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Podcasts Take Two
The Flashback: President Obama and Iraq, Congress sinks to new lows and looking back at Richard Nixon's resignation
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Aug 8, 2014
Listen • 15:36
The Flashback: President Obama and Iraq, Congress sinks to new lows and looking back at Richard Nixon's resignation
Airstrikes resume in Iraq, women are smarter than men and what do you get the man who has everything?
President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, August 7, 2014.
President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, August 7, 2014.
(
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
)

Airstrikes resume in Iraq, women are smarter than men and what do you get the man who has everything?

Airstrikes resume in Iraq, women are smarter than men and what do you get the man who has everything? 

Congress agreeing on something might be nice.

Just some of the topics we're tackling today in the Flashback - that's Take Two's look at the week in news, and today we talked to  

, a staff writer for Slate and 

of National Journal.

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND IRAQ

We'll start with President Obama in Iraq ... now he hasn't made any commitments to putting troops on the ground and has characterized this as a humanitarian effort ... but his main talking point before he was elected was that he would end the Iraq War ... will this be seen as him going back on his word? And what does this mean for his legacy?

The situation in Iraq is getting worse, Syria is still war torn and early today the temporary truce between Israel and Hamas fell apart … what can the President do now? 

The President is constantly blasted by conservatives for his stance on gay marriage, his desire for immigration reform - but now with a return to Iraq, what will his liberal base think?

CONGRESS AND APPROVAL RATINGS 

And this week a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 51 percent of Americans disapproved of the way their OWN representative in Congress is "handling his or her job."

This is the first time in 25 years that the percentage rose above the 50 percent margin.  

MICHELLE OBAMA AND HER FUTURE 

And from one side of the approval measure to the other ... that's the first lady Michelle Obama. Recently she sat down with former First Lady Laura Bush for a discussion connected to the recent summit of African leaders and she used it to urge African first ladies to become more active politically. Here's a sample

Another thing that she talked about was her plans for the future - saying her work for military families would continue. Could she be testing the political waters? 

LOOKING BACK ON RICHARD NIXON'S RESIGNATION

And today is the 40th anniversary of the resignation of former President Richard Nixon ... here's a video of the resignation: 

 How does it compare to other high profile resignations?