Source: Politico.

According to Politico which saw an advance copy of the interview, Eric Bates, the magazine’s executive editor chatted with Mr. Obama straight after the 45-minute face to face. Mr. Bates told the president that he had asked his six-year-old daughter whether she wanted him to pass a message onto Mr. Obama. Referring to the Nov. 6 presidential election, the six-year-old is alleged to have said to her father, “Tell him: ‘You can do it.’” Mr. Obama is believed to have grinned before telling the magazine’s editor that he was very popular among children.

“That’s the only advice I need. I do very well, by the way, in that demographic. Ages six to 12? I’m a killer,” he said. Mr. Bates then jokingly asked Mr. Obama whether he had considered lowering the voting age. The president stressed that children were usually good judges of character.

“You know, kids have good instincts. They look at the other guy and say, ‘Well, that’s a bulls****er, I can tell,’” the president stated.

Mr. Obama‘s communications director, Dan Pfieffer, told reporters that he was not aware of the content of the article, although he did not deny that the president had made the reported remarks. However, the pointed out that, “Trust [was] a very important part of this election.”

Mr. Brinkley told CBS’ This Morning that it was quite obvious that the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney was strained.

“We could go through [time] and find good and bad relationships, this is not one that has a whole lot of mutual respect,” he told the channel. He also noted that the word used by the president was in keeping with the message he had conveyed throughout his re-election campaign.

Kevin Madden, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign, suggested that the president’s language indicated that he was concerned about his election prospects.

“President Obama is rattled and on the defensive. He’s running on empty and has nothing left but attacks and insults. It’s unfortunate he has to close the final days of the campaign this way,” he said.

According to Nickelodeon‘s 2012 Kids Pick the President online poll, around 65 percent of the children who took part in the survey chose Mr. Obama, whereas 35 percent voted for Mr. Romney. Around half a million votes were cast.

Since 1988, children have correctly picked the future head of state in five out of the last six elections.

President Barack Obama won the second presidential debate on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012.

A series of polls conducted following the second presidential debate show that President Barack Obama performed better than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney during Tuesday’s 90-minute exchange. Two weeks ago, between 46 and 67 percent of viewers stated that they thought the Republican candidate had performed better than the incumbent president when they took part in the first debate.

The first survey conducted by Reuters and Ipsos found that 48 percent of the 655 registered voters who took part in an online poll following the debate said they felt Mr. Obama had won Tuesday’s face-to-face encounter, while 33 percent declared Mr. Romney the victor.

“Clearly the debate was a bit of a turnaround for Obama. He put in a much stronger performance than he did in the first debate and it’s showing in the numbers,” Ipsos’ Julia Clark remarked.

A second poll conducted by CNN among registered voters revealed that 46 percent of the respondents felt that Mr. Obama had dominated the second debate, whereas 39 percent thought Mr. Romney had performed better. Yet, the majority of the participants stated that the Republican nominee had handled issues such as the economy, taxes and the federal deficit better than the president.

In the third survey carried out by CBS News, a third (33 percent) of the respondents felt neither candidate had come on top. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of those questioned thought Mr. Obama had won the debate, while Mr. Romney was viewed as the winner by 30 percent of the participants.

The former governor only appeared to shine when he criticized Mr. Obama‘s record over the past four years in relation to his 2008 campaign promises.

“I think you know that these last four years haven’t been so good as the president just described and that you don’t feel like you’re confident that the next four years are going to be much better, either,” Mr. Romney said.

The Republican nominee performed rather poorly when dealing with the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and equal pay for women.

The third and final presidential debate will take place on Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and will be moderated by Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

President Obama is aware that Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate.
Photo: The New York Times.

Following heavy criticism after his poor performance during the first presidential debate, President Barack Obama explained on Wednesday that he was simply too polite when he faced Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney last week.

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center between October 4 and October 7 showed that 66 percent of the respondents stated that Mr. Romney had performed better than Mr. Obama during the 90-minute exchange, whereas 20 percent of the participants thought the president came on top.

“I think it’s fair to say I was just too polite, because, you know, it’s hard to sometimes just keep on saying, ‘and what you’re saying isn’t true.’ It gets repetitive. But the good news is that’s just the first one,” President Obama told Tom Joyner on the Morning Show.

Mr. Obama told a group of donors on Monday that he was aware of the negative comments which followed his poor performance against Mr. Romney last week and complained about the former Massachusetts governor’s style.

“Listen, after the debate, I had a bunch of folks come to me. ‘Don’t be so polite, don’t be so nice.’ But I want everybody to understand something – what was being presented wasn’t leadership, that’s salesmanship. And we cannot afford another round of tax cuts for the wealthy,” Mr. Obama warned.

The president told Mr. Joyner that Mr. Romney may have won the first debate because his style was superior. However, he stated that what the former governor said would likely end up damaging his political chances.

“Gov. Romney put forward a whole bunch of stuff that either involved him running away from positions that he had taken, or doubling down on things like Medicare vouchers that are going to hurt him long term,” he noted. Mr. Obama also warned that he would be far less polite and more aggressive when he faces the former governor again next week on Long Island.

“I think it’s fair to say that we will see a little more activity at the next one,” Mr. Obama said. He also said that he expected Vice President Joe Biden to shine when he faces vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan in Thursday’s debate.

The second presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 16 and will be moderated by CNN’s Candy Crowley.

50% of youngsters struggle to find a job, stresses the new Romney ad.

The Romney campaign released a new ad on Tuesday attacking President Barack Obama for increasing the national debt by some $5 trillion under his watch.

“Obama and his Democratic allies, their great achievement: a $16-trillion debt,” the ad points out, before stating that the total national debt represents $50,000 for each U.S. Citizen (it is in fact over $51,120 as at Tuesday evening).

“The policy of Obama and the Democrats means that half of our young people are struggling to find work when they graduate. The legacy to our children: a debt they don’t deserve, without the jobs to pay for it,” the ad continues.

The Romney campaign is hoping to win between 35 and 40 percent of the Hispanic vote nationally. According to a new study released by the Pew Hispanic Center on Monday, 23.7 million Latinos will be entitled to vote on Nov. 6. This means that 22 percent more Latinos will be eligible to cast a ballot next month than in November 2008.

Source: Pew Research Center.

The state of California, for instance, counts 5.9 million Hispanic voters, while 4.2 million reside in Texas and some 2 million in the state of New York. In other words, around 55 percent of Hispanic voters live in three U.S. states.

The Pew Center survey also reveals that Hispanic voters make up a growing share of the U.S. electorate. Whereas they represented 8.2 percent and 9.5 percent of American voters in 2004 and 2008 respectively, they will make up 11 percent of the electorate this year.

Both Messrs. Romney and Obama understand the importance of urging this minority group to go to the polls. Indeed, whereas around two thirds of white (66 percent) and black (65 percent) voters took part in the 2008 presidential election, only 50 percent of eligible Hispanic voters cast a ballot four years ago.

The 2011 U.S. census revealed that there were 51.9 million Latinos in the U.S., or 16.7 percent of the total population.

Ron Paul wants the powers of the Federal Reserve to be reined in.

In a piece published on his website, Texas Congressman Ron Paul once again criticized the Federal Reserve for manipulating interest rates and, in the process, causing serious economic distortions.

“The Fed has interfered with the proper function of interest rates for decades, but perhaps never as boldly as it has in the past few years through its policies of quantitative easing,” the Texas representative points out. Dr. Paul also notes that the central bank’s latest intervention will focus on a wide range of targets.

“[…] the Fed wishes not only to drive down rates on Treasury debt, but also rates on mortgages, corporate bonds, and other important interest rates,” which will result in massive amounts of currency flowing in to the market. As Dr. Paul explains, this can only have one outcome: price rises. However, the congressman stresses that the markets are able to take advantage of this market manipulation to make massive profits, whereas ordinary Americans do not have this privilege and, instead, have to bear the blunt of the price increases and see their spending power collapse.

“Wall Street and the banking system gain the use of the new credit before prices rise. Main Street, however, sees the prices rise before they are able to take advantage of the newly-created credit. The purchasing power of the dollar is eroded and the standard of living of the American people drops,” Dr. Paul notes. His message is clear: until lawmakers grab the bull by the horns and crack down on the U.S. central bank’s power, growth will continue to be negatively impacted.

“Fed policy makers view themselves as wise gurus managing the economy, yet every action they take results in economic distortion and devastation. Unless Congress gets serious about reining in the Federal Reserve and putting an end to its manipulation, the economic distortions the Fed has caused will not be liquidated; they will become more entrenched, keeping true economic recovery out of our grasp and sowing the seeds for future crisis,” Dr. Paul warns.

At the end of July, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a proposal put forward by Dr. Paul to demand an audit of the Federal Reserve. It was passed in a 327-98 vote. However, it is unlikely to make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

In this leaked video, Mitt Romney tells donors that some voters consider themselves
as victims who should be taken care of by the government.

Democrats and Republicans alike strongly criticized GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday following the release of a video in which he describes nearly half of the population as “victims” depending on the government to lead their life.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax,” Mr. Romney said during a fund raising event a few months ago.

The Democrats attacked the former Massachusetts governor’s remarks and, predictably, reiterated that he was totally out of touch with ordinary Americans. Mr. Obama‘s press secretary, Jay Carney, insisted that the president did not share Mr. Romney‘s point of view.

“[President Obama] certainly doesn’t think that men and women on Social Security are irresponsible or victims, that students are irresponsible or victims. He certainly doesn’t think middle-class families are paying too little in taxes,” he said.

Some Republicans also openly criticized Mr. Romney for being unsympathetic to those families currently going through hardship.

“I disagree with Governor Romney‘s insinuation that 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims who must depend on the government for their care. I know that the vast majority of those who rely on government are not in that situation because they want to be,” said Linda E. McMahon, a Republican candidate for the Connecticut Senate and the wife of World Wrestling Entertainment‘s majority owner Vince McMahon.

However, some Republicans came out in favor of Mr. Romney‘s comments. Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger, said that many voters shared the former governor’s views that too many Americans relied on government handouts.

“Team Romney should force this debate onto the national stage. They should not walk it back. The American people are with him. It is the perfect time to remind people that Barack Obama, who authored Obamacare, wants to now be the arbiter of people’s fair share,” he wrote on his blog.

During a press conference on Monday, Mr. Romney stood by his comments although he admitted that he had not expressed his point of view in a very sensitive way.

“It [was] not elegantly stated, let me put it that way. I was speaking off the cuff in response to a question,” the former governor said, before adding that he wanted to be the president of all Americans. This is in spite of the video showing him saying that, “[M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

In another leaked video, Mr. Romney told donors that he did not think the Israelis and the Palestinians would ever live side by side peacefully.

Bob Woodward told ABC News' Diane Sawyer that President Obama was unable to take advantage of his relationship with senior lawmakers. Photo: ABC News.

In a new book entitled “The Price of Politics,” author Bob Woodward claims that President Barack Obama is mainly responsible for the deadlock which has paralyzed Congress and made it the least productive in history.

Mr. Woodward, who spoke to ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, said that Mr. Obama did not have the ability observed in previous presidents to make the most of his relationship with senior lawmakers and use this rapport to get things done.

“President Clinton, President Reagan – and if you look at them, you can criticize them for lots of things. They by and large worked their will. On this, President Obama did not,” he told the program.

Although Mr. Woodward admitted that Mr. Obama’s task was not easy, he refused to accept that the president had been backed into a corner and that the Republicans in Congress had made it impossible for his administration to make any progress.

“Now, some people are going to say he was fighting a brick wall, the Republicans in the House and the Republicans in Congress. Others will say it’s the president’s job to figure out how to tear down that brick wall. In this case, he did not,” he said.

Mr. Woodward rejected suggestions that Mr. Obama may not have been ready for the top job, pointing out instead that the president’s personality had been partly the cause of the deadlock all along.

“There’s this divided-man quality to President Obama always. Initially he meets with the congressional leaders, he says, you know, ‘We’re going to be accommodating. We’re going to listen. We’re going to talk. We’re going to compromise. But then, the Republicans ask some questions and challenge him a little bit and he says, ‘Look, I won. I’m in charge here.’ And the Republicans feel totally isolated and ostracized. And this was the beginning of a war,” the author told Sawyer.

Mr. Woodward also points out that the president and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) had more or less reached a deal over the budget last summer, and blames the Republicans – Mr. Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in particular – for causing it to collapse.

According to Mr. Woodward, Tea Party favorite Mr. Cantor opposed the Ohio representative and should have been put in his place.

“I also make the point that Speaker Boehner was responsible. He never found a way to go to Eric Cantor and say – and have that kind of conversation of a lifetime and say, ‘Eric you’re the deputy. You’re the majority leader. I’m the boss. It’s you and me. We’ve got to work together as a team,’ he said.

Mr. Woodward also rejected the suggestion that his book would be used by the Republicans to attack Mr. Obama.

“I am not delivering that ammunition. I am trying to describe what happened. I also make the point that Speaker Boehner was responsible. He had a partner, a dancing partner. He has the Republicans in on this. I can’t simplify it or make a judgment. What I can do is provide that wiretap,” he insisted.

In response to actor Clint Eastwood's 'sketch' last week, President Obama tweeted a photo to his followers.

President Barack Obama told USA Today on Sunday that he remained a huge fan of Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood, although he attacked his record on the last evening of the Republican National Convention.

“I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan. He is a great actor, and an even better director. I think the last few movies that he’s made have been terrific,” Mr. Obama said.

Last Thursday, the 82 year old reminded the audience of election day back in 2008, when Mr. Obama defeated Arizona Sen. John McCain and a wave of optimism swept the nation.

“I thought this was great. Everybody was crying. Oprah [Winfrey] was crying. And I was even crying,” he told his audience, before adding, “We all had high hopes at the time.” He then went on to deliver a brutal assessment of President Obama‘s economic record.

“[…] and I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country. Now, that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace […] and this administration has not done enough to cure that,” he said.

He then went on to say that a lawyer should never run for the White House, forgetting for an instant that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney also trained as an attorney and attended the same law school as his Democratic opponent. He also suggested that it was time to elect someone “with a different kind of experience.”

“But, I think it is maybe time – what do you think – for maybe a businessman. How about that?” he stated to loud applause.

Some political commentators said they were bemused at the actor’s strong criticism of Mr. Obama‘s economic policies, stressing that his remarks indicated a significant level of disrespect for the Commander in Chief. Asked whether he had been hurt by the comments of one of his favorite actors, Mr. Obama said he had let it all go over his head.

“One thing about being president or running for president: if you’re easily offended, you should probably choose another profession,” Mr. Obama answered.

In addition, the president tweeted a photo of himself sitting in a chair marked “THE PRESIDENT”, with the comment, “This seat’s taken.”

Mr. Eastwood also mocked Vice President Joe Biden, who he described as “kind of a grin with a body behind.”

Likeability factor. Source: Gallup, August 2012.

According to the survey, 54 percent of the respondents stated that Mr. Obama was likeable, whereas only 31 percent said so of the former private-equity executive. The president’s lead has fallen from 30 percentage points last month (60 percent vs. 30 percent) to 23 today.

In addition, the president has a 16-percentage point lead (52 percent vs. 36 percent) over Mr. Romney when it comes to caring “about the needs of people like you.” Forty-eight percent (48%) say that the incumbent president is honest and trustworthy, while 36 percent believe these characteristics apply to the former governor.

Both candidates are seen as strong and decisive leaders, although Mr. Obama has a five-percentage-point lead over his Republican opponent (47 percent vs. 42 percent). Both are in a virtual tie when it comes to managing the government effectively (45 percent vs. 44 percent).

Who would better handle the following issues? Source: Gallup, August 2012.

In contrast, those questioned indicated that they felt Mr. Romney would do a better job managing the economy (52 percent vs. 43 percent) – the official unemployment rate remains stuck above the eight-percent (8%) mark – as well as tackling the ballooning federal budget deficit (54 percent vs. 39 percent). However, the participants believe Mr. Obama is more competent than his opponent in matters of foreign policy, energy, Medicare and health care in general, and taxation issues. With regard to taxes, Mr. Romney had a four-point lead over his opponent four weeks ago (49 percent vs. 45 percent). This month, however, Mr. Obama records a nine-point advantage over the presumptive nominee (52 percent vs. 43 percent).

Who would better handle taxation? Source: Gallup, August 2012.

Gallup notes that it cannot point to a specific event to explain Mr. Romney‘s reversal of fortunes when it comes to taxation, although the organization does hazard a guess.

“It is possible that Obama’s continuing criticisms of Romney’s proposed tax plans have seeped into the public’s consciousness and affected its views of Romney on this issue,” Gallup writes.

Gallup conducted 1,033 telephone interviews over a three-day period among adults living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.