Political News from Yahoo

Obama dreams of ‘going Bulworth,’ New York Times reports

President Barack Obama—exasperated by scandals, a seemingly stalled domestic agenda, and armchair chiefs-of-staff in the media—wants to tell you what he really thinks, Washington. Really let you have it. In fact, he’s so frustrated with all of the inside-the-Beltway BS that he might hire an assassin to target him in a couple of days, but [...]

IRS, AP subpoena, Benghazi--and the Turkish Prime Minister Makes Obama's Life Worse

President Obama had a hard enough time with the IRS mess, Benghazi, and monitoring Associated Press journalists. But as he faced reporters on Thursday, Obama heard Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discuss plans to travel to Gaza and the West Bank next month after specifically being asked not to by the U.S. government.

Here's Friday's Front-Page Photo of Obama

It began raining during President Obama’s Rose Garden press conference Thurday afternoon, so he called in the Marines—specifically to hold umbrellas over the heads of Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Obama said he didn’t want to be a bad host to the foreign head of state.)

Here's Tomorrow's Front Page Photo of Obama

It began raining during President Obama’s Rose Garden press conference this afternoon, so he called in the Marines—specifically to hold umbrellas over the heads of Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (Obama said he didn’t want to be a bad host to the foreign head of state.)

Senate panel backs Perez to head Labor Dept.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate panel has endorsed the nomination of Justice Department official Thomas Perez to head the Labor Department despite opposition from Republicans.

Danger for Democrats: How Obama Scandals Could Cost Them the Senate

When a president's party has a difficult time in midterm elections, it's usually because the campaign has become about the president himself. As Democrats look towards an already-challenging midterm election cycle in 2014, they can thank, or blame, President Obama for handing Republicans several opportunities to focus voter attention -- and anger -- at the White House. ...

Republicans Eager to Pounce on Obama Scandals May End Up Hurting Themselves

Scandals large and small are a remarkably common, if unwelcome, house guest for second-term presidents. But President Obama may not prove to be the only one hurt by the eruption of controversies around the Benghazi attack, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, and the Justice Department’s seizure of Associated Press phone records.The government is a very big institution, and the longer you control it, the greater the odds that someone somewhere does something stupid.

Obama calls meeting on military sex assault

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's top defense leaders were summoned to the White House Thursday to talk about the military's sexual assault crisis as the Pentagon's top general said women in uniform were losing confidence the problem will be solved.


No, the Justice Department Did Not Wiretap the House Cloakroom

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Rep. Devin Nunes of California dropped a bit of a bombshell: the Department of Justice had tapped the House cloakroom as part of its AP investigation. It's an explosive allegation — and almost certainly an incorrect one.


Senate Republicans Back Off Opposition to EPA Nominee McCarthy

Senate Republicans on Thursday eased their opposition to the nomination of Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency--although her confirmation by the full Senate is not yet assured.

Jon Stewart Is Not Letting Cheney or Rumsfeld Join the Scandal Parade

In continuing to address what he has now dubbed Hurricane Scandy, Jon Stewart had to admit on last night's Daily Show that conservatives were onto something with their criticism of the Obama administration in the midst of IRS and Benghazi dust-ups. He called the GOP victorious, with Mitch McConnell as Biggie! He even proposed teaming up with Fox News! But you know who still doesn't get to take a Republican victory lap? Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. ...


Eric Cantor’s Caucus Thwarts His Push for an Alternative Agenda

Readers of "It's Even Worse Than It Looks" know that I have not always treated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor kindly. I have excoriated him for engineering the debt-ceiling crisis in 2011 as a hostage-taking exercise, and then blowing up the talks between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner that could have led to a grand bargain. Cantor himself recently took credit for the latter in a profile written by Ryan Lizza in The New Yorker. He told Lizza “that it was a ‘fair assessment’ that he talked Boehner out of accepting Obama’s deal. ...

Tea party groups call IRS process 'nightmare'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anger over President Barack Obama's policies drove businessman Tom Zawistowski to file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service nearly three years ago to create the Ohio Liberty Coalition.


The Myth of Presidential Leadership

The theme of presidential leadership is a venerated one in America, the subject of many biographies and an enduring mythology about great figures rising to the occasion. The term “mythology” doesn’t mean that the stories are inaccurate; Lincoln, the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie, conveyed a real sense of that president’s remarkable character and drive, as well as his ability to shape important events. Every president is compared to the Lincoln leadership standard and to those set by other presidents, and the first 100 days of every term becomes a measure of how a president is doing.

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