President Obama is beginning to own the current economic crisis but most Americans still blame President George W. Bush for the country's economic standing, according to a poll released Monday.
The Rasmussen Reports survey found that a majority - 54 percent - still say that Obama inherited the recession from his predecessor. That's down eight points from early June, though.
Thirty-nine percent now say the current crisis is caused by Obama's policies, a 12 point jump from a similar poll a month ago.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
On Father's Day, President Obama called for fathers to 'step up' and play a bigger role in their kids' lives.
In a letter in Parade Magazine, Obama said he has seen and has experienced the effects of absent fathers since his father left his family when he was two years old.
"In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence - both in my life and in the lives of others," Obama wrote. "I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference."
"That is why we need fathers to step up," he added, "to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."
Obama said fathers need to be continually involved in their kids' lives and said that children can tell when their fathers are not paying attention.
Read more...
President Obama said the country can win a war against extremists who are attempting to "disrupt the country" in an interview with a Pakistani media outlet published Sunday.
The interview with Dawn is the first a president has ever given to a Pakistan news outlet, Dawn said. Obama said he supports Pakistan's decision to ramp up its offensive against extremists in the country.
"There's been a decision that's made that we support, that the Pakistani military and the Pakistani government will not stand by idly as extremists attempt to disrupt the country," Obama said.
He added: "I have confidence in the Pakistani people and the Pakistani state in resolving differences through a democratic process and to isolate extremists."
Obama also said that "nobody can or should push the Pakistani government."
The president also commented on the continued unrest in Iran following the June 12 election.
"To see hundreds of thousands of people in peaceful protest against an election that obviously raised a lot of doubts tells us that this is an issue that the Iranian people care deeply about," he said.
Obama, who has been careful not to be viewed as "meddling" in the election, also dismissed a statement by Ayatollah Khamenei that the U.S. is interfering in the election.
Read more...
President Obama issued the following statement on the demonstrations in Iran Saturday afternoon.
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
President Obama's plan to close the prison center at Guantanamo Bay appears to have hit yet another snag this weekend as detainees are saying they don't want to be transferred to Palau.
Palau, a small island nation near the Philippines, agreed earlier in the month to take in at least some of the approximately two dozen Chinese Muslims held at Gitmo.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Palau had agreed to take 13 of the Uighurs but that at least some of them have said they don't want to go there.
That news comes as four Uighurs that were recently transferred to Bermuda have sparked protests among the natives there.
From the Journal:
Earlier this month, a delegation from Palau visited the Uighurs at Guantanamo and Palau's government announced more than a week ago that it would offer them a home. But while the four bound for Bermuda arrived there within days of that agreement, those assigned to Palau have yet to leave.
Read more...
Saying that he's ready for a fight but "not spoiling for one," President Obama used his weekly radio address to defend and push the financial regulation reforms his administration unveiled this week.
Specifically, the president spoke of the great value to Americans his proposed consumer financial protection agency can bring to the table to help prevent another financial crisis like the world currently faces.
"It's charged with just one job: looking out for the interests of ordinary Americans in the financial system," Obama said. "This is essential, for this crisis may have started on Wall Street. But its impacts have been felt by ordinary Americans who rely on credit cards, home loans, and other financial instruments."
Both Republicans and Democrats expressed concern about some of Obama's proposals, specifically questioning his plan to transfer more and unprecedented authority to the Federal Reserve.
But Obama has hailed his populist new agency as the crown jewel of the regulations.
"Some argue that these changes, and the many others we've called for, go too far," Obama said. "And I welcome a debate about how we can make sure our regulations work for businesses and consumers. But what I will not accept - what I will vigorously oppose - are those who do not argue in good faith. Those who would defend the status quo at any cost."
The president noted that he has "already begun to see special interests mobilizing against change."
"That's not surprising. That's Washington," Obama said.
In his push to rewrite the regulatory rules, the president has argued that they are the only way to prevent another financial crisis of the magnitude the country is facing now.
"As we continue to recover from an historic economic crisis, it is clear to everyone that one of its major causes was a breakdown in oversight that led to widespread abuses in the financial system," he said. "An epidemic of irresponsibility took hold from Wall Street to Washington to Main Street."
Democratic congressional leaders said this week that they will have legislation for Obama to sign this year.
President Obama was on something of a roll Friday night at the 65th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner.
Obama made jokes about NBC's Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough and Brian Williams, as well as CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"Why bother hanging out with celebrities when I can hang out with the people that made me one," he said, referencing the White House Correspondents Association dinner a few weeks ago.
Check the video from MSNBC below. My favorite line is when he says the dinner conflicts with his date night. "I was supposed to be going out with Michelle for Thai food," he said, "in Bangkok."
President Obama's job approval dipped to 58 percent for the first time in Gallup's tracking poll on Friday.
Gallup notes that Obama has hit 59 percent twice since taking office, but this is his lowest approval rating yet.
Fifty-eight percent, of course, is still quite high, but critics will use this survey, as well as others this week, as a sign that Obama's honeymoon is coming to an end.
There is a margin of error of plus or minus three percent in the poll.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
