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Obama’s Approval Rating Starting to Turn Around
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2011 Comment (10)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president’s performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president’s week ending.
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Palin, Bieber, Obama Vie for Most Influential
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2011 Comment (1)She's not president, governor, or even the boss of anything more than her family. But that doesn't mean that Sarah Palin doesn't count. Because when it comes to the Internet and social web sites like Facebook and Twitter, where Palin's political operation seems to reside, her clout is outranked by just one politician: President Obama.
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Obama Pressed Hu Jintao to Let U.S. Banks Into China
Tweet Share on Facebook January 21, 2011 Comment (1)Wall Street, banks and insurers got a boost from the Obama administration this week in their drawn-out effort to get Beijing to open up China's countryside to U.S. financial institutions. While it was just a gentle nudge to visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao, officials said that they will follow up in spring talks that are aimed at bringing western-style banking and insurance to China. [See photos of the Obamas abroad.]
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Huckabee Is Heading to Sarah Palin’s Alaska
Tweet Share on Facebook January 20, 2011 CommentMike Huckabee is putting on his Viking helmet and sailing to Sarah Palin territory. He’s guest-hosting a June “freedom” cruise to Alaska with Southern gospel groups. “It is going to be an exciting week to celebrate our freedom, our friends, and the foundational spirit that has made this nation great,” says the former Arkansas governor. There’s no mention of politics, but some see it as a playful challenge to Palin.
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Washington Times Starts Comeback, Hiring
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2011 Comment (3)The rebirth of the conservative Washington Times is beginning this week. It's coffers loaded with millions of dollars and driven by an ownership that wants to bring the paper back to its original form, Times editors this week plan to begin hiring spree that will double the current staff.
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Dean Urges Small Businesses to Drop Healthcare Coverage
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2011 Comment (6)Remember the concerns during the healthcare debate that firms might choose to pay a $2,000 per worker fine to dump employees into health insurance exchanges if it’s cheaper than offering coverage? Well, former Democratic Party boss Howard Dean is cheering them on. He reasons that coverage won’t change much and that this will free cash for businesses to be more competitive. “What I believe will happen, although it was not intended, and I think it’s going to be a good thing, although it’s going to create a large dislocation, is that the small business community will abandon the healthcare market and put all their employees into the exchanges,” Dean says. He calls the linkage between employment and health benefits a major disadvantage for American firms competing with foreign companies that don’t have to supply health insurance.
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Ambassador to Kenya Critiques Host Country on Twitter
Tweet Share on Facebook January 19, 2011 Comment (3)Washington’s ambassador to Kenya, home of President Obama’s father, is getting quite a reputation for being, well, undiplomatic. The reason: Michael Ranneberger is using social media like Twitter to criticize his host country and the lack of democratic tendencies throughout Africa. Just consider his Twitter login, USAMB4REFORM. More than most other ambassadors, he pushes for democracy and national reforms. It could be dangerous. The State Department just issued a travel warning about Kenya, urging Americans to stay away from political events because “they can turn violent with no notice.” Ranneberger’s tweets have been noticed back home. William Rugh, former ambassador to Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, says, “To my amazement, he’s able to criticize the host government on Twitter. And he hasn’t been ‘PNG-ed,’ ” short for persona non grata.
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Hillary Fans Want Gillibrand for President
Tweet Share on Facebook January 18, 2011 Comment (17)Convinced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton really doesn’t plan to run for the White House, her fans are turning to a new party star as their pick to be the first female president: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a fellow New Yorker. They tell our Suzi Parker that she is building ties to women’s groups and that coming from the Empire State is a big electoral boost. Plus, she has a moderate touch, seen this week through her friendship with and support for Tucson shooting victim Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She also has a view of politics that’s in style, telling a women’s blogging group in August: “We need you. You don’t have to be afraid [of politics] just because it is a blood sport.”
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In Tucson, Obama Rose Above the Fray
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2011 Comment (8)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president's week ending.
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Reagan Son Claims Dad Had Alzheimer's as President
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2011 Comment (1229)2011 is a big year for Ronald Reagan fans, being the centennial of his February 6 birth in Tampico, Ill. But youngest son Ron Reagan is spoiling the good cheer with a new book that suggests the Gipper suffered from Alzheimer's disease while in the White House, a claim dismissed by Reagan's doctors and outside experts. "Had the diagnosis been made in, say, 1987, would he have stepped down?" Ron asks, regarding the disease confirmed in 1994. "I believe he would have," he writes in My Father At 100: A Memoir, due in bookstores Tuesday. [Poll: Who do you think was the worst president?]
