Stephen Dinan

Obama fights the security bubble

President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday he's already butting up against the restrictions on his personal life as president, including everyday things like using a Blackberry or going body surfing on his Hawaii vacation.

January 8, 2009

Obama bans bill pork, warns of deficits

Warning of $1 trillion deficits "for years to come," President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats on Tuesday vowed to eschew pork-barrel spending in the giant economic stimulus bill.

January 7, 2009

Jeb Bush won’t run for Senate

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he will not run for the state's open Senate seat next year and instead will work from outside elected office to build the Republican Party.

January 7, 2009

Bush tells military cause is ‘just and right’

President Bush on Tuesday said that when it comes to the military, his time in office will be remembered as the early years of a generational struggle against terrorism and of "a global coalition led by the United States" to fight for others' freedom.

January 7, 2009

Jeb Bush nixes Senate run

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he will not run for the state's open Senate seat next year, saying he will instead work to build the Republican Party from outside elected office.

January 6, 2009

Obama’s Justice pick draws fire of pro-lifers

Social conservatives and pro-life activists are mobilizing against President-elect Barack Obama's pick Monday for the No. 3 Justice Department job, a lawyer who aided the effort to remove Terry Schiavo's feeding tube during the landmark right-to-die case four years ago.

January 6, 2009

Price dip adjusts Bush’s gas legacy

A once-popular bumper sticker says simply, "When Bush took office, gas was $1.46." It was meant to be a slam, but as the end of his eight years approaches, President Bush is seeing gas prices that, adjusted for inflation, are lower than when he was inaugurated.

January 6, 2009

Hackers post link on Obama’s Twitter

President-elect Barack Obama's account with the social networking site Twitter was hacked Monday along with those of Britney Spears and other celebrities.

January 6, 2009

Obama’s Twitter site hacked?

Something strange is going on with Barack Obama's Twitter account today.

January 5, 2009

Richardson withdraws Cabinet post

UPDATED: President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that he would withdraw Gov. Bill Richardson's nomination to be commerce secretary.

January 5, 2009

Richardson withdraws Cabinet post

UPDATED: President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that he would withdraw Gov. Bill Richardson's nomination to be commerce secretary.

January 4, 2009

Richarson withdraws name for Commerce Secretary

UPDATED: Bill Richardson has asked President-elect Barack Obama to withdraw his nomination to be Commerce secretary because of an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

January 4, 2009

Obama urges stimulus bill passage

President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that the nation finds itself at one of its "moments of trial" because of the economy and called for Congress to pass a massive public spending bill to create jobs, saying it would pull the country out of its slump.

January 4, 2009

Obama: Spending bill needed for jobs

President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday said the nation finds itself at one of its "moments of trial" because of the economy and called for Congress to pass a massive public spending bill to create jobs, saying that will pull the country out of the slump.

January 3, 2009

Defiant Blagojevich names Obama successor

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday defiantly anointed his own replacement for Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, raising the stakes for a constitutional showdown with lawmakers.

December 31, 2008

Democrats say Blagojevich Senate pick unwelcome

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday named a former state attorney general to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, igniting a racially-tinged fight among Democrats over the appointment.

December 30, 2008

Bush, Obama hail our history

They differ markedly on policies, but President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama both struck the same note in their Christmas weekend radio addresses.

December 25, 2008

Bush withdraws N.Y. builder’s pardon

In what may be an unprecedented step, President Bush on Wednesday revoked a pardon he granted just a day earlier to a man whose family contributed heavily to Republicans this year.

December 25, 2008

Obama met with feds over Blagojevich investigation

UPDATED: President-elect Barack Obama has been interviewed by federal authorities in connection with the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but an internal inquiry has found no inappropriate contacts by Mr. Obama or anyone else on his team, according to a report the presidential transition team released Tuesday.

December 23, 2008

Biden vows no pet project in stimulus bill

Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Tuesday that the new administration will not allow Washington pork-barrel projects into its planned stimulus spending bill, which the transition team has said could reach nearly $1 trillion.

December 23, 2008