‘Angry’ Obama says acting IRS chief fired over conservative targeting

President Barack Obama will make previously unannounced remarks on the IRS scandal at 6 p.m. Wednesday, his press office said. The president's statement from the East Room of the White House will come a little more than an hour after a meeting with senior Treasury Department officials to discuss the controversy, which centers on the IRS' acknowledgement that it improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny.

In a written statement late Tuesday, Obama called the IRS' behavior "intolerable and inexcusable," and said that he had directed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew "to hold those responsible for these failures accountable."

On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder promised angry lawmakers that the Justice Department will undertake a national investigation into the IRS wrongdoing.

"We will take a dispassionate view of this," said Holder, who faced tough questioning from the House Judiciary Committee. "This will not be about parties ... anyone who has broken the law will be held accountable."

Holder said he had launched an investigation last Friday into why the IRS subjected conservative groups to more review when they applied for tax-exempt status. The IRS inspector general's report said that a group of low-level staffers in an Ohio office were responsible, and a top IRS official has apologized on their behalf.

But Holder promised that the investigation will look well beyond Ohio, and suggested that civil rights laws could have been violated.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., asked Holder at the hearing whether an "apology" from the IRS protected them from criminal prosecution. Holder answered, "No."

The Obama Administration is under fire over the IRS, the president's handling of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the Department of Justice's secret collection of telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors.

Republicans have been hammering Obama on all three matters. While Democrats have largely defended him—and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—on Benghazi, they have joined their GOP colleagues in denouncing the IRS and in expressing deep concerns about the AP phone records.

On Monday, Obama dismissed Republican charges of a cover-up in the Benghazi situation as a "sideshow" lacking any merit. He has yet to comment directly on the AP issue.

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Obama tries to regain control amid controversies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama on Wednesday released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations that the agency targeted conservative political groups. The moves were aimed at halting a perception spreading among both White House opponents and allies that the president has been passive and disengaged as controversies consume his second term.

In another action, the White House asked Congress to revive a media shield law that would protect journalists from having to reveal information, a step seen as a response to the Justice Department's widely criticized subpoenas of phone records from reporters and editors at The Associated Press.

The flurry of activity signaled a White House anxious to regain control amid the trio of deepening controversies. The incidents have emboldened Republicans, overshadowed Obama's legislative agenda and threatened to plunge his second term into a steady stream of congressional investigations.

Standing in the East Room of the White House, the president said Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller had resigned and vowed that more steps would be taken to hold those responsible accountable.

"Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it," Obama said of the IRS actions. "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior at any agency, but especially at the IRS given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives."

The president had addressed the IRS controversy on Monday, but his measured words left many unsatisfied, particularly given that he had waited three days to address the developments. He also repeatedly asserted that he was waiting to find out if the reports were accurate, even though top IRS officials had already acknowledged the controversial actions.

Adding to narrative of a passive president were White House efforts to distance Obama from the IRS scandal, as well as the revelations that the Justice Department had secretly obtained work and personal phone records of journalists. In both cases, the White House insisted the president had no prior knowledge of the events and learned about the matters like the general public — from news reports.

Obama's cautious response, combined with his lack of awareness about controversies brewing within his administration, opened him to quick criticism from his Republican foes.

"If Obama really learned about the latest IRS and AP secret subpoena scandals in the news, who exactly is running the ship at the White House?" Republican National Committee spokesman Kirsten Kukowski said.

But in a worrying sign for the White House, some Democrats also criticized the president for not being more aggressive in responding to trouble within the government.

Robert Gibbs, Obama's former White House press secretary, said the president should have appointed a bipartisan commission of former IRS officials to look into the issue of targeting political organizations. And Gibbs gently chided his former boss for using passive language when he first addressed the political targeting during a White House news conference Monday.

"The language should be more active than phrases like 'I didn't have any patience for this' or 'If the allegations are true," Gibbs said during an appearance on MSNBC.

The pair of new fresh controversies coincided with a resurgence in the GOP-led investigation into the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Congressional Republicans launched another round of hearings on the attacks last week. And on Friday, a congressional official disclosed details of emails among administration officials that resulted in the CIA downplaying the prospect that the attacks were an act of terror in talking points used to publicly discuss the deadly incident.

Obama aides insisted the emails were either taken out of context or provided no new information but resisted pressure to make the emails public for five days, before finally disclosing the documents to reporters Wednesday. The emails revealed that then-CIA Director David Petraeus disagreed with the final talking points, despite the White House's insistence that the intelligence agency had the final say over the statements.

The White House has publicly defended its handling of the controversies. Obama spokesman Jay Carney has insisted it would be "wholly inappropriate" for the president, in the case of the Justice Department matter, to weigh in on an active investigation, and in the case of the IRS controversy, to insert himself in the actions of an independent agency.

However, legal scholar Jonathan Turley disputed those assertions, saying there is no legal reason a president would be precluded from learning about the investigations before the public or commenting on them, at least broadly.

"These comments treat the president like he's the bubble boy," said Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.

David Axelrod, Obama's longtime adviser, acknowledged the White House could have acted more aggressively in "the interest of stagecraft." But he insisted that the president's handling of the matters will ultimately be vindicated.

"One virtue he has is that he takes a long-range view," he said. "It's easy to get whipped up by the frenzy, but it's responsible to react to the facts. It has short-term liabilities, but in the long-run, it's a quality you want in a president."

___

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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What’s in a name? Obama to welcome leader of ‘Myanmar,’ not ‘Burma’

Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, at the U.N. building in Bangkok on April 29. (Chaiwat Subprasom /Reuters)Straight up: This will only be of interest to foreign policy nerds and people interested in the fate of U.S. relations with this particular Asian country (Shoutout: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Republican senate minority leader and resident expert in Congress on this issue).

The White House announced Wednesday that President Barack Obama will welcome President Thein Sein of Myanmar next week. It's a historic visit, part of a gradual patching-up of relations after decades of tension and U.S. economic sanctions.

Obama himself became the first sitting president to visit Myanmar in November 2012. But there's one catch: According to the State Department and the CIA, there's doesn't seem to be any such country. According to those agencies, Thein Sein leads "Burma."

It's a notable diplomatic reward. Obama used the name "Myanmar" during his visit there in November. Authorities there have long quested for Washington to recognize the name, but it's still quite rare among U.S. policymakers—and nearly unheard of in Congress.

Here's the State Department's take: "The military government changed the country name to "Myanmar" in 1989. It remains U.S. policy to refer to the country as Burma."

What does the Central Intelligence Agency have to say? This: "Since 1989 the military authorities in Burma, and the current parliamentary government, have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; the US Government has not adopted the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw."

So why the change? National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden has the goods:

"The United States government over time has begun limited use of the name 'Myanmar' as a diplomatic courtesy," Hayden told Yahoo News by email. "Our policy remains that Burma is the name of the country."

She confirmed that the use of the other name is, in effect, a symbolic reward.

"Burma has undertaken a number of positive reforms, including releasing over 850 political prisoners; easing media restriction; permitting freedom of speech, assembly, and movement," she said. "We have responded by expanding our engagement with the government, easing a number of sanctions, and as a courtesy in appropriate setting, more frequently using the name 'Myanmar.'"

Obama believes "that showing respect for a government that is pursuing an ambitious reform agenda is an important signal of support for its efforts and our desire to help the transformation succeed," Hayden said.

Here is the full statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney:

Statement by the Press Secretary on the visit of President Thein Sein of Myanmar to the White House

President Obama will welcome His Excellency President Thein Sein to the White House on Monday, May 20, 2013. Since President Obama’s historic trip to Rangoon last November, the United States has continued to advocate for continued progress on reform by President Thein Sein’s government, in close cooperation with Aung San Suu Kyi, civil society leaders, and the international community. The President looks forward to discussing with President Thein Sein the many remaining challenges to efforts to develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions, and bring economic opportunity to the people of his country, and to exploring how the United States can help.

President Thein Sein’s visit underscores President Obama’s commitment to supporting and assisting those governments that make the important decision to embrace reform, and highlights the dedication of the United States to helping the Burmese people realize the full potential of their extraordinary country.

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‘Angry’ Obama says acting IRS chief fired over conservative targeting

President Barack Obama will make previously unannounced remarks on the IRS scandal at 6 p.m. Wednesday, his press office said. The president's statement from the East Room of the White House will come a little more than an hour after a meeting with senior Treasury Department officials to discuss the controversy, which centers on the IRS' acknowledgement that it improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny.

In a written statement late Tuesday, Obama called the IRS' behavior "intolerable and inexcusable," and said that he had directed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew "to hold those responsible for these failures accountable."

On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder promised angry lawmakers that the Justice Department will undertake a national investigation into the IRS wrongdoing.

"We will take a dispassionate view of this," said Holder, who faced tough questioning from the House Judiciary Committee. "This will not be about parties ... anyone who has broken the law will be held accountable."

Holder said he had launched an investigation last Friday into why the IRS subjected conservative groups to more review when they applied for tax-exempt status. The IRS inspector general's report said that a group of low-level staffers in an Ohio office were responsible, and a top IRS official has apologized on their behalf.

But Holder promised that the investigation will look well beyond Ohio, and suggested that civil rights laws could have been violated.

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., asked Holder at the hearing whether an "apology" from the IRS protected them from criminal prosecution. Holder answered, "No."

The Obama Administration is under fire over the IRS, the president's handling of the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the Department of Justice's secret collection of telephone records of Associated Press reporters and editors.

Republicans have been hammering Obama on all three matters. While Democrats have largely defended him—and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—on Benghazi, they have joined their GOP colleagues in denouncing the IRS and in expressing deep concerns about the AP phone records.

On Monday, Obama dismissed Republican charges of a cover-up in the Benghazi situation as a "sideshow" lacking any merit. He has yet to comment directly on the AP issue.

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White House: Obama is no Nixon

President Barack Obama at a May 13 press conference. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)The Department of Justice seizing reporters' phone records? The IRS apologizing for targeting conservatives?

The Richard Nixon comparisons seem to write themselves—much to the joy of Republicans working to cement the association between President Barack Obama and the former scandal-plagued president.

But when asked at Tuesday's press briefing about the White House's reaction to the recent Nixon comparisons, press secretary Jay Carney suggested those who made them were wrong.

"People who make those kinds of comparisons need to check their history," he said.

He then pivoted to the Benghazi "scandal," chalking it up to politics. "What we have here," Carney said, referencing controversy over the administration's handling of the 2012 attack, "is so clearly—as we're learning—more and more a political sideshow, a deliberate effort to politicize a tragedy."

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Gitmo prisoner: Obama has 'abandoned' detainees

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Guantanamo Bay detainee says he feels abandoned by President Barack Obama and the world after more than 10 years at the U.S. prison.

"I believe that President Obama must be unaware of the unbelievably inhumane conditions at the Guantanamo Bay prison, for otherwise he would surely do something to stop this torture," Yemeni prisoner Musa'ab Omar Al Madhwani wrote in a federal court declaration this year.

About a month later, Obama renewed his vow to close the U.S. detention center in Cuba, but acknowledged one key obstacle: "It's a hard case to make because I think for a lot of Americans, the notion is 'out of sight, out of mind.'"

Al Madhwani is a strong example of the political thicket that Obama faces as he makes another run at fulfilling a 2008 campaign promise to close the prison — or at least transfer some detainees back to their countries. For one, Al Madhwani is from Yemen, and the administration has prohibited the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to that country since January 2010 because of security concerns after a would-be bomber attempted to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner on instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

For another, Al Madhwani already has lost a court challenge to his detention, despite the judge's conclusion that he was not a security threat to the U.S. Of 26 documents the government relied on containing statements Al Madhwani had made at Guantanamo, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan in Washington threw out 23, concluding they had been tainted by coercive interrogation by U.S. forces prior to his arrival at the Cuban prison.

That taint would make it difficult to convict Al Madhwani in a civilian court, or even a military tribunal, increasing the odds that Al Madhwani will remain in the limbo of indefinite detention. Many other detainees are in the same situation. To date, only two prisoners have been convicted in a trial by military tribunals at Guantanamo, and both were reversed by the federal appeals court in Washington (although one remains under review). The five other convictions of Guantanamo prisoners came through plea bargains.

In Obama's first week in office, he signed an executive order to close Guantanamo, but Congress has used its budgetary power to block detainees from being moved to the U.S. On Saturday, Attorney General Eric Holder criticized what he called Congress' "unwise and unwarranted restrictions on where certain detainees could be housed, charged and prosecuted."

"Throughout history, our federal courts have proven to be an unparalleled instrument for bringing terrorists to justice," Holder told law school graduates of the University of California, Berkeley. "They have enabled us to convict scores of people of terrorism-related offenses since Sept. 11."

Like most of the 166 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo, Al Madhwani is participating in a hunger strike to protest his detention and prison conditions. "Indefinite detention is the worst form of torture," wrote Al Madhwani, who is in his 11th year at the prison and has never been charged with a crime.

The judge said he found Al Madhwani's testimony about harsh treatment at the hands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan prisons to be credible.

"Before Guantanamo, he had endured 40 days of solitary confinement, severe physical and mental abuse, malnourishment, sensory deprivation, anxiety and insomnia," Hogan said. But the judge ruled that statements Al Madhwani made during two military administrative hearings at Guantanamo were reliable and sufficient to justify holding him, because he had been "part of" al-Qaida.

Still, the judge seemed to come to that conclusion reluctantly.

"As a young, unemployed, undereducated Yemeni, Petitioner (Al Madhwani) was particularly vulnerable to the demagoguery of religious fanatics," Hogan wrote in the January 2010 opinion. He was "at best, a low-level al-Qaida figure."

Last month, a Constitution Project task force on detainee treatment, concluded that the U.S. engaged in torture in treatment of suspected terrorists. The high-profile task force listed Al Madhwani's case as an example of court findings of evidence of torture and abuse. The Constitution Project is a nonpartisan Washington-based thinktank.

Of the prisoners remaining at Guantanamo, 86 have been cleared for transfer to other countries, but Al Madhwani isn't one of them. That "really causes us to scratch our heads, because we believe, of all the people we've met, he's as harmless as any of them," said Al Madhwani's lawyer Darold Killmer, who also represents some detainees who have been cleared for transfer.

This year, Al Madhwani filed a motion in the D.C. federal court for humanitarian relief, claiming that Guantanamo officials had shown "deliberate indifference" to his medical needs. Hogan denied the motion, ruling that federal law bars him from reviewing claims about an enemy combatant's conditions of confinement.

In support of his failed motion, Al Madhwani wrote:

"Both of my parents have died during the time that I have been in prison in Guantanamo Bay. They were waiting for me to come home and now they are gone. I am afraid that my entire family will be dead before I am released from this prison. ... I have no reason to believe that I will ever leave this prison alive. It feels like death would be a better fate than living in these conditions."

Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Defense Department spokesman, said the U.S. remains in armed conflict with al-Qaida, and that the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which Congress passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, allows for the detention of enemy forces.

While the U.S. has prosecuted some detainees, he said, it isn't obligated to conduct trials while hostilities continue.

Al Madhwani insisted he's done nothing against the U.S. and never would.

"But if anyone believes that I have done anything wrong, I beg them to charge me with a crime, try me and sentence me. If not, release me."

Obama expressed the same sentiment two weeks ago when he said: "The idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried — that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop."

___

Follow Fred Frommer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ffrommer

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Obama denounces Benghazi cover-up charges as ‘political circus’

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, …
President Barack Obama on Monday furiously dismissed as a "political circus" Republican charges that his administration had misled Americans about the Benghazi, Libya. Obama said the suggestion dishonors the memory of the four U.S. citizens killed last September.

"There’s no there there,” Obama said during a joint question-and-answer session with British Prime Minister David Cameraon at the White House. "And the fact that this keeps on getting churned out, frankly, has a lot to do with political motivations."

The president’s angry words came after news reports surfaced Friday that the White House had overseen a process that repeatedly watered down Administration talking points on the attack, removing references to possible involvement by al-Qaida and to prior warnings about threats in Benghazi. Republicans have charged that the White House was worried about the potential political fallout from the spectacular terrorist attack in Obama's re-election campaign. The White House has repeatedly denied that it deliberately misled the public.

"The whole issue of talking points frankly throughout this process has been a sideshow," Obama said.

The talking points, which portrayed the attack as evolving from a demonstration of anger at an Internet video that mocked Islam, "pretty much matched the assessments that I was receiving at that time in my presidential daily briefing," he added, referring to his top-secret morning intelligence review with the CIA.

While protests against the video in Egypt led to an assault on the American embassy in Cairo, officials in Libya never reported a demonstration outside the compound in Benghazi before the assault that claimed the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Obama aides have said that the decision to scrub references in the talking points to al-Qaida and another extremist group, Ansar al-Sharia, reflected the intelligence community's uncertainty about the role they played.

"Immediately after this event happened, we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had occurred, what the motivations were," Obama said. "It happened at the same time as we had seen attacks on US embassies in Cairo as a consequence of this film. And nobody understood exactly what was taking place during the course of those first few days."

The president also pointed to his first public remarks on the attack, in the Rose Garden on Sept. 12, 2012, when he lumped the events in Benghazi in with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist strikes as "acts of terror."

But he and other senior officials declined in subsequent days to label the attack the work of terrorists. And U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice linked the Benghazi assault to the Internet video when she appeared on morning news shows the first Sunday after the attack.

"I’ve just got to say, here’s what we know: Americans died in Benghazi," Obama said. "What we also know is clearly they were not in a position where they were adequately protected.

"The day after it happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism and what I pledged to the American people was we would find out what happened we would make sure that it did not happen again and we would make sure that we held accountable those who had perpetrated this terrible crime. And that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do," he said.

Obama praised the work of envoys like Stevens and diplomats and other personnel serving overseas today, and declared: "We dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus."

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Obama praises democratic transition in Pakistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is praising Pakistanis for upholding what he calls their commitment to democratic rule by successfully completing parliamentary elections.

With the weekend vote, the parliament was able to complete its term and transfer power in democratic elections for the first time since Pakistan's founding in 1947.

Obama hails "this historic peaceful and transparent transfer of civilian power."

The president says Pakistanis ran competitive campaigns and persevered despite "intimidation by violent extremists."

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif seems ready to return to power for a third term.

He's expected to be more nationalistic and protective of state sovereignty than the outgoing government.

But U.S.-Pakistan relations aren't expected to change radically. Pakistan's army plays a dominant role in foreign policy and isn't eager to lose millions in U.S. military aid.

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‘Surprise!’ as Prince Harry joins Michelle Obama for Mother’s Day Tea

First lady Michelle Obama gestures during a surprise visit from Prince Harry at an event in honor of military mothers …
Britain’s Prince Harry drew cheers and shrieks of delight Thursday as he made a surprise appearance at a Mother's Day Tea hosted by first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden's wife.

Obama did all the talking as the guests in the State Dining Room of the White House, chiefly women in the military, their children, their mothers, and some military spouses, snapped phone-camera pictures and chattered excitedly.

The first lady -- President Barack Obama was out of town -- emphasized Harry's service in Britain's military and noted he had returned in January from his second tour in Afghanistan.

"For the past few years, he has focused on honoring the sacrifice and service of our veterans and military families, especially now that the war in Afghanistan is drawing to a close," she said.

"We are absolutely thrilled that he could be with us today," the first lady said of her husband. "He wanted to be here to personally thank you for your service."

But then, a warning:

Harry "only has a limited time with us because he has a very busy schedule," she said.

So the first lady, Biden, and Prince Harry went to the Blue Room adjacent with a plan to greet as many guests as possible.

"Prince Harry is going to stay as long as he can, and our goal is to get through everyone, but whenever he has to leave, we'll pull him out," Obama said. Shortly afterwards, a loudspeaker announcement advised: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain at your table until directed by a social aide."

Harry is on his way this weekend to the Warrior Games in Colorado Springs for wounded or injured soldiers.

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Top Senate Republican opposes Obama labor nominee Perez

By Rachelle Younglai and Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's top Republican on Wednesday came out strongly against President Barack Obama's nominee for labor secretary, accusing Thomas Perez of being a crusading ideologue who would bend the laws to advance his agenda.

Perez's nomination must be confirmed by the Senate and the speech from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggests that Republicans will throw up procedural hurdles to prevent him from serving as the Obama administration's next labor secretary.

"Unbound by the rules that apply to everyone else, Mr. Perez seems to view himself as free to employ whatever means at his disposal, legal or otherwise, to achieve his ideological goals," McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Perez, 51, is currently head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and has worked on civil rights issues in a series of government positions during his career.

McConnell's speech was designed to rally his members to oppose the nomination, and it provides cover for other Republicans who may be thinking about opposing Obama's pick, said George Washington University's Sarah Binder, an expert on Congress.

"I think it matters that it is Mitch McConnell here, laying the marker down on why he's opposing the nominee," Binder said.

The Oversight Committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives also has issues with Perez and has subpoenaed private emails he used to conduct government business.

Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings joined Republicans on Wednesday in asking Perez to turn over the documents. A spokeswoman for Cummings was not immediately available to explain the lawmaker's reasons.

LATINO SUCCESS STORY

Obama has described Perez's career as exemplifying the American success story. Perez, the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, helped pay for college by working as a garbage collector and in a warehouse.

The nomination was championed by Hispanic groups, which have pushed for more representation in the Cabinet.

As labor secretary, he would have a key role in Obama's efforts to raise the minimum wage and overhaul immigration laws.

Republicans allege that Perez entered into a quid pro quo deal with St. Paul, Minnesota, in which he got the city to withdraw a Supreme Court appeal in exchange for the department not filing charges alleging St. Paul had filed false claims in a government funding application.

Perez denies the allegation.

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Marco Rubio - a Hispanic often touted as a potential presidential candidate in 2016 - also said he thought Perez would be a "disastrous" choice.

"Many Americans, especially those of us of Hispanic descent, celebrate his success and his personal story," Rubio said in a statement. "Unfortunately, intellect and work ethic are not sufficient qualifications for a cabinet secretary."

SECOND DELAY FOR VOTE

The Senate Health and Labor Committee had been scheduled to vote on Perez's nomination on Wednesday. But Republicans invoked an obscure rule that prevents committees from meeting when the Senate is in session.

The committee is expected to hold the vote on May 16, marking the second time the panel has had to reschedule the vote due to Republican maneuvers. Although Obama's Democrats control the Senate 55-45, they would need 60 votes to clear a procedural roadblock.

The Health and Labor Committee chairman, Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, said he has given Republicans ample time to vet Perez and said his colleagues were now delaying the vote for "delay's sake."

The White House accused Republicans of "politicizing" the nomination but brushed off concerns Perez would be blocked.

"He's enormously qualified and there has not been a case made that is not political and partisan against his nomination, and we hope and expect the Senate will move forward," spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

Two of Obama's other Cabinet picks, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, had tough confirmations but eventually succeeded.

Obama has had a difficult time getting Senate approval for his Cabinet choices compared to his predecessors, Binder said. Previous presidents have rarely had to meet a 60-vote threshold to secure a confirmation, whereas Republicans have made that "the new norm" for Obama.

"There's no doubt that many nominations are killed by being drawn out and wearing down the nominee," Binder said, explaining that the longer the delay until a vote, the more time opposition can "fester and grow."

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai and Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Eric Walsh and Eric Beech)

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Is the economy getting better? Depends whether you think like an Obama or a Romney (Interactive map)

By Chris Wilson

There's an old joke in math circles about Richard Nixon that goes like this:

"In the fall of 1972, President Nixon announced that the rate of increase of inflation was decreasing. This was the first time a sitting president used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection."

(A derivative, one recalls, is a rate of change of a value.Nixon was saying that the rising price of goods and services—inflation, our first derivative—was itself rising—second derivative—but that the rate at which it was increasing was on the decline—third derivative.)

Historians (Wikipedia) trace this observation to the October 1996 edition of the "Notices of the American Mathematical Society," in which editor Hugo Rossi wondered if voters fell for it:

"Was President Nixon telling us that the economy was getting better? Did his listeners understand that in fact the inflation rate was still increasing and thus the economy still worsening?"

When it comes to economic data, there is almost always a time frame and a measure of calculus that can make the news sound good. The 2012 election arguably hinged on whether voters saw the economy in gross terms—how many total jobs were being created—or as a rate of change—how quickly the economy was improving. In the first presidential debate, President Barack Obama emphasized the former: "Over the last 30 months, we've seen 5 million jobs in the private sector created. "By the third debate, Republican nominee Mitt Romney was mournfully trumpeting the latter: "You can't have an economy that over the last three years keeps slowing down its growth rate." (That's a second derivative, for those of you keeping score at home.)

This is not your basic "lies, damn lies, statistics" situation. It's a foundational question about how far back our memories go when judging the health of the economy, and how far forward our imaginations go when projecting current trends.

Last week, the Census released an incredibly detailed set of figures on the number of people employed in over 1,500 industries in 2011. This dataset, called "County Business Patterns," is an annual survey of just about every sector of the U.S. economy, with the notable exception of government employees and some agricultural workers.

The absolute figures in this sort of data can be hard to make sense of if, like me, you are not an economist. Is the fact that 504 people were employed in the formal wear and costume rental business in Illinois in 2011 good news or bad news? Without some specific knowledge of the industry, the easiest thing to do is look at how much employment figures have changed over time. As it turns out, the formal wear rental business shrunk by 25 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to the Census data.

In the following interactive map, you can compare any two years of data for any industry and see how they measure up. Use the slider at the bottom to change the time frame and use the menu to select an industry. You can type in a few letters of the word you're looking for to narrow down this long list.

You can also toggle between viewing the map in terms of total jobs gained or lost, or as percentages—something like the "Obama View"and the "Romney View," to put it crudely.

To see the epitome of the Romney View, select "Total for all sectors" on the menu and set the time frame at 2008 to 2011. Whether you look at totals or percentages, you will find that only two states are in a better position today than they were before the worst of the recession hit: North Dakota and Alaska. This can largely be attributed to fossil fuels.

For a happier picture, just drag the left handle of the slider to 2010. For the most-recent two years of data, all but nine states have added jobs after shedding them like the plague the previous two years.(You can drag the blue region between the handles on the slider to move both at once.)

Think creatively if you can't find a specific industry; the government often words things very precisely. If you're worried about your friends at Yahoo News, for example, search for "Internet publishing." (Though this one is a bit misleading since the data doesn't show up until 2008. You have to drag the leftmost handle on the slider to 2009 or 2010 to see a real effect.)

Extra credit: How many anti-recession industries can you find, which show growth when the rest of the country shows decline? For example: Set the slider to 2008-2011 and select "Repossession services." Found a good one? Let me know: @chriswilsondc.

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You'll see some employment figures as a range, like 20-49.This happens when the Census is blurring data to protect the privacy of a company whose payroll could otherwise be imputed from the data. For the purposes of comparison, this map assumes the lower value. Thanks to the several different employees of the Census County Business Patterns office who took my calls to explain this. Questions? cewilson@yahoo-inc.com.Want to try it at home? My source code is on Github.

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Obama: Bin Laden, Gadhafi show I’m serious about Syria

President Barack Obama faces a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, May 7, …President Barack Obama defiantly defended his handling of Syria’s civil war on Tuesday, warning that Iraq showed the danger of acting on “perceived” evidence of weapons of mass destruction. And for those who doubt his determination to see Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad ousted from power, Obama bluntly pointed to the fate of Osama bin Laden and slain Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

"I don’t make decisions based on 'perceived' and I can’t organized international coalitions around 'perceived,'" Obama said during a joint press conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. "We tried that in the past, by the way and it didn’t work out well," he added, in a reference to Iraq.

Obama's comments came amid a chorus of questions and criticisms in response to the apparent use of chemical weapons by Assad's regime. The president last August labeled that kind of action a "red line" that could lead him to escalate America's role in the conflict, which the United Nations estimates has claimed the lives of at least 70,000 people. Republicans in Congress have pushed him to consider air strikes or the creation of a U.S.-enforced "no-fly zone" off limits to Syrian air power and warned that White House is sending a message of weakness to Assad.

"I would just point out that there have been several instances during the course of my presidency where I said I was going to do something, and it ended up getting done," Obama countered. "And there were times when folks on the sidelines wondering 'why hasn’t it happened yet?', and 'what’s going on?,' and 'why didn’t it go on tomorrow?'."

But in the end, Obama said, "whether it’s bin Laden or Gadhafi, if we say we’re taking a position, I would think at this point the international community has a pretty good sense that we typically follow through on our commitments." Elite U.S. commandos killed bin Laden in a May 2011 raid. And (after prodding from Congress) Obama made Gadhafi's removal a key part of the NATO-led campaign in Libya. Gadhafi was killed, apparently by Libyan rebels. Obama has provided rebels fighting to oust Assad with humanitarian aid. There have been news reports that American agents in Syria have been helping to train opposition forces and vet them to receive weapons from other countries -- a sign of caution from Washington at a time when some of the best fighters against the regime have ties to al-Qaida. But administration officials say Obama also takes a pragmatic view of what America's core interests are and a skeptical view of calls to escalate America's role.

"We have both a moral obligation and a national security interest in a) ending the slaughter in Syria but b) also ensuring that we’ve got a stable Syria that is representative of all the Syrian people, and is not creating chaos for its neighbors," Obama said Tuesday.

"Understandably, there’s a desire for easy answers. That’s not the situation there," he said. "And my job is to constantly measure our very real and legitimate humanitarian and national security interests in Syria, but measuring those against my bottom line which is what’s in the best interests of America’s security and making sure that I’m making decisions not based on a hope and a prayer but on hard-headed analysis in terms of what will actually make us safer and stabilize the region."

Obama declared that "there'd be severe costs in doing nothing. That's why we're not doing nothing."

His remarks came as the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker of Tennessee, told CBS News on Tuesday that the United States will "shortly" begin arming Syrian rebels, looking to boost moderate factions over al-Qaida-affiliated extremists whose rise would be a national security "nightmare."

"I do think we’ll be arming the opposition shortly," Corker of Tennessee said in an interview. "We’re doing a lot more there on the ground than really is known, but we do have to change the equation."

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Obama to Host Dinner for Top House Democrats

Continuing his Capitol Hill outreach, President Obama is set have dinner with the House Democratic leadership on Wednesday at the Jefferson Hotel, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, according to a White House official.

Most of the legislative focus early in Obama’s second term has been in the Senate. But as the president pursues a comprehensive immigration overhaul and a grand bargain on the budget, it is critical that the Democratic Party’s left flank does not abandon him.

The attendees of the dinner include Democratic Reps. Steny Hoyer, James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra, Joe Crowley, Chris Van Hollen, Rosa DeLauro, Rob Andrews, Steve Israel, and Mike Thompson, the official said.

Already, many House Democrats have agitated about the president’s willingness to cut entitlement spending in exchange for additional tax revenues. There is also growing concern about the immigration package getting tugged too far right, as Republicans are pushing for tighter border security.

The dinner is the latest in a months-long series of outreach efforts that Obama has made to lawmakers. The meal comes days after the president played golf with three senators, Democrat Mark Udall of Colorado, Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee.

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Man who elbowed President Obama in pickup game speaks

Ouch! President Obama received 12 stitches when he was elbowed in the lip during a basketball game in 2010 (Atlantic …

It’s probably not how what he hoped to be known for. But the man responsible for Obama’s busted lip with his elbow during a basketball game back in 2010, has finally spoken out.

“I had no desire to bring attention to myself in an accident that caused somebody pain. I didn’t want to disrespect the President of the United States,” Reynaldo Decerega, owner of the offending elbow, told the Boston Globe.

Back on November 26, 2010, the programs director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, found himself in a pickup game with the president, when the elbow incident occurred.

The president took an elbow to the lip and got 12 stitches. Decerega got four stitches on his elbow.

“I felt horrible,” Decerega told the Globe. “I’ve played basketball a million times in my life and I’ve never elbowed anybody. So the first time I do this, it’s to the President of the United States? What is the probability of that? Nil, right?”

Well, unfortunately for Decerega, the probability was 100%.

Not that Obama’s split lip was the first presidential injury related to athletic exertion.

George W. Bush in 2004 took a spill while riding his bike on his Crawford, Texas ranch, suffering some minor scrapes and scratches. After getting cleaned up, he completed the ride.

Former president Bill Clinton required surgery for a torn tendon after he took a tumble on the steps of pro golfer
Greg Norman's house in Florida in 1997. Directly after surgery Clinton announced, “I feel great,” and asked his doctor how soon he could swing a golf club again.

And Dick Cheney, vice president to George W. Bush, who suffers from congestive heart failure, shot fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face with birdshot while quail hunting in Texas in 2006.

For his part, to show Decerega that he is a good sport, Obama sent the 40-year-old a gift basket with a photo of the pair’s memorable moment.

"For Rey,” the president signed it, “The only guy that ever hit the president and never got arrested. Barack."

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White House denies Obama ad-libbed Syria ‘red line’ on chemical weapons

President Barack Obama answering a question about Syria during a news conference in Costa Rica on May 3. (Pablo …Did President Barack Obama really shock senior aides in August 2012 when he warned Syria publicly that using chemical weapons would cross a "red line"? No, the White House said Monday, rejecting a New York Times report.

"The president's use of the term 'red line' was deliberate and was based on U.S. policy," press secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily briefing.

Carney also dismissed claims from a U.N. investigator that Syria's rebels, not President Bashar Assad's forces, used chemical weapons. "We find it incredible, not credible, that the opposition has used chemical weapons," he said. "We think that any use of chemical weapons in Syria is almost certain to have been done by the Assad regime."

His comments came after The New York Times, citing anonymous Obama advisers, had reported Saturday that the president's warning was "unscripted," and "went further than many aides realized he would." It also noted that advisers felt "surprise" and "wondered where the 'red line' came from." The daily cited one aide as saying that "Mr. Obama was thinking of a chemical attack that would cause mass fatalities, not relatively small-scale episodes like those now being investigated, except the 'nuance got completely dropped.'"

The Times report came with Obama under heavy fire for drawing a "red line"—Syrian strongman Assad's use of chemical weapons against rebels fighting to oust him—but seemingly not responding now that the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that the regime has likely done so.

"What the president made clear is that it was a red line, and that it was unacceptable, and that it would change his calculus," Carney said. "What he never did—and it is simplistic to do so—is to say that 'if X happens, Y will happen.' He has never said what reaction he would take."

Some Republicans have charged that that's precisely the problem, that drawing a "red line" without specific consequences dents America's credibility.

Obama is "looking at a range of options, and he is not removing any option from the table" if it is conclusively proven that Assad's regime used chemical weapons, Carney said.

The press secretary also defended Israel's weekend air strikes in Syrian territory, saying, "It is certainly within their right to take action to protect themselves." Israel reportedly struck arms depots amid concerns that Syria would try to ship some high-tech weapons to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon who might use them to strike that U.S. ally.

Asked whether the violence in Syria, estimated to have claimed the lives at at least 70,000 people, amounted to genocide, Carney declined to use the term, saying that would be up to the United Nations and relevant courts.

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Hole-in-one as Obama golfs with 3 senators

WASHINGTON (AP) — So much for overshadowing your rivals, Mr. President.

Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss didn't seem fazed by a rare congressional invitation to golf with President Barack Obama Monday, sinking a hole-in-one on the par-three 11th hole. The ace shot helped lead Chambliss and GOP teammate Sen. Bob Corker or Tennessee to victory over the Democratic duo of Obama and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall on an outing meant to strengthen ties between the president and Congress.

Chambliss told reporters upon his triumphant return to Capitol Hill that "everyone went crazy" when he made the shot and there were high-fives all around. The president retrieved the Chambliss' ball from the hole, while Corker took a picture.

"I told him since I made the hole-in-one, he ought to give us everything we want on entitlement reform," Chambliss said with a smile. That's Washington speak for legislation to change benefits like Social Security and Medicare.

Obama took the senators to a favorite course at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base, where he frequently plays on weekends with aides and friends. He once took along House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and has also included Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., but this was his first outing with any lawmaker in his second term.

The afternoon game added a recreational twist to Obama's months-long effort to strengthen ties with lawmakers, hoping some quality face time now can lay the groundwork for compromise on pressing issues down the road.

The foursome played under overcast skies that seemed to threaten rain that never came. Their game was cut short on the 15th hole so the senators could get back for a vote to allow states to tax Internet sales. The casually-dressed lawmakers had to rush in and shout their votes from the Senate's cloakroom since they did not have time to put on ties that are required in the chamber.

Corker said they agreed not to say much about what happened on the course, other than Chambliss' ace shot. "We talked a little business but mostly enjoyed just being out there," Corker said.

The White House noted that the president was the weakest golfer in the group, with the highest handicap, and paired with fellow Democrat Udall, who had to the lowest handicap. All three of the senators were ranked among the top 40 on Golf Digest's 2011 list of "Washington's Top 150 Golfers."

Obama, wearing a windbreaker and cap, chatted casually with the lawmakers in view of the reporters on the first green. The White House said the talk centered on their game and not the latest legislative negotiations.

The White House and Democrats are working to secure support for an immigration overhaul — especially from Republicans. They're hoping that a strong bipartisan showing in the Senate will strengthen the bill's prospects for passing the Republican-controlled House. Obama is also hoping to find common ground with lawmakers that could lead to a broad budget deal.

Corker and Chambliss figure prominently on fiscal issues and also are being eyed as possible supporters on an immigration bill. Udall has a reputation for working across party lines and could be a player in bipartisan negotiations.

In recent weeks Obama has entertained senators from both parties at the White House, held dinners at a nearby hotel, traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and made countless phone calls.

"He's willing to try anything," said White House press secretary Jay Carney. "Whether it's a conversation on the phone or a meeting at the Oval Office, or dinner at a restaurant or dinner at the residence, he's going to have the same kinds of conversations."

Chambliss, who says he golfs 30 to 40 times a year, said he made another hole-in-one more than 20 years ago, but "this one's pretty special." He said he used a 5-iron and choked up on his club but couldn't tell if he sunk it.

Once Chambliss confirmed it was in the hole, there were high-fives all around, he said. The players all signed the flag for him.

Chambliss, who plans to retire next year, said he will frame the ball and the flag. "If my children want it one of these days, they can get it. Otherwise it will probably be in the nursing home with my wife and me," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman, Andrew Miga and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

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Obama dares graduates to reject cynical voices

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — President Barack Obama is telling college graduates that only their generation can break the cycle of a political system consumed by "small things" that works for the benefit of a few.

Obama gave his first commencement address of the year at Ohio State University on Sunday.

The president told students that if they engage in democracy, they can make sure they inherit a country that has lived up to its potential.

Obama mentioned that young people in earlier generations helped secure equal rights for women, workers and gays.

He asked them to reject cynics who say government is the root of all problems.

Obama is to give two other commencement speeches later this month — at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and Morehouse College in Atlanta.

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Obama heads out on new jobs tour - first stop: Austin, Texas

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will travel on Thursday to Austin, Texas, the first stop in a new series of day trips designed to draw attention to policies and programs that help spur the economy, and build support for his economic policies, the White House said on Sunday.

In Austin, Obama will visit a high school and a technology company, and will talk with entrepreneurs and workers about proposals he made earlier this year to boost jobs and training.

Despite often saying that his top priority is creating more jobs, Obama's proposals have been overshadowed by debates over reforms to gun and immigration laws as well as efforts to reduce the deficit.

Unemployment in the United States fell to 7.5 percent last month, the lowest level since Obama took office.

"Things are getting better, but our economic recovery is not as strong as it could be and far too many middle class families are still struggling," said Josh Earnest, Obama's deputy press secretary.

"There are things Washington could be doing right now to help American businesses, schools and workers," he said, explaining the tours are designed to engage Americans and push Congress to act.

In February, Obama said he wanted to invest in manufacturing "hubs" around the country, spend $50 billion on roads, bridges and other infrastructure, and raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour from the current $7.25.

Most of the proposals require Congressional approval, but there have been few signs of broad support for the measures on Capitol Hill.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Obama to launch series of trips on economic plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama's trip to Austin, Texas, on Thursday will kick off a series of day trips aimed at highlighting his proposals on jobs and the economy.

While in Texas, Obama will visit a technical high school and meet with entrepreneurs. He'll also drop in on a tech company and talk with blue-collar workers.

The trip show Obama wants to keep Americans focused on his economic proposals even while Congress is busy with an immigration overhaul and confirmation for Obama's second-term Cabinet nominees.

The White House says Obama will travel every few weeks and will emphasize his State of the Union proposals to expand pre-kindergarten and raise the minimum wage.

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Obama to launch series of trips on economic plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama's trip to Austin, Texas, on Thursday will kick off a series of day trips aimed at highlighting his proposals on jobs and the economy.

While in Texas, Obama will visit a technical high school and meet with entrepreneurs. He'll also drop in on a tech company and talk with blue-collar workers.

The trip show Obama wants to keep Americans focused on his economic proposals even while Congress is busy with an immigration overhaul and confirmation for Obama's second-term Cabinet nominees.

The White House says Obama will travel every few weeks and will emphasize his State of the Union proposals to expand pre-kindergarten and raise the minimum wage.

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