Susan Crabtree
Articles by Susan Crabtree
Obama pushes housing plan for vets
President Obama on Tuesday announced a new plan to provide mortgage relief for veterans and active members of the military with government-backed loans, his latest attempt to bolster the housing sector. Published March 6, 2012
Coal heats up as campaign issue for Obama
As gasoline prices continue to rise and keep the heat on President Obama's energy policies, critics also are accusing the president of shifting support away from the coal industry, a major source of fuel and jobs in several battleground states, including Colorado, Michigan and Ohio. Published March 5, 2012
Meeting Netanyahu, Obama tries to tamp down war talk
In a show of solidarity, President Obama sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to reassure him that the U.S. would always be there for Israel, even as he continued to try to tamp down talk of a military strike against Iran. Published March 5, 2012
Obama rebuts criticism he’s an education ‘snob’
President Obama used his speech Monday to the National Governors Association to again make the case for more spending, not less, on education — and to take a swipe at former Sen. Rick Santorum, who has called Mr. Obama a "snob" for suggesting that all American children should attend college. Published February 27, 2012
Sessions: Obama ‘defeatist’ on rising gas prices
President Obama's indignant defense this week of his administration's energy policies has done nothing to deter GOP critics, as gas prices continue to rise amid worries that their continued climb could throw the economic recovery off course. Published February 24, 2012
Obama hits back at GOP detractors of energy policies
As gas prices rise and President Obama faces growing criticism of his energy policies from the right, Mr. Obama aggressively — and at times angrily — defended his drilling and clean-energy record at a Thursday speech. Published February 23, 2012
Obama pushes tech companies on consumer privacy
The Obama administration is calling on technology companies to do a better job safeguarding consumer privacy as more people use mobile devices and other Internet tools that can track where they go and what they buy and read. Published February 23, 2012
Obama calls for cut in corporate tax rate
President Obama's plan to overhaul the country's corporate tax system — unveiled by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday — calls for cutting the overall tax rates for businesses while eliminating loopholes and special subsidies for certain industries. Published February 22, 2012
Santorum stirs new talk of Obama’s faith
The White House on Tuesday attempted to brush aside comments about President Obama's theology from Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, as well as more pointed remarks by the Rev. Franklin Graham that cast doubt on Mr. Obama's religion. Published February 21, 2012
Obama fails to share credit for payroll-tax cut
Signing ceremonies for important bills often include the Republican and Democratic lawmakers instrumental in getting the legislation passed — but there are no such plans in the works for when President Obama signs the payroll-tax compromise scheduled to reach his desk later this week. Published February 21, 2012
In San Diego, a high-stakes battle over pensions
San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has spent more than six years in office trying to dig the city out of a fiscal mess his predecessors and the global economic crisis helped to create, and the city workers' unions have fought him nearly every step of the way. Published February 20, 2012
Obama stays on ‘message,’ gets boost in ratings amid GOP strife
President Obama's rising job-approval ratings are the result of a go-it-alone strategy against Congress and a bitter Republican presidential primary, political analysts say. Published February 19, 2012
Six House members recuse themselves from Waters’ case
Six members of the House Ethics Committee including its chairman have recused themselves from any matter involving Rep. Maxine Waters, including an internal investigation looking into whether the panel mishandled a two-year conflict-of-interest case against the California Democrat. Published February 17, 2012
Obama says China must play by trade rules
Facing accusations from Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that he's soft on China, President Obama told Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday that China needs to play fair in international trade. Published February 14, 2012
Obama backtracks on contraception mandate
Reacting to an election-year firestorm, the White House on Friday shifted course on its health care contraception mandate, announcing that religious employers will not have to cover free birth control for their employees and that the responsibility would instead fall to private insurers. Published February 10, 2012
Sen. Coburn wants NYC museum funds cut
Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, isn't backing down from his decision to block $20 million a year in new funding for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, despite pleas from museum officials who also had family members die in the attack. Published February 9, 2012
Government announces $25 billion deal on mortgage abuses
The Obama administration and 49 states announced on Thursday a record $25 billion mortgage settlement with the nation's five largest banks - the president's latest attempt to help homeowners and halt the still-sagging housing market's drag on the economy. Published February 9, 2012
In about-face, Obama campaign to ramp up super PAC
The Obama campaign's abrupt reversal on super PACs this week — from bashing the "independent" political groups as destructive to embracing their fundraising muscle — has opened the president's re-election team to charges of hypocrisy and blatant political expediency. Published February 7, 2012
Clint Eastwood: ‘I am certainly not affiliated with Obama’
Clint Eastwood is setting the record straight on the Chrysler Super Bowl ad and claims in the liberal blogosphere and elsewhere that it was an implicit endorsement of President Obama and his decision to support the bailout of the U.S. auto industry. Published February 7, 2012
White House driven to deny a role in Eastwood car ad
The White House is denying any advance knowledge of or involvement in a gritty Super Bowl ad starring Clint Eastwood that played up the auto industry's resurgence and called on the nation to come together and rebuild - a message taken in some quarters as an implicit endorsement of President Obama. Published February 6, 2012
