The Washington Post, by Greg Miller: "A Senate hearing on the nomination of John O. Brennan to serve as CIA director exposed deep skepticism of key aspects of the Obama administration's approach to fighting terrorism, including its unprecedented reliance on targeted killing and the secrecy it maintains around the exercise...
The White House thinks it has the Senate votes to put Chuck Hagel in the top job at the Pentagon, but it concedes it may be a narrowly-won victory, National Journal’s Jim O’Sullivan reports. PUSHED Two senior members of the SASC—Republican Sens. James Inhofe of OK and Jeff Sessions of...
Morning Fix writes, “In four days, President Obama will deliver his SOU address … And for Obama, this particular speech may end up being the most important State of the Union of his entire presidency. … It’s not about George W. Bush’s impact this time, or an upcoming election, or...
Compiled from FirstRead, “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), widely thought to be considering a 2016 presidential bid, will deliver the Republican response. HISTORY NOT ALWAYS KIND TO STATE OF THE UNION RESPONDERS, so this isn’t without risk, especially for presidential aspirants. Here are just the last few: 2012: Gov. Mitch Daniels...
FirstRead, “Counting Rubio, four of the five Obama SOU responders look like a 2016 Iowa Caucus Lineup: Rubio, Ryan, McDonnell, Jindal. But the last eventual party nominee to deliver a response was Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) in 1996. And the last person to deliver one and go on to be...
As National Journal’s Elahe Izadi reports, the 41-year-old defies Republican stereotypes. 1. He knows his hip-hop 2. He likes the same movies as college freshman (Wedding Crashers and Pulp Fiction) 3. He got into a vodka-shot competition 4. His Spotify playlist is eclectic 5. He had a major life revelation...