Barack Obama

Has Obama Cornered Republicans On Contraception?

Sahil Kapur | February 13, 2012, 5:47AM

President Barack Obama and Senior Adviser David Axelrod

Republicans are doubling down in their assault on President Obama's birth control requirement, insisting that his accommodation of religious nonprofits does not address religious concerns. But by attempting to keep the heat on Obama, the GOP might be diving head-first into a culture war over contraception that social conservatives lost long ago in the minds of the public.

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the House will push to repeal the rule entirely, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Republicans will force a vote on legislation permitting any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plan by claiming a moral or religious objection. "This issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down," McConnell said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation.

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Budget

Obama To Draw Contrast With GOP In Budget

Brian Beutler | February 13, 2012, 5:43AM

President Barack Obama

Though required by law, White House budgets are largely political documents that tend to become more and more political as reelection time gets closer and closer.

This year's will technically be no different -- but the long-term stakes will be much higher than they usually are and clarifying that fact for voters will be key to President Obama's appeal in 2012.

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Birth Control

White House Seeks To Mute Catholic Uproar Over Contraception Rule

Brian Beutler | February 10, 2012, 12:23PM

In the days since the conservative and religious uproar over the Obama administration's new contraceptive rule first erupted, the White House has been attempting to thread a policy needle so that nearly all women can receive free contraceptive services from their employer-provided health insurers, without forcing religious non-profits to provide benefits they oppose on "moral" grounds.

On Friday, President Obama announced the plan, which senior administration officials described in detail on a conference call with reporters.

"All women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services," one official said. But if a religious institution declines to provide coverage that includes contraceptive services, "the insurance company will be required to reach out directly and offer her contraceptive coverage free of charge."

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Debt

White House To GOP: Only One Way Around Defense Cuts -- And You're Not Gonna Like It

Brian Beutler | February 6, 2012, 3:52PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

In light of Congressional Republicans' abandonment of a key part of the debt limit agreement, two senior administration officials briefing reporters at the White House Monday said automatic, across the board cuts to defense programs will happen as scheduled unless Republicans relent on their refusal to raise revenues.

The officials conducted the briefing under the condition that they not be quoted directly, but their position was unambiguous -- the White House will not support any effort to swap out scheduled cuts to defense programs (and other automatic cuts) unless Congress passes a balanced package of deficit reducing legislation of equal or greater measure. That means new tax revenue from wealthy Americans and corporate interests, which Republicans have routinely refused to consider.

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Bob McDonnell

Bob McDonnell: GOP Governors Deserve Credit For The Recovery, Not Obama

Sahil Kapur | February 5, 2012, 1:39PM

Bob McDonnell

Virginia Governor and Mitt Romney surrogate Bob McDonnell (R) on Sunday floated what may turn into a Republican talking point if the economy continues to improve: It wasn't President Obama who made it happen, it was the GOP governors.

"Look, I'm glad the economy is starting to recover, but I think it's because of what Republican governors are doing in their states, not because of the president," McDonnell said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The Virginia governor unleashed a comprehensive broadside against Obama's economic record and governance in his first term. "It's been a complete failure of leadership," he said. "He cannot run on his record. He's had no plan for jobs or energy that he's got passed, so he's got a tough record."

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Birth Control

Boehner: Birth Control Mandate Is Unconstitutional

Sahil Kapur | February 2, 2012, 2:55PM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

As religious groups freak out over the Obama administration's contraception mandate, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) piled on by claiming that the policy is unconstitutional.

The mandate, authorized under the Affordable Care Act, holds that employer-provided health insurance plans must provide birth control to women without co-pays. Houses of worship are exempt, and religious nonprofits are allowed an additional year before they begin complying. But conservative religious organizations and their allies on Capitol Hill say that's not enough.

"I think this mandate violates our constitution," Boehner told reporters on Thursday. "I think it violates the right of these religious organizations. And I would hope that the administration would back up and take another look."

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CNN

CNN: Takeaway From Obama Prayer Breakfast Speech Is He's Still A Christian

David Taintor | February 2, 2012, 11:32AM

Apparently we're back to casting doubt on President Obama's Christian faith.

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Mitt Romney

Why Florida Was A Dangerous Test Case For Romney's General Election Prospects

Brian Beutler | February 2, 2012, 5:41AM

Mitt Romney

The fight for Florida's fifty delegates was more than just a key test for the four remaining Republican presidential hopefuls. It also took the GOP's three year experiment with far-right politics into a more appropriate laboratory -- a state where the voters didn't reflect the party's base as neatly as they did in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

And though Mitt Romney trampled his opponents and solidified his status as the nominee-in-waiting, Florida was also a wake-up call. To win so resoundingly, Romney had to inch away from conservative movement dogma for the first time since he began his candidacy.

It wasn't easy.

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Affordable Care Act

Did Health Care Reform Hurt The Private Insurance Part Of Medicare? Apparently Not

Sahil Kapur | February 1, 2012, 1:15PM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that the Medicare Advantage program, which allows seniors to receive health coverage through a private insurer, is enjoying lower costs and more customers as a result of the health care reform law.

Medicare Advantage enrollment has risen 10 percent over the last year while average premiums have fallen by 7 percent, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She also pointed out that similar improvements were seen the previous year.

The figures bolster President Obama's defense of his signature achievement, and for Democrats it has the added bonus of refuting earlier Republican warnings that "Obamacare" would gravely undermine the choice provisions in Medicare.

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Debt Ceiling

Uh-Oh... Looks Like We'll Hit The Debt Limit Again This Year

Brian Beutler | January 31, 2012, 1:09PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama sacrificed an awful lot last year to take the debt limit off the legislative table until his second term, or some lucky Republican's first term. More importantly, he wanted it off the table until after the 2012 elections, to prevent a replay of last year's debt limit fight from playing out in the middle of election season, when the political consequences would be farther-reaching. And by "farther-reaching" we mean the doomsday scenario of legislators succumbing to a collective action problem and allowing the country to default on its debt.

Well, it looks like Obama will probably get his wish, but it will be an awfully close call.

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Mitch McConnell

McConnell's Revisionist History: Congress Gave Obama Everything He Wanted!

Sahil Kapur | January 31, 2012, 5:36AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has embraced the argument that President Obama was able to pass every bit of his legislative agenda in his first two years thanks to large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. It's intended as a counterpoint to the President's re-election strategy of attacking the congressional GOP as do-nothing obstructionists. But it's also a revisionist history of the 111th Congress, during which McConnell more than any other Republican in Washington stood athwart Obama's agenda to great effect.

The White House has "been trying to pretend like the President just showed up yesterday, just got sworn in and started fresh," McConnell declared Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "In fact, he's been in office for three years. He got everything he wanted from a completely compliant Congress for two of those three years... We are living in the Obama economy."

This isn't a new claim for McConnell, but it's audacious even by Washington's lax standards. It was McConnell, after all, who led Senate Republicans in serial filibusters -- a record-setting number -- successfully thwarting large chunks of Obama's agenda.

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Mitt Romney

CHART: How Romney's Tax Rate Stacks Up To Recent Presidential Candidates'

Brian Beutler | January 30, 2012, 5:27AM

Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.

When Mitt Romney tries to avoid scrutiny for his exceptionally low effective tax rate by noting that, in absolute terms, he's paying "a lot" in taxes, he won't be fooling most of his political colleagues. It takes a special kind of affluence to reduce one's tax burden so dramatically. And despite their significant wealth most recent Presidential candidates have paid significantly more in taxes as a percentage of their incomes in the year (or two) before their campaign.

The exception is John Kerry. Though Kerry himself had a modest income (for a politician) his wife, Teresa Heinz, comes from great wealth and, like Romney, made millions in investment income in 2003 -- the year she and he both released their tax returns. Together, their effective tax rate was a bit lower than Mitt and Ann Romney paid in 2010.

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Stephen Colbert

Colbert Mocks Obama's 'Jay Leno In Chief' State Of The Union

David Taintor | January 26, 2012, 10:21AM

Stephen Colbert

It's no surprise Stephen Colbert wasn't satisfied with President Obama's State of the Union address. Perhaps worst of all, it got in the way of Colbert's favorite television show, NCIS: Los Angeles.

"We know this country is in deep trouble, but this clown, to him it's all a big joke," Colbert said of Obama, rolling a clip of the president joking about crying over spilled milk.

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Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart On SOTU: Obama's The 'Tax Credit Oprah'

David Taintor | January 26, 2012, 9:25AM

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart on Wednesday took on the best -- and worst -- moments of President Obama's third State of the Union address. First, there was the opening line: I killed Osama bin Laden! It was a bit too early, Stewart said. "Does Rick Springfield open with 'Jessie's Girl'?"

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Herman Cain

'We Ain't Stupid': Herman Cain Responds To State Of The Union

Ryan J. Reilly | January 24, 2012, 11:40PM

It was 85 days ago, here at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, that former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain faced a herd of cameras, photographers and reporters desperate for his reaction to a Politico story that ran the previous evening revealing he faced sexual harassment allegations during his time at the National Restaurant Association.

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State Of The Union

State Of The Union: Obama's Point-By-Point Romney Refutation

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2012, 10:55PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama's State of the Union address was premised on two political bets: that there's a broad national appetite, spanning conservative and liberal ideologies, for certain populist reforms; and that Republicans in Congress are too deeply committed to opposing his agenda to back those reforms along side him.

His speech was peppered with the sorts of proposals that play well across the country. But after executing a three year plan of partisan opposition to his full agenda, Republicans can't possibly support them -- and that puts them on the steep side of an election Obama is framing while Republican presidential hopefuls tear each other down.

It was also sharp-elbowed. It read in a way as a series of critiques of the GOP's most prominent rhetorical attacks on Democratic priorities, and as a piecemeal rebuttal of the talking points his most likely general election opponent Mitt Romney has levied against him in a bid to shore up support among Republican base voters.

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Barack Obama

Obama: People Making Over $1 Million Should Pay At Least 30% In Taxes

Sahil Kapur | January 24, 2012, 9:11PM

President Barack Obama

In his third State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama gives policy shape to the so-called "Buffett Rule" -- the principle that wealthy Americans should bear at least as high a tax burden as middle class workers -- by telling the American people that no one making over $1 million a year should pay less than 30% in federal income taxes.

But don't mistake this for a generic call for Congressional action, or the sort of pie in the sky national goal that often marks major Presidential addresses. The push also serves as an effort to set a simple but resounding tone for the 2012 election and simultaneously draw a convenient contrast with his likely general election opponent Mitt Romney (R) who today revealed he only paid 13.9 percent in taxes on his more-than $20 million income last year.

The President's pivot comes after a year in which the White House worked assiduously to refocus the national debate from budget retrenchment to economic growth, tax equity, and the preservation of federal programs for older and poorer Americans. And they come just as political developments and public perception have shifted in his party's favor. The theme of restoring equality of opportunity for the middle class capitalizes on the Democrats' victory last month over House Republicans, who opposed extending a payroll tax cut aimed at those hit hard by the economic crisis, and 30 years of stagnating wages. In that battle, Democrats succeeded in painting the GOP's hesitance to continue the tax holiday as evidence that they oppose government action to help working Americans, particularly as they continue their years-long fight to protect the upper classes from any tax increases of any kind.

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Barack Obama

State Of The Union: Obama's Best Chance To Frame The 2012 Elections

Brian Beutler and Sahil Kapur | January 24, 2012, 5:25AM

President Barack Obama speaks on the economy in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.

President Obama has addressed the country before a joint session of Congress several times since he was sworn in three years ago. But none have had as much political relevance and agenda-setting potential as his State of the Union address will have Tuesday night.

His aides have been as tight-lipped as you might expect about the particulars. But broadly the administration has signaled that the President will build on themes he's helped draw into the national conversation over the past year, most recently in a speech he gave in Osawatomie, KS -- inequality, economic fairness, and the decades long stagnation of the middle class. He's expected to make a spirited case for addressing those problems -- by building out new protections for consumers and workers, and by undoing existing policies that rig the game for the wealthiest Americans -- all while drawing a stark contrast with Republicans ahead of an election in which the White House and both chambers of Congress are up for grabs.

"We can go in two directions -- one is toward less opportunity and less fairness," Obama said in a video previewing his SOTU speech. "Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. On Tuesday night I'm going to talk about how we'll get there."

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Eric Cantor

Cantor: Health Care And Tax Fights Will Be Decided By The Election

Brian Beutler | January 23, 2012, 3:51PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) urges the Senate to vote on the house-passed jobs bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on October 27, 2011.

At a briefing with a handful of reporters in his Capitol suite Monday afternoon, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor outlined the coming year on Capitol Hill -- one he said would be marked by increased oversight of the Obama administration; an ongoing debate between the parties about how best to grow the economy; and what he called a bipartisan effort to prevent automatic cuts to defense spending from kicking in at the end of the year.

But the two issues that have most divided the parties since President Obama took office -- the two most consequential pieces of the budget and the U.S. economy -- will most likely be decided by the election.

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Barack Obama

White House Resists Religious Pressure In Finalizing Birth Control Mandate

Sahil Kapur | January 20, 2012, 3:15PM

President Barack Obama

The Obama administration on Friday finalized a regulation under the health care reform law ensuring that all employer-provided insurance plans cover birth control without co-pays. The decision comes despite enormous pressure from the religious right to scale back the mandate, which was proposed last August.

The administration did, however, offer religious nonprofits one extra year, until August 2013, to begin complying with the law.

"This rule will provide women with greater access to contraception by requiring coverage and by prohibiting cost sharing," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a statement.

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Keystone XL

How Republicans Killed Their Own Pet Oil Pipeline Project

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2012, 5:30AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

At the peak of December's payroll tax cut showdown on Capitol Hill, two top Republican aides discussed with me the pros and cons of making the Keystone XL pipeline a centerpiece of the debate.

They relished the idea of forcing President Obama to take a public stand on the pipeline early in an election year, instead of after the election as he had wanted. And they were eager to force him to choose between supporters in the labor movement, some of whom are pushing for the pipeline, and others in the environmental movement who vehemently oppose it. So they decided to go for it.

At the same time they knew he'd likely have to reject the project, and for them that created a dilemma.

"It's a question of whether we'd rather have the pipeline or the issue," said one of the GOP aides. Black or white.

In the end they chose the issue.

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House Republicans

'Our Members Are United': House GOP Brushes Off Tax Cut Defeat

Sahil Kapur | January 18, 2012, 11:55AM

John Boehner

House Republicans began 2012 by shaking off their defeat in last month's payroll tax cut standoff, conceding that the timing of their rebellion was less than ideal but insisting they're united for job creation and against President Obama in the new year.

"We've got a lot of disparate voices in our conference. The President wanted the payroll tax cut extended for a year, and so do we. We didn't think the Senate would leave, but it was pretty clear the Senate wasn't coming back," House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters Wednesday. "We were picking the right fight. But I would argue, we probably picked this at the wrong time."

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Barack Obama

Why A President Romney Would Find It Hard To Repeal 'Obamacare'

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2012, 5:27AM

Mitt Romney

Should he win the nomination and the presidency, then on inauguration day in 2013, after all the pageantry has subsided, Mitt Romney will face a key test: does he take aggressive action to roll back Obamacare as he and every other GOP contender has promised? Or will he accede to pragmatic realities and seek detente with Democrats on the issue that has most divided the parties over the past three years?

The amount of money, strategizing, myth-making, and political capital that Republicans have already thrown at the health care law will make it very difficult for Romney or any GOP President not to enter office with guns blazing. But many of the would-be policy makers who have made dismantling the law their top priority haven't given any real thought to how, mechanically, to unwind it. A closer look reveals that chipping away at Obamacare, or even repealing it altogether will be a daunting challenge, and even if successful will leave the Republican party holding the bag politically for the policy muddle they will create in the process.

"It would be a mess," said Donald Berwick, who led the law's implementation last year as Obama's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services director. "If I was given the assignment of unwinding the law, I wouldn't know how to do that. I would thoroughly disagree with it but it would be technically very difficult."

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Health Care

Key Reform Ally Dishes On 'Weak-Kneed' White House Health Care Push

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2012, 5:25AM

President Barack Obama

In an encyclopedic new book that sheds fresh light on the defining fight of President Obama's first term, one of the administration's key health care reform allies recalls a thin-skinned, "weak-kneed" White House, strategically unwilling and temperamentally unable to face criticism from progressive reformers, whose toughest tactics were reserved for its natural allies.

Many of the revelations will be unsurprising to those who followed the year-long fight over health care reform closely. But they serve as a thorough reminder of the administration's uneven strategy during the debate, including its horsetrading with private industry, and private dealing with supporters on the left -- particularly those, like the author, who fought a bruising fight for a public health insurance option and lost.

The book is Fighting For Our Health, by Richard Kirsch, who directed the advocacy group Health Care for America Now during the push for reform. HCAN is a well financed umbrella group backed by scores of liberal groups, unions, and other reformers -- making Kirsch a close witness to the entire saga. He confirms that the White House treated the public option like a bargaining chip with powerful industry players, and believes that when his group became most critical of the bill mid-way through the fight, that top White House aides sought to have him canned.

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Income Inequality

Will Obama's Economic Policies Really Reduce Income Inequality?

Sahil Kapur | January 16, 2012, 5:33AM

President Barack Obama

One crystallizing theme of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is his pledge to stem the tide of income inequality. But although hardly any would disagree that he'd be better on the issue than the Republican candidates, experts say it'll take quite a bit more action than he's suggested to really reverse the trend. Some of them even caution that part of the phenomenon is beyond the realm of public policy.

To scale back the problem, Obama wants to raise taxes on high earners to Clinton-era levels, uphold the estate tax, implement health care reform to bolster low-income uninsured people, and implement Wall Street reform so as to limit excessive risk-taking in the financial sector.

But it's far from clear whether these policies, even if fully implemented, will bring about a reversal of the three-decade trend. For instance, even though low- and middle-income Americans improved their standing during the Clinton administration, the gap between the rich and poor continued to grow.

"These trends do tend to be long term, they don't turn on a dime," said Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the liberal Center For American Progress. "If you put in place the right set of policies, you can move in the right direction. I'd like to see that experiment go on."

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Income Inequality

CHARTS: What Romney Doesn't Want You Talking About -- Except In 'Quiet Rooms'

Brian Beutler | January 13, 2012, 5:27AM

Mitt Romney

Too bad for Mitt Romney. Turns out income inequality -- that thing he claims has no place in our political debate, or anywhere outside of "quiet rooms" -- will be a central theme of President Obama's re-election message. We know this because one of his top economic advisers essentially claimed as much in a public address at a top DC think tank on Thursday morning.

And the data he brought to the table suggests Democrats will have an easy time making their case.

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Income Inequality

Krueger's Speech Seals Obama's 2012 Inequality Message

Sahil Kapur | January 12, 2012, 11:15AM

If a speech Thursday morning by one of his top economists is any indication, President Barack Obama is going all in with the 2012 re-election message of stemming the rise in income inequality and reforming a system that's increasingly perceived to be rigged in favor of the rich.

White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger rattled off a flurry of statistics illustrating the rise of inequality and its connection to the shrinking middle class. He blamed it on economic policies tilted to favor top earners -- including income tax reforms (presumably during the Bush era) and the "drastic cut in the estate tax."

He also argued that implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans are eager to repeal, will help reduce the disparities.

It's a message that bore an uncanny resemblance to the "Teddy Roosevelt" speech President Obama delivered in early December, which was interpreted by many as laying out the grounds for his re-election campaign.

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Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett: I'll Pay Up If Republicans Do The Same

David Taintor | January 11, 2012, 5:45PM

It has been a few months since billionaire Warren Buffett called on President Obama to "stop coddling the super-rich" and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

His "Buffett Rule" sparked some backlash, especially from Republicans, who suggested that Buffett should cut the U.S. government a check if he's so eager to pay his fair share of the nation's debts. Well, Buffett tells TIME magazine that he's willing to do just that. He's willing to match one-for-one any donation by a Republican member of Congress -- except for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he gets three for one.

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Recess appointments

Republicans Press House GOP Leaders To Pick Public Fight Over Obama Recess Appointments

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2012, 1:00PM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

This post was updated at 1:21 p.m. to reflect comment from House GOP Leadership.

President Obama's recess appointment of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray could create another internal headache for Republican leaders in the House, many of whose members want to pick a public fight with Democrats over the controversy.

Scores of House Republicans have signed on to a non-binding resolution disapproving of Obama's four winter recess appointments -- Cordray, and three members of the National Labor Relations Board -- all fodder for conservatives, who are furious about the existence of these agencies, let alone the recess appointments themselves.

"It's astounding to me that the president is claiming these are recess appointments and within his authority, when Congress was not in fact in recess," said Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) who authored the resolution. "These appointments are an affront to the Constitution. No matter how you look at this, it doesn't pass the smell test. I hope the House considers my resolution as soon as we return to Washington so we can send a message to President Obama."

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Recess appointments

Obama's Recess Appointments Dilemma Is About To Get Worse

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2012, 5:25AM

President Barack Obama

Despite making several key, contentious recess appointments since Congress left town, the Obama administration is still operating with scores of vacancies, including an unexpected hole at the top of the Office of Management and Budget.

But their options for filing those vacancies are likely limited, unless President Obama is willing to dial his use of the recess appointment power up even further.

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Obamacare

Why The 2012 Election May Be The GOP's Only Chance To Repeal Health Care Reform

Sahil Kapur | January 10, 2012, 5:23AM

President Barack Obama speaks on the economy in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.

Before she dropped out of the GOP presidential race, Michele Bachmann waxed apocalyptic about how 2012 is the Republican Party's only chance to repeal the health reform law. "We cannot afford to have a candidate who fails to understand the complexity of Obamacare or the urgency of its repeal," the Minnesota congresswoman said in an often-repeated line. "Because, we have only have one chance for repeal, and that's 2012."

There's truth to this statement: if Republicans fail to capture the presidency this time around, repealing some or all of the law becomes far more difficult later, even if the GOP sweeps Congress in 2012 and wins the White House in 2016 with equal determination to squash it.

"The 2012 election will be the most important in the history of our health care system because it will determine whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is implemented or repealed," wrote Harvard health policy expert David Blumenthal in the New England Journal of Medicine. "The consequences for Americans and their health care will be huge."

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Rick Santorum

Hmmm... Santorum's Healthcare Pitch Sounds An Awful Lot Like Obamacare For The Elderly

Brian Beutler | January 9, 2012, 2:11PM

Ever since Republicans in Congress voted overwhelmingly for Paul Ryan's budget, the GOP has expected its leading Presidential candidates to back a similar Medicare privatization scheme. Most of them have followed suit. Rick Santorum is trying to have it both ways.

During Sunday morning's NBC debate, the come-from-behind winner of the Iowa caucuses talked about his Medicare pitch to voters.

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Economy

The Rapid Economic Recovery Republicans Are Praying Against

Brian Beutler | January 9, 2012, 5:20AM

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden

Everything that's supposed to happen in politics this year, and everything that has happened for the last several months, has been premised on the tacit, but seemingly safe assumption: The economy will remain weak for years.

This has underlined Congressional jobs bill theatrics, campaign rhetoric about Obama's record, debates about who's to blame for high unemployment, and which party best represents the interests of the middle class.

But what if that assumption is wrong?

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Health Care

DOJ Files Brief Defending Key Health Care Law Provision To SCOTUS

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2012, 3:42PM

President Barack Obama speaks on the economy in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.

Here's the Justice Department's brief defending the new health care law's individual Supreme Court.

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Richard Cordray

Cordray Gets Cracking Even As GOP Complains

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2012, 1:30PM

President Barack Obama announces the appointment of Richard Cordray as the nation's chief consumer watchdog at an event in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.

The freshly recess-appointed head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dismissed concerns about the legitimacy of his recess appointment, and says he'll discharge his duties as the nation's top consumer watchdog as if he'd landed in the director's chair in a less contentious way.

"I have been appointed as the director of the Bureau," Cordray said at a Brookings Institute event Thursday. "It's a valid appointment. But I will leave those details to others."

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Barack Obama

Defense Secretary Panetta: Defense Cuts Come With 'Additional But Acceptable Risk'

David Taintor | January 5, 2012, 11:47AM

President Barack Obama at the Pentagon on Thursday said that even though the Defense Department's budget will shrink, the U.S. military will remain a strong force.

The first U.S. president to deliver a briefing at the Pentagon, Obama said, "Yes, our military will be leaner, but the world must know, the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with Armed Forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats."

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Mitt Romney

Here's What Romney's Unreleased Tax Returns Almost Certainly Hide

Brian Beutler | January 5, 2012, 5:32AM

Mitt Romney still says he's unlikely to publicly release his tax information, even if he clinches the Republican presidential nomination, and Democrats have a pretty good idea why.

Romney is a privileged poster child for the "Buffett Rule" -- President Obama's principle that the tax code should make it impossible for a person of great wealth to pay a lower share of their income in taxes than ordinary people. The DNC knows it, policy wonks know it, Romney certainly knows it. But the reasons why are technical and illustrate just how different Romney is from the vast majority of Americans who will cast votes for him -- in either the GOP primary or the general election.

One tax expert told TPM of "fairly sophisticated tax strategies" that would be "not available to ordinary tax payers." A technique that puts you in a position that's "like having an unlimited 401k account" sounds very attractive. But maybe not if you're running for office, for Pete's sake.

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National Labor Relations Board

Obama Suddenly On A Recess Appointments Roll

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 3:38PM

President Barack Obama speaks on the economy in Shaker Heights, OH on January 4, 2012.

Add the National Labor Relations Board to the list of agencies that will be given new life thanks to President Obama's decision to thwart Senate Republicans and use his recess appointment power expansively.

The administration just announced that Obama will appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Grifin to the NLRB, preventing it from being crippled indefinitely thanks to Senate Republican intransigence.

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Richard Cordray

Why Obama Chose To Appoint Cordray The Hard Way

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 2:20PM

Richard Cordray, nominee for Director of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Republicans are predictably attacking President Obama's decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray -- his top consumer watchdog -- on procedural grounds and with constitutional volleys. This is why Obama and Cordray's allies thought it might be wiser for Obama to make the appointment on Tuesday when, for technical reasons, he could have relied on precedent and avoided opening this particular Pandora's box.

But by taking a more daring approach, Obama managed to both wrongfoot the GOP politically, and secure for Cordray up to an extra year in the director's chair at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Here's why:

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Barack Obama

GOP Furious As Obama Recess Appoints Cordray

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 11:23AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conducts a news conference along with fellow GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.

No surprise here. Top Republicans are ripping President Obama's decision to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog, Richard Cordray.

"Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people by 'recess' appointing Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an official statement. "This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer. Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress's role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch."

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