Free Republic

In late December, President Barack Obama’s new legislative affairs team sent him more than a dozen recommendations for ways to improve his strained relations with Capitol Hill. The president responded with a few ideas of his own, including a request for more social events with lawmakers at the White House. […] Yet it appears unlikely that the White House’s attempt to warm relations with Congress will help Obama advance his legislative agenda. Republicans have little incentive to improve ties with Obama at this point in his second term, particularly given his sagging approval ratings. Both parties are making clear they...

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled, who watched President Obama's prime-time speech, told CNN that they support his policy towards Syria. Since some surveys showed as much as two-thirds opposition to military action against Syria in the days before the speech, the poll suggests that he did what presidents rarely do: change people's minds, if only temporarily. How did he do it? In only 15 minutes, President Obama made his points, simply and straightforwardly. Anyone arguing a controversial case in the court of public opinion can learn from what he said and how he said it:

<p>First Lady Michelle Obama has played the role of Felix to her husband’s Oscar during their entire 20-year partnership, President Obama revealed.</p> <p>“I had this little bachelor apartment that Michelle refused to stay in because she thought it was a little, uh . . . you know, pizza boxes everywhere,” President Obama says in April’s Vogue.</p>

Can you imagine Vladimir Putin or Hu Jintao poring over global opinion polls? Do we care what the world thinks of us? Should we? A new survey of global opinion is getting the usual respectful attention. The Pew Global Attitudes Project surveyed people in 57 countries and found that President Obama’s approval ratings have slipped a bit among Europeans, Latin Americans, and Asians — though he remains quite a bit more popular than George W. Bush was in his final year in office. (President Obama is far better liked abroad than he is at home.) Liberals tend to care a...

Democrats plan hospitable greeting for Tea Partiers By Eric Zimmermann - 03/15/10 06:15 PM ET Tea Partiers are storming the Capitol tomorrow, and Democrats are preapring to roll out the red carpet. In a memo sent to freshman and sophomore lawmakers, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the House leadership, urges lawmakers to make special accomodations to prepare for the protesters, ranging from refreshments to extra staff members. "Activists are expected to begin arriving around 9am and they have been given instructions to wait in your office until they can have a meeting," the memo says. "Please have...

What’s the best way to make a bank robber turn around and walk out the door empty-handed? Try a handshake and a smile. Excessive friendliness is the key to the “Safecatch” system created by FBI Special Agent Larry Carr. The premise is that an overdose of courtesy will unnerve would-be robbers and get them to rethink the crime.

WASHINGTON -- The Hooters restaurant chain is looking for FEMA's address. Company Chairman Bob Brooks said Thursday that he wants to reimburse the agency for the $200 bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne that was purchased with a government credit card issued to Hurricane Katrina victims. The champagne, purchased in San Antonio, was among numerous examples of improper spending of hurricane relief money cited earlier this week by Congress' Government Accountability Office. The bogus spending could be as high as $1.4 billion, the GAO said. In an announcement in Atlanta, Brooks said: "It bothers me as an American that resources that...

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Dec. 1 - President Bush said Wednesday that a "new term in office is an important opportunity to reach out to our friends," but he remained uncompromising about the American-led invasion of Iraq and his insistence that the United Nations be focused on "collective security, not endless debate." In a speech at Pier 21, the entry point in this blustery Nova Scotia port for nearly one million immigrants to Canada in the 20th century, Mr. Bush made clear that diplomacy would be a theme of his second four years. But he described a diplomacy that appeared to...