Obama in 2 Minutes

Affordable Care Act

1. Children can stay on parent’s health plan until age 26, 3.1 million MORE young adults got coverage this way.
2. You get a rebate if your insurer doesn’t spend enough on your care
3. More Medicare prescriptions covered, donut hole closed
4. Set up public exchanges in each state where you can buy insurance as a group, will be affordable to buy insurance without getting it from employer.
5. You can’t get denied or dropped if you get sick.
6. Saves money, reduces fraud, pays for Medicare for 8 additional years
7. Romney would repeal.

Jobs

1. We were LOSING 500,000 jobs a month, had already lost 4 million jobs before Obama
2. Now we are GAINING 100,000 jobs a month, 4.5 million jobs recovered since recession
3. Saved GM, went from bankrupt to #1 in the world. Romney said “Let Detroit go bankrupt”
4. Passed new regulations to prevent this recession of happening again. Romney wants those regulations gone
5. New plan to hire unemployed construction workers to fix crumbling schools and bridges using US steel and rehire teachers/ Romney’s plan creates to immediate jobs

Wars

1. Ended Iraq war, no troops left, no permanent bases. Romney wanted to stay.
2. Oversaw operation that killed Bin Laden. Romney said going after his was a bad idea.
3. Started bringing troops home from Afghanistan, last will leave in 2014
4. Prevented promised Libya massacre. No US casualties. No invasion. Cost: 0.1% of Bush wars. Lasted less than two months.  
5. Sent special troops to help stop Kony from abducting children and making them into soldiers

Equal Rights

1. Passed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, gives women more time to fight wage discrimination
2. Repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Romney would continue it.
3. Banned hospitals that receive federal funding from denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Top Political News: June 8, 2012

Obama Warns Eurozone Crisis Could Drag Down U.S.

In a news conference Friday morning, President Obama urged Congress to act on his proposals to create jobs. He also warned of the risks Europe could pose to the U.S. economy.

U.S. Military's Green Energy Criticized By Congress

The White House and military brass are calling for the development of alternative energy. One goal is cutting dependence on foreign sources. Another is reducing the carbon footprint of the largest fossil fuel consumer in the world. But now some on Capitol Hill are blocking the effort to green the military.

Top Political News: June 7, 2012

New Farm Bill Focuses On Reaping, Not Sowing

A $970 billion bill, covering everything from food stamps to crop insurance, passed a key procedural hurdle in the Senate today, and it did so with overwhelming bipartisan support. The measure, known as the Farm Bill, comes up for renewal every five years.

There's More Secret Money In Politics; Justice Kennedy Might Be Surprised

But despite what Kennedy said, secret money has become the real growth area in campaign politics.
Crossroads GPS, co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, joined with a handful of other conservative "social welfare" organizations, spent more than $30 million on ads attacking President Obama through the end of May.
Crossroads then announced a new ad buy of $25 million.

Top Political News: June 6, 2012

Seattle Catholics Divided On Repealing Gay Marriage

Wednesday is the deadline in Washington State to get a ban on same-sex marriage onto the fall ballot. The legislature legalized gay marriage earlier this year. One of the biggest proponents of the repeal is the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. It wants all of its parishes to actively campaign against same-sex marriage, but some are refusing.

The Deleted Tweets Of Politicians Find A New Home

Everyone is prone to make gaffes on Twitter, including angry statements made in the "tweet" of the moment. But a new project aims to keep an eye on politicians who try to delete those gaffes.

California Primary Sets Up Same-Party U.S. House Contests In November

While some results remained unofficial Wednesday morning, five congressional districts were certain to have Democrat-vs.-Democrat races on Nov. 6, while a sixth looked likely; two districts could have Republican-vs.-Republican contests.

Top Political News: June 4, 2012

With many conservatives already suspecting that he is a conservative of convenience, Mitt Romney apparently hasn't done himself any favors in their eyes with the man he chose to lead his presidential transition.
But some of Leavitt's experience has been of the wrong kind, according to some conservatives. Since leaving public service, Leavitt has worked as a consultant who as advocated for the health care insurance exchanges central to the Affordable Care Act, known by detractors and supporters alike as ObamaCare.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/06/04/154293359/romney-rekindles-conservative-doubts-with-white-house-transition-pick?ft=1&f=1014

Even those who would seek to level the playing field by allowing candidates and parties to raise more money directly believe that the genie may already be out of the bottle. Many rich donors have come to like superPACs, which allow them to control their own messages.
"I do think the current system will get worse until we have significant reforms," says Nick Nyhart, president of the Public Campaign Action Fund, which favors fundraising limits.
"As bad as things are in 2012, they will continue to get worse in 2014 and 2016 unless we have some change," Nyhart says. "The current system cannot hold.

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/29/153914560/big-money-and-the-ballot-box?ft=1&f=1014

Think "grass-roots politics," and what's the first thing that comes to mind?
How about two dozen multimillionaires with open checkbooks?
That's what an NPR analysis of annual IRS filings by Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies shows. Despite its name and the repeated use of the word "grassroots" in those documents, nearly 90 percent of the $77 million raised by the Karl Rove-founded group in its first 18 months came from donors who gave at least $1 million.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/06/01/154168293/npr-analysis-crossroads-gps-funded-heavily-by-1-million-plus-donations?ft=1&f=1014

Top Political News Feature: Romney-backed Solar Company fails

I really think Romney is an idiot if he didn't realize that this could potentially work against him. 

Source: http://bostonglobe.com/business/2012/06/05/romney-backed-solar-company-fails-days-after-faulted-solyndra/ST0JqtdXkwg2nWe7q3xjsL/story.html

Top Political News: June 2&3, 2012 (Weekend Edition)

Obama has called for more federal spending on public works projects and local government, which might have prevented last month's loss of 28,000 construction jobs and 13,000 government jobs. But Congress never approved that spending.
Bernstein, who's now a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says lawmakers have added their own measure of uncertainty with their refusal to compromise on taxes, spending targets and the debt ceiling.
"I think the political gridlock, or dysfunction, if you will, has made things even worse. Now we're talking about going over this fiscal cliff and having another debt ceiling fight," he says. "That's obviously exactly the wrong medicine for the current economy. So it's not just that Congress isn't helping; it's that they're actively hurting."

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/02/154191028/analysts-smell-fear-after-lack-of-job-growth?ft=1&f=1014

Voters in Wisconsin will decide Tuesday whether or not to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. It's been one of the most expensive statewide races in American history, and the stakes in that election could have national implications, for unions, for deficit hawks, for businesses, even for President Obama's re-election.

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/03/154251865/wisc-recall-a-trial-run-for-the-presidential-race?ft=1&f=1014