All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Reverend Al Sharpton, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have teamed up for a national tour to spotlight education reform, and the trio stopped by "Washington Unplugged" Monday to discuss why their efforts to encourage cooperation on the issue.

"I think you guys think if nobody walks away [with] a black eye that we did not have a meeting," Sharpton joked to CBS News' Fernando Suarez.

"When you have Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich show up to talk about an issue together you tend to get a lot more attention than if either one of us shows up buy oursleves," Gingrich said. "And that's led already around the country to a conversation about education reform."

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President Obama is telling tales out of school.

As he promoted administration education goals today, Mr. Obama uncharacteristically departed from his prepared text to share details of a First Family situation.

He told a Madison, Wisconsin school audience that his 11-year-old daughter Malia recently "became depressed" after scoring a 73 on a sixth grade science test. According to the president, that was disappointing news in a household where "our goal is 90 percent and up" on school tests.

He went into surprising detail as he recounted his daughter's complaint that the test differed from the class study guide. The president told the audience of parents, students and teachers that Malia was determined to improve. After changing her study habits she scored a 95 on the next science exam. He quoted Malia as saying, "I like having knowledge." The audience applauded the accomplishment.

The president told the crowd, "In our household with the privileges and opportunities we have, there are times when the kids slack off" and watch TV or play computer games. He said, "Part of our job as parents is not just to tell the kids what to do, but to instill in them a sense that they want to do it themselves."

He discussed the family issue to make the point that "parents must set a high bar in the household."

For the president, it was a rare public description of life in the White House family quarters. The White House Press Office and the First Lady's staff are justifiably fiercely protective of the Obama girls' privacy, so it was all the more surprising to hear the president's detailed account of Malia's study habits. Reporters were left to wonder if the president would tell Malia that he told the world about her science lesson.

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Peter Maer is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.

President Obama on Tuesday managed to avoid wading into political matters in his speech to the nation's schoolchildren, but in a more intimate discussion with 32 ninth graders that preceded the speech, Mr. Obama discussed everything from health care to Facebook to Ghandi.

The president's planned address, delivered from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., sparked criticism from conservatives concerned Mr. Obama may take a political agenda into classrooms. According to the White House pool report, there were a handful of protesters, among other bystanders, lining neighborhood streets near the school, holding signs with messages such as "Mr. President, Stay Away From Our Kids" and "Children Serve God, Not Obama."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Back to School

Mr. Obama's speech focused on telling kids to work hard in school, but in his 20-minute meeting with Wakefield freshmen, one student reportedly asked the president why the United States lacks universal health care.

"I think we can do it," Mr. Obama answered, adding that he was asking Congress the same question. He said he would focus more on the subject during his Wednesday night address to a joint session of Congress. He also explained that the United States' health care system is employer-based, which leaves some without health coverage. His goal, he said, is to allow people with insurance to keep their plans while giving those without coverage a chance to get it.

In reply to a student who asked for advice on how to become president of the United States, Mr. Obama replied, "Be careful what you post on Facebook." He also told the students to find something they are passionate about.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**Previewing President Obama's health care speech...

**Another speech – on education – creates a stir...

**Joe Kennedy won't run for his uncle's Senate seat…

HEALTH CARE: Vacation's over and President Obama and Congress are moving forward at full speed on health care this week.

The president was back in campaign mode Monday -"fired up, ready to go" - during his Labor Day speech to the AFL-CIO in Cincinnati and he continues readying for his speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night where he promises more specifics about exactly what he's looking for re: health care reform.

The president tossed out some red meat to the pro-Democratic AFL-CIO yesterday by calling out Republicans on health care.

"I've got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we're going to pull the plug on Grandma, and this is all about illegal immigrants -- you've heard all the lies," Mr. Obama said. "I've got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What's your answer? What's your solution? And you know what? They don't have one."

But while he directed that criticism to his political opponents, it's some in his own party – especially moderate Democratic senators and Blue Dog Democrats in the House – that are gumming up the works.

The Hill's Mike Soraghan and Michael M. Gleeson report "At least 23 House Democrats already have told constituents or hometown media that they oppose the massive healthcare overhaul touted by President Barack Obama.

"If Republicans offer the blanket opposition they’ve promised, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can afford to lose only 38 members of her 256-member caucus and still pass the bill."

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Conservative pundits have been raising objections over President Barack Obama's planned speech to the nation's students on Tuesday in which he will encourage children to stay and excel in school.

Critics believe the president will use that speech to promote his political agenda, rather than simply inspire them to excel in class, and some school officials have said they will not let students watch it. Some parents have said they are considering keeping their kids out of school that day.

Florida Republican Party chair Jim Greer went so far as to accuse the president of trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda," and right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin accused the left of using kids in public schools as "guinea pigs and as junior lobbyists for their social liberal agenda."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the remarks reflected "silly season" in Washington, and reminded reporters that two Republican presidents have likewise given speeches to students: Ronald Reagan in 1988 and George H.W. Bush in 1991.

What did Presidents Reagan and Bush say? That America was created by and for religious people, convicts would celebrate gun bans, and the media doesn't tell you the whole story about an adminstration's successes.

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White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said this morning that criticism of the president's planned speech to American students reflects "silly season" and compared school districts that won't show the speech to those that "won't let you read Huckleberry Finn."

"I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the President of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school," Gibbs said at a gaggle with reporters, according to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Some conservatives are considering keeping their kids out of school when President Obama gives the speech out of fears that Mr. Obama is trying, in the words of Florida Republican Party chair Jim Greer, to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, echoing that argument, said this: "The left has always used kids in public schools as guinea pigs and as junior lobbyists for their social liberal agenda."

The Obama administration says the address is focused exclusively encouraging children to stay and excel in school, not policy or political issues.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**Previewing President Obama's health care speech...

**Another speech – on education – creates a stir...

**Will Joe Kennedy run for his uncle's Senate seat?

**How about these names for 2012: Petraeus, Scarborough?

HEALTH CARE: The president may have enjoyed just the third day of his presidency completely out of the spotlight on Thursday, however there is plenty brewing while he's at Camp David for the weekend.

"With President Obama poised to give a health-care address Wednesday before a joint session of Congress, administration officials promised that he will deliver a detailed prescription for reform despite the risks of spelling out exactly where he stands," reports the Washington Post's Anne E. Kornblut.

"Vice President Biden, in an appearance in Washington on Thursday, said the speech will map out 'in understandable, clear terms what our administration wants to happen with regard to health care, and what we are going to push for specifically.'

"Though favoring one proposal over another carries political risks, potentially limiting what Obama might be able to claim as a victory, senior administration officials said the speech will satisfy demands that he clarify which provisions he supports and which he could jettison. The contents of the speech are largely decided, officials said.

"'I don't think that there will be any ambiguity about where he thinks we have to go from here,' senior adviser David Axelrod said."

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Next Tuesday at noon, President Obama will be delivering what the White House is billing as "a national address to the students of America."

"During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school," according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning."

The Department of Education encouraged teachers to build lesson plans around the speech and offered "educators a menu of classroom activities…to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education."

The Department also recommended that students be asked to write a letter to themselves on "how to help the president."

All this did not sit well with Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party. Greer released a blistering statement earlier this week claiming that the president is trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

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Damon Weaver made his name in journalism with a campaign-time interview of then-Vice Presidential wannabe Joe Biden. Now, a veteran reporter at the age of 11, the Florida boy sat down at the White House to pepper the President himself on issues important to American kids.

Weaver admitted to being a bit nervous as he waited for the nation's leader to enter the Diplomatic Room. However, for the remainder of the nine minute "dream" interview, which appeared Thursday night on YouTube, his nerves never betrayed him.

The reporter, who has doubtless become something more of a media star than his position at Kathryn E. Cunningham Canal Point Elementary's KEC-TV initially promised, first prodded the Commander in Chief to reveal details of his upcoming education reform plans.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:

**Congress won't meet President Obama's August deadline for health care reform legislation...

**Mr. Obama shifts his focus to education reform today...

**Gates arrest turns into controversy for the president...

**Sarah Palin leaves governor's office on Sunday...

HEALTH CARE: So much for President Obama's deadline for Congress to pass health care bills before their summer recess. A day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the Senate would not be finishing their work before recess begins on Aug. 7, he and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, whose committee has yet to produce its version of the legislation, head to the White House today to meet with the president.

Mr. Obama "lost his bid to get both houses of Congress to pass legislation by next month overhauling U.S. health care, a setback that may give opponents time to galvanize public opinion against the effort," write Bloomberg News' James Rowley and Kristin Jensen.

"The Senate postponed a vote until September, while House Democratic leaders sought an agreement with members of their own party who are pressing for more cost savings before they will support a measure.

"Obama dispatched top officials including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to Capitol Hill yesterday and said the critical issue is for lawmakers to 'keep on working.'

"'I want to sign a bill, and I want it done by the end of this year,' Obama said yesterday at a town-hall meeting in Shaker Heights, Ohio. 'I want it done by the fall.'"

"The year-end deadline for a final bill passage has always been part of Mr. Obama's equation, but until recently, he was also citing an interim deadline of August for each chamber of Congress to pass its own bill," add the Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy and Jonathan Weisman.

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