Alex Wagner
Alex Wagner is the White House Correspondent for Politics Daily. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of Not on Our Watch... moreObama Takes On Critics of His Tax-Cut Plan, Calls Compromise Unavoidable
A defiant President Obama on Tuesday stood up to Democratic critics who have blasted him for his compromise with Republicans on the Bush tax cuts. "If it's all about core principles," said Obama, "then let's face it, we will never get anything done." In a hastily called White House press conference, the president added that if he had refused to compromise with Republicans, "We'd be able to feel good about how sanctimonious we are and in the meantime . . . people wouldn't be able pay their bills because their unemployment insurance has run out. That can't be the measure of how we think of ...
Obama Cuts Deal to Extend All Bush Tax Cuts, Renew Jobless Benefits
Ending weeks of speculation, President Obama on Monday night announced that he had reached an agreement with Republican leadership to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for both middle-class and upper-income earners for another two years. Speaking to disaffected Democrats who have long been opposed to such a move -- estimated to add $60 billion to the deficit each year they are in place -- the president said, "As sympathetic as I am to those who would rather fight, it would be the wrong thing to do." The American people, Obama asserted, "are looking to us to solve problems" rather than engage in ...
Aren't Gay Rights and Immigration Priorities? Why Is Obama Silent?
A few weeks ago, President Barack Obama held a meeting at the White House with several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss the passage of the DREAM Act in the lame-duck session. The act would offer a path to citizenship to undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children age 15 or younger. If they met certain criteria, they would be eligible for military service, federal student loans, state aid and in-state tuition. After completing two years of college or military service, they would also be eligible for citizenship. The CHC members seemed optimistic, if not ...
Barack O'Clock: Meeting with Governors, Hanukkah Celebration
It's a big day for the prez on Thursday, Dec. 2. He will welcome newly elected governors to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and powwow with advisers throughout the day before celebrating the Festival of Lights in the evening. Here's what's on deck: 9:45 a.m. -- The president and vice president receive the presidential daily briefing in the Oval Office. 10:15 a.m. -- The president meets with Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio in the Oval Office. 10:35 a.m. -- Meets with senior advisers in the Oval Office. 12:00 p.m. -- The president and vice president meet for lunch in the Private Dining Room. (With the ...
Barack O'Clock: Meeting with Advisers and D.C. Mayor-Elect Vince Gray
Call it the calm after the (bipartisan meeting) storm, before the (lame-duck congressional) storm: The prez will meet with D.C mayor-elect Vince Gray in the afternoon and powwow with advisers throughout the day. Here's what's on deck: 9:15 a.m. -- The president and the vice president receive the economic daily briefing in the Oval Office. 10:15 a.m. -- The president and the vice president receive the presidential daily briefing in the Oval Office. 10:45 a.m. -- The president meets with senior advisers. 12:45 p.m. -- Has lunch with D.C. mayor-elect Vince Gray in the Private Dining Room. ...
Barack O'Clock: Bipartisan Meeting with GOP, and Nobel Laureates
It's a bipartisan kumite on Tuesday, Nov. 30. After some delay, the prez will finally be sitting down with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to hash out what can -- and cannot -- be tackled in this year's lame-duck session of Congress. Here's what's on tap: 9:45 a.m. -- The president and vice president receive the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. 12:20 p.m. -- The president and vice president meet with bipartisan congressional leadership in the Roosevelt Room. Expected attendees include: Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, Office of ...
White House vs. WikiLeaks: A Sucker Punch for President Obama (Again)
President Barack Obama's cut lip -- a 12-stitch, small-filament affair -- happened during a friendly basketball game this weekend. But on Monday, one could easily have imagined the injury to be the result of a landed punch from any number of foreign heads of state who had been insulted, demeaned, or otherwise put in a highly uncomfortable position following WikiLeaks' release of 250,000 classified U.S. embassy cables on Sunday evening. One could certainly envision Italian and Russian Prime Ministers Silvio Berlusconi and Vladimir Putin -- arm-in-arm, clad in matching fur hats -- sending their ...
Obama Proposes Two-Year Salary Freeze for Federal Employees
This year, the post-Thanksgiving belt tightening isn't just about too much pumpkin pie: President Obama is proposing a salary freeze for all civilian federal employees over the next two years (military personnel will not be affected). Asserting that this was a difficult decision, Obama put the freeze into the context of a broader effort to trim government costs across the board, including freezing salaries for all senior White House officials last year, reducing improper government payments by $50 billion by the end of 2012, and putting forward over $1 trillion in deficit reduction into the ...
Barack O'Clock: Meetings With Advisers
Fresh off the Thanksgiving holiday -- and newly recuperated from his elbow-to-the-face weekend bruising -- the prez will spend Monday, Nov. 29, in meetings. His afternoon schedule remains shrouded in mystery, but here's what's on deck: 10:00 a.m. -- The president receives the Presidential Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. 10:30 a.m. -- Receives the Economic Daily Briefing in the Oval Office. 11:00 a.m. -- Meets with senior advisers. 12:30 p.m. -- Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. ...
Obama Pardons Thanksgiving Turkey: 'Good to Stop One Shellacking This November'
With faint echoes of gobbling in the crisp autumn air at the Rose Garden, President Obama took part Wednesday in the annual presidential pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey -- though this year there were two birds, Apple and Cider. Flanked by his "two trusty assistants" -- first daughters Malia and Sasha -- the commander in chief giggled throughout his opening remarks, saying it felt "good to stop one shellacking this November," a reference to his party's significant losses in the midterm elections. Obama joked that the time-honored event -- this was the 64th annual National Thanksgiving ...
POPULAR
- Elizabeth Edwards, Rest in Peace
- Elizabeth Edwards' Family Gathers as Her Cancer Spreads
- Elizabeth Edwards Dies at Age 61
- Liberal Democrats Livid Over Tax-Cut Compromise; Sanders Threatens Filibuster
- Does a New Life Form Mean God Is Dead?
- Senate Blocks Democrats on Middle Class Tax Cut; Obama Still Confident of Deal
- Obama Calls Tax-Cuts Deal the 'Right Thing to Do'; Many Democrats Disagree
Follow Politics Daily
News From Our Partners
- A brief history of Operation Payback
- Homeland Security deploys video to Walmarts
- Daniel Sarewitz demands scientists somehow make Republicans want to be scientists
- "Don't ask, don't tell" repeal dies: Who's to blame?
- How Washington runs its war on Pakistan
- More Stories »
- Senate Will Try Again on Don't Ask, Don't Tell
- Senate Republicans Block 9/11 Health Bill
- Repeal of 'Don't Ask' Fails in Senate
- Mike Pence in 2012? Conservatives Love It
- Westboro Church to Protest at Elizabeth Edwards' Funeral
- More Stories »
- President Clinton to Meet with President Obama Friday
- Borrowing from Our Adversaries Could be a Recipe for Disaster
- Steele Keeps Everyone Guessing – RNC Still in Debt
- Waters Demands Investigation Into Ethics Delay
- Video: White House Spokesman: No Evidence of President Smoking in Nine Months
- More Stories »
Featured
Politics Daily Topics
AOL News Topics
Quick Links
More Blog/Sites
Sites and Services