Caren Bohan

Internet-savvy President Barack Obama told Chinese students that he is a big fan of the Web, though he doesn't Twitter.
    
At a town hall forum in Shanghai, a student who sent in a question by email pointed out that China has a huge online community with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers.

He asked what Obama thought of the Chinese government's "firewall" that blocks objectionable Internet sites and if he thought the Chinese should be able to "Twitter freely."
    
"First of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter," Obama replied. "I noticed that young people -- they're very busy with all these electronics. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone."
  
But he added, "I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States." Obama said a free Internet allows people around the world to think freely and hold their governments accountable.
    
Obama's election campaign was credited with using the Internet in innovative ways -- Facebook and texting -- to raise money and rally a huge network of volunteers.
    
Traveling in China as part of a nine-day Asia tour, Obama made a point of highlighting the Internet at the town hall. He took questions from the students in attendance at the event as well as questions submitted over the Internet.
 
The question about the Chinese firewall was one of more than 1,000 submitted by email through the U.S. embassy. At the request of the White House, which did not want to be in the awkward position of pre-selecting a question, Bloomberg reporter Ed Chen, the president of the White House Correspondents Association, chose the question randomly by picking a number and relaying it to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

Reuters photo by Jason Reed (a student poses a question to Obama at the town hall-style meeting at Shanghai's Museum of Science and Technology, Nov. 16, 2009)

Presidential reading lists have a tendency to set Washington abuzz.

Last month, when the Wall Street Journal reported that President Barack Obama was reading Gordon Goldstein's "Lessons in Disaster," pundits wondered if the book about the mistakes of the Vietnam War might hold clues to the president's thinking on his Afghanistan strategy.

Yesterday, during a Reuters interview, when Obama asked what I was reading with my 12-year-old son ("Great Expectations"), he revealed that he was reading the best-selling fantasy-adventure book "Life of Pi."

His 11-year-old daughter, Malia, is reading it on her own and Obama, who read the Harry Potter series to her when she was younger, finds it compelling too.

"It's a wonderful book," Obama said of the prize-winning novel by Yann Martel about an Indian boy cast adrift in a lifeboat with a tiger, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan.

"There are whole...chapters that really have to do with talking about Hinduism and Christianity and comparing it ... there's a lot of philosophical stuff in there," Obama said. "But for some reason she's hanging in there."

Without revealing the ending, Obama may be in for a nasty surprise... (if you want a hint click here.)

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Photo credit: Reuters/Peter MacDiarmid (Author Yann Martel after winning Booker Prize for Fiction 2002 for "Life of Pi")

As President Barack Obama nears a decision on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, some experts say he should consider the signal his decision will send about his broader commitment to the war, which has grown increasingly unpopular at home.

The White House has been frustrated that its internal deliberations on the Afghanistan strategy have leaked into public view, something that Obama acknowledged on Monday in an interview with Reuters.

But will perceptions of the deliberations affect the decision itself?

In the view of some, Obama might risk sending a signal of a weakening commitment in Afghanistan were he to approve anything short of the 40,000 troop increase requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Obama says concern about such perceptions won't be a factor for him.

"That's not how I think about the problem," he said in the Oval Office interview. "My obligation -- my solemn obligation, as commander-in-chief, is to get this right. And then I worry about people's perceptions later."

In a separate interview with ABC's Jake Tapper, Obama talked at some length about the factors that will influence his decision-making.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama answers questions during Reuters interview)

President Barack Obama's weekend outings to play golf have become regular events, especially when the weather cooperates.

But Sunday afternoon, an almost picture-perfect fall day, marked the first time in Obama's presidency that a woman joined the golf game.

White House domestic policy aide Melody Barnes was among those who headed out to the Fort Belvoir army installation in Virginia to play golf with the president.  White House aides of varying levels of seniority typically play golf with the president but until Sunday, the games were all male.

"He golfed with women on the campaign trail but not until Melody this year," White House spokesman Bill Burton was quoted as saying by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times/Politics Daily. Sweet was part of the pool of reporters who covered Sunday's golf outing.

The golf game came on the same day that The New York Times featured on its cover a story looking at whether Obama's White House was too much of a "man's world."

The Times article cited complaints that arose after Obama hosted a high-level basketball game that included no female players. It also quoted some women Democrats raising concerns that women advisers to Obama do not seem to be as visible as their male counterparts or wield as much influence.

Women voters are a crucial part of the Democratic base because they tend to support the party in greater numbers than men.

During his presidential campaign last year, Obama made a concerted effort to court women voters by emphasizing issues such as pay equity and telling how he was raised by a single mother with considerable help from his grandmother.

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Reuters photo by Jonathan Ernst (Melody Barnes and White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson walk up the White House driveway for a golf outing with President Obama).

The White House is firing back at former Vice President Dick Cheney who accused President Barack Obama of "dithering" and being "afraid to make a decision" on whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

"I think it's a curious comment," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at his midday briefing.

"I think it's pretty safe to say that the Vice President was for seven years not focused on Afghanistan," Gibbs added.

"Even more curious, given the fact that (an) increase in troops sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months, a resource request filled by President Obama in March," he said.

Speaking to the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank, Cheney said the White House needed to "stop dithering while America's armed forces are in danger."

"Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission," Cheney said.

General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has recommended a troop increase of 40,000. Obama has been holding a series of policy meetings with his top advisers to review the request and has said he wants to make a thorough review of the strategy before deciding whether to approve more troops.

"What Vice President Cheney calls 'dithering,' President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public," Gibbs said. "I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."

What do you think? Is Obama "dithering" as Cheney says, or acting in a thorough manner as the White House says?

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PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/Pool (Cheney in Kabul in March 2008), REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (Obama with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House in May)

President Barack Obama fired back on Tuesday at conservative critics who say he has not accomplished enough in his first nine months in office.

He told them they should "grab a mop" to help him clean up the mess he inherited from Republican President George W. Bush.

Many Republican critics say the continued sluggishness in the economy and the rise in the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent were a sign that Obama policies on the economy were not effective.

But at a pair of Democratic fund-raisers in New York, the president emphasized the dire straits the economy was in when he took over from Bush.

"I don't mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made. That's what I signed up to do," Obama said. "But while I'm there mopping the floor, I don't want somebody standing there saying, you're not mopping fast enough or you're not holding the mop the right way."

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Photo Credit:Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama at a Democratic party fundraiser in New York City)

President Barack Obama's longest-serving foreign policy aide, Mark Lippert, is leaving the White House to serve as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

Lippert, a 36-year-old Navy reservist and Iraq war veteran, will leave his job as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council to return to active duty, a White House statement said.

The White House did not say where Lippert would be deployed.

Lippert's departure was described in some media accounts as a "shakeup" but White House sources said he would be back after his service is up in six to nine months.

Obama, himself, said Lippert would be welcome back at the White House anytime.

Lippert joined Obama's Senate staff in 2005 and later was a top foreign policy aide on Obama's presidential campaign, but left for nearly a year when he was called up to advise the Navy SEALs on intelligence in Iraq. Lippert returned from Iraq in mid-2008 and became a regular presence on Obama's campaign plane during the final stretch against Republican John McCain.

Obama called Lippert a "close friend" and said he would miss "his counsel, his excellent work at the NSC, and his good cheer."

"At the same time," Obama added, "I was not surprised when he came and told me he had stepped forward for another mobilization, as Mark is passionate about the Navy. I support his decision."

Obama said that Lippert would "always have a senior foreign policy position in this White House, when he chooses to return to civilian life."

Denis McDonough, who worked closely with Lippert on the campaign and at the White House, will succeed him as chief of staff to the National Security Council.

Ben Rhodes, another longtime Obama aide who has been serving as the top foreign policy speechwriter in the White House, will take over from McDonough as the point person at the NSC in charge of strategic communications.

Photo Credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama speaks to troops in Iraq in April)

World leaders in New York City for the U.N. General Assembly also bring motorcades, gridlock, and idling engines.

So when White House reporters, also in New York following President Barack Obama around, got a briefing on U.N. climate change talks, the question had to be asked.

CBS's Mark Knoller wondered about the carbon footprint of the summit: could the earnest statements on climate change be undermined by motorcades, gridlock, idling engines?

The answer: electric motorcades!

(Would that mean electric sockets on every corner in midtown Manhattan?)

"I think the U.N. should make a pledge to electric vehicle motorcades within five years," U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern told reporters.

Photo credit: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach (power plug is seen next to an electric-drive car)

WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama says his family's decision about a family dog has been more difficult than choosing a new Commerce secretary, but he, his wife and daughters are getting closer to a decision.
 
"We're closing in on it," Obama said in an interview with ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos". He said his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, had decided they wanted a medium-sized dog and were looking closely at a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound.
 
Obama also said the girls wanted a shelter dog.
 
The president-elect promised his daughters during the campaign that whether he won or lost the election, he would grant their wish for a dog.
 
Their choices of dog breeds are limited because they need to pick one that is hypoallergenic because of Malia's allergies.
 
"This has been tougher than finding a Commerce secretary," Obama said. His initial pick for that post, Bill Richardson, withdrew from consideration saying a legal inquiry in his home state would have complicated his Senate confirmation for the job.
 
The Obamas, who are staying at the posh Hay-Adams hotel across from the White House and will move into the executive mansion in just over a week, are also looking at local Washington churches.
 
The Obamas used to attend the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, but left after a controversy developed over controversial comments by Trinity's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
 
"One of the things that Michelle and I will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what's comfortable," Obama said.
 
"It is tougher as president," adding that visiting churches can be difficult because of security involved when he goes anywhere within Washington.
 
"You don't want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being magged (walking through metal detectors) every time you go to church. And so, we're going to try to be balancing, not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of Washington D.C.," Obama said.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama family visits the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 10.)

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush's family cat, India, has died, the White House said on Monday. 

The 18-year-old female Shorthair was named after the former Texas Ranger baseball player, Ruben Sierra, who was called "El India." She was given the name by Bush's daughter Barbara. When Barbara and her twin sister, Jenna, went away to college, the cat stayed at the White House. 

The cat had two nicknames: "Willie" and "Kitty." 

The Bushes were "deeply saddened" by the passing of the cat on Sunday. 

The family has two other pets, Barney and Miss Beasley, both Scottish terrier dogs.

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-Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (India and Miss Beasley)