Administration

President Obama is winning the public opinion fight over the economic stimulus package under consideration in Congress, according to a new poll from Gallup.

Obama enjoys a 67 percent approval rating on how he has handled the government's efforts to pass a stimulus bill, while Republicans in Congress have earned a 31 percent approval rating on how they've handled the stimulus effort, according to the poll.

Congressional Democrats ranked in the middle, with a 48 percent approval rating on the stimulus.



Disapproval ratings reflected the same order. Obama collected a disapproval rating of 25 percent on the stimulus; Congressional Democrats, 42 percent; and Congressional Republicans, 58 percent.

Gallup surveyed 1,012 U.S. adults on Feb. 4 for the poll. Its margin of error is +/- three percentage points.

President Obama tried to tamp down expectations for the fervent supporters of Lockheed Martin

The economic stimulus package being debated by Congress, his nomnees' tax problems, and a comment about U.S. policy in the Middle East have given President Obama a "rocky" start to his White House tenure, former Massachusetts Gov. and GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney told TIME magazine in a recent interview.

"I think President Obama is off to a rocky start," Romney said. "The theme of 'Yes, we can' seems to have been replaced with 'Well, maybe we can't.'"

Romney specifically took issue with House Democrats' role in crafting the pending economic stimulus package and Obama's comment in his first TV interview as president, with Arabic network Al-Arabiya, that the U.S. "All too often the United States starts by dictating" in engaging with Middle Eastern nations.

See Romney's full comments on Obama, as excerpted from the TIME interview, below:

How do you think President Obama is doing so far? (See pictures of how Presidents age in office.)

I think President Obama is off to a rocky start. The theme "Yes, we can" seems to have been replaced with "Well, maybe we can't." I believe that with all the challenges America faces, the simple solutions and the hope that were sold by the Obama team are inadequate to the task ahead.

The cabinet appointments have been subject to a disappointing vetting process. His forays into foreign affairs produced a very unfortunate comment that America has been "dictating" to other nations.

And rather than proposing and driving through Congress his own economic stimulus plan, President Obama ceded the construction to House Democrats. They in turn have come up with a pork-laden, ineffective piece of legislation which I think Americans are increasingly recognizing will not solve the economic challenges we face.

Another day, another Obama Cabinet nominee facing tax issues.

USA Today reported Thursday afternoon that the husband of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), Obama Read more...

President Obama this morning signed executive orders creating a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, saying the answer to the economic crisis will not come from government alone.

"No matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides," Obama said. Read more...

President Obama will sign an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) today at 4:30 p.m., according to the White House, enacting legislation that has been a top priority for congressional Democrats since the 110th Congress.

The House passed an SCHIP extension today 290-135, sending it to Obama's desk. The bill reauthorizes SCHIP for the next four and a half years at higher funding levels.

The House passed a previous $35 billion expansion in 2007, which President Bush vetoed. Democratic leaders tried and failed to override the veto in October of that year.

"This is the beginning of the change that the American people voted for in the last election and that we will achieve with President Barack Obama," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has led the Democratic crusade for SCHIP expansion, said on the House floor today. "We look forward to this afternoon when the President of the United States will sign this legislation."

The Netroots are coming to bat for Howard Dean once more.

Ilya Sheyman, a 22 year-old online grassroots organizer and fundraiser based in Chicago, is pushing for Dean to replace former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D) as President Obama Read more...

President Obama said he "will not tolerate" lavish bonuses and excessive pay to top executives at bailed out firms this morning, upon announcing a $500,000 pay cap for top executives at companies receiving taxpayer bailouts.

"For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis is not only in bad taste -- it Read more...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the early, leading possibilities to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, took himself out of consideration Tuesday after nominee Tom Daschle's withdrawal.

Dodd is the second-most senior Democrat on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and is a close friend of the committee's chairman, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). But Dodd laughed off the possibility when asked about his interest, pointing out that he already chairs the Senate Banking Committee and is the second-most senior majority member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

"No, no, no, I like what I'm doing," Dodd said. "I'm still frankly upset about Tom and I haven't given any thought to who his successor would be."

-J. Taylor Rushing

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has withdrawn his name from consideration for Health and Human Services secretary, MSNBC is reporting.

Daschle has faced controversy in recent days after the revelation that he failed to pay over $100,000 taxes on a car and driver provided by a wealthy friend and business partner. Daschle paid just over $140,000 in back taxes and interest while being considered for the Cabinet post, according to a Senate Finance Committee report.

Daschle formally apologized for the error yesterday to the committee, before which he would have appeared for confirmations hearings.

The former Senate majority leader had been considered a slam dunk when President Obama announced him as his pick to lead the deparment.