Obama on Oil: Tapping Strategic Reserves Possible, But It's a Last Resort
President Obama has not ruled out tapping America's strategic oil reserves if oil prices continue to rise, but he added such a move would first require a "severe disruption of supply." Increasing gas prices, triggered by the unrest in the Middle East, were among the topics the president addressed at a Friday afternoon press conference that touched on the devastating Japanese earthquake, America's possible involvement in Libya, and the budget stalemate in Congress. Obama said the opening of the country's strategic oil reserves remains a possibility, but he declined to specify under what ...
Obama, Father-in-Chief, Hosts White House Conference on Bullying
For a few hours on Thursday morning, President Obama donned the cap of America's "Father-in Chief," hosting the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. Standing alongside the first lady, the president announced, "If there's one goal of this conference, it's to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It's not. Bullying can have destructive consequences for our young people." As evidence, the president recalled victims of bullying who had taken their own lives: "They felt like they had nowhere to turn, as if they had no ...
Obama's Education Trip: As Much About Campaigning as Classrooms
Given President Obama's recent (and very public) focus on education, one might think that he was stepping above the partisan fray to tackle long-term "strategic investments in America's future," as the White House would put it. Having decided that March is, unofficially, Education Month, the commander in chief went on the road to tout education reform, a historically bipartisan issue. But a closer read of Obama's message -- and the fact that his visits were coupled with party fundraisers -- are signs that this effort wasn't simply about schools and teaching. Despite whatever consensus exists ...
Obama Woos GOP During Budget Talks, but So Far, Detente Is Still a Dream
For Vice President Joe Biden, a man not known for his brevity, the statement on Thursday said it all. The veep had been in budgetary talks that afternoon with Republican heavyweights Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), and the public was eager to hear how his bipartisan pow-wow had gone. The verdict? "We had a good meeting, and the conversation will continue," read Biden's official statement. Full stop. For a man the White House has consistently relied upon for grinning optimism and a can-do attitude, even in the worst-case scenarios -- images of ...
Obama Says U.S. Military Action Possible in Libya, Authorizes Planes for Airlift
Using some of his sharpest language to date, President Obama on Thursday called for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to "step down from power and leave," and would not rule out U.S. military action in the region, including imposing a possible no-fly zone. Obama also said he had approved use of American civilian and military aircraft to assist in regional evacuations. Speaking at a joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama said he had instructed the Departments of State and Defense to present him with a "full range of options," explaining that he did not want the ...
Obama Honors Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Philip Roth and Other Artists
Music producer Quincy Jones, saxophone great Sonny Rollins, authors Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth, and musician James Taylor were among recipients of the 2010 National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal recognized by President Obama at the White House on Wednesday. In a ceremony in the East Room, the president told the gathering of artists, poets, writers and dancers that their works "speak to our condition, and they affirm our desire for something more and something better." In a nod to his own youth, Obama recalled those "whose books or poetry or works of history ...
Obama Scores Human-Rights Victory With Libya Response -- but Can It Last?
Moving at lightning speed over the weekend, President Obama and members of his administration tackled the crisis in Libya with both finesse and brute force, dispelling criticism that they've been slow to respond with a series of moves that showed America had taken a definitive -- and aggressive -- position in the emergency. But to those in the global community looking to Libya as a potential model for international action on human rights and crimes against humanity, the reality is perhaps far muddier. Related Stories U.S. Military Readies Libya Options -- With ...
Obama Says States Can Opt Out of Health Care Plan Three Years Early
In a nod to pressure from state governors, President Obama announced a plan on Monday to allow states to opt out of some aspects of the nation's health care reform law three years earlier than previously mandated. As currently written, the law says states must wait until 2017; the new bill would allow them to begin pursuing alternate plans as early as 2014. As governors across the country have waged battles to trim large deficits -- most publicly of late in Wisconsin -- the move was seen as a concession to those leaders who have criticized the new health care law and questioned its economic ...
After Egypt and Libya, What's Next for Those Still Under Dictatorships?
As it stands, 2011 will be remembered as the year that a handful of harsh dictatorships around the world fell -- or at least teetered on the edge of collapse -- driven by largely peaceful public protest. President Obama, in his remarks on the situation in Libya this week, eloquently summed up the moment as he recalled a plea from one Libyan protester: "We just want to be able to live like human beings." Obama repeated the line for poetic emphasis, and though this device is something he deploys from time to time -- and despite the fact that the situation itself was quite familiar, with ...
The Raymond Davis Case: Killings by CIA Operative Strain U.S.-Pakistan Ties
Enraged Pakistanis on Monday called for the execution of Raymond Davis -- an imprisoned American accused of murdering two Pakistani civilians last month -- as U.S. officials sought to minimize damage to bilateral relations and persuade the government of Pakistan to spare Davis' life. Negotiations were complicated by the revelation this weekend that Davis was not working in a diplomatic capacity, as American officials had previously maintained, but instead was a covert operative contracted by the CIA. Davis' story reads like a John LeCarre novel: a former special operations agent, he ...
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