Barack Obama

Small majority approves of Obama's Afghanistan plan

Alex Koppelman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:25:00 PST

The poll numbers on President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan have been pretty ugly lately. So by comparison, a new poll from Gallup showing that 51 percent of Americans agree with the plan he announced this week actually seems like pretty good news for him.

Rumsfeld responds to Obama speech

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:25:00 PST

You don't hear much from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld these days. He did come out of the woodwork on Wednesday, though, in order to respond to the speech President Obama gave the night before about the war in Afghanistan.

The poster boy for progressive self-delusion

Joan Walsh — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:03:00 PST

A few people in my letters thread today claim to see "sour grapes" and "I told you so" in my post saying progressives have only themselves to blame for feeling betrayed by President Obama. Ain't no sour grapes -- I voted for him, of course -- but there is a helping of "I told you so," I admit, left over from the 2008 primary battle. And Tom Hayden's bleat of betrayal in the Nation today – Alex Koppelman writes about it here -- forces me to confess it.

Hayden: "Time to strip the Obama sticker off my car"

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:40:00 PST

Tom Hayden, the liberal activist best known for his work in the '60s, when he helped found Students for a Democratic Society, was once pretty enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Back in March of 2008 he had the first byline on an article in the Nation -- also attributed to Bill Fletcher Jr., Danny Glover and Barbara Ehrenreich -- that began, "All American progressives should unite for Barack Obama."

Is the jobs summit just a photo op?

Angela Blackwell — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:03:00 PST

Some of the best minds of this generation are getting together at the White House jobs summit this week to get our economy back to pre-recession levels.

Dems rush to abandon Obama

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:25:00 PST

The Democrats who serve in the House and Senate can read a poll as good as anyone, and on one thing at least the polls have been pretty clear lately: Americans aren't exactly wild about President Obama's position on Afghanistan. So it's not surprising to see Congressional Democrats distancing themselves from the leader of the party on the issue, even in the midst of a big new policy rollout. But the speed and the passion with which they're doing it is pretty striking.

Obama's surge: Has the president been misled by the Iraq analogy?

Juan Cole — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:02:00 PST

President Barack Obama’s just-announced plan for Afghanistan seems modeled less on Lyndon Johnson’s Vietnam strategy than on George W. Bush’s Iraq exit strategy. Or, at least it is modeled on the Washington mythology that Iraq was turned from quagmire into a face-saving qualified success by sheer indomitable will and a last-minute troop “surge.” But Afghanistan is not very much like Iraq, and the Washington consensus about its supposed end-game success in Iraq is wrong in key respects. Are think tank fantasies about an Iraq "victory" now misleading Obama into a set of serious missteps in Afghanistan?

Obama announces, defends Afghanistan surge

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:20:00 PST

If, years from now, historians and pundits are putting together lists of President Obama's best speeches, the one he gave Tuesday night probably won't even be considered. Indeed, the address that Obama delivered to a crowd of West Point cadets, in which he explained his decision to send an additional 30,000 of their future comrades off to fight in Afghanistan, didn't come close to the heights Obama often strives to hit.

"Afghanistan is not lost, but ... it has moved backwards"

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:02:00 PST

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan – the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my Administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It is an honor for me to do so here – at West Point – where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country.

Yes, it's Obama's war now

Joan Walsh — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:02:00 PST

I may be the only person in the United States who was trying to wait for President Obama's Afghanistan speech to make up my mind about his war plans. Of course, I mostly failed at that. Sure, all of Obama's options are bad, but still, few decisions seem as clear-cut as this one. Escalation is hard to see as an exit strategy. Obama has no clear path to "victory." We are likely to waste more lives than we save. I thought that was true before Obama's big speech, and I still think it now, afterward.

Don't blame the White House for party crashers

Mike Madden — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:32:00 PST

As the party-crashing Salahi family made the national TV debut they'd long dreamed about Tuesday, a new take on their escapades at the White House started percolating among some pundits and bloggers. In this alternate spin, the people responsible for the uninvited arrival at last week's state dinner were not the Secret Service, whose main job is to guard the president and the executive mansion -- but rather, the White House staff, and by implication, President Obama. After all, why blame the agency that's already admitted responsibility for a screw-up when you can blame the victims instead?

White House talking "surge" in Afghanistan

Alex Koppelman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:52:00 PST

Never let it be said that the Obama administration has dispensed with all of its predecessors' ideas. In describing the president's speech on Afghanistan set for tonight, two senior administration officials briefing reporters on background rather pointedly used one of the Bush team's favorite words: "surge."

Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation

Glenn Greenwald — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:02:00 PST

(updated below - Update II)

Obama aunt anguished by exile

RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:01:00 PST

President Barack Obama's aunt buried her face in her hands and sobbed as she described her anguish that she no longer has contact with him and his family after the revelation she had been living illegally for years in the United States in public housing.

Moore a sign of things to come for Obama?

Alex Koppelman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:50:00 PST

On Tuesday night, President Obama is set to announce that he's sending additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan -- about 30,000 of them. Indeed, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the president has already given the order, though for now Gibbs wouldn't say what the actual order was.

Obama back over 50 in Gallup poll

Alex Koppelman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:50:00 PST

Let's get one thing out of the way quickly: It never mattered all that much, really, whether President Obama's approval rating, as measured by Gallup, was a percentage point or two below 50 percent. From a statistical perspective, in fact, it was impossible to say for sure that his rating had changed at all -- the swing was within the margin of error.

Obama dinner crashers peddling interview

DAVID BAUDER, Associated Press — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 PST

The couple who crashed President Barack Obama's first state dinner are peddling their story to broadcast networks for hundreds of thousands of dollars, a television executive says.

State dinner crashers met Obama

LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:50:00 PST

This time, the picture is the story.

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

Glenn Greenwald — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:28:00 PST

Earlier this week, Kevin Drum said that "nine times out of ten" Obama's policies are "pretty much what [he] expected" but that "the biggest one-time-out-of-ten where he's not doing what [he] expected is in the area of detainee and civil liberties issues." Similarly, Andrew Sullivan cited "accountability for war crimes and civil rights" as among the very few issues on which he finds fault with Obama. Matt Yglesias objects to those observations as follows:

Obama heading off to Europe again

Alex Koppelman — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:23:00 PST

President Obama's first trip to Copenhagen, the one he made as part of an effort to lobby for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, didn't go so well. But just two months after that, he's got another chance.