The Fix: Master Archives
President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius hug it out. Sort of.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
In announcing her departure from his Cabinet, President Obama offered effusive praise of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday. Of Sebelius, Obama said:
After five years of extraordinary service to our country -- and 7.5 million Americans who have signed up for health coverage through the exchanges -- she’s earned that right. I will miss her advice, I will miss her friendship, I will miss her wit.
Of course, Sebelius' legacy as the chief implementer of the Affordable Care Act, the signature piece of legislation passed during Obama's presidency, is far more mixed. Obama's face in the picture above, perhaps more than any words he said, tell that story.
Hillary Clinton’s biggest problem in 2016? Washington.
Check out this fascinating chart on how closely years spent in Washington correlates -- and not in a good way -- to winning presidential elections.
Of the 10 presidential races between 1976 and 2012, the candidate who spent less time spent in Washington has won all but two. (The exceptions were Barack Obama in 2012 and George H.W. Bush in 1988.)
Why Kathleen Sebelius’s political career is (probably) over
Six years ago, Kathleen Sebelius was a rising Democratic star. She exits the national stage today as something very different: A politically wounded figure whose nearly three decade-long run in elected or appointed office has almost certainly come to an end.
Sebelius is resigning as President Obama's Health and Human Services Secretary after the most turbulent seven months of her tenure. As she ponders her next move, Sebelius will have to come to grips with the reality that both nationally and back home in the state where she was once wildly popular, she's become a symbol of the Obama's administration's most polarizing policy.
The 5 best primaries in the country
It's the calm before the primary storm.
After a slate of early primary elections in Texas, Illinois and Florida, there hasn't been a state or congressional primary election in a few weeks. It's the last real quiet period before primary season kicks into full gear starting next month when nearly a dozen states will nominate candidates for Congress and governor.
Kathleen Sebelius has spent 1,809 days in President Obama’s Cabinet. Five people have served longer.
The sometimes almost-always thankless job of being a cabinet secretary means that by a president's second term, most of his original Cabinet has headed for the exits by now. With Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius leaving her post soon, there are only five members of President Obama's original cabinet members left. And more than half of Obama's current cabinet came in the door in 2013, as his second term began.
NASA is cutting ties with Russia. But it’s not that simple.
When the White House ordered federal agencies to stop talking to Russia earlier this month, one organization got a rather large pass: NASA.
Yes, NASA will stop certain contact with Russia. Russian officials won’t be able to visit the United States, and many meetings and teleconferences will be cancelled. (Wait 'til next year, boreal forest research conferences). But a number of large ties will remain intact, despite the White House directive. Cutting them just isn’t possible when, for example, the United States is wholly dependent on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from space. And, naturally, there is a U.S. astronaut in space right now who will eventually need to hitch a ride home.
When Stephen Colbert roasted George W. Bush (VIDEO)
"Tonight, no one is safe."
A look back at one of the defining -- and most polarizing -- moments in the political comedy career of Stephen Colbert, who is set to succeed David Letterman as host of "The Late Show" on CBS.
Scott Brown’s one-word way to win the New Hampshire Senate race? Obamacare.
There are few races with as much personal intrigue this year as the campaign for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire. But Republican Scott Brown and his allies want to make the next seven months about policy more than anything else -- as in a single policy: Obamacare.
Brown will embark Friday on what his campaign has dubbed the "Obamacare Isn’t Working" tour a day after he officially launched his campaign with an address emphasizing his opposition to the law and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's support for it.
Darrell Issa and Elijah Cummings don’t like each other. At all.
Darrell Issa and Elijah Cummings plain don't like each other. Which makes the fact that they are the chairman and ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform all the more fascinating. (The most high-profile fight between the two came when Issa cut off Cummings's microphone during a hearing.)
Everything you need to know about Bill Clinton’s Social Security ID card proposal. And why it won’t work.
Updated at 4:15 p.m.
On Wednesday at the Civil Rights Summit in Austin, Texas, former President Bill Clinton mentioned the possibility of turning Social Security cards into photo IDs as a way of counteracting voter suppression. It sparked immediate reaction from the left and the right -- it's the thread of an idea that has provoked controversy many times over the past decade.
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