Barack Obama

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They agreed on something. The vote Tuesday night in the Senate Judiciary Committee to forward to the floor a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration system was, to be sure, a small step and doesn't guarantee success in the full Senate, much less the House of Representatives.

Greater than the risk of being accused of criminality in the three scandals now gripping the Obama administration is the peril that the president's substantive agenda is being hopelessly knocked off track. The liberal Illinois senator who entered the White House four years ago determined to change Washington's ways of doing business still finds himself striving to overcome barriers constructed by the opposition party in Congress. In his first term, congressional Republicans embraced partisanship straightaway, particularly in the House after they gained a majority there, openly declaring their intent to block his every initiative.

Last election, Barack Obama presented himself to the people as the reincarnation ofMartin Luther King Jr.. This election, he seems to have re-invented himself as an apostle of Christ, claiming at the National Prayer Breakfast last week that his economic policies are in line with Jesus' teachings. He has thus gone from the laughable to the blasphemous. Not only does President Obama pale in comparison to King, but does he really think that Jesus sanctions his anti-life policies of contraception, homosexuality and abortion?

As it must come to all American presidents, it seems, Barack Obama's policy agenda is being crowded out of the headlines by the imperative of damage control against administration scandal. The allegations of incompetence or worse in the IRS' targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the Justice Department snooping on Associated Press reporters, and the State-CIA dispute over the origins of the Benghazi terrorist attacks comprise a three-pronged firestorm demanding swift smothering.

President Obama has the talent to say things that are demonstrably false and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring. When asked a couple of weeks ago whether he thought the Supreme Court would uphold ObamaCare as constitutional or strike it down as unconstitutional he replied: "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of...

The Sun again stupidly goes after President George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the weapons of mass destruction, calling him a liar ("Misoverestimating Bush," April 28). Even you people know that no American president would send U.S. troops into battle for no reason. To call President Bush a liar while The Sun protects the biggest liar to ever sit in the White House is laughable and sad. I can refer to a couple of outstanding examples: The travesty in Afghanistan and the biggest lie of all, Obamacare.

In 2008, I was surprised when the country elected Barack Obama as president. He had no qualifying experience, and the public didn't really know him. But Tuesday night was worse. How can people ignore the doubling of the price of gasoline, the 23 million unemployed, the increase in the number of people receiving food stamps and the soaring deficit over the four years Mr. Obama has been in office? At the risk of sounding like Michelle Obama, I have never been more ashamed of my country than I was on the evening of Election Day. Ilene O'Connell, Baltimore

Sen. Barack Obama is finally coming into focus. For a while now, the Obamaphiles have insisted that their candidate represents a profound break with the past. No more culture wars. No more "relitigating the 1960s," in Mr. Obama's own words. But what about relitigating the 1980s? There's always been a certain cultural lag time to Barack and Michelle Obama, a kitschiness that's been hard to pinpoint. But I think I've got it: They're self-hating yuppies straight out of the 1980s, which was to the Obamas what the 1960s were to the Clintons.

- The first week of September is a special time for me. It marks the beginning of a school year and, as an educator and parent, it signifies the beginning of the next leg of an exciting journey of learning. Another major reason the beginning of September remains so special to me is because it's the time when both my father, who is my first hero, and I commemorate our birthdays. And this year is a monumental occasion as I enjoy our celebration while doing something I love, being a proud Democrat and Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Here is the beauty of this country: With the right gimmick, you can make some dough off anything, even when the economy stinks. The other day, for instance, I am in Glauber's candy store in Lutherville, one of the great places in northern Baltimore County, staring at a display of milk-chocolate Barack lollipops and Obama in the Box candies. "We can't make them fast enough," says the woman behind the counter. I look again at these things. There is the smiling face of the next president of the United States etched onto 1.4 ounces of mouth-watering rich, dark chocolate that sells for $4.95 a pop. Oh, it's a beautiful thing.

"Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference -- at this point, what difference does it make?" That was how then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously brushed off the question of when she knew that the attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were, in fact, a terrorist assault and not a "protest" of an anti-Islam video that got out of hand.

The Sun again stupidly goes after President George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the weapons of mass destruction, calling him a liar ("Misoverestimating Bush," April 28). Even you people know that no American president would send U.S. troops into battle for no reason. To call President Bush a liar while The Sun protects the biggest liar to ever sit in the White House is laughable and sad. I can refer to a couple of outstanding examples: The travesty in Afghanistan and the biggest lie of all, Obamacare.

I thought that only Barack Obama could make me yearn for a Hillary Clinton presidency. Alas I was wrong, or at least not as inclusive as my progressive friends think I should be. If indeed Gov. Martin O'Malley runs for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, I can only hope that Hillary wraps up the nomination quickly enough that I won't have to endure months and months of Mr. O'Malley's bashing of President George W. Bush ("Session over, O'Malley...

I am not among the many who are shocked that Ben Carson, the brilliant and widely admired neurosurgeon based at Johns Hopkins Hospital, would emerge as a hero of the political right and Sean Hannity's new best friend. That Carson would stoop to making (and later sort of apologizing for) homophobic remarks on Hannity's national television show - associating gays with pedophiles and people who have sex with animals - didn't surprise me, either. I know: Here's a man who separated conjoined twins, improved and saved the lives of countless children, established a scholars program that has benefited hundreds of young people, wrote inspirational books and gave countless motivational speeches.

I can hear 'em now. "He's a good guy"; "He's a family man"; "He'll govern like a moderate"; "It will be so good for the country"; "He's post-partisan. " That the election of a mixed-race candidate for president sent positive messages about America around the world is without question; that the election occurred less than 50 years after the end of Jim Crow was stunning - and spoke volumes about how far we have progressed on race and politics. Yet, the entire post-partisan narrative was quite a stretch (and silly to boot)

Wow! Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller was unhappy that his hero, President Barack Obama, did not bother to pay a visit to his loyal Maryland government adulators ("Miller laments not seeing president," Feb. 7). Well, Mike, the election is over and he's in his final term. You can't do much more for him. Draw your own conclusions so I won't have to write another letter of further explanation. F. Cordell Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

She's not Obama Girl, but Cheryl A. McLeod may be the essence of the national phenomenon generated by Sen. Barack Obama. She's got the wardrobe and the record to prove her commitment. At the end of July, the Ellicott City resident set out by bus for Denver and a weekend training session for Obama convention volunteers. She thinks of the 2,000-mile, 39-hour trip (one way) as her chance to take part in changing the nation's political system, in behalf of a candidate who is the embodiment of that change.

Apparently, it comes as quite a surprise to some people that Sen. Barack Obama is black. I'm driven to this realization by the response to a recent column in which I referred to the senator as African-American. Many people wrote to correct me on that. Among the most memorable was a guy who said: "I heard his dad was a radical Muslim from Africa and his mom was a white atheist from Kansas City. If that be the case, wouldn't he be half a black man and half a white man? If he's a half-breed, shouldn't you do a correction?"

As if the parade and appreciation of Baltimore sports fans wasn't enough, Ravens coach John Harbaugh received an especially important call Tuesday from someone wanting to offer his personal congratulations: President Barack Obama. Obama called Harbaugh and Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome on Tuesday afternoon to congratulate them for their Super Bowl win on Sunday. The president commended the team on an "unbelievable year and for the steadiness the team displayed through the end," according to a White House statement.

In the days of the late Mike Wallace, "60 Minutes" was known for hard-hitting, aggressive journalism that asked the questions viewers wanted answered and held the powerful accountable. The Jan. 27 program on which Steve Kroft interviewed President Obama (at his request, no less) and outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell far short of that high standard. It was the kind of softball toss you might have expected if Oprah Winfrey or Barbara Walters had conducted the interview.