What happened
President Obama declared in his first prime-time news conference that passing an economic stimulus that creates jobs is more important than fostering the bipartisanship he promised. Obama rejected Republican critics who warn the stimulus will boost the deficit, saying inaction could "turn a crisis into a catastrophe." (The Washington Post)
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Obama gets an "F" for honesty, said Ed Morrissey in Hot Air, for saying Republicans want to "do nothing" while the economy tanks. The truth is that GOP leaders in Congress offered two alternative stimulus packages. "The lie is particularly egregious" given that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi locked Republicans out of drafting the bill.
The problem wasn't what Obama said, said Walter Shapiro in The New Republic, but how he said it. Obama's long-winded, canned responses made the reporters asking the questions look like "potted palms." No matter—a president "blessed with the good will of almost all Americans to the left of Sean Hannity" can afford to experiment with new ways to deliver his message. Next time, though, he should be brief.
Obama's opening remarks were indeed a disappointing start, said Michael Lind in The Daily Beast. But in his answers to questions, "he gave concise and clear explanations, in terms that laymen can understand," to complex financial issues. What a relief, after the previous president, to see that "the president for a change was the smartest person in the room."
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ ralliesSpeed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardonTalking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidentsThe Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
-
'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
