Now that the fiscal cliff drama is behind him, President Obama returned to Washington this weekend to face several more looming budget battles with congressional Republicans, putting them on notice that he won’t be playing a “dangerous game” again with the debt ceiling. “If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay [...]
Obama Reveals Names of Inauguration Donors
January 5, 2013 | Posted by
When President Obama was preparing for the inaugural festivities after the 2008 election, he was clear — he would take no donations from corporations to pay for the activities, even though he was legally allowed to do so. But after four years of Washington politics, Obama is not even bothering with such ethical dilemmas. The [...]
Obama Signs Controversial Gitmo Bill Into Law
January 3, 2013 | Posted by
President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 on Wednesday, despite his own threat to veto it over prohibitions on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Civil liberties advocates had roundly criticized the bill over Guantanamo and a separate section that could allow the military to indefinitely detain American citizens on suspicions [...]
Obama Needs to Roar
January 3, 2013 | Posted by
Now that Congress has finally acted to end the latest economic crisis, President Obama can take a short-lived victory lap. Victory or not, he might have avoided the protracted drama called the fiscal cliff some time ago if he had acted like a lion instead of a mouse. To grasp the president’s role in instigating [...]
Obama Urges Illinois Lawmakers to Legalize Gay Marriage
January 2, 2013 | Posted by
The Illinois State Senate will hear a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage on Wednesday night. Speaking to the Chicago Phoenix, State Sen. Heather Steans (D) said that a vote on the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act” could come before the end of the week and is expected to pass, provided all of the [...]
Sales of Assault Rifles, Ammo Soar Across the Country
January 1, 2013 | Posted by
Though it’s been 147 years since the Civil War cleaved this country in two, at times it feels like the United States is still a country at war with itself. This is the feeling one gets upon hearing the news that just as the president, lawmakers and thought leaders are trying to figure out how [...]
GOP Comes to Its Senses to Avert Fiscal Cliff. Maybe.
January 1, 2013 | Posted by
Sen. Mitch McConnell asking for help from the White House? I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I read that the Kentucky Republican asked the White House for some assistance in getting a deal done on so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations because he had reached an impasse with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Vice [...]
Lillian Lewis, Wife of Congressman John Lewis, Died on New Year’s Eve
January 1, 2013 | Posted by
Lillian Miles Lewis, U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ wife, friend and political adviser, died Monday at Emory University Hospital. She was 73. Close friend Xernona Clayton said Lillian Lewis had been ill for an extended period of time but encouraged her husband to continue with his career. “She’d kind of get on him about telling people [...]
Obama: Newtown Shooting Was “The Worst Day of My Presidency”
December 31, 2012 | Posted by
President Barack Obama has declared that the worst day of his four year presidency was the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting earlier this month. While speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the president expressed his desire to strengthen gun laws and the long term impact the eve t had on him. “I [...]
2012 Elections: Black Turnout May Have Surpassed White Turnout
December 30, 2012 | Posted by
As the ongoing post-election analysis begins to emerge, it’s becoming apparent that something remarkable happened last month in the presidential election: For the first time in history, blacks appear to have voted at a higher rate than whites, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. While the conclusion still isn’t final because post-election analysis is [...]
