I was pleasantly surprised that President Obama in his deficit speech today didn’t publicly endorse cuts to Social Security benefits or call for any specific major cuts to Medicare benefits. This is a significant improvement compared to the trial balloons we have been seeing for the past months, which indicated raising the Medicare eligibility age [...]

Official unemployment has been stuck around 9 percent for 16 months, and recent signs indicate our economic growth has stalled. And for over two years now, the American people  have called jobs/economy the top problem in this country. In this environment, many people on the left are happy that a Democratic president asked Congress to [...]

On his blog, former Vice President Al Gore harshly criticized President Obama’s recent decision to shelve the EPA’s new ozone regulations. Gore says Obama is ignoring science, and instead, bowing to the pressure from polluters. From Al Gore: On Friday afternoon, as brave and committed activists continued their non-violent civil disobedience outside the White House [...]

When thousand of Egyptian protesters were taking to the streets in peaceful demonstrations the Obama administration’s message was clear: people have a “right to protest.” Vice President Joe Biden on PBS: And the two things we have been saying here, Jim[Lehrer], is that violence isn’t appropriate and people have a right to protest. And so [...]

As more signs indicate the economy has stalled and unemployment is likely to remain way too high for years to come, the American people are moving towards prioritizing spending to create jobs over deficit reduction. From the latest Pew poll: Americans are now evenly divided over whether the federal government should prioritize spending to help [...]

This recent debt ceiling deal proves the best way for the Republican Party to get what they want from the Democrats and President Obama is to take metaphorical hostages. At this point for the GOP to try negotiating for new laws through the traditional legislative process would be beyond stupid given how effective the tactic [...]

Currently President Obama’s job approval rating stands at only 40 percent according to the latest Gallup poll. This is the lowest support Gallup has yet found in their polling. From Gallup: Part of the problem for the President is the likely the result of the debt ceiling fight, which has made the American public very unhappy with [...]

I remember an extremely jarring moment during one of President Obama’s press conferences about extending the Bush tax cuts, when Obama said he must give in to hostage-taking tactics. Via Huffington Post: “I think it’s tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers, unless the hostage gets harmed. Then people will question the wisdom of that [...]

Not surprisingly, the Republicans are going to call Obama’s bluff by pushing for a short term debt ceiling extension. From Bloomberg: House Speaker John Boehner plans to press ahead with a shorter-term increase in the U.S. debt limit than President Barack Obama has requested, he told lawmakers today, defying a veto threat and signaling continued [...]

To maintain his role as head of the Republican caucus Speaker John Boehner can’t cut just any old deal with the Democrats, at least not now that so much rides on this particular fight. Even if Boehner and most of the Republican leadership want to cut a deal, and that isn’t a given, the only [...]