No Boiled Carrots  —  Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad.  —  On St. Patrick's Day, the president spoke a bit of Gaelic, dyed the White House fountains green and talked about his distant relatives in the tiny Irish town of Moneygall, aptly named since money and gall are the two topics now consuming him.

Begorra!  Irish PM trips over White House speech  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar.

President's Budget Strategy Under Fire  —  Tactic May Break Obama's Bipartisan Pledge, GOP Says  —  Senior members of the Obama administration are pressing lawmakers to use a shortcut to drive the president's signature initiatives on health care and energy through Congress without Republican votes …

Bush says it's ‘essential’ to help Obama  —  CALGARY, Alberta - Former President George W. Bush, making his first public speech since leaving office in January, says he wants Barack Obama to succeed and that it's “essential” to support the new leader.  —  Bush declined to critique …

Financial Journalists Fail Upward  —  “Listen, you knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months,” said “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart to CNBC superstar Jim Cramer in their much-discussed confrontation last week.  “The entire network was, and so now to pretend …

Some Members of Evan Bayh's New Anti-Progressive Caucus Too Frightened to Admit Membership  —  It's been known for a while now that Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) has been planning to form a caucus of “moderate” Senate Democrats hoping to soak up special interest cash in exchange for blocking the progressive agenda.

Stayin' Alive  —  The inside story of health care reform's near-death experience.  —  In early January, most of Barack Obama's senior staff assembled with the president-elect for a meeting inside a windowless, eighth-floor office at the transition headquarters in Washington.

Hedge Funds May Get AIG Cash  —  Some Bailout Money Is Set Aside to Pay Firms That Bet Housing Market Would Crater  —  Some of the billions of dollars that the U.S. government paid to bail out American International Group Inc. stand to benefit hedge funds that bet on a falling housing market …

Specter won't rule out run as an Independent  —  Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent.  —  The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans …

At G20, Kremlin to Pitch New Currency  —  The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.

Men are women's ‘issue’  —  Last week, President Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls.  He did so with a speech in which he praised the perseverance and pluck of his own single mother, the grandmother who ultimately raised him, and especially his wife …

Some Dems want brake in Obama plans  —  Barack Obama's Big Bang Theory of Governance is starting to face its first big test among the new president's fellow Democrats.  —  At the White House Tuesday morning, Obama began the day with a sharp push-back against the idea that his far-reaching agenda …