Barack Obama

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STATE OF ECONOMY: "This is something we can do immediately, something we can do as soon as Congress gets back," President Obama says while seeking to inject a glimmer of hope into a gloomy economic picture. (Associated Press)

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House pages cluster around President Obama before his State of the Union speech In January. After nearly 200 years, the House program is ending. The high school students served as messengers for lawmakers while getting a front-row seat to learn about Congress. (Associated Press)

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President Obama pauses as he speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House on Aug. 8, 2011. (Associated Press)

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"We are concerned about the acts of intimidation as well as their record on previous agreements and other activities. It's a real concern, I've raised it. It's not the intelligence committee that fails to understand the problem. It's the Obama administration." -Former Sen. Christopher S. Bond, (right) who served as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence between 2007 and 2010

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Adm. Mike Mullen (right), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned against further spending cuts for the military beyond the $350 million to $400 million already agreed by Congress and President Obama this week. “I think anything beyond that would damage our national defense," Mr. Panetta said.

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President Obama acknowledges the crowd Aug. 3, 2011, as he stands on stage with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel before speaking at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. (Associated Press)

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President Obama greets attendees after speaking at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on Wednesday at a fundraiser on the eve of his 50th birthday. (Associated Press)

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"I don't think [President Obama has] ever really run a business, I don't think he's ever really created a job," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican. (Associated Press)

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Mr. Obama is welcomed by singer Jennifer Hudson and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a Chicago fundraiser Wednesday. One Republican critic said of the president: "The first job Obama is interested in saving is his own." (Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks to members of the media during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Aug., 3, 2011. (Associated Press)

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President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks in Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011, after the Senate passed the debt ceiling legislation. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Specialist Patrick King, second from right, and others watch President Barack Obama's remarks on a television monitor the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011. The stock market stumbled again Tuesday and is on pace for its longest losing streak in two years.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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President Obama walks out Aug. 2, 2011, to deliver a statement at the White House following the Senate's passing of the debt ceiling agreement. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** President Obama lays a wreath at the National Sept. 11 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York on May 5, 2011. (Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks from White House briefing room, Sunday, July 31, 2011 in Washington, about a deal being reached to raise the debt limit. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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President Obama (right) turns to leave after speaking July 31, 2011, at the White House about a deal being reached to raise the debt limit with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. (second from right), and White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer (third from right). (Associated Press)