U.S. Ending the War in Iraq

The Barack Obama of 2011 and the Barack Obama of 2008 don't constantly see eye to eye. In general the presidential vision has overruled the candidate's. But in the case of the complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by the end of this year, candidate Obama prevailed over the president.

President Obama wanted to stay longer -- as recently as a few weeks ago was asking the Iraqi government to allow 10,000, then 3,000 troops to remain past New Year's Eve.

But the president ultimately had no choice but to stick to candidate Obama's plan -- thanks, of all things, to an agreement signed by George W. Bush.

What makes this turn of events even more improbable is that Bush initially intended the agreement to do precisely the opposite: to lock the next president into staying in Iraq indefinitely. But back in 2008, Iraqi government officials -- fed up with a seemingly endless U.S. occupation and emboldened by candidate Obama's vow to withdraw most combat troops within 16 months -- insisted on setting a deadline for departure.

"Bush didn't want the date certain for withdrawal at the time; that was forced by the Iraqis," said Daniel Serwer, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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Lousy jobs number complicates debt deal for both Obama and GOP

June's woefully underwhelming augment in jobs is a climactic twist in the negotiations between President Obama and congressional Republicans more than federal borrowing, government debt and America's financial future.Best-case scenario, it's a Michael Bay twist: dramatic, explosive, but it all mechanism out in the end.Worst case, we're look at M. Night Shyamalan: quite jarring, and potentially very scary.

The Labor Department's report Friday morning that the financial system added just 18,000 net jobs last month, or roughly six figures under the consensus forecast from economic analysts, immediately hardened conservatives' and liberals' beliefs concerning why the recovery continues to sputter and what it needs to kick into gear. That hardening, and the political pressure with the intention of will ratchet up the length of with it, is the unwelcome twist in the endgame negotiations over raise the federal debt ceiling.

Whether his economic advisers acknowledge it or not, Obama now have got to confront new and persuasive evidence that he has, once again, overestimated the power of the recovery. The White House has said for months that the economy was past the point of needing additional help from the government, even as gas price rose and sapped consumer spending, and Japan's earthquake disrupted global trade. The president has mimicked Republicans in occupation for government belt-tightening, even as the public part steadily sheds jobs, including 39,000 more in June.

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Obama Welcomes Iraq Political Dea

President Obama on Friday praise Iraq’s steps to form a new government as “one more landmark in the the past of modern Iraq,” even as a long-overdue power-sharing accord frayed from the outset.

Iraq’s new assembly open at last on Thursday, nearly eight months after the country’s election, with member re-electing Jalal Talabani as president. Mr. Talabani then formally chose Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a second term in office, charitable him 30 days to form a cabinet of ministers.

The session’s intended comity was marred, on the other hand, when Mr. Maliki’s chief rival, Ayad Allawi, and his supporters walked out in complaint, leaving the ultimate fate of the accord unclear.

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