* Obama team torn over big jobs speech? This big New York Times piece will drive some discussion on the left today. It reports that Obama and his team are frustrated over how to recapture the aura that enabled him to get elected in 2008, and suggests tension between two conflicting impulses: Drawing a sharp and feisty contrast with conservatives, and striving to project a willingness to compromise with Republicans, even though they’re trying to destroy his presidency. Seemingly in service of the latter goal, the piece reports that Obama’s team is discussing a a moratorium on some regulations, supporting the idea that government is stifling the economy: Read full article > >

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Greg Sargent:
The Morning Plum

Three years after storming the White House with the “fierce urgency of now,” President Obama has a new message for his reelection campaign: Be patient, democracy is big and tough and messy. “When I said, ‘Change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow,’ ” Obama told a crowd of 2,400 during a birthday celebration in Chicago this month. The paring back of expectations has been an increasingly necessary part of Obama’s rhetoric, given the economic and political realities that have beset his presidency. But as the president prepares for his reelection campaign, his triumphant 2008 message of “hope and change” has undergone a radical transformation, from messianic to just plain messy. The candidate who once dazzled audiences with his soaring rhetoric is still searching for a compelling sales pitch to persuade voters to give him more time to accomplish his goals. Read full article > >

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Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term

Until this month, Steven C. Roche was one of Mitt Romney’s most trusted advisers, helping the former Massachusetts governor raise tens of millions of dollars in his long quest for the White House. Now Roche has jumped ship to Restore Our Future , a “super PAC” dedicated to helping Romney win the presidency by raising unlimited funds from wealthy donors and corporations. The move, first reported by the Center for Public Integrity, illustrates the rise of yet another money-raising vehicle for the 2012 elections: “candidate super PACs,” which are emerging as de facto subsidiaries of the traditional presidential campaigns. Read full article > >

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The Influence Industry: ‘Candidate super PACs’ surge ahead in the 2012 money race

The Football Association decides not to take part in the vote for the presidency of Fifa because of “a range of issues which make it difficult to support either candidate”.

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FA opts to abstain from Fifa vote

Newt Gingrich touts fiscal responsibility among his qualifications for the presidency, but apparently the 2012 GOP contender has a weakness for bling at Tiffany & Co. The former House speaker owed as much as $500,000 to Tiffany’s in 2005 and 2006,…

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Gingrich Owed Up to $500K to Tiffany’s

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is expected to announce a 2012 run for the presidency on Wednesday.

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Gingrich set for White House bid

President Obama got his largest viewership in his presidency so far Sunday night when he announced the death of Osama bin Laden. About 57 million people tuned in at 11:35 p.m. ET Sunday, compared to 52 million who watched his first State of the Union….

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57 Million Watched Obama’s Bin Laden Speech

About 57 million TV viewers watched President Obama announce Sunday that U.S. military forces had killed Osama bin Laden in a targeted attack . While this audience is dwarfed by the 82 million who watched then President George W. Bush address to the nation in the immediate aftermath of the Bin Laden-orchestrated Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil, it is believed to be Obama’s largest TV audience of his presidency to date. “Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world, the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children,” Obama announced around 11:35 p.m. Sunday, speaking from the East Room of the White House. Read full article > >

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About 57 million watch Obama’s Sunday night bin Laden announcement

Barack Obama is often strangely absent from the most important debates.

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Obama’s ‘Where’s Waldo?’ presidency

Belarus is seriously violating the international arms embargo on Ivory Coast by supplying helicopters to the man refusing to give up the presidency, the UN chief Ban says.

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Belarus ‘breaks Ivorian embargo’

Cries of joy and freedom from Egypt’s people erupted around the country when President Hosni Mubarak surrendered his presidency to the military on Friday, ending an 18-day democratic revolution and three decades of political stasis. Protesters chanted…

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Egypt Rejoices Over Mubarak’s Fall

After 17 straight days of violent and massive protests throughout Egypt, the country’s military has allegedly said its leader would at last put an end to the revolution by stepping down from his presidency. The military appeared to be taking a leading…

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Mubarak to Address Egypt Within Hours

The centennial of his birth has prompted an elegiac re-examination of his presidency, but can’t capture the man himself.

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TV Watch: Remembering the Reagan We May Never Know

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh says he will not extend his presidency, or appoint his son to the role, when his current term expires in 2013.

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Yemen president ‘to quit in 2013′

Nonstop, Cairo to D.C.: On Saturday, American protesters gathered in front of Washington’s Egyptian embassy and demanded that Egypt’s President Mubarak step down from his presidency in a show of solidarity with the African nation’s ongoing…

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Egypt Protests Spread to D.C.