President Obama is touring San Juan, Puerto Rico, today as the first sitting president to make an official state visit to the island commonwealth in 50 years. He is making good on a promise he made while campaigning for the primaries in 2008. But he is also reaching out to constituents — while commonwealth Puerto Ricans can't vote in general elections, the growing population of Puerto Ricans living in Florida could be a deciding factor in swinging the sunshine state in 2012.

On Memorial Day, President Barack Obama announced his nomination for two top military positions. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey will replace Navy Adm. Michael Mullen as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dempsey would be joined in the Pentagon by Adm. James Winnefeld Jr., who would serve as his vice chairman. Also announced, Gen. Ray Odierno was picked to replace Dempsey as Army chief. These choices, especially Dempsey’s nod for the Joint Chiefs assignment, took many military watchers by surprise.

As the House gets ready to vote on raising the debt ceiling, a delegation of Congressional Republicans will meet with President Obama on Wednesday with a list of their demands. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich has all the details. "Republicans are calling it a vote on the president's proposal on the debt limit, trying to tie it to the president's ankles," says Todd Zwillich. Meanwhile, there will also be a vote on the US role in Libya with Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) calling for a vote on a resolution to remove US personnel from Libya immediately.

President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel shared their visions of peace at a long meeting in Washington on Friday, but their differences remain stark. Coming up, Martin Indyk, former United States Ambassador to Israel and director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institute, shares his thoughts.

In his speech on the Arab world on Thursday, President Obama evoked images of the American Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement and the Fall of the Iron Curtain to parallel American values and the Arab uprisings. The speech comes nearly six months after the uprisings began in Tunis, and the state of democracy in Tunisia and Egypt is precarious at best. But what concrete steps is Obama promising — and can he come through?

President Barack Obama went from comedian at the White House Correspondents Dinner to resolute diplomat scorning the Birther detractors and then comforting provider, bringing solace to the victims of the tornadoes that swept across the south. However, his sober announcement that Osama bin Laden was captured and killed showed the world his ownership over the title of "commander in chief."

President Obama is in New York today to pay his respects at Ground Zero and meet with family members of victims of 9/11. Whenever the president is in town, the New York Police Department is on heightened security. But this time, they will be keeping the status quo. The NYPD’s 35,000 officers have been on alert since Sunday night when the White House announced Osama bin Laden’s death. Officers have been working overtime to protect subways during rush hour and have been commanded to be on the lookout for suspicious packages at landmarks. Police officials say there have been no specific threats against the city, but New York is still a prime target for terrorist attacks. 

President Obama announced a reshuffling of his national security team yesterday, appointing CIA director Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense, and General David Petraeus as head of the CIA. Are these appointments a sign that there is a blurred line between the country's soldiers and spies? Loch Johnson, regents professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia and 28-year-CIA veteran, speaks with us. 

This morning, the White House released President Obama's U.S. birth certificate. Obama said in a statement that he hoped this would end any debate over his birthplace, and allow those questioning his country of origin to move on to more important issues. Todd Zwillich, the Takeaway's Washington correspondent, spoke about whether or not this will be the death of the birthers. 

President Obama's mother Stanley Ann Dunham died young, at the age of 52. Because of this, her four grandchildren never got to hear her stories, eat her cooking, or experience those other parts of the special relationship many children are able to have with their grandparents. Maya Soetero-Ng, Dunham's daughter, didn't think deeply about this until one of her kids asked her what grandma was like. That question served as the inspiration for a children’s book called “Ladder to the Moon.” The story, illustrated whimsically by Yuyi Morales, imagines a meeting between Maya’s older daughter and her own mother.

It’s only been a few days since lawmakers in Washington agreed on a budget for the next fiscal year, but Democrats and Republicans are already gearing up for the next big budgetary showdown: raising the nation's debt ceiling. In the coming months, Congress will have vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling, something Tea Party Republicans say they won't support in hopes of forcing President Obama and Congress to cut spending. But for every dollar the government spends, it has to borrow forty cents. In February, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said that the economic results of not raising the debt ceiling and defaulting would be "catastrophic" 

The slogans “Yes We Can” and “Change We Can Believe In” transformed then-Senator Barack Obama’s underdog bid for presidency into a frenzied, anti-incumbency movement that launched him to the Oval Office. Fast forward to today, and President Barack Obama has officially begun his re-election bid, though the word “change” is probably the last one he wants to hear.

El Salvador is the last stop on President Obama's three-nation tour of Latin America. Mr. Obama's stops in Brazil and Chile were largely overshadowed by events in Libya, but his reasons for visiting the strategically important South American nations were clear: with their galloping economies, Brazil and Chile are emerging as power players in the region and in the world. However, his reasons for visiting El Salvador are less obvious.

U.S. and allied forces continue their bombardment of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi's assets on Tuesday. President Obama has reportedly said that US involvement in Libya will last for "days not weeks," leaving some to wonder if the White House has a realistic view of its involvement in Libya. Ret. Admiral William Fallon is the former commander of US Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command. He has spent considerable time working in the Middle East. Fallon told The Takeaway: "There could be significant involvement for the long haul."

A new book traces Barack Obama's Kenyan family back twenty-three generations, or roughly half a millennium. Peter Firstbrook was a documentary filmmaker for our partner, the BBC, for 25 years, is the author of “The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family.”  Using oral testimony from family and historical documents, Firstbrook uncovered some fascinating details of the president's family, including questions about how President Obama's father died.

After all of the events that have rocked Egypt over the last ten days, January 25 seems like ancient history. But it was just last Tuesday when Egyptians took to the streets to demand their autocratic leader of over 30 years relinquish his power. It was also last Tuesday when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pronounced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government "stable," saying it was "looking for ways to respond to legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people." 

Today is the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event attended by President Obama and organized by “The Family,” a Washington-based fellowship of Christian politicians. “The Family” is also known for its close affiliation with the Ugandan politicians who proposed making homosexuality a capital offense. A coalition of religious leaders are now calling on President Obama to recite a prayer for David Kato, a prominent, Ugandan gay rights activist who was bludgeoned to death in January, at the National Prayer Breakfast today. 

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama invoked the image of Sputnik, the Soviet satellite whose launch not only ignited the Space Race, but also led to a wave of investments for science technology. But how does the fear factor from 1958 translate into 2011? And will this generation's "Sputnik moment" be enough to galvanize society in the way Obama envisions?

If President Obama’s weekly YouTube address is any indication, America’s ability to compete globally will be an issue very much on the table during his State of the Union speech tonight. So what are the areas where we’re out-competing other countries? And are jobs and economic growth the most important indications of success in the competitive global market?

It’s likely you’ve heard about “O: A Presidential Novel.” The book is a fictional account of the Obama administration — the author, according to the publisher's website — "has been in the room with Obama and wishes to remain anonymous.” But buzz or no buzz, is “O” any good? Does it reveal anything juicy about Obama? And how is it similar or different from other fictional depictions of real, living presidents and administrations? Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor at Essence Magazine reviews the book.