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Obama maneuvers to repair his image

A politician can pull off only so many well-timed maneuvers before even his staunchest supporters must admit the efforts do not pass the smell test.

Last week, President Barack Obama hastily asked Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to reintroduce an old media shield bill. The Free Flow of Information Act would, in theory, protect reporters who seek to maintain the anonymity of confidential sources. It would protect them from the likes of, well, the Obama administration.

Despite efforts to cover their tracks – Attorney General Eric Holder claims he recused himself last year, and that responsibility rests with his deputy – Obama’s Justice Department is responsible for seizing a massive amount of phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors. “I’m simply not a part of the case,” Holder told the House Oversight Committee.

If he was aware enough of the investigation to feel the need to distance himself, he – and his boss – should have stopped it.

It has been a bad few weeks for Obama and company, though. The assault on the Associated Press was revealed as the administration was doing damage control on its Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups. And, of course, there is the little matter of making sure the “talking points” on last year’s Benghazi attacks were delivered in a manner that provided the most political cover.

No, even a perfectly timed distraction bill should not be enough this time. The IRS, Benghazi and AP situations are merely the most recent in a host of reasons Obama’s political legacy will be that of as dirty a Washington insider as any who came before him.

Beginning in 2015, enthusiast drivers all over the world will be enjoying a super-high performance car manufactured in Ohio.

Honda Motor Co. has designed a new Acura NSX sports car, and it will be produced in a plant at Marysville, Ohio

Honda and other Japanese carmakers have many plants in the United States.

But the NSX is the company’s highest-performing car – Honda’s flagship product, in a way.

Marysville will be the only plant in the world producing the NSX, capable of competing with almost any exotic sports car.

Honda officials’ decision, then, represents an enormous vote of confidence in Ohio as a manufacturing center and Buckeye State men and women as crafters of precision cars. That is good news indeed, as the state’s economy continues to pick up speed.

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