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For a president in political trouble, the State of the Union address seems the ideal launch site to tweak one’s agenda. But not so for President Obama.
 

Earlier this week, President Obama decided to refocus his agenda on Americans jobs, especially small businesses.

For an hour on live television, Obama danced around the Republicans, landing blows and coming out ahead on pointsWhen the Republicans invited President Obama to address their congressional House delegation in Baltimore today, they had no idea how badly it would turn out for them.Presumably the Republicans thought they’d get a high-profile chance to grill [...]

Obama Promises to Double Export Growth by 2015In promising Wednesday night to double the United States’ export growth over the next five years, President Obama set an ambitious goal for American trade policy that, he said, could create two mi…

It’s time for Barack Obama to fire Timothy Geithner and hire a Treasury secretary who can sell his economic policiesWhen President Obama entered the chamber at the start of last night’s state of the union address, he made a beeline for Timothy Geithner and gave him a hug. The Treasury secretary looked like he needed [...]

If you watch cable teevee and listen to the pundits and, oh, read Tomasky’s commenters, you’d think Obama was finished, and of course you’d know — for a fact — that this November’s elections were going to be a wipeout for him. So I was interested to see this, from yesterday’s NBC/Wall St. Journal poll. [...]

To win back support, Barack Obama’s foreign policy goals were trumped by domestic issues in his state of the union speechCrushed by political defeats at home and lacklustre poll numbers, President Obama is scaling back some of the most ambitious plans that have characterised his tenure so far.It’s only been a year, but anger and [...]

President Obama pledges to help pass ‘comprehensive’ climate change law, but also backed nuclear power and drillingBarack Obama put himself firmly behind the effort to get a climate change bill through Congress last night – but said it must include a new generation of nuclear power.The brief passage on energy and climate in Obama’s state [...]

Follow President Obama’s first state of the union address to Congress, and the reaction, here11.32pm: The final word on the Alito reaction comes from Linda Greenhouse, the ex-NYT reporter who covered the court brilliantly for many years:Justice Alito shook his head as if to rebut the president’s characterization of the Citizens United decision, and seemed [...]

The White House has released the first extracts from President Obama’s state of the union address to CongressThe White House has just sent out the first set of extracts from President Obama’s speech tonight – so this presumably is what it wants the focus to be on…Part oneWe face big and difficult challenges. And what [...]