Essential Reads

Essential Reads is your one-stop source for the top stories of the day as reported by your favorite Washington Week panelists. It's a simple way to save time and stay informed about the news you need to know. Check it out every day!

Jan 13, 2012

  • Obama Seeks Power to Merge agencies, Shrink Government

    By Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times

    President Obama this morning will ask Congress to give him authority to significantly shrink the federal government by merging six agencies dealing with trade and commerce, a senior administration official said. Obama is seeking power to propose a sweeping consolidation of agencies with overlapping duties with an eye toward saving money and improving performance, the official said.
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  • Judges Don't Have to Screen Witnesses, Court Rules

    By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

    Judges need not screen potentially unreliable eyewitnesses before they testify as long as the witnesses weren't improperly influenced by police, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Wednesday. Writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it suffices to test a witness's reliability through the usual trial procedures of cross-examination, rules of evidence and jury instructions about the fallibility of eyewitness IDs.
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  • Some Worry 'New' U.S. Military Focus on Asia is a Muddle

    By Nancy A. Youssef and Tom Lasseter, McClatchy Newspapers

    The Obama administration pledge to shift American military strategy toward Asia overlooks a key fact: The United States never really dropped its focus on the region. But the current budget proposal that might flow from that pledge contains a potentially crippling contradiction: The plan might cut the big-ticket items the United States needs to increase its presence in Asia and counter China's growing military capability.
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  • Counting the Cost of Calamities

    By Greg Ip, The Economist

    The world’s industrial supply chains were only just recovering from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March when a natural disaster severed them again in October. An unusually heavy monsoon season swelled rivers and overwhelmed reservoirs in northern Thailand. The floodwaters eventually reached Bangkok, causing a political crisis as residents fought over whose neighbourhoods would flood. But before that the economic toll was being felt farther north in Ayutthaya province, a manufacturing hub.
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  • Fallout Over Urinating Video

    With Martha Raddatz, ABC News

    Defense sec'y Leon Panetta contacts allies in Muslim world to contain damage.

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    Watch Video on ABC News

  • Santorum Cites a Local Legend

    By Jeff Zeleny, New York Times

    Rick Santorum is facing questions about supporting earmarks during his time in Congress. He offered up a decidedly South Carolinian response on Thursday, boiling down his defense to two words: Strom Thurmond.
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  • Video of Urinating Marines Could Be a Defining Image of Afghanistan

    By Yochi J. Dreazen, National Journal

    The Pentagon opened a formal probe into a video showing Marines in Afghanistan urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, but the move may not be enough to prevent the footage from becoming one of the defining images of the long and deeply unpopular Afghan War. The probe formally unveiled by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday came less than a day after the video began widely circulating over the Internet.
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Jan 12, 2012

  • Republican Rivals Batter Romney in South Carolina

    By Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times

    For the Republican presidential candidates who want to stop Mitt Romney in South Carolina, it comes down to this: How far are they willing to go? A day after Mr. Romney’s victory in New Hampshire left his rivals running out of time to block his path to the nomination, he was greeted here by a wave of attacks on his business record, his past support for abortion rights and his character.
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  • Romney's 'Electability' is Key

    By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times

    New Hampshire Republicans are practical people. As I traveled around the state this week, voters who said they supported Mitt Romney in Tuesday's presidential primary consistently offered two reasons for their choice. One was Romney's resume: his experience as both a businessman and a reasonably successful governor of Massachusetts.
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  • Obama Camp Locks In on Romney as Opponent

    By Alexis Simendinger, RealClearPolitics

    The Obama campaign team has been preparing to face Mitt Romney in a general election for the better part of a year, and Romney's narrow triumph in Iowa and decisive follow-up victory in New Hampshire merely served to bless that battle plan. The campaign believes it has to be armed for Obama vs. Romney, the president vs. "the jobs killer."
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  • Candidates Brace for Brawl in South Carolina

    By Naftali Bendavid and Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal

    The Republican presidential candidates plunged Wednesday into what's likely to be a hard-hitting run-up to the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary, with campaigns and the groups supporting them ready to unleash millions of dollars in ads, many of them negative.
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  • House GOP Struggles with How to Legislate

    By Susan Davis, USA TODAY

    Republicans worked last year to change the debate in Washington from one about spending money to one about cutting spending, but as the GOP enters the second year of its House majority, it is grappling with how to legislate in the face of Democratic opposition and division within their own ranks.
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    John Boehner
    House Speaker John Boehner (FlickrCC/Gage Skidmore)

  • With Recent Criticism, Romney’s Rivals Bring a Smile to the White House

    By Jackie Calmes, New York Times

    For months David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior strategist, has argued with evident anticipation that Mitt Romney offers a glass jaw when he boasts that his business record sets him apart as a presidential candidate. Now Mr. Romney’s Republican rivals have beaten the Obama team to the punch, and Democrats could hardly be more pleased.
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  • Romney’s Playing to Win the GOP, but the General Election is Another Game

    By Dan Balz, Washington Post

    Mitt Romney’s victory in New Hampshire was never in doubt. What the campaign here said about the former Massachusetts governor’s readiness for a general-election contest against President Obama may be the more important story.
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  • Court: Certain Religious Employees Can't Sue for Job Bias

    By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

    The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that certain employees of church-run schools and other religious organizations cannot sue for job bias. The unanimous decision stresses the need of religious groups to carry out their mission without government interference.
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  • GOP Prepares for a Bruising South Carolina Primary Campaign

    By Amy Gardner and Nia-Malika Henderson, Washington Post

    The Republican challengers to Mitt Romney descended on South Carolina on Wednesday sharply divided and deeply uncertain about how to stop the front-runner’s march to the GOP presidential nomination. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) led the attacks with a tough ad that began airing Wednesday detailing Romney’s past support for abortion rights. After Romney’s victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday, attention turned to South Carolina, which will hold its primary on Jan. 21.
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  • Intelligence Report: Taliban Still Hope to Rule Afghanistan

    By Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers

    A new top-secret U.S. intelligence assessment warns that Taliban leaders haven't abandoned their goal of reclaiming power and reimposing harsh Islamic rule on Afghanistan, raising doubts about the success of any peace deal that the Obama administration tries to broker between Kabul and the insurgents.
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  • Intelligence Report: Taliban Still Hope to Rule Afghanistan

    By Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers

    A new top-secret U.S. intelligence assessment warns that Taliban leaders haven't abandoned their goal of reclaiming power and reimposing harsh Islamic rule on Afghanistan, raising doubts about the success of any peace deal that the Obama administration tries to broker between Kabul and the insurgents.
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  • Obama Unveils Outsourcing Attack Against Romney

    By Christi Parsons and Rick Pearson, Los Angeles Times

    Without ever mentioning Mitt Romney by name, President Obama on Wednesday introduced a theme he’s certain to use often against the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination: that he helped send American jobs overseas during his corporate career.
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Jan 11, 2012

  • New Hampshire Puts Romney in Driver’s Seat

    By Dan Balz, Washington Post

    Mitt Romney got virtually everything he needed out of the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night. He won a decisive victory that put him in a dominant position to win the Republican presidential nomination, and he will move on to South Carolina with his opposition badly splintered and running out of time to stop him.
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