January 2013
Jan 29, 2013
Obama's Permanent Campaign: Can He Use His Reelection Playbook to Change Washington?
By Molly Ball, The AtlanticA week ago, President Obama launched his second term with a set of lofty goals -- climate change legislation, immigration reform, and gun control among them.
Around the same time, Obama's former campaign apparatus announced it would morph into a new group called Organizing for Action, a nonprofit group to promote Obama's policy goals.
Read moreMarco Rubio Evolved on Immigration Reform
By Beth Reinhard, National Journalrizona Sen. John McCain partnered with liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy in 2005 to offer illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship, then allied with border security hardliners during a tough 2010 Republican primary. "Complete the danged fence," McCain cracked in a widely publicized television spot.
Read moreImmigration Plan Could be Long-Term Boon to GOP
By Susan Davis and Martha T. Moore, USA TodayA renewed bipartisan push to rewrite U.S. immigration laws presents Republicans with their clearest opportunity to make up lost ground with one of the fastest growing forces in American politics.
Read moreObama to Begin Immigration Reform Push in Nevada
By Alexis Simendinger, Real Clear Politics
President Obama on Tuesday will ask American workers, employers, lawmakers, and interest groups to help enact a new immigration system this year that would grant undocumented immigrants an earned path to U.S. citizenship.
The kickoff of Obama’s public campaign for reform, which the president postponed until his second term, will take place in Las Vegas a day after a key, bipartisan group of senators launched a push for immigration changes that Obama hopes can lead to action in the House.
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Jan 28, 2013
The Fed’s Profits: The Other Side of QE
By Greg Ip, EconomistEver since the Federal Reserve first started buying up financial assets back in 2008, some have fretted about taxpayer exposure. The private debt purchased by the Fed to prop up the financial system might sour. The government bonds it has bought with newly created money, a strategy dubbed “quantitative easing” (QE), could fall in value if interest rates rose.
Read moreImmigration Debate Gears Up
By Laura Meckler, Wall Street JournalMillions of illegal immigrants would be given a path to citizenship under provisions of an immigration overhaul fashioned by a bipartisan group of senators, an opening shot in what promises to be a fight in Congress this year.
Read moreCan Obama Make History on Immigration?
By Fawn Johnson, National JournalThis is actually happening. That’s the viewpoint of Capitol Hill aides, lobbyists, advocates, and politicians who have been involved in the immigration debate for 10, 20, and in some cases 30 years. They are psyched. They are scared. They are sober.
Read moreObama Focuses on Status Quo, Not Left, in Battle With G.O.P.
By John Harwood, The New York TimesFor all the talk that President Obama has shifted leftward, much of his early second-term energy seeks simply to preserve the status quo.
Read moreBefore a Departure, a Rare Joint Interview
By Peter Baker, The New York Times
They sat side by side, trading laughs and finishing each other’s thoughts. Five years ago, the very prospect of such a moment would have been “improbable,” as one of them put it.
But now as the improbable partnership between President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton winds down with her pending departure from the cabinet, the two rivals-turned-allies sent a public signal of solidarity on Sunday — at a time when one has run his last election and the other is contemplating one more.
Read moreJan 25, 2013
North Korea Threatens More Nuclear Tests, Warns U.S.
With Martha Raddatz, ABC News Watch moreG.O.P. Mulls a Strategy From Obama’s Playbook
By Jeff Zeleny, The New York TimesAs Republican leaders gathered here on Thursday to consider how to rebuild their party, President Obama was at the center of the conversation. But the sharp criticism directed at him was replaced by something new: envy over his campaign.
Read moreOne Tough-Talking Nerd: Bobby Jindal Brands Himself as Republican Reformer
By Beth Reinhard, National JournalThe speech Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal gave Thursday to a gathering of Republican party leaders, released in advance by his office, was organized by Roman numerals. I. America is not Washington. II. How we win the argument. III. How we win the election. IV. Conclusion. Jindal's delivery resembled that of a nervous student rushing through an oral recitation of a term paper. The audience was as distracted as a room of high school classmates.
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