President Obama

RSSRSS 2.0 Feed

Criticism All Around for Paucity of Confirmed Federal Judges

There’s growing attention today to the hypocrisy of Senate Republicans planning to filibuster the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and to the Obama administration’s failure to make judicial nominations a higher priority.
NPR’s Nina Totenberg this morning had an excellent roundup on the issue, while The New York Times, [...]


What’s the Point of Those Military Commissions Again?

Yesterday’s announcement that the Obama administration will try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 suspects in federal court has been hailed as everything from “an important step forward for justiceā€ by Human Rights Watch to “a step backwards for the security of our country [that] puts Americans unnecessarily at risk” by Senate Minority Leader [...]


Life After Gitmo

Winning his freedom was a big step for Mohammed Jawad, reportedly the youngest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay until he was released in August. But Jawad, who two U.S. judges have said was tortured in U.S. custody, is still suffering from the effects of his treatment during seven years in custody without charge, according to a [...]


Gitmo Closing May Be Delayed

The latest news on the Guantanamo front is that despite the president’s big promise in January to close Guantanamo Bay within a year, it turns out that just might not be possible, reports The Washington Post with ProPublica. Apparently, it’s been too hard to figure out what to do with the prisonersĀ  the United States [...]


Obama Tries Some Straight Talk to Wall Street — and Channels Jennifer Aniston

President Obama called on Wall Street today to stop fighting financial regulation and to instead embrace reform, Bloomberg reported. Speaking at Federal Hall in New York City on the first anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers, Obama used plain language to explain to all the financial wizards who brought us this crisis that they [...]


White House Immigration Pow-Wow Yields Agreement That Consensus Does Not Exist

As expected, today’s immigration summit at the White House didn’t yield any big news, unless you happen to be waiting for an update on your citizenship application, in which case you’ll soon be able to check that online.
Other than that, President Obama simply acknowledged the obvious, which is that “there’s not by any means consensus [...]


Obama Immigration Proposal May Not Be at Odds With Economy

In a recession, can President Obama make the case for immigration?


Panetta’s Problem

Following up on Spencer’s post about CIA Director Leon Panetta’s letter to his employees: Panetta’s statement that CIA officers “should not be investigated, let alone punished,” because this “is what fairness and wisdom require,” is not surprising. But it may not be all that wise, either.


Big Break From Bush on ‘State Secrets’ Unlikely Under Obama

In an interview with Katie Couric, Eric Holder dodged specifics on Justice Department plans.


The Right to Say ‘Hussein’

Victor Davis Hanson writes an atypically concise post about President Obama’s middle name. He wants Europeans to know the name, says Hanson, but:
It is forbidden at home; any American who employs the tripartite presidential name does so only to fan religious, racial, or ethnic prejudice.
Is this still true? Absolutely, the Obama presidential campaign was uncomfortable [...]