Liberals urge Obama to go after Wall Street harder

Barack Obama went to church on a sunny, historic Monday, launching a day of prayer, pledges and parties as the country celebrated its 57th presidential inauguration and he officially began his encore as chief executive.

WASHINGTON — Staking out his ground ahead of a fiscal deadline, President Barack Obama lashed out against Republicans, saying they are unwilling to raise taxes to reduce deficits and warning that the jobs of essential government workers, from teachers to emergency responders, are on the line. Obama spoke as a March 1 deadline for automatic across-the-board spending cuts approached and with Republicans and Democrats in an apparent stalemate over how to avoid them.

President Barack Obama is set to give the final press conference of his first term in office at 11:30 a.m. ET, the White House said this morning. Obama's news conference will likely focus heavily on two topics: the debt ceiling and the White House's plan to curb the nation's rash of gun violence.

Politicians, protesters, even a heckler united during Barack Obama’s first presidential visit to Israel to urge him to release spy Jonathan Pollard from a U.S. prison. Mr. Obama had just landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport when he was bombarded with requests for clemency for the 58-year-old. Housing Minister Uri Ariel begged “please, free Pollard,” while shaking the president’s hand. Livnor Livnat, the culture and sport minister, asked him “not to forget our brother Jonathan Pollard.”

The hedge fund industry has had a fondness for Democrats, but that backing appears to be an end, the Wall Street Journal reports. The change in heart is being attributed to President Barack Obama's attack on the industry and Wall Street, and his efforts to get financial types to pay more at tax time. That kind of allegiance shift will make it harder for the Obama team to raise the $1 billion some say it wants for a reelection campaign.