Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll [Full Episode]
Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter...
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Michelle Obama breaks it down at Easter Egg Roll [Full Episode] - Video
Iran Nuclear Deal and The Obama Doctrine .
Iran Nuclear Deal, and, The Obama Doctrine, Fox News Channel, THE FIVE, Educational, Politics, Commentary, Analysis, Panel, News, Report .
By: Hamid Bayati
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Iran Nuclear Deal and The Obama Doctrine . - Video
Obama was responding to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who vowed last week to pull the U.S. out of a nuclear deal with Iran on day one of his presidency -- that is, if he decides to run and is elected. Walker is near the top of recent polling among potential Republican presidential contenders.
"It would be a foolish approach to take, and, you know, perhaps Mr. Walker, after he's taken some time to bone up on foreign policy, will feel the same way," Obama said in an interview with NPR published Tuesday.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also a potential GOP contender, took the same position as Walker on Monday, swearing to "invalidate" the Iran accord as "one of my first actions in office" if he were elected President.
Walker hit back in a Tuesday statement to CNN, knocking Obama for his "failed leadership."
"Americans would be better served by a president who spent more time working with governors and members of Congress rather than attacking them," Walker said.
But Obama said he's confident his successor won't pull the U.S. out of an international agreement with Iran that involves not just the U.S., but five top world powers -- the four other members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany.
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"And, you know, I am confident that any president who gets elected will be knowledgeable enough about foreign policy and knowledgeable enough about the traditions and precedents of presidential power that they won't start calling to question the capacity of the executive branch of the United States to enter into agreements with other countries," Obama said.
Reversing that precedent, Obama said, would "embolden our enemies" and prove problematic for the U.S.'s relations with its allies.
Republicans and some Democrats in Congress are calling for congressional oversight over an eventual deal with Iran and the Senate is expected to vote on a bill that would require Obama to run a deal through Congress. But Obama has been insistent that the executive branch has the power to reach the agreement alone and has resisted the calls from Congress.
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Obama: 2016 GOPer's 'foolish approach'
President Obama faces two serious problems as he tries to protect his still-unfinished nuclear agreement with Iran from congressional tinkering or destruction. One is the ferocious opposition of Republican hawks who view the deal as insufficiently tough on Tehran. The other is nervousness among Democrats who view the deal as promising but politically risky.
First, the GOP. Not a single prominent Republican has spoken up in favor of the deal. Among likely presidential candidates, almost all have denounced it. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the most moderate, said: "I cannot stand behind such a flawed agreement." Others were harsher; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Obama's diplomatic efforts "farcical." The only exception was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who a few months ago said he supported negotiations with Iran but now says, carefully, that he's studying the matter.
Foreign policy hasn't always been this partisan not even under Obama, whom many conservatives consider the Great Polarizer. In the president's first year, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised him for escalating the war against Al Qaeda and slowing troop withdrawals from Afghanistan. In 2010, Obama won the votes of about one-third of the Senate's Republicans for a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. And in 2011, Obama approved the raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which was a bipartisan crowd-pleaser even if some Republicans felt the president took too much credit.
But events and politics conspired against that modest degree of comity. In Obama's second term, his foreign policy suffered one reversal after another: a bloody stalemate in Syria, a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the rise of Islamic State in Iraq. The public's confidence in his foreign policy fell to 31% in one poll (from a post-Bin-Laden high of 53%). In the 2014 congressional election, Republicans found that military strength, one of their traditional selling points, was attracting voters' attention again.
As a result, as Obama works to shepherd the nuclear agreement past a Congress with solid Republican majorities in both houses, he's already in effect playing for a tie. White House officials acknowledge that it would be virtually impossible to win an affirmative vote to approve the kind of deal that negotiators outlined last week. Instead, they're simply hoping to prevent Congress from holding up the implementation of a final agreement, should one materialize.
In this unpromising landscape, the closest thing to a champion of bipartisanship is the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). He has kept his rhetoric moderate and has cagily focused on a single point of possible consensus among Republicans and Democrats on his committee: When a deal is produced, they'd like a say in whether it goes into effect.
Corker has written a bill that sounds reasonable. It would give Congress 60 days to look at any agreement with Iran. During that period, the administration would be prohibited from waiving economic sanctions that are now in place. If Congress voted against the deal, the deal would die; if Congress approved the deal or didn't vote, the deal would live.
That simple procedural goal has enabled Corker to win the endorsements of 11 Democratic senators plus one independent, one short of the 13 he would need (added to all 54 Republicans) for a veto-proof majority of 67. His bill's cosponsors include Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the next Senate Democratic leader, and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Why are Democrats lining up with the Corker bill? Most say it's merely a matter of preserving congressional prerogative. "I strongly believe Congress should have the right to disapprove any agreement," Schumer said Monday.
But aides acknowledge that there's also a fear, especially for senators facing tough reelection campaigns, of looking insufficiently skeptical about the deal. There's a measure of squeamishness about sticking too closely to a lame duck president whose popularity is below 50%. And one effect of polarization is that it's hard on moderates who'd prefer to find a position somewhere between hell yes and hell no; for some, Corker's bill provides, at least temporarily, that centrist option.
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Obama's hurdles to shielding any Iran deal from Congress' tinkering
President Obama teasedhiscritics in his Easter remarks asreligiousleaders gathered at the White House for a prayer breakfast Tuesday.
Obama noted the biblical call thatChristians are calledto love each other. But he said he sometimes hears less-than-loving expressions by Christians. He added, but thats a topic for another day, to applause and some jeering and laughter,I was about to veer off. Im pulling it back.
Where there is injustice we defend the oppressed, Obama said, getting back on message after laughter.
Where there is disagreement, we treat each other with compassion and respect, he said. Where there are differences, we find strength in our common humanity, knowing that we are all children of God.
Speaking at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast, President Obama said that with his daughters looking into college, he starts "tearing up," and needs prayers to help him. He also mused on "the glorious resurrection of our savior." (AP)
[For Easter, first family worships at Alexandrias Alfred Street Baptist Church]
Vice President Biden introduced Obama at the breakfast, whichhas become a regular tradition under Obamas administration.
We live our faith when we nurture the hope and possibilities that have always defined us as a country, Biden said. We live Easter and to live Easter is to live with the constant notion that we can always do better.
Both men drew from the inspiration and words of Pope Francis in their remarks. Obama noted how the pope will visit the White House later this year, nodding to the popes call to serve the least of these.
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Obama teases his critics at the White House Easter Prayer Breakfast