Barack Obama News
Read news, analysis, and commentary on Barack Obama, his administration’s legacy, and his continuing impact on national debates.
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news
Here’s the Tool Congress Can Use to Curtail Obama’s Regulation Legacy
Conservatives in Congress have a plan to undo a large number of regulations from the last few months of President Barack Obama’s time in office. The recently imposed regulations include a new rule from the Department of Health and Human Services that protects federal funding for Planned Parenthood as well as regulations from the Department… -
opinion
Obama’s Last Gift to Planned Parenthood
President Barack Obama has given Planned Parenthood a parting gift in the final weeks of his administration. As reported by The Daily Signal’s Kelsey Harkness, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would prohibit states from blocking Planned Parenthood from receiving Title X family planning services grant money for reasons “unrelated”… -
news
Obama’s Education Secretary: ‘We Should Welcome Good Public Charter Schools’
During one of his final weeks on the job, President Barack Obama’s secretary of education called for education leaders to unite around support for charter schools. “If we believe that public schools will always be the bedrock of American democracy and opportunity—as I do—we should welcome good public charter schools as laboratories for innovation that… -
opinion
The Obama Administration Just Sent the Arms Trade Treaty to the Senate. Here’s Why It Doesn’t Matter.
Last week, the Obama administration took a step that conservatives have been anticipating for three years: it transmitted the Arms Trade Treaty to the Senate for ratification. This move doesn’t matter. The treaty is supposedly designed to control the international trade of weapons. It was adopted through the United Nations in 2013, and 91 nations have… -
opinion
Obama’s Terrorism Claim Hides an Inconvenient Truth
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama stated that “Over [the] last eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland.” Talk about something actually deserving of being labeled as “fake news.” Obama’s statement obscures the reality that the U.S. has faced 66 Islamist terrorist plots against the U.S. homeland… -
news
Obama Administration Not Finished Yet With Executive Actions, Regulations
On Monday, President Barack Obama issued his fifth executive order since the Nov. 8 election. In this case, it was to create a National Invasive Species Council to compile a report by 2020 on how to prevent such species from affecting climate change, food safety, and even military readiness. Citing national security concerns, Obama issued… -
news
Obama Administration Sides With Protesters, Halting Construction of Dakota Access Pipeline
The Department of the Army handed protesters of the Dakota Access oil pipeline a victory Sunday when it announced the project would be re-routed. The decision came on the eve of the government’s Monday deadline for protesters to evacuate their encampment. For the past several months, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have waged a… -
news
Obama Could Expand ‘Unprecedented’ Clemency Push for Prisoners
President Barack Obama has overseen a dramatic reshaping of the federal prison system, as the most visible leader of a bipartisan movement to overcome the age of harsh punishment during the war on drugs. Indeed, Obama is on pace to be the first president in 50 years to leave office when the federal prison population… -
news
Payday Lenders Accuse Obama Administration of Last-Ditch Effort With Operation Choke Point
Short-term lenders say the Obama administration is attempting a last-ditch effort to use Operation Choke Point to crack down on their industries, causing an “urgent” situation where businesses are unable to perform basic functions like pay their employees. After losing dozens of more banking relationships in recent weeks, a group of payday lenders asked a… -
news
Obama Administration Shuts Down Aerial Surveillance on Border
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, vows to challenge DHS’ move, saying Congress provided “full funding” for 2017. Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the homeland security subcommittee, is… -
opinion
Obama’s Contribution to Our Identity Politics Climate
While in Greece this week, President Barack Obama called the anxieties about national, cultural, and ethnic identities that impacted this election a “volatile mix.” He attributed this angst, though, to impersonal forces such as globalization, deindustrialization, and social media. It wasn’t him. For eight years, the president said, he’s been working hard against approaches “that… -
opinion
Obama’s 7 Biggest Foreign Policy Mistakes
How will history judge the national security and foreign policy of President Barack Obama? From the Iran deal to the Russian reset, the world is not a better or safer place after Obama’s eight-year tenure. -
opinion
Obama May Veto the Defense Bill, Again
This week the White House signaled that it might veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) if a religious freedom amendment remains in the final package. While this may just be political posturing, it fits a clear pattern of President Barack Obama’s willingness to use national security, and the defense bills in particular, as hostages… -
opinion
Federal Judge Asks Why Obama Administration Isn’t Admitting Christian Syrian Refugees
In an otherwise unremarkable opinion over the federal Freedom of Information Act, a federal appellate court judge has issued a sharp rejoinder to the Obama administration over an issue that has been discussed in the news—the almost complete lack of Syrian Christian refugees being brought over to the U.S. The Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice… -
opinion
Obama Threatens to Veto Military Bill Because It Protects Religious Groups
On D-Day, Franklin Roosevelt famously asked a country of many faiths to pray that God protect our troops as they “struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our civilization” against tyranny. Given our military’s tradition of defending religious liberty from attack, it is disappointing to see President Barack Obama threaten to veto the military’s… -
opinion
6 of Obama’s Biggest Blunders
From skyrocketing spending and record new regulations to the multiple failures surrounding Obamacare and the push for Common Core, here’s a look at some of President Barack Obama’s biggest domestic policy blunders over the past eight years. -
news
Crashes Will Be Hard to Stop After Obama’s Internet Giveaway
Someone successfully shut down many websites Friday, attacking a crucial part of the internet that has been made more vulnerable due to an Obama administration decision to surrender American control, according to experts. Websites like Twitter, Spotify, Reddit and many others were not working for a large portion of U.S. citizens Friday, after unknown hackers breached the servers of… -
opinion
UNESCO, Which Obama Wants US to Fund, Calls Israel ‘Occupying Power’ and Rewrites Jewish History
Even though it remains a member of United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United States has not provided any funding to the organization since 2011 when the Palestinian Authority was granted full membership in the organization. That decision ran afoul of two U.S. laws, passed in the early 1990s, that prohibit U.S…. -
news
Obama Is Restarting the Mars Program He Canceled 8 Years Ago
President Barack Obama will restart NASA’s mission to Mars after he effectively canceled the program eight years ago, according to an op-ed he wrote. Obama’s op-ed calls for NASA to send humans to Mars by 2030, but Obama has a long history of slashing programs that would have sent America to Mars much sooner. “We have…