Obama Calls for More Narrowly Focused Policy for Afghan War
As President Obama prepares to formally authorize the April deployment of two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan, perhaps as early as this week, no issue other than the U.S. economy appears as bleak to his administration as the seven-year Afghan war and the regional challenges that surroun…
Administration Is Described as Being at a Loss
Long before the Senate had a chance to consider his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, Thomas A. Daschle was hard at work pressing President Obama’s signature domestic policy goal of revamping the U.S. health system.
Is Obama’s Honeymoon Over?
President Obama needed a diversion. At 11:09 yesterday morning, the White House announced that his nominee to be the administration’s chief performance officer had withdrawn because of some underperformance on her taxes. At 12:46 in the afternoon, Tom Daschle, the president’s choice to be secreta…
Democrats Pen Principles for Climate-Change Bills
Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday unveiled a set of principles that will guide their efforts to craft legislation aimed at slowing global warming, firing an opening salvo in what is likely to be one of the year’s central legislative debates.
Obama Nominates Judd Gregg, an Independent-Minded Conservative, to Lead Commerce
During a long political career that includes 16 years in the Senate, Judd Gregg has been known as a tough negotiator, a deficit hawk and an independent-minded conservative.
Obama Says He Erred in Nominations
President Obama acknowledged yesterday that he had “made a mistake” in trying to exempt some candidates for positions in his administration from strict ethics standards and accepted the withdrawal of two top nominees, including former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, in the first major s…
Old Ways Doomed New Job for Daschle
A classic rule of Washington’s political culture — that public service can lead to personal riches — seemed to collide yesterday with the presidential promise that the time has come for a break with the past.