John Dickerson's Slant

Washington is always thick with rumors—you can almost see them on the local Doppler. On Thursday afternoon a rumor surfaced that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were close to a deal on raising the debt ceiling. The story was splashed across the home page of the New York Times. The m ..

President Obama addresses the debt negotiations on July 19, 2011President Obama has tried to guilt, shame, and cajole House Republicans into a more flexible position on raising the debt limit. Lately his public statements have contained new pieces of evidence aimed to show House Republicans how isol ..

House GOP Whip Kevin McCarthyThe battle over the first continuing resolution to keep the government operating didn't end with as much drama as some reviewers would have liked. Like most sequels, CR2 is likely to be even less dramatic. This time, Congress and the White House are facing a March 18 dea ..

Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee When former Washington Mayor Marion Barry mounted his political comeback after being caught smoking crack cocaine, he tried to turn his difficulties with drugs into an asset. "I'm in recovery," he said, "and so is my city." The pitch didn't make him mayo ..

Mike HuckabeeOf all the candidates to dish theories about President Obama's roots, you'd think Mike Huckabee would be the most careful. As a former Baptist minister, he has had to endure all kinds of weird questions about how his religion controls him and his hidden motives. Just before the Iowa cau ..

For a moment in the breathless talk about a government shutdown, a real threat emerged. Nextgov.com reported that federal workers might lose access to their BlackBerries. On Capitol Hill, staffers worried this might apply to them as well. The loss of connectivity "could be a legislative forcing even ..

The only way President Obama and congressional Republicans may get a budget deal is if they make it look like it will never happen. The president said as much last week. "Both sides will have to do some posturing and speak to constituencies and rally the troops," he said. But he also expressed faith ..

Before President Obama's news conference Tuesday, he met with his predecessor George H.W. Bush. They could have traded war stories about budget fights. Obama was about to talk about the one he was starting. The 41st president could have talked about the fights that finished him politically. Or he co ..

President Obama delivered his budget today. The opposing party denounced it immediately. This is the tradition. Imagine if it applied to other Washington rituals: When House Speaker John Boehner paused after taking the gavel from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats could yell, "Resign!" After Oba ..

President ObamaAfter it was announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was stepping down, at about 11 a.m. on Friday, the White House announced that President Obama would speak at 1:30 p.m. Then word came that the statement would be delayed and the time was TBD, which was fitting. Throughout th ..

President Obama does not treat all conspiracy theories alike. He dismisses those who question where he was born, but he's unsettled by those who question whether he is born again. At the National Prayer Breakfast last week, he said his Christian faith has sustained him through his presidency—"all ..

President ObamaPoliticians in Washington like to talk about talking about the budget deficit. They acknowledge it. They emphasize the importance of talking about it. They suggest they have strong feelings about it. But when it comes to details, they get vague. Not since Bill Clinton's second term ha ..

President Obama has been more upbeat in 2011 than he said he was going to be. Last year he promised America a tough conversation about cutting the deficit. "If we are concerned about debt and deficits, then we're going to have to take actions that are difficult and we're going to have to tell the tr ..

Presdient Obama delivers the State of the Union address"Win the future." That was President Obama's slogan for his State of the Union address, in which he used the phrase (or a variant) 11 times. Not only is Obama courting American business, he's using tag lines from corporate marketing. But as the ..

Before every State of the Union address, aides to the president say that their man will avoid a dull laundry-list speech that ticks off everything he's done and plans to do. But interest groups, not to mention Cabinet members, like to hear their projects mentioned. So despite the best efforts of the ..