It’s a role the president is perfectly suited to play.
Barack Obama
Posted inPolitical Animal
Sen. Cotton Wanted to Inflict Special Pain on the President
In the Donald Trump era, it can be hard for Republicans to get much attention from the public for doing/saying ugly malicious things. But Sen. Tom Cotton has risen to the challenge – thanks to some reporting from Frank Bruni. For some context, let’s remember that Cotton is the senator who penned a letter last […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Muhammad Ali: “I Am America”
Many have noted that, on the occasion of Muhammad Ali’s death on Saturday, the statement released by Barack and Michelle Obama doesn’t read like a press release from the White House – but was probably written by the President himself. This is the line that made all of the headlines: “Muhammad Ali shook up the […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Quick Takes
While the 2016 campaign sucks up all of the oxygen in the media, President Obama continues work on his Clemency Initiative. Today he commuted the sentences of an additional 42 individuals – bringing his total to 348. He has now surpassed the previous 7 presidents combined in the number of commutations. But, given that all […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Obama’s Anti-Trump Secret Weapon
President Obama just put Trump In a very-classy-and-beauitful-gold-plated box with his announcement that he now supports an increase in Social Security benefits. If Trump supports the idea he pisses off mainstream Republicans at a time he’s trying to court them. If he opposes it, he annoys his own base of crotchety white seniors. Most of […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Obama Games the Grand Bargain Correctly
I agree with Scott Lemieux’s take on how the Obama administration handled negotiations over Social Security during the heyday of the Grand Bargain negotiations, although I am not so sure that I concur with his assessment of the political downside: Until 2014, Obama’s budget proposals included an offer to reduce the growth of Social Security […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
President Obama Takes on the Role of Explainer-in-Chief
Perhaps there is something about being a former president or an almost-former president that provides you with a particular perspective. I wondered about that when I watched President Obama’s speech in Elkhart, Indiana yesterday. He sounded an awful lot like the “explainer-in-chief” that Bill Clinton became at the 2012 Democratic Convention. I guess it shouldn’t […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
President Obama’s (Black) Theory of Change
On Saturday, President Obama gave the commencement address at Howard University. He focused his remarks on an issue that was prominent a couple of months ago in the Democratic presidential primary: his own “theory of change.” But what made it even more interesting is that he embedded that theory in Black history and what it […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
Obama Was Joking, Trump Wasn’t
At the White House Correspondent’s Dinner last weekend, President Obama made a joke about Donald Trump’s foreign policy experience. The Republican establishment is incredulous that he is their most likely nominee — incredulous, shocking. They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be President. But, in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders […]
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
President Obama to Designate the First National Monument to Gay Rights
A couple of months ago I wrote about President Obama’s legacy of preserving over 260 million acres of land and water as national monuments – more than any other administration. At the time, the White House identified what their next priorities would be. …areas that help foster resilience to climate change or are “connected to […]
