memeorandum: The Collapsing Obama Doctrine (Wall Street Journal)

1:15 PM ET, June 18, 2014

Top Items:

Theresa Vargas / Washington Post:

U.S. patent office cancels Redskins trademark registration, says name is disparaging — The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team's name “disparaging to Native Americans.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, ProFootballTalk, New York Times, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, Patterico's Pontifications, The Raw Story, KFOR-TV and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

ThinkProgress:

In Landmark Decision, U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team — The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins, ruling that the name is “disparaging to Native Americans” …

Discussion: Mashable, PandoDaily, SBNation.com, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Independent Journal Review, Daily Kos, The Week and Booman Tribune

Politico:

‘Redskins’ stripped of trademarks — In a major blow to the Washington Redskins, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday canceled six federal trademarks of the Washington Redskins team name because it was found to be “disparaging” to Native Americans.

Discussion: The Hill and The PJ Tatler

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
US Patent Office ruling cancels ‘disparaging’ Redskins trademark

Discussion: Associated Press and Sister Toldjah

Wall Street Journal:

The Collapsing Obama Doctrine — Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. — As the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threaten Baghdad, thousands of slaughtered Iraqis in their wake, it is worth recalling a few …

Mark Murray / NBC News:

NBC/WSJ Poll: Obama's Foreign Policy Rating Plummets, Even Without Iraq — And respondents are evenly divided if the details of Bergdahl's disappearance from his base in Afghanistan matter in the U.S. decision to secure his release: 47 percent say the details matter, while 46 percent say they don't.

Discussion: Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys and Weasel Zippers

Wall Street Journal:

Poll Shows Erosion in President's Support — As clouds gather abroad, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Mr. Obama's job approval rating at 41%, matching a previous low.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, Independent Journal Review and Washington Free Beacon

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:

Ted Cruz says he'd never heard of Peter King — Rep. Peter King? Never heard of him, Sen. Ted Cruz says. — The Texas senator says he had never heard of the New York Republican who has repeatedly and harshly attacked him until recently. — “I don't know Mr. King,” Cruz, a Texas Republican, said on CNN on Tuesday evening.

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

Karl Rove: Bill Clinton revealed Hillary Clinton's health — Karl Rove is continuing to raise questions about Hillary Clinton's health and says Bill Clinton is the one who revealed new details about the extent of her lengthy recovery. — “She has a problem with the fact …

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:
Fox's Bret Baier Relentlessly Hammers Hillary Clinton on Benghazi

Discussion: msnbc.com, Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, Taylor Marsh, CNN and The Huffington Post

Carrie Dann / NBC News:
America Divided Over Hillary Clinton Presidency, NBC/WSJ Poll Finds

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Too many questions remain about Benghazi attacks, Hillary Clinton says

Discussion: Power Line and Hot Air

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Apprehension of Ahmed Abu Khattala May Begin to Answer Questions on Assault

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Sources: Hillary Clinton book sells ‘strong’ 100,000

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Real Clear Politics

Liz Sly / Washington Post:

Iraqi premier Maliki gaining strength as Shiites rally behind him — BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is tightening his hold on power in response to the catastrophe unfolding in Iraq, even as his critics blame his policies for causing the mayhem that is tearing the country apart.

Discussion: Power Line, Business Insider and CNN

Rod Nordland / New York Times:
Extremists Said to Take Control of Iraq's Biggest Oil Refinery

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Gawker and National Review

New York Times:
A Balancing Act on Iraq

Discussion: The Dish, Reuters, Al Jazeera America, BuzzFeed, YouGov US Opinion Center News, Gawker and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

New York Times:
Obama Is Said to Consider Selective Airstrikes on Sunni Militants

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite and Politico

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Politico's reporting disaster — Politico's media blogger, Dylan Byers, regularly supplies his readers with tidbits on comings and goings in the news business, but this week he provided an additional service: a lesson in the limitations of armchair journalism.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Power Line, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Salon, Doug Ross, Yahoo! News, Ed Driscoll, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Business Insider, Politico, Liberaland, Balloon Juice, The PJ Tatler and Gawker

Robert A. Moffitt / New York Times:

Cutting the Poor Out of Welfare — Over the past three decades, Congress has conducted a major experiment in anti-poverty policy. Legislators have restructured benefits and tax breaks intended for the poor so that they penalize unmarried, unemployed parents — the modern day version of the “undeserving poor.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:

Obama's double asterisks on IRS: Column — First, we found out agency was targeting Tea Party. Now IRS emails are missing. Cover-up? — I guess it's time to award President Obama a second asterisk. When charges came out that the IRS targeted Tea Party groups for harassment …

Discussion: TaxProf Blog, NewsBusters, Vox Popoli and Sister Toldjah

Theodore Schleifer / New York Times: Lawmakers Skeptical on Emails and I.R.S.

Noam N. Levey / Los Angeles Times:

Obamacare subsidies push cost of health law above projections — The large subsidies for health insurance that helped fuel the successful drive to sign up some 8 million Americans for coverage under the Affordable Care Act may push the cost of the law considerably above current projections, a new federal report indicates.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Lonely Conservative and Washington Free Beacon

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

American Time Use Survey Summary — • www.bls.gov/tus Media contact: (202) 691-5902 AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY — 2013 RESULTS — On an average day in 2013, employed adults living in households with no children under age 18 engaged in leisure activities for 4.5 hours …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Wall Street Journal