Politics

By Jason Horowitz and Nia-Malika Henderson Republicans eager to knock Sarah Palin from her presumed perch at the head of the cluttered 2012 presidential primary field have found an unlikely wedge issue that includes an unlikely ally: The first lady and flab. In an odd turn of events, some conservatives have taken to defending Michelle…

Written by Krissah Thompson Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been battling the snow on his city’s streets tweet by tweet – and getting a lot of attention doing it. Since the Sunday storm that dumped about two feet of snow on the Newark area, he’s helped lift cars, shoveled driveways and promised to send road…

By Eugene Robinson It’s been not quite two months since Republicans won a sweeping midterm victory, and already they seem divided, embattled and — not to mince words — freaked out. For good reason, I might add. Sen. Lindsey Graham captured the mood with his mordant assessment of the lame-duck Congress: “Harry Reid has eaten…

First lady Michelle Obama helped kids keep track of Santa during her Christmas vacation. When her husband, President Barack Obama, and daughters, Sasha and Malia, went to the beach on their Christmas vacation in Hawaii, the first lady stayed behind to answer calls from children trying to pinpoint Santa’s whereabouts. She spent approximately 40 minutes…

With the repeal of the controversial “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevented homosexual soldiers from serving openly in the U.S. military, ratification of the new START Treaty and a surprise 11th-hour passage of the 9/11 first responders’ health care bill, President Obama is being hailed as “the Great Compromiser.” But just a couple of…

By Adam Serwer As we reach the end of a successful lame-duck session of Congress and the second year of the Obama presidency, Perry Bacon writes, “This blitz of bill signings completes a dramatic first two years for the nation’s first black president that included the enactment of arguably the most major liberal policies since…

Yahoo News is reporting that a tour bus slammed into a truck in southern Egypt on Sunday, killing eight Americans and injuring 21 others in the latest fatal crash involving tourists, the state news agency said. The bus was taking a tour group on the 115-mile (185-kilometer) journey from Aswan to the ancient temples of…

The “Birthers” who insist that President Barack Obama was not born a U.S. citizen so incense Hawaii’s new governor that he’s looking for ways to change state policy so that he can release additional proof that the president was born in Honolulu in 1961. The matter is personal for Neil Abercrombie because he knew President…

By Perry Bacon Jr. Twice this week, President Obama suggested that he might become the first sitting U.S. president to support gay marriage. He said his views on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry are “evolving” and added that, although he is a longtime supporter of civil unions, “I recognize that from their…