NPR: Ari Shapiro

While Libya's ultimate fate is still unclear, the past week has marked a decisive change. In a speech to the American Legion in Minneapolis Tuesday, President Obama praised "our brave forces who helped the Libyan people finally break free from the grip of Moammar Gadhafi."

The last five months brought a great deal of controversy and criticism to the White House's handling of Libya. Now the administration is claiming some vindication.

The memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., opened on the National Mall this week. NPR's Ari Shapiro introduces us to one man for whom this moment caps a long family story.

President Obama is getting criticized from all sides lately, and the African-American community is no exception. In an op-ed piece in Friday's New York Times, Princeton professor Cornel West condemned the president for ignoring homeowners, workers and poor people and, instead, giving "us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable."

Under fire from Republicans for a heavy-handed regulatory environment, the Obama administration Tuesday announced a roll back of hundreds of federal regulations.

Gov. Rick Perry made a splash the size of Texas into the Republican presidential field this week. He plunged in with events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, demonstrating each step of the way that he's not shying away from controversy, or attention.

On Monday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Perry showed he is more than happy to attack even the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

"If this guy prints more money between now and the election," Perry said, "I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.

On a balmy August evening in Concord, N.H., the smells of summer float through the air: cooking meat, freshly cut grass and bug spray. A few hundred Ron Paul supporters have gathered under a white tent to hear their candidate speak at the opening of his state campaign headquarters.

They're excited about the Texas congressman's close second-place finish at the Republican presidential straw poll in Ames, Iowa. They're also a little frustrated that it hasn't been getting more attention.

"The Beast" has a new big brother.

"The Beast" is the nickname for the hulking limousine that carries the leader of the free world. Next to the new bus that the Secret Service debuted today for President Obama's Midwestern tour, though, the Beast looks downright puny.

When Air Force One arrived in Saint Paul, Minn., the vehicle was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. It has pitch black windows, Washington, D.C. tags, and communications equipment sprouting off the top like weeds.

Call it "Beast Bus,"or perhaps, "Mega-Beast."

President Obama likes to say that the American economy is facing headwinds: turmoil in Europe, the Arab spring and the tsunami in Japan. His reelection campaign is facing headwinds too: 9 percent unemployment, a U.S. credit downgrade, and a presidential approval rating slipping toward 40 percent.

Despite those daunting numbers, the President plans to convince Americans that he deserves another four years.

During the 2010 midterm campaign, Obama often told audiences that Republicans drove the economy into a ditch, and now they want the keys to the car back.

On Monday morning, U.S. markets opened for the first time since Standard & Poor's downgraded America's credit rating. Stocks went over the edge like an Olympic diver.

A few hours later, President Obama stepped in front of a microphone at the White House to proclaim his confidence in the U.S.

"No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a AAA country," he said.

He left the podium, and the financial plunge continued.

So, does having the biggest megaphone in the country do the president any good?

President Obama added a trip to Dover Air Force Base to his schedule Tuesday. He was on hand — with top military leaders — for the return of the remains of U.S. military personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

There's no such thing as an uneventful week at the White House. Yet even by the climactic standards of this presidency, the past week has been a big one.

President Obama might have hoped the biggest news story of the week would be his 50th birthday. Not even close.

When Monday dawned, it was still unclear whether the U.S. would run out of money to pay its bills. With hours to go until the deadline Tuesday, Congress finally passed a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Obama announced the resolution in the White House Rose Garden.

When White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley joined President Obama's team at the beginning of the year, he was expected to bring stability and a centrist approach to managing a sometimes chaotic White House.

His close connection to the business world was one of the strongest selling points as chief of staff. Daley built close friendships with business leaders during his years at JP Morgan Chase, and the White House hoped he could undo some of the bad blood that developed between Obama and business leaders during the first two years of the term.

For the latest developments in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations, Steve Inskeep talks with NPR's Ari Shapiro.

When the clock ticked closer to a scheduled House vote on Speaker John Boehner's plan to raise the debt ceiling last night, Boehner realized he did not have enough support from the Republican Party's right wing. He stalled, went into closed-door meetings, then called it a night. The votes that were supposed to happen are expected Friday instead — one day closer to default.

The deadline for raising the debt ceiling is one week from today, and political leaders are still mapping out divergent solutions.

Virtually any time President Obama has opened his mouth in public this month, it has been to talk about the debt ceiling. On Monday, he shifts his focus — at least for an hour — to address the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic advocacy group in the country.

It's the latest effort in the president's intense campaign to win the hearts and minds of Latinos. In the White House, he has met with Hispanic celebrities, activists and policy groups for summits, lunches and parties.

When President Obama's motorcade leaves the White House on Friday, it will be his first public event outside of Washington in three weeks. And even then, he's only going to the D.C. suburb of College Park, Md.

The town hall meeting is likely to focus on the same theme that has captured almost all of the president's attention this month — the debt ceiling. It's just one more tool the White House is trying to use to get a deal.

All The World's A Stage

Republicans have been reluctant to buy into a debt-ceiling deal that includes tax hikes. Some Democrats fear the White House is going so far to please Republicans that President Obama is throwing his own party overboard.

One person with outsize influence in the debate over raising the debt ceiling is not at the negotiating table. Instead, he sits in downtown Washington at the offices of Americans for Tax Reform, a group that he has run for a quarter century. From there, Grover Norquist fields phone calls and emails from some of the people who are at the negotiating table, and he holds them to their pledge.

As the deadline for Congress to raise the debt ceiling creeps steadily closer, a deal to cut the size of government in exchange for raising that debt limit seems as far away as ever. If a White House meeting Sunday night resulted in progress, neither side said so publicly.

After a terrible unemployment report in May, people hoped for a change of direction in the latest numbers. But the jobs report that came out Friday morning shows that the situation is even worse today. The economy created only 18,000 jobs in June. Unemployment rose for the second month in a row, hitting 9.2 percent. The Obama White House tried to put the best face on a dismal situation as the stalling recovery provided an opportunity for Republicans to continue hammering the president's economic policies.

Six months after Jared Loughner allegedly fired a fusillade of shots into a crowd of people in Tucson, Ariz., gun control advocates are asking why there has been no change to the policies that let him buy and carry a semi-automatic weapon without a permit.

Even the staunchest gun control activists suppressed their disappointment when President Obama skirted the issue during his speech in Tucson four days after the shooting, which left six people dead and more than a dozen wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

President Obama's self-described evolution on same-sex marriage is not happening fast enough for some gay and lesbian activists. His belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that the legalization of gay marriage should be left up to the states, puts him in an awkward position this week as he heads to New York for a re-election fundraiser with the gay and lesbian community.

If it's a sunny weekend in Washington, chances are a motorcade will be leaving the White House for the golf course. President Obama typically golfs with the same small circle of friends and aides. One of his rules for a day on the course: No talking politics.

That changes Saturday. House Speaker John Boehner is joining the president for 18 holes. Vice President Biden and Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio are also coming along, turning this particular game into a much anticipated "golf summit."

The field of GOP presidential contenders appeared onstage for their first major debate in New Hampshire, taking aim at President Obama, criticizing his handling of the economy and vowing to repeal his health care overhaul.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumed front-runner, set the tone for Monday night's debate by explaining that any of the Republican contenders present "would be a better president than President Obama."

President Obama flies to North Carolina on Monday for the latest meeting of his jobs and competitiveness council. His administration is betting that green technologies — from wind and solar power to advanced batteries and biofuels — will create jobs of the future.

With job growth slowing and President Obama's poll numbers dropping, the White House is trying to stage an intervention.

All week long, the administration took pains to show that the economy remains the president's top concern and that he is doing everything possible to bring it back.

On Thursday, the White House gave the press corps about ten minutes' warning that members of the Cabinet would be coming out to speak on the White House driveway. Only three reporters made it in time.

Before heading to Ireland at the start of his European tour, President Obama on Sunday spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest group of Israel supporters in the U.S. He reiterated his call for substantive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

NPR has been profiling some of the Republicans who are considering a presidential run in 2012, to find out what first sparked their interest in politics. Read more of the profiles.

When TV news shows want somebody to enthusiastically rip into President Obama, Michele Bachmann is a reliable choice.

One of her favorite techniques: comparing Obama to Jimmy Carter.

President Obama is going to ground zero in New York Thursday. Even though he's visiting in the emotional wake of the killing of Sept 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, but the president isn't expected to change his low key demeanor.

During one of the most consequential weeks since he took office, the president has kept a decidedly low profile.