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First lady Michelle Obama says her husband deserves re-election not only for his first term accomplishments and vision for the future, but because of his genuine empathy for families dealing with tough economic times. “He understands these issues, not just because he’s smart but because he’s lived them,” Obama told a group of 100 campaign donors at a $2,500-a-plate luncheon in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. “He was raised by a single mother who struggled to put herself through school and pay the bills. And when she needed help, who stepped in? His grandmother, waking up early every morning to take a...

The Energy Department continued to hurry up approvals for green energy loans before the program ends Sept. 30. Late Thursday, the DOE approved a $132 million loan guarantee for Abengoa Bioenergy Project, a Kansas-based cellulosic ethanol plant. The project would create 65 permanent jobs — or just over $2 million per position. That’s actually a big improvement from Wednesday’s DOE approvals of more than $1 billion in loans to two green projects promising 52-55 permanent jobs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sharp rebuke of his Republican rivals, President Barack Obama said anyone who wants to be commander in chief must support the entire U.S. military, including gay service members. A combative Obama criticized GOP presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape. "You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient," Obama said during remarks at...

Megan McArdle writes in the Atlantic about the difference between government venture capital and private venture capital. By far the biggest difference is not even mentioned. There is a dramatic and critical difference between government loan guarantees and private venture capital (PVC). The PVC investor expects to make a bundle from his investment, typically by getting an equity stake and cashing out when the successful firm goes public. That’s the best case scenario for PVC. If the company fails, they’re out their seed capital. When the government gets into the venture capital business, risking your money and mine, what’s the...

With absolutely no proof of any kind of who he really is, Barack Obama made it to the Oval Office in 2008. There was no media vetting of the largely absentee senator from Illinois, who even back then had the temerity to compare himself to Abraham Lincoln. All anyone ever had to go on was an autobiographical book suspected of being ghost-written by an unrepentant domestic terrorist. We all know how it goes with politicians and autobiographical books.

A state lawmaker and a group of Democratic political donors with ties to Gov. Beverly Perdue are poised to sell land at a handsome profit for a tire plant that's being lured with $100 million in state and local incentives, according to public records reviewed by The Associated Press. As North Carolina's chief executive, the governor is a key decision maker in large incentives deals involving state money. She also helps appoint the board members of a foundation that's been asked to provide part of the tire plant's package. Perdue's campaign has received more than $52,000 from five men with...

Bloomberg reports that the FBI is investigating Solyndra for accounting fraud, according to a source close to the solar panel company. The report confirms assumptions that the Department of Justice has been looking into whether Solyndra misrepresented the company's financial situation in order to obtain — and then refinance — a $534 million loan from the federal government. We've previously written that Solyndra executives assured the administration that the company's future was bright, even as the company's internal audits showed its finances deteriorating. The company declared bankruptcy earlier this month, prompting the FBI probe, as well as two Congressional investigations.

New applications for unemployment benefits sank by 37,000 last week to 391,000 to mark the lowest level since April, but a government official suggested the surprising drop may have stemmed from a variety of "technical" issues...

GOP's Solyndra probe threatens to ensnare Energy Secretary ChuBy Andrew Restuccia - 09/29/11 05:00 AM ET The controversy over a $535 million loan guarantee to the now-bankrupt California solar firm Solyndra is threatening to dim the star of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a physicist and Nobel Prize winner who has rarely been thrust into the political spotlight. Republican lawmakers have set their sites on Chu, who for three years has managed to avoid being dragged into a litany of political battles waged by Republicans and the White House on energy and environmental issues. The GOP has for weeks lobbed a...

Scott Pelley, CBS "Evening News" anchor: How do you create jobs in this country? Robert Johnson, founder of BET: Unfortunately now, I don't think we have the leadership either in the White House or the Congress to end what I call a zero-sum game mentality towards the U.S. economy. And until both parties agree that the goal is to rebuild the American economy to reflect the 21st century on a global environment - we're going to be stuck. And it's a little bit frightening from the standpoint of a business person and particularly an African-American business person. Pelley: What do...

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man was arrested Wednesday and accused of plotting to destroy the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol by attacking the buildings with large, remote-controlled aircraft armed with lethal amounts of explosives.... According to a federal affidavit, Ferdaus said he wanted to deal a psychological blow to Americans, the "enemies of Allah," by hitting the Pentagon, which he called "head and heart of the snake."

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Advocates for the unemployed have cheered a push by the Obama administration to ban discrimination against the jobless. But business groups and their allies are calling the effort unnecessary and counterproductive. The job creation bill that President Obama sent to Congress earlier this month includes a provision that would allow unsuccessful job applicants to sue if they think a company of 15 more employees denied them a job because they were unemployed. The provision would ban employment ads that explicitly declare the unemployed ineligible, with phrases like "Jobless need not apply." As The Lookout has reported, such ads appear to...