Stop micromanaging!Much of Washington's management "crisis" could be solved if President Obama just let people do the jobs they're trained to do. Read      

  “We’re running our own race,”Read Article    

 Barack Obama is locked in a lose-lose situation The president seems incapable of tackling either unemployment or the deficit. By Jeremy WarnerBarack Obama walks into the Rose Garden from the West Wing Photo: Getty   Barack Obama promised a new beginning when he became president in 2008. After the ideologically driven incompetence of the Bush years, we were mainly prepared to believe him. Yet politicians that promise root and branch change will nearly always disappoint and, with Mr Obama, disillusionment has been swift to arrive.Judged by his legislative output, the new president has been extraordinarily successful. From healthcare reform to financial services, he's already up there with Lyndon Johnson and Franklin D Roosevelt. And, of course, this week, he's managed to deliver on his campaign pledge to end the war in Iraq; believe it if you will. Yet on the most important issue facing ordinary Americans – the economy – Mr Obama is shaping up to be one almighty let down. As mid-term elections loom, there is visible panic among Democrats at the administration's failure to get to grips with deep-seated economic problems.Tony Blair, who came to power on a similarly intoxicating wave of public euphoria, at least had the following wind of "The Great Moderation" – a virtually unprecedented period of economic stability and growth – to disguise the disappointments and repeated policy mistakes of his premiership. There was no such golden windfall to act as a prop for Mr Obama: the economy he inherited was toxic from top to bottom. The country was on the brink of a potentially severe depression; it was fighting two, essentially unaffordable wars; the budget deficit was spiralling out of control; jobs were being shed at the rate of nearly one million a month; public debt was on a…

 The brain behind Obama's speechesAdam Frankel, a 29-year-old responsible for oratories on healthcare, the West Virginia mine explosion and more, dismisses criticism that the president's prose has become uninspiring. Read Article   

The best President the US never had? A derided and diminished figure in Britain, Tony Blair is treated with near reverence in the US Read Opinion    

 Politicians Pitch on YouTubeLoopy online videos have become a hallmark of this midterm election, as candidates desperate for attention open themselves to ridicule with Internet ads.Read Article     

  "Barbour takes a long view of immigration policy, arguing that America will need a strong labor base in the future. Not what one typically hears from a powerful figure in the Republican establishment." Read Article    

 Pakistan Taliban threaten attack on US and Europe A senior commander in the Pakistan Taliban last night announced it was planning terror strikes against targets in the US and Europe similar to the Times Square bomb plot.Read Article    

 Magazine responds to Palin's 'impotent' and 'limp'The Advocate accuses Palin of using "emasculating words" to describe Vanity Fair's Michael Gross.Read Article   

  GOP Woos VotersHouse Republicans are hunting for an election-season middle ground on which they can make promises to voters without providing enough details to be attacked by Democrats. Read Article