Barack Obama

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell declined Tuesday to renew the presidential endorsement he gave Barack Obama four years ago, saying he wasn't ready "to throw my weight behind someone" at this time. The former chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Cabinet member under President George W. Bush demurred when asked if he was backing Obama again this time around. Four years ago, Powell caused a stir in Republican political circles when the longtime GOP figure endorsed Obama over war hero Sen. John McCain, calling Obama a "transformational figure.

Mitt Romney is on a charm offensive. He took reporters' questions after a campaign rally Thursday instead of keeping them at bay. He brought them warm chocolate chip cookies for the flight from Jacksonville to Palm Beach, Fla. After he got off the plane, he walked over to show reporters a picture of his 5-year-old grandson, Parker. It was "wild hair day" at school and the grandfather of 18 had to share what had just come into his iPad. "You know how he did that? With Elmer's Glue and egg whites.

For a welcome, President Barack Obama acknowledged his Group of 8 guests with a joke, a pleasantry or sympathy for the weight of the world. Ever the host, Obama stood under a canopy of oaks and poplars at dusk outside Camp David's Laurel Lodge to greet his G-8 guests. "Nice weather, huh," he said, acknowledging the photographers and reporters awaiting the arrival on a balmy spring evening. "Perfect, perfect. " Each dinner guest approached him separately and Obama greeted them by their first names To Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a bright blue jacket: "Dmitry,...

For a welcome, President Barack Obama acknowledged his Group of 8 guests with a joke, a pleasantry or sympathy for the weight of the world. Ever the host, Obama stood under a canopy of oaks and poplars at dusk outside Camp David's Laurel Lodge to greet his G-8 guests. "Nice weather, huh," he said, acknowledging the photographers and reporters awaiting the arrival on a balmy spring evening. "Perfect, perfect. " Each dinner guest approached him separately and Obama greeted them by their first names To Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a bright blue jacket: "Dmitry,...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is calling Barack Obama “one of the most ineffective presidents’’ he’s ever seen, and says he can beat him next year. Romney tells NBC in an interview that while Obama wasn’t responsible for the recession he inherited, “he made things worse. He’s failed.’’ Romney also says he thinks Obama lacks “a cogent assessment’’ of world affairs. The Republican charges, in his words, “The Arab spring came, one of the greatest opportunities we’ve seen in decades, and we’ve been...

WASHINGTON -- Senator John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry will host a fund-raiser for President Obama's reelection campaign Monday evening at their Georgetown home, according to an Obama campaign official. Vice President Joe Biden will headline the dinner, which is expected to draw about 75 guests. The host committee includes former Massachusetts Senator Paul Kirk, a long time chief of staff for the late Senator Edward Kennedy who temporarily filled his seat upon his death, and Ken Feinberg, a Brockton-born attorney and former Kennedy staffer.

President Obama's campaign launched a new effort today to refute Republican attacks on the Democratic president, using both technology and grassroots supporters. The Obama campaign created the "Truth Team," with a presence in 13 key states, and set a goal of reaching two million supporters. The digital part of the organization includes three separate websites: Attack Watch addresses attacks that Republicans have made against Obama; Keeping GOP Honest attacks Republican proposals; and Keeping His Word discusses the president's record.

Forget about Iran and contraception and Congress for a minute. President Obama has something else on his mind: Lin-sanity. And by the way, Obama jumped on the bandwagon of unexpected New York Knicks star and Harvard graduate Jeremy Lin early. "Arne Duncan, my secretary of education, was captain of the Harvard team. And so way back when, Arne and I were playing and he said, I'm telling you, we've got this terrific guard named Jeremy Lin at Harvard," Obama said on a podcast with ESPN sports columnist Bill Simmons.

Mitt Romney tonight criticized both his Republican rival and the Democratic president he hopes to face next year, calling the ideas of Newt Gingrich "not practical" while saying that if President Obama is reelected the country will "hit a Greece-like wall. " On Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," the former Massachusetts governor elevated his criticism of Gingrich's proposal to crack down on federal judges. "His comments about the justices and the Congress, sending the Capitol police to bring in judges - that's not exactly a...

Barack Obama was the first Democrat in 44 years to win Indiana in the 2008 presidential race, but the state is hardly a lock for him again. Even Democrats see the current political environment in this conservative-leaning state as far more challenging this time. The economy is still struggling, Republicans have made steady gains in state and federal elections in the past four years and the regional pride that came with voting for a senator from a neighboring state — Obama is from Illinois — is all but gone.

The Obama campaign called "BS" Thursday on an independent group's $25 million attack ad that accuses the president of breaking his promises. Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, used the abbreviation to describe an ad released Wednesday by the Karl Rove-led nonprofit Crossroads GPS. In a 3-minute Web video, Cutter rebuts the ad's claims, one by one. But she often avoids the specific facts presented by the ad and in one case misrepresents its argument. "First up, the attack ad says the president has not helped...

RE " ON gay marriage, Obama is on the right side of history " (Editorial, May 10): I find it hard to believe that the president would take this stand regarding the gay community during an election year. I would assume that the overwhelming majority of gays would vote Democratic at any cost. When states have voted on the legality of gay marriage, they have voted against it. Only when the liberal judiciary gets involved, it seems, has the law changed. It would seem that Barack Obama should be focused on increasing his voting base.

On the upper eastern edge of Ohio lies a valley built on the sweat of the working class, where steel mills sit mostly shuttered but a once-struggling Chevy plant endures. It is a place filled with union halls and blue-collar families for whom the auto bailout meant survival, delivered by a president many here see as their savior. The Mahoning Valley is, without question, Barack Obama country. And native Andre Allie is very much a Barack Obama man: An African-American who "went with history" by voting for him in 2008.

In Europe, where more than 200,000 people thronged a Berlin rally in 2008 to hear Barack Obama speak, there's disappointment that he hasn't kept his promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and perceptions that he's shunting blame for the financial crisis across the Atlantic. In Mogadishu, a former teacher wishes he had sent more economic assistance and fewer armed drones to fix Somalia's problems. And many in the Middle East wonder what became of Obama's vow, in a landmark 2009 speech at the University of Cairo, to forge a closer...

He gave no speech, issued no call to action. He spoke of changing alongside the nation's people, not of leading them into uncharted territory. He made sure to say what so many so passionately believe — that states should decide such issues on their own. The first black president becoming the first president to speak out for a minority denied the right to marry is undoubtedly a powerful political moment. But a significant cultural milestone? A nation full of straight people at ease among openly gay co-workers, relatives and sitcom characters...

ASHLAND, N.H. – Mitt Romney rounded out a day-long bus tour around New Hampshire with a stop here in this bellwether town, where he dished out buttered spaghetti to dozens of invited guests, and parried with a 22-year-old resident about whether the United States should apologize for its actions abroad. "Do you really feel that we should really not apologize as a nation?" Matt LePage, an astrophysics instructor asked the former Massachusetts governor as he shook hands at the American Legion here.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told high school students yesterday that when he was their age he was hardly a model student, experimenting with illegal drugs and drinking alcohol. Obama stopped by a study hall at Manchester Central High School and answered students' questions about the war in Iraq and his education plan for kindergarten through grade 12. The Illinois senator's plan aims to improve teacher pay, early childhood learning, and math and science test scores.

The presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama keep hitting the same notes: –– "He does not want to share his real plans before the election, either with the public or with the press. " — Romney says about Obama. "Apparently Mitt Romney only shares the details of his economic plan if you donate $50,000 a head to his campaign. " — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. –– "Years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of true believers telling you what a great job you are doing, well, that might be enough to make you a little...

Anybody with a pile of old love letters left crumbling up in the attic should feel a twinge of compassion for President Obama. A new book that is supposed to reveal the real Barack, does it by unveiling the diaries, letters, and memories of the president's old girlfriends. Old means really old, from Obama's days as a 22-year-old student at Columbia University. Obama's ex-girlfriends kept written documentation of their relationships, which they shared with author David Maraniss.