The Staggers: Barack Obama

You'd think politicians would have learnt to check whether their microphones were switched off, by now -- but apparently not.

The latest to be caught out are Nicolas Sarkozy, and Barack Obama, who were caught criticising Binyamin Netanyahu in a private conversation at the G20 summit -- unaware that this private exchange was being broadcast to a small group of journalists.

The gaffe took place during a frank exchange where Obama took ... read more

The latest US job figures may have been better than expected but they're still far from encouraging. 117,000 new jobs were created in July but the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.1 per cent (down from 9.2 per cent in June) and even this fall can be largely attributed to the fact that more people have simply dropped out of the labour market. Perhaps ... read more

Source: Getty Images

On Wednesday, the Obama administration launched its new counter-terrorism strategy - the first published revision since the Bush presidency. It did so from a position of strength, having finally tracked down and killed Osama bin Laden. Recent polls show rising approval of Obama's handling of terrorism, boosting his overall ratings and helping him hold the generals to the deal he struck in late ... read more

There will be one glaring issue in the upcoming 2012 presidential election: healthcare reform. According to the latest Real Clear Politics poll - and almost every other poll out there - Mitt Romney will be the one to take on Obama come November 2012, and there couldn't be a more fitting match for such a prevalent issue.

In 2006 Romney achieved the passage of his bill ... read more

Today's New York Times notes:

No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent.

With this in mind, the latest employment figures make grim reading for Barack Obama. After a week that has seen renewed talk of a double-dip recession, the US Department of Labor today  read more

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The Tories were desperate for Barack Obama to endorse the coalition's deficit reduction plan, but at today's press conference he didn't even come close. In response to a question on the subject from ITV's Tom Bradby, the US president emphasised that "every country is different" and praised the way that "concerted action" by the UK and the US had "yanked the world ... read more

Credit: Getty Images.

By now you'll have seen the video of Cameron and Obama's table tennis match at a school in south London, so here are some photos from Ed Miliband's first meeting with the US president.

Accompanying Miliband were Harriet Harman, Douglas Alexander and his consigliere Stewart Wood. The pair met for 40 minutes and reportedly discussed foreign policy and the challenges facing the progressive left (as a recent  read more

Barack Obama suffered an awkward moment at last night's state banquet when the string orchestra of the Scots Guards struck up the national anthem before the president had finished his toast to the Queen. Although, to my ear, Obama's quotation from Richard II ("This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England") sounded rather stirring set to music. You'll find the video above, so you can make your own mind ... read more

A seminal time for his presidency: a true test of his leadership. Little wonder, you might think, that Barack Obama's approval ratings have soared in the wake of the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden – from the lowest of his presidency to the highest in years. A series of polls shows that some 56 per cent of Americans now approve of his performance in his job as president, while ... read more

Just a few months before the tenth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks, Osama Bin Laden has been killed by US forces. In his statement to the nation (at 11.30pm Eastern Time), Barack Obama said the al-Qaeda leader was killed last night in a "targeted operation" in Abbottabad, north-east of Islamabad.

It's a dramatic boost for Obama's presidency and will likely increase his chances of re-election in 2012. During ... read more

The White House today released the full-length version of Barack Obama's birth ceritificate to counter rumours that he was not born in the United States. At a press conference to unveil the certificate, held yesterday in Washington, President Obama declared: "We do not have time for this kind of silliness."

The full certificate appears ... read more

So did Donald Trump win? Or will President Obama manage to draw a line beneath the controversy about his citizenship, once and for all? The White House has just released a copy of Obama's full birth certificate, showing, of course, that he was born in Hawaii and is eligible to be President of the United States.

Minutes later, Obama appeared at the White House podium, declaring ... read more