Obama a fan of ‘Homeland’, says star

LONDON — Actor Damian Lewis has a warning for Barack Obama.

He says the U.S. president shouldn’t watch the Showtime TV series “Homeland” too much “because he won’t sleep at night.”

The British star at the heart of the political thriller, which was named the Best TV Drama at the Golden Globes, says the leader of the free world is a big fan of the show that has generated white-hot buzz.

“Not only has Obama been watching it but his aides have been calling up going, ’We need to see it,”’ Lewis said. “So he’s been getting entire state departments, top of the U.S. government, asking to see it because their boss watches it and they feel they need to know what their boss has been watching.”

And why should Obama be worried?

“(The show) spreads its criticism around of state governments and terrorists alike,” Lewis explained.

Lewis, 40, along with British co-star David Harewood, 46, spoke to The Associated Press recently ahead of the U.K. launch of the series. Both are excited about getting reactions from home firsthand.

Lewis quips he can’t wait to hear what fans think of it while he’s out supermarket shopping, as he hasn’t generated that level of interest in the U.K. for a while.

He plays returning American war hero Nick Brody, who was discovered in a cell in Iraq after being missing for eight years.

Claire Danes, who won best actress in a drama at the Globes, is the CIA agent who doesn’t believe him. Harewood plays her boss.

In their London interview, Lewis and Harewood appeared relaxed, chatting away in their native English accents, something they ditch when on U.S. soil. They each try to stay in their American voices all day long in the United States because it’s easier and helps them practice.

They can slip out of the American twang when talking together, however.

Lewis admits the first time he was cast as an American soldier in the 2001 “Band of Brothers” he stayed in character so as not to offend anyone.

“I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable,” he said. “If you just go tearing around like ’Rah, rah, rah, rah,’ and they’d be, ’Bloody hell, why did we cast him? He sounds so English.”’

He said he wanted directors to “all just forget I’m English and just be happy that you’ve cast me.”

As for the success of “Homeland,” Lewis suggested that intelligent TV drama helps to fill the gap left by the death of the indie movie.

“Films are either now made for $500 grand or $500 million, you know, there seems to be little in-between,” he noted. “TV has sort of filled that slot and actually you can make provocative, interesting, quirky, independent, movie-type TV.”

Shooting on the second season of “Homeland” starts in May, and Harewood says he is already looking forward to getting into his character again.

Lewis admits there is pressure to deliver the goods.

“TV audiences are notoriously fickle. If they don’t like it, they just tell you. Suddenly there are blogs everywhere saying ’That was a pile of crap,”’ he said.

“It’s an unenviable job,” he added. “I’m glad I’m not writing it!”

News Update

Obama: America is coming back

HOUSTON -- Raising campaign cash in Republican territory, President Barack Obama today hailed a rebounding economy and accused Republicans of banking on voters having "amnesia" about the steps that led to a brutal economic collapse.

"The recovery is accelerating. America is coming back," Obama told 600 supporters at a Texas fundraiser.

Bidding for re-election, Obama bounded between a rally-style event in a sprawling Rolls-Royce manufacturing plant south of Richmond, Va., to a pair of Houston fundraisers. Framing the trip: a new monthly jobs report showing employers 227,000 jobs in February, the latest sign that the economy is headed in the right direction.

Every month's jobs report is seen as a barometer of the economy and an important factor in the presidential race. The unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent, the result of more Americans looking for work as job growth takes hold month by month.

The jobs report and split loyalties among Republican voters assessing Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and the rest of the GOP field give Obama's team renewed confidence that the path he has forged could help him win re-election and rebuild the economy. But privately, his advisers know that outside factors in the United States and abroad — from high gasoline prices to instability in the Middle East — could still derail his political and economic ambitions in the months leading to the fall election.

Pointing at Republicans, Obama said: "They think you have amnesia. They think you've forgotten how we got into this mess."

He spoke at Union Station at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, with tickets starting at $500 per person.

Both in Houston and on the factory floor in Virginia, the president cautioned that too many Americans still long for work. But he said the nation's economy had made progress because of difficult decisions he made, including rescuing U.S. automakers.

Romney, campaigning in Jackson, Miss., took a different view: The unemployment rate remains above 8 percent. "This president has not succeeded; this president has failed — and that's the reason we're going to get rid of him in 2012," Romney said.

Obama was stocking up on campaign cash as Republicans appear locked in a primary process that may not be settled for months.

Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell of Virginia, who joined Obama at the factory and has been talked about as a potential vice presidential candidate, said he was heartened by Obama's recognition of the innovative Virginia plant. "When the president is right, I'm going to commend him and say he's doing things right," he said.

News Update

Obama: I was thinking of Sasha, Malia when I called Sandra Fluke

President Obama said Tuesday that concern for her two young daughters led him to reach out and comfort Sandra Fluke, which was labeled a "slut" by Rush Limbaugh.

"One of the things we want to do as you get older is engaging in issues that concern, even the ones on that I can't agree with them," the President said of his daughters, Malia and Sasha, in a press conference on Tuesday.

"I want to be able to speak their mind in civil and thoughtful way. And I don't want them horrible names attached or referred to because they're being good citizens ".

Obama said he wanted even Fluke, a Georgetown law student 3rd year who previously lived on the upper West Side, to know that parents should be proud of her. "

He explained that he was trying to promote a civil discourse on the controversial issue of contraceptives.

"We want to send a message to all our young people who belong to a democracy entails argument and disagreement and discussion," said Obama. "We want to be involved and there is a way to do it in a way that doesn't involve you are humiliated and insulted."

Obama, if it were true, excuses Limbaugh said that he couldn't deal with what was at the heart of radio host when launched in verbal aggression – and therefore supported and with another controversial comment the next day.

Limbaugh again apologized Fluke Monday, as some of its advertisers has threatened to abandon ship.

Fluke said that his apology doesn't quite cut it because she will always be associated with the firestorm caused by his comments.

"I do not think a statement like this, issued by saying that his choice of words was not the best, ' change nothing," he said on ABC's "The View" on Monday.

The flap began last Wednesday when Limbaugh attacked Fluke on his radio show after she testified before a Congressional Panel in favour of initiatives of the Obama administration to get birth control coverage insurers for women – an issue that has prompted a backlash from some parts of the religious community. After calling her a "Slut" and a "prostitute", she said that women should have sex on video, if you want to cover.

After a call from Obama on Friday, Fluke said she was touched by the statements by the President on his family.

"He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for talking about the concerns of American women. And what was really personal for me, was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud of, "he said last week.

On Tuesday, Sarah Palin weighed in on the debate and the comments of the President with a sharp retort on your Facebook account.

She implied that Obama team must return campaign contributions from talk show host Bill Maher, who reportedly used sexist language to attack the former Governor of Alaska.

"Pres Obama says that he called Sandra Fluke due to his daughters. For the sake of her daughter, why not his super PAC returns the $ 1 million that he got from a rabid misogynist? "

News Update

The Iran is ' not a game ' says Obama

President Obama vowed to maintain pressure on Iran Tuesday but warned against talk of war-slamming his political rivals for their "bluster" and gently asking Israel for patience.

Obama touted strong relationship of the United States with Israel and has sworn that the two countries should deal with the looming showdown with Iran.

However, the President also gently pushed back to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Monday night that "none of us can afford to wait longer" when comparing with the Iranian nuclear program.

Obama insisted that decisions need not be rushed in the next week or month — and suggested he delivered that message to Netanyahu, when they met at the White House.

"One of the functions of friends is make sure we provide honest advice and unvarnished," Obama said.

He also defended the steps his Administration has taken to force the hand of Tehran, including a series of radical measures against rogue nation.

Obama has insisted that there is a "window of opportunity" to find a diplomatic solution and urges Israel to bring international pressure on building in Iran.

Obama's relationship with Netanyahu, who has appeared on Capitol Hill, as the President spoke to the press, has been the subject of speculation since their encounter a little chilly in November. But Obama stressed Tuesday that there is an "indissoluble bond" between the two Nations.

The President pulled out a speech much harder for Republicans running for his work-berating them for what he suggested was confident rhetoric on the war.

"Now, what is said on the campaign trail-those people don't have a lot of responsibility," said Obama, who has scheduled his first press conference of the year in order to steal some of the spotlight of Super Tuesday Republican.

"Not the Commander in Chief." he said. "And when I see the ease with which some of these guys talking about war, remembered the costs involved in the war."

Obama, though he never mentioned Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum by name, apparently seethed when discussed candidates "bluster" when it comes to Iran.

"This is not a game-there is nothing random about it," he said. "[The candidates] should explain to the American people exactly why I would do that and what would be the consequences. Everything else is just talk. "

The trio of White House GOP hopefuls all criticized Obama on Tuesday when they have spoken for the Group of pro-Israel lobby, dubbed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"Hope is not a foreign policy," said Romney, who appeared via satellite. "The only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our determination".

News Update