Calvin Woodward

The IRS and its tea party tempest

By Calvin Woodward | May 20, 2013

The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency. It's the sense that a powerful someone is breathing down your neck.
Obama’s IOUs start coming due

By Calvin Woodward | April 15, 2013

Presidential campaigns are long in the making, quick to be forgotten. But one part of them lives on for years: the victor's promises.
In budget fight, sky is falling again

By Calvin Woodward | February 26, 2013

President Barack Obama and his officials are doing their best to drum up public concern over the shock wave of spending cuts that could strike the government in just days. So it's a good time to be alert for sky-is-falling hype.
Overreaching in the State of Union?

By Calvin Woodward | February 13, 2013

President Barack Obama did some cherry-picking Tuesday night in defense of his record on jobs and laid out a conditional path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that may be less onerous than he made it sound.
How Obama is wielding executive power now

By Calvin Woodward, Richard Lardner | February 11, 2013

President Barack Obama's campaign slogan is springing to life in a surge of executive directives and agency rule-making that touch many of the affairs of government. They are shaping the cost and quality of health plans, the contents of the school cafeteria, the front lines of future combat, the price...
Obama’s Social Security warning

By Calvin Woodward | January 15, 2013

No one doubts dire things will happen, and fast, if the government runs out of borrowing authority in coming weeks. But late Social Security checks need not be among them.
An uneasy economy, and those living through it

By Calvin Woodward, Mitch Weiss | October 29, 2012

For four years, the bumpy economy cut an uneasy path. It raked small towns and big cities, knocked liberals and conservatives on their backs, plagued Republicans and Democrats alike. It was the worst economic setback since the Depression, and it didn't take sides.
Dems open convention playing defense

By Calvin Woodward, Julie Pace | September 4, 2012

Democrats open their national convention Tuesday offering President Barack Obama as America's best chance to revive the ragged U.S. economy and asking voters to be patient with incomplete results so far. Michelle Obama, in her opening-night speech, aims to give people a very personal reminder of "the man that he...
Labor Day jobs debate a convention warm-up

By Ben Feller, Calvin Woodward | September 3, 2012

Republicans and Democrats jockeyed for economic high ground in a Labor Day warm-up to the Democratic National Convention, with Republican Mitt Romney labeling the holiday "another day of worrying" for too many Americans anxious about finding a job. Supporters of President Barack Obama worked to put a glossy sheen on...
Onward to Romney’s big night

By Calvin Woodward, Donna Cassata | August 30, 2012

Republican Mitt Romney is stepping up for the most important speech of his life, to an audience of millions, after a rousing warm-up from a running mate who vowed the days of dodging painful budget choices will end if voters toss President Barack Obama from office.