Biden Heading To Asia

By Anastasia Degtyarenko

Vice president Joe Biden leaves Tuesday for a trip to China, Mongolia, and Japan in an attempt to strengthen U.S.’ rapport with Asian leaders. 

Mostly concentrated on cooperation with “emerging power”, the Vice president will spend the first part of the trip in China. The second leg will be a visit to Mongolia to demonstrate direct support for Mongolians’ growing democracy. The third part of the trip will consist of a visit to Japan with the goal of surveying the country’s recovery after the March tsunami and quake and to demonstrate the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance. 

According to the Biden’s national security adviser, Tony Blinken, the primary goal of the trip is to display that the U.S. is a pacific power whose interests are linked with Asia’s economic security and political order.

Obama's Approval Rating Dips To New Low

President Barack Obama’s job approval rating hit an all time low over the weekend, according to a Gallup poll. 

Results show that 39 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing in handling his responsibilities as president while 54 percent of those surveyed disapprove.

Obama’s approval numbers are indicative of the challenges he will face in the coming year and will begin facing these challenges, perhaps, as he hits the road monday on a bus tour of the Midwest.

The results of the survey are based on interviews with nearly 1,500 Americans and was conducted Aug. 11-13.

Obama Rails Against Partisanship

Although President Barrack Obama’s remarks at the Johnson Controls Inc. battery facility on Thursday afternoon touched on fuel efficiency standards and the role of manufacturing in the United States economy, repeated allusions to Congressional struggles on the deficit-reduction bill indicated that past partisanship preoccupied the President’s thoughts. 

“What we’ve seen in Washington the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock –- and that gridlock has undermined public confidence and impeded our efforts to take the steps we need for our economy,” Obama said. “It’s made things worse instead of better.”

The President consistently urged his listeners and supporters to vocalize their frustrations to Congress. He hoped that, “[Congress will] come back to Washington ready to compromise and ready to create jobs and ready to reduce our deficit, ready to do what you sent them here to do.”

Obama Lunches With Campaign Volunteers

President Barack Obama had lunch Wednesday with a handful volunteers from his re-election campaign.

The seven volunteers came from across the country and were chosen based on essays they wrote. Several told the President that they had faced flight delays and only arrived in Washington in the early hours of the morning.

The lunch took place at Ted’s Bulletin, a restraunt in Southeast D.C.