Tag: president barack obama
Obama Meets With Gabrielle Giffords As Administration Looks To Tighten Gun Laws

Obama Meets With Gabrielle Giffords As Administration Looks To Tighten Gun Laws

By Michael A. Memoli, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — As the White House seeks ways that President Barack Obama could legally tighten restrictions on gun ownership, including closure of the so-called gun show loophole, he met Friday with Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman severely wounded in a mass shooting in Tucson in 2011 in which six people were killed.

The meeting with Giffords and her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who advocate for tougher gun safety laws, was part of the Obama administration’s ongoing dialogue “with those who share the president’s passion for taking some common-sense steps to make it harder for those with bad intentions to get their hands on guns,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

“The administration has worked closely with some of these outside groups to amplify the call of people across the country, so that members of Congress can be responsive to those public priorities,” Earnest added.

Obama renewed his push for tighter gun control after the mass shooting at a community college in Oregon in October that killed nine, as well as the gunman. Earnest said Friday that administration officials “have cast a wide net” in exploring possible actions the president could take in using executive authority to limit access to guns, but he declined to specify what was being considered and how soon Obama might announce any plan.

The leading proposal under consideration, according to White House officials, is a reinterpretation of existing law to require all or most people trying to buy guns to submit to background checks. Licensed firearms dealers must conduct background checks, but those who make “occasional sales” are exempt from the requirement, including sales at gun shows.

Such background checks might not have altered the path taken by the shooters behind Wednesday’s massacre in San Bernardino, Calif. Federal officials have concluded that Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the two assailants, legally bought two of the weapons, and two others were likewise legally purchased and given to him by a friend.

The idea for tighter background checks was one of several suggested by gun safety advocates in the immediate aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., three years ago this month, though it wasn’t part of final recommendations by Vice President Joe Biden, who led the White House effort to restrict access to guns.

“I don’t know if they felt they didn’t want to do it or couldn’t do it for legal reasons,” said Jim Kessler of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way, who was in regular consultations with the administration during the deliberations. “It just didn’t happen.”

A bill to strengthen the background check system died in the Senate a few months after the Newtown rampage.

On Friday, Earnest blasted Senate Republicans who voted a day earlier to block several gun-related measures that Democrats had offered as amendments to a health care bill, including the bipartisan background check proposal that also failed to pass in 2013.

With their votes, Republicans “stood up once again with the (National Rifle Association) and in the face of common sense,” Earnest said.

Obama’s meeting with Americans for Responsible Solutions, which was not on his publicly released schedule, came on a day when he otherwise stayed out of the public eye.

The FBI announced Friday that it was investigating the shooting rampage in San Bernardino as an act of terrorism.

In comments to reporters before the FBI announcement, Earnest declined to comment on reports that Tashfeen Malik, who died in a police shootout after she and Farook, her husband, killed 14 at a holiday party for the San Bernardino County Health Department, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on Facebook.

©2015 Tribune Co. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

File photo: Chesterfield County Sheriff’s lieutenant David Lee removes rifles from a shipping container as he and other officers sort through thousands of guns found in the home and garage of Brent Nicholson, in Pageland, South Carolina, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Miczek

Obama Vows To Act After Republicans Kill Immigration Bill Hopes

Obama Vows To Act After Republicans Kill Immigration Bill Hopes

Washington (AFP) – President Barack Obama ignited a new power showdown with Republicans Monday, vowing to fix America’s broken immigration system on his own after Congress refused to vote on his top remaining domestic priority this year.

Obama rebuked Republican leaders who he said will not pass a “darned bill” because they are afraid of conservative activists who oppose offering a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented migrants as “amnesty.”

“They would be following the will of the majority of the American people who support reform,” Obama said, in a statement in the White House Rose Garden laced with sarcasm and bitterness. “Instead, they have proven again and again that they’re unwilling to stand up to the Tea Party in order to do what’s best for the country.”

Obama said House of Representatives speaker John Boehner told him last week that his chamber would not vote this year on legislation that has already passed the Senate.

Obama, searching for a genuine legacy-enhancing achievement to adorn his battered second term, argued that he thus had no choice but to act to stem a building immigration crisis.

“If Congress will not do their job, at least we can do ours,” he said, revealing he had asked the Department of Homeland Security to come up with recommendations within the next few months, which he pledged to implement using his executive powers immediately.

He also said he would surge resources to secure the southwestern U.S. border, where a flood of tens of thousands of child migrants from Central America has stretched customs services and deepened the partisan bile over immigration reform.

Obama’s moves on Monday will further inflame the fiery showdown between the president and Republicans ahead of mid-term congressional elections in November.

Republicans accuse Obama of exceeding his presidential power in a series of actions on health reform, immigration enforcement and in other areas.

Their case was bolstered by a unanimous Supreme Court ruling last week that found the president overstepped his powers by appointing several officials to the National Labor Relations Board without the consent of Congress.

AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan

New Poll Is Bad News For Obama, But Not The End Of His Presidency

New Poll Is Bad News For Obama, But Not The End Of His Presidency

With a new NBC News/Wall Street Journalpoll revealing unfavorable approval ratings for President Barack Obama, some are apparently ready to declare the death of his presidency.

“I mean, essentially the public is saying your presidency is over,” NBC’s Chuck Todd said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, just hours after the poll was released on Wednesday.

The poll that Todd described as a “disaster for the president” is certainly not good news for the White House: Only 41 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing, and a 54 percent majority say they are not confident that the president “is able to lead the country and get the job done.” Additionally, 42 percent believe the administration’s performance has worsened over the past year; only 15 percent say it has improved.

As the WSJ notes, the latest numbers arrive in the midst of “foreign crises and domestic economic unease” that many seem to blame on President Obama, or at least attribute to his lack of leadership. Only 37 percent approve of Obama’s handling of foreign policy; 30 percent approve of the deal to free Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from the Taliban; and 41 percent approve of the state of the economy.

However, Todd and others who say the poll is evidence that the president is finished are ignoring its other notable findings. The poll reveals increased — and overwhelming — public support for Obama-backed policies on issues related to climate change, education, and immigration. And despite GOP-launched attacks on the president’s handling of the VA scandal, only 14 percent blame the problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs on the Obama administration.

Additionally, Democrats in November’s elections are not completely doomed by the poll’s findings. Democrats still lead Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 45 to 43 percent, and respondents say they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district over the Republican candidate by a 35 percent to 30 percent margin. Additionally, a 41 percent plurality say their vote in November won’t be a signal to President Obama (34 percent say their vote will be a signal of opposition to the president, while 24 percent say it will be a signal of support). These numbers won’t give Democrats much of a tangible advantage, given how favorable the electoral map is for Republicans, but they do run counter to the narrative that the president will be an anchor on Democratic hopes in the midterms.

Obama’s low approval ratings in the NBC News/WSJ poll are not even the lowest of his presidency. In December, a Quinnipiac University poll found that only 38 percent of Americans approved of the president’s job performance — his lowest number yet, but also evidence that he has bounced back from worse. And there’s one last silver lining for the president: Other polls have found his approval rating to be higher. According to the Huffington Post’s average, Obama’s approval sits at 45 percent.

Todd’s comments on the poll can be seen below:

AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski

Video via MSNBC

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Obama To Sign Executive Order Protecting Gay Employees Of Federal Contractors

Obama To Sign Executive Order Protecting Gay Employees Of Federal Contractors

By Lesley Clark, McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — After years of prodding from gay rights activists, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, the White House said Monday.

The administration says the move builds upon existing protections, which generally prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and is “consistent with the president’s views that all Americans, LGBT or not, should be treated with dignity and respect.”

Advocates have been pressing for the executive order since Obama was elected in 2008 and hailed the White House’s announcement that Obama has directed his staff to prepare the executive order for his signature.

“This is a major step forward in the struggle for freedom and justice for LGBTQ workers and their families,” said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “Now millions of people will have the economic security they need to provide for their families.”

The move comes as Obama on Tuesday will headline the 15th annual Democratic National Committee LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Leadership Council’s fundraiser in New York. News reports over the weekend also noted that while in California over the weekend, Obama worked out mornings at a gym near the Rancho Mirage home where the first family stayed with White House decorator Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, the American ambassador to Spain.

The White House says that no current federal law adequately protects lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers from employment discrimination. Obama had resisted signing the measure, with the White House in the past noting that it would be better if Congress passed a more sweeping piece of legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would cover have broader reach.

The legislation cleared the Senate last November, but has not advanced in the House.

The White House said Obama “has long supported federal legislation to explicitly prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The move could help “demonstrate to Congress that adopting federal employment protections for LGBT people is good policy and good for business,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which called the announcement the culmination of six years of advocacy by the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBT and civil rights leaders.

Griffin said it’s legal under state law to fire or refuse employment to a person based on sexual orientation in 29 states — and 32 states lack explicit laws banning discrimination based on gender identity.

The executive order will apply only to companies that contract with the federal government, but Griffin said federal contractors employ more than 20 percent of the American workforce — 28 million workers — and collect around $500 billion in federal contracts every year.

Photo: Sigmaration via Flickr