Cartoon: Gary McCoy

[Cagle Cartoons]

Obama clueless, say senior Democrats

Top Democrat senators are reported to be saying  privately that Obama is clueless in his handling  of Congress. Maggie's Notebook has more. 

Cartoon: Christopher Weyant

[The Hill]

Barack Obama's Diary

Dear Diary:  Golf, glorious golf, there's nothing quite like it!  After a week of non-stop campaigning  working,  I finally was able to  arrange a round today at Fort Belvoir with  staffers Nicholson, Kent and Plouffe, all of whom can be relied upon to discreetly  lag a stroke or two behind the boss and not  to query my absence from church. I  took my secure cellphone with me on  the links,  ready to approve any hit on my kill list between strokes.  I love to multitask.  There were some pop-up thunderstorms around, but no storm would dare risk striking my Majestic self. Talking of dangers, we gave Mitt something to think about today. Rahm publicly told him to stop whining about  our election tactics. Behind the scenes he no doubt  gave Mitt the Chicago treatment: Nice car-elevator  you got there,  Mitt, we wouldn't want it  anything to happen to  it would we? 
Moving  along: I was told that the head of the British version of the CIA predicts Iran will have a nuke by 2014.  With Syria's WMDs already on the move,  Bibi must  be as  jittery as Joe after a  double expresso.
After golf and fresh air I am ready for the rigors of another week  of fundraising, starting in Cincinnati. Michelle is tucked up and I'm ready for the Presidentopedic myself and for Boo-boo, my blankey who's hiding under my pillow. Barry luv Boo-boo, um-num-num-um...zzzzz...

Obama admits failure to change DC

 President Obama says Washington "feels as broken as it did four years ago."
"And, if you asked me what is the one thing that has frustrated me most over the last four years it's not the hard work, it's not, the enormity of the decisions, it's not the pace, it is that I haven't been able to change the atmosphere here in Washington to reflect the decency and common sense of ordinary people - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - who I think just want to see their leadership solve problems," he told CBS's Charlie Rose in an interview that aired this morning. And there we all were, naively thinking the President's job was to lead "the leadership."   Read more.

Cartoon: Eric Allie

[Cagle Cartoons]

Iran nuclear by 2014, says 'C'

British  agents have helped  foil Iran’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons, but Iran  will succeed in the next two years, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, Sir John Sawyers, has warned. At that point, he said,  the US and Israel will  finally be forced into deciding  whether to attack. Read more. 
[Within the agency, Sir John is known as "C" -- in contrast to "M" in James Bond novels.]

Cartoon: Gary McCoy

[Cagle Cartoons]

Question of the Day...

If offshoring is so bad, Mr President, why are we  paying the Russians to take our astronauts to the ISS?  asks  this Tweet.

Barack Obama's Diary

Dear Diary: Aaaauugh!  Everyone is  putting pressure on me. Mitt is pushing back hard on our accusations about  Bain Capital. Bashar Assad is scaring the hell out of  the Pentagon and Isreal, [misspelled in one of my  campaign leaflets so I'm sticking with it] by moving his chemical weapons out of storage. Vlad The Impaler [scary man] is moving warships into the Eastern Mediterranean. And, of course,  Iran  is still threatening  to close the Straits of Hormuz. Yikes.  With all this going on, how's  a guy supposed to spend the week campaigning and still have time for a round of golf? And another thing: reporters are suggesting that some 20 people fainted during my speech in Roanoke, Virginia, yesterday evening. Fainted? They were simply overcome  by my mellifluous words and handsome presence.  Today, being Saturday, I shall grant myself the pleasure of an  afternoon nap on the Presidentopedic. Here's my blankey, Boo-boo. Barry luv Boo-boo... um-num-num-um ...zzzzz...

How Obama doubled long-term unemployment

In 2009 when Barack Obama was sworn in, there were 2.6 million people unemployed for more than 6 months.  By June 2012, they had more than doubled to 5.3 million. Obama has promoted long-term unemployment by adopting policies that make it harder and more expensive for employers to hire people.  He has  pushed for higher taxes, higher energy costs, compulsory unionism and, of course, Obamacare. "When government makes hiring more difficult and expensive, there’s likely to be less of it," writes Jim Powell in Forbes magazine. Read it all.
[Thanks: BJS]

Cartoon: Rick McKee

[The Augusta Chronicle]

Barack Obama's Diary

Dear Diary: A day of  criss-crossing  the Commonwealth of Virginia as I campaigned from the west coast to the  southeastern city of Roanoke at the heart of redneck country. Well...loookee here, Caleb. There's  one of them black people workin' a rope-line  outside our old fire station.  Scary people. Talking of scary, Joe's been having another attack of foot-in-mouth disease, wondering  in a  public speech how  his conception was possible in the thin-walled home of his childhood.  Awkwaard. At such  times,  I wish his parents hadn't been so resourceful. There are rumors that Condi Rice is Mitt's likely choice for VP, which would dilute even my unique status as the first African-American at the pinnacle of power in the USA.  The yoke of power sure is heavy at present. Time for me to tuck up M., slide into the Presidentopedic beside her and pull my blankey Boo-boo from under my pillow... Barry luv Boo-boo, um-num-num-um...zzzzz...

Emperor Obama guts workfare

Using  yet another  imperial-style edict to bypass Congress,   His Majesty Barack Obama has gutted Clinton-era  workfare reforms. Read more.

Condi now veep front-runner

 There is a lot of  kite-flying going on, testing the wind for reaction to Condoleezza Rice as Romney's VP. The Drudge Report sees her as the front-runner, So does columnist Peggy Noonan. And it seems to make a lot of sense; Condi would give Mitt instant foreign policy credibility. She has a clear  vision of what America's role in the world should be and  she hugely impressed  delegates on this subject  at Romney's Utah retreat a while ago.