Politics. On Point.

President Obama is Time Magazine's Person of the Year. An excerpt from Time's managing editor Richard Stengel, White House correspondent Michael Scherer and executive editor Radhika Jones is below.  The trio ask the president about Lincoln , marijuana , the Middle East and Hawaii moments. View the full conversation here . TIME: So we’ll start right in. In fact, we’re going to go so far ahead. If we were sitting here four years from now and you were looking back on what your legacy is as a two-term Democratic President — we know what Ronald Reagan did and we know what FDR did — what would you want people to say about your two terms? THE PRESIDENT: I think what I’d want people to say is that having come in at a time when our economy was on the brink of collapse, when we had gone through a decade in which middle-class families were doing worse and worse, and the ladders of opportunity into the middle class for people who were willing to work hard had begun to deteriora...

UPDATE: As the two sides go back and forth to solve the issue of the so-called fiscal cliff, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement today that reveals President Obama is less willing to accept the latest offer from Congress. States Carney, "The Speaker’s “Plan B” approach doesn’t meet this test because it can’t pass the Senate and therefore will not protect middle class families, and does little to address our fiscal challenges with zero spending cuts." "The President has put a balanced, reasonable proposal on the table that achieves significant deficit reduction and reflects real compromise by meeting the Republicans halfway on revenue and more than halfway on spending from where each side started.  That is the essence of compromise."   President Obama continues to work with Republicans to reach a bipartisan solution that averts the fiscal cliff, protects the middle class, helps the economy, and puts the nation on a fiscally sust...

The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) today announced that members of the media can now apply for credentials to cover official events for the second Inaugural of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, taking place from January 19-January 22 in Washington, DC. This media credentialing process is separate from any tickets that members of the public may be able to apply for to participate in various Inaugural events. For more information on Inaugural events that are open to the public and how to request tickets, visit www.2013pic.org . Applications for credentials must be completed by Saturday, December 22 at 5:00 PM EDT. Please note that space is extremely limited at the open press Inaugural events and late requests for credentials will not be accepted. For a full description on how to apply for media credentials, and additional event details, please click here . Each Inaugural event will require an event-specific media credential to gain access for media ...

Sen. Joe Lieberman   offered some very poignant remarks Sunday during the ceremony where president Obama spoke honoring the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in which two classrooms of students were shoot by demented killer, Adam Lanza. As press was getting feed off the wire about the events taking place, this one, in particular caught our eye. Pool reporters asked Sen Lieberman about the violence commission idea he discussed on the Sunday morning talk shows. Said Lieberman, “I’m always reluctant about commissions, but I really believe we ought to have a national commission on violence. These events are happening more frequently and I worry that if we don’t take a thoughtful look at them, we’re going to lose the hurt and the anger that we have now.” Lieberman had also had thoughts about areas that we, too, think need to be examined in our society to avoid events like last Friday's mass shooting. “And that inc...

Newton School Shooting Amasses Twenty-Six Victims . President Obama shared in the sorrowness felt across the country after Friday's horrendous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of numerous small children in Newtown, Connecticut and ordered that official flags be flown at half mass. What happened with twenty year old Adam Lanza  to make him want to kill his mother, 20 children, 6 school officials, and then himself? A skeletal, ghostly Adam Lanza. Law enforcement officials said Lanza had four handguns on his person as he stormed the 600-student school and shot his victims at close range. There was also a rifle found in the car he drove to Sandy Hook. The shooting in Connecticut follows a trail of recent mass shootings that include:  A shopping mall in Oregon, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, a movie theater in Aurora Colorado and countless, seemingly minor, yet just as significant, other day-to-day shootings.  Schools have increas...

President Obama held a meeting in the Roosevelt Room and a conference call with a bipartisan group of mayors, county officials and community leaders to discuss his proposals in the fiscal cliff negotiations. The White House is reporting that the president spoke with Tampa, FL Mayor Bob Buckhorn;  St. Paul, MN Mayor Chris Coleman; St. Columbus, OH Mayor Michael Coleman; Bluffton, IN  Mayor Ted Ellis:  Dallas County, TX  Judge Clay Jenkins; Cincinnati, OH Mayor Mark Mallory;  Executive Russ Pry of Summit County, OH; Avondale, AZ Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers and Laredo, TX Mayor Raul Salinas. Earlier this week, Micheal Steel, speaking on behalf of Boehner and company, made these comments. "We sent the White House a counter-offer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs. As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spen...

In the wake of the discension around one quote on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial that had some in an uproar, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today provided an update on the path forward regarding the M emorial. Following discussions with all parties, that included a range of stakeholders, to make alterations to the “Drum Major” quote that had some believing the quote made King seem arrogant, the updated plan calls for removing the quote by carving striations over the lettering to match the existing scratch marks on the sculpture that represent the tearing of the “Stone of Hope” from the “Mountain of Despair.” The plan to remove, instead of replace, the quote was recommended by the original sculptor, Master Lei Yixin, as the safest way to ensure the structural integrity of the memorial was not compromised. After close consultation with all parties, Secretary Salazar, the National Park Service, the King family and the Memorial Foundatio...

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signed an agreement today to strengthen coordination on fair lending enforcement and avoid duplication of their respective federal law enforcement efforts.  “The Department of Justice welcomes the new tools and resources the CFPB can bring to the fight against lending discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Cooperation between our two agencies promotes strong and effective civil rights enforcement, and today’s agreement will further our ongoing collaborative efforts.” “Discrimination undermines equal access to credit,” said Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB. “Today’s agreement is a critical step to better protecting consumers from illegal and discriminatory lending practices. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Justice Department under this new framework.” The memorandum of understanding (MOU) can be found here . U...

Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, issued the following statement today on the employment situation in November. You can view the statement HERE . While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007. Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle class income tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year. In addition, the President has proposed a plan that will enable responsible homeowners to refinance their mortgage and take advantage of today’s historically low in...

Vice President Biden made a trip to Arlington, VA's grand opening of Costco where he was put some mileage on his newly re-activated Costco card. Per a White House pool report : "The Bidens have been Costco members in the past. The Vice President and Dr. Biden’s Costco memberships were re-activated yesterday; they paid the $55 membership re-activation fee to receive their new cards.The Vice President received his own card which he is carrying today while shopping at Costco." Vice President Biden was greeted by Costco CEO Craig Jelinek and Co-founder Jim Sinegal. After perusing the store's various departments and indulging in the store's available sorted food samples, he was invited to stop by the tire department but declined the offer saying to the employees, "Hey man I don't need tires, I don't drive anymore." After delighting Costco shoppers with handshakes and photo ops the VP made his way to checkout where he was seen purch...

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank today announced the launch of the “ Doing Business in Africa ” campaign at an event in Johannesburg, South Africa. This campaign is part of a larger U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa , which President Obama issued earlier this year. In her remarks, the Acting Secretary emphasized the United States’ ongoing commitment to deepening trade, investment, and economic ties with these nations. She also shared a message from President Obama in support of the campaign. ### Remarks as Prepared for Rebecca Blank, Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Thank you. Good afternoon. It is wonderful to be here in Johannesburg with all of you. I want to thank our sponsors: First, the Corporate Council on Africa, which represents nearly 85 percent of all U.S. investment on this Continent. Thank you, CCA, for continuing to work with us to raise the profile of Africa in the U.S. business community. Second, Business Unity South Africa. Thank y...

  Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a report describing OCR’s progress and activity over the last four years on civil rights enforcement and educational equity. The report, “ Helping to Ensure Equal Access to Education ,” describes how OCR has transformed its enforcement approach to better promote and advance educational equity for all students, while maximizing the office’s efficiency and impact, even as the number of complaints received by OCR has grown by almost a quarter over the last four years. OCR both received and resolved over 28,500 complaints during this time period, a record figure compared to past four-year periods. The report also discusses OCR’s work to: · support the equal rights of students to a safe school environment and to resources and programs they need to be prepared for college and careers; · revamp the Civil Rights Data Collection to provide educators and the public with a clearer ...

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) provided 59 FDIC-insured depository institutions with awards for serving economically distressed communities across the nation that totaled nearly $18 million. The awards were granted through the CDFI Fund’s Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program), which recognizes and seeks to expand the important role that banks and thrifts play in community development activities. The program provides monetary awards to institutions that increased their investments in communities where at least 30 percent of residents have incomes below the national poverty level and 1.5 times the national unemployment rate. This year’s awardees increased their investments in such areas by more than $383 million. BEA Program awardees are required to reinvest their awards into low-income and distressed communities, helping to create economic opportunity for Americans throughout the country. Wel...