Joseph Curl, Washington Times

Obama angrily attacks Bush and the GOP

President Obama said his prime-time press conference on Day 100 of his presidency was intended as a “look forward to … all of the hundreds of days to follow,” but it turned into more of a look back in anger, complete with finger-pointing.

Throughout his hourlong session in the White House East Room on Wednesday, the candidate who vowed a new post-partisan Washington, free from the rancorous bickering that often grinds the city to gridlock, ripped Republicans as the members of a do-nothing party of no.

He began at the top, calling his predecessor, the former head of the Republican Party, a torturer.

By CAROL E. LEE & AMIE PARNES, Politico

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not recommend taking any commercial flight or riding in a subway car “at this point” because swine flu virus can spread “in confined places.” A little more than one hour later, Biden rushed out a statement backing off.

“I would tell members of my family — and I have — I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” Biden said on NBC’s “Today” show.. “It’s not that it’s going to Mexico. It’s [that] you’re in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. … 

“So, from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. If you’re out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it’s a different thing.”

By CALVIN WOODWARD, AP

blame the Republicans for the deficit...

“That wasn’t me,” President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One.

It actually was him – and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years – who shaped a budget so out of balance.

And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.

Obama met citizens at an Arnold, Mo., high school Wednesday in advance of his prime-time news conference. Both forums were a platform to review his progress at the 100-day mark and look ahead.

Lawrence Kudlow, Townhall.com

Obama is ramming his agenda through

In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s popularity and policies moved American politics firmly to the right. In only 100 days, Barack Obama’s politics and policies have shifted America way to the left.

The president is seeking to change the whole relationship between the government and the free-enterprise private sector. He is steering the country away from democratic capitalism and toward his big-government command-and-control vision. We are witnessing a triumph of government bureaucrats over entrepreneurs, investors, and small businesses.

And with Sen. Arlen Specter switching from Republican to Democrat, Obama can now move the nation even further to the left.

Andrew Taylor, AP

Pelosi Says- "If we take money from our grandkids we can afford this budget..."

Democrats in Congress capped President Barack Obama’s 100th day in office by advancing a $3.4 trillion federal budget for next year — a third of it borrowed — that prevents Republicans from blocking his proposed trillion-dollar expansion of government-provided health care over the next decade.

Wednesday’s House and Senate votes to adopt the nonbinding budget blueprint were only a first step toward Obama’s goal of providing health care coverage for all Americans. The budget plan for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 sets the parameters for subsequent tax and spending bills expected to boost clean energy programs and student aid and extend many of former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts.

The budget outline also makes it plain that Democrats won’t let a mountain of deficits and debt interfere with advancing Obama’s ambitious but costly agenda.

By ALEXANDER BURNS, Politico

Obama mocks tea party participants

At his 100th-day town hall meeting in St. Louis, Mo., President Obama took direct aim at the anti-tax “tea party” demonstrations that have cropped up over the last month – and took a veiled shot at FOX News Channel, at the cable news network closely associated with the protests. 

Asked about fiscal discipline and entitlements reform, Obama seemed to be repressing a smile as he jabbed critics of his spending plans. 

“Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I’m not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, Obama said, “let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we are going to stabilize Social Security.” 

“But,” Obama continued, “let’s not play games and pretend that the reason [for the deficit] is because of the Recovery Act.”

Read More:

By Leonard Doyle, UK Telegraph

Obama will take the opportunity to wallow in his "success"

Mr Obama’s top adviser David Axelrod has publicly dismissed the 100th day milestone as a “Hallmark holiday” – meaning an invented event of no real significance.

But behind the scenes presidential aides have discreetly encouraged comparisons between Mr Obama and his illustrious Democratic predecessor, Franklin D.Roosevelt.

Roosevelt, who took over on 12 March, 1933, soon made history with a blizzard of bold actions taken during what became knows as his “first 100 days” in office – in fact the first 103 of his administration.

Ever since, pundits have used it as a litmus test to grade presidents. It’s a crude measure because the president’s only power is his prestige and the bully pulpit of the White House, and some of America’s greatest presidents got off to a dismal start.

Newsmax

Fred is not happy with Obama's liberal agenda

Former Senator, TV star and presidential candidate Fred Thompson gives President Barack Obama a failing grade for his performance in his first 100 days in office.

In an exclusive Newsmax interview, the Tennessee Republican declared: “In the most important areas that affect our country, that is our economy and national security, I’d give him an F in both categories.”

“Domestically he is leading us down the road to economic disaster . . . We’re going to be facing trillion-dollar deficits every year for as far as the eye can see. We cannot sustain that. He’s taken a tough situation and made it a whole lot worse.”

Thompson also told Newsmax that because of Obama administration’s policies that “cater” to the left wing, the dollar will ultimately be endangered, Americans will face runaway inflation and the dilution of their savings, and a minority of Americans will be left to shoulder the tax burden for a majority who pay no taxes.