doesn’t know where she’ll end up in the new administration

Obama 1, Osama 0

Sometimes the tabloid route is best: Obama got Osama. President Barack Hussein Obama approved the attack that killed his near namesake Osama bin Laden the very same week that Obama revealed his long-form birth certificate, addressing a silly dispute that was really about something heinous and serious: the suspicion of far too many Americans that the President was not who he said he was, that he was a secret Muslim and maybe not even playing for our team.

A Brief History of Gays in the Military

In his first State of the Union address, President Obama declared that he would work to “finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.” Though a June 2009 Gallup poll showed that 69% of Americans support allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military, repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell” will take more than a declaration — it will take an act of Congress.

The Ryan Budget: A Test of Character for Obama

It was fateful that Paul Ryan released his budget plan the same week Barack Obama launched his re-election campaign — because we will now see what matters most to Obama. The President has talked passionately and consistently about the need to tackle the country’s problems, act like grownups, do the hard things and win the future.