Today’s Times
- Mark Landler analyzes the obvious goals and behind-closed-door challenges that President Obama faces on his trip to Israel this week.
- Stateside, Mr. Obama is gearing up for another fight with Congress after nominating Thomas E. Perez for labor secretary, Peter Baker and Steven Greenhouse report. As the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, Mr. Perez racked up record discrimination and housing claims and pursued cases that have been priorities for the president, signaling that this may be a fight Mr. Obama wants to have.
- Republican leaders issued a 100-page assessment on Monday calling for better outreach and a new brand of conservatism to appeal to broader audiences in preparation for the 2016 presidential election. Even thought the report offered solutions that pertained more to logistics than to new policies, the Republican establishment in Washington has so far shown little interest in altering its political trajectory, Sarah Wheaton and Michael D. Shear write.
- Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado is poised to sign some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation on Wednesday, Jack Healy writes. The legislation illustrates how Mr. Hickenlooper, a popular Western Democrat who takes his son shooting, became the frontman for bringing new gun laws into the center of the United States.
Around the Web
- The women’s organization Emily’s List is focusing its political muscle on getting women elected in several high-profile mayoral races, hoping to set the stage for more women governors in 2014 - “and perhaps putting a woman in the White House two years after that,†Politico reports.
- Michelle Obama has invited the mother and brother of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teenager who was shot to death in her hometown after performing at the president’s inauguration, to the White House Easter Egg Roll, CBS Chicago reports.
Happenings in Washington
- Mr. Obama will meet with Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland in the Oval Office before they both head to the United States Capitol for the Friends of Ireland luncheon. Later, the president and Mrs. Obama will host a St. Patrick’s Day reception with the prime minister in the White House, where they will participate in the annual Shamrock ceremony, which began under President Harry S. Truman. Mr. Kenny will present Mr. Obama with a cluster of shamrock plants.
