The Weekend Word: Moving On

Today’s Times

• Struggling to find his footing after one of the most turbulent weeks in office, President Obama’s aides have ordered the White House staff to spend no more than 10 percent of their time on controversies, Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear report. Democratic strategists are now working on a plan to intensify the administration’s focus on revamping immigration laws, reaching a budget deal and implementing the new health care legislation.

• Though cornered by a number of controversies that have put him under a white-hot spotlight, Jay Carney, a former reporter turned White House press secretary, says “it has been a good week,” Jennifer Steinhauer writes.

• Republican lawmakers are looking to broaden the recent Internal Revenue Service controversy into an array of tax malfeasance and “intimidation tactics” that range from the clearly questionable to the seemingly specious, Jonathan Weisman and Jeremy W. Peters report.

Weekly Addresses

• President Obama reflected on visits with everyday people across the country in this week’s address, saying they “make me optimistic about where we’re headed as a nation.” That’s why, he said, he likes to get out of the “Washington echo chamber,” because politics aren’t always focused on the same things that Main Street Americans are. Though admitting that unemployment is still higher than he would like and that corporate profits have continued to skyrocket, he maintained that his primary focus is on the priorities of the people outside the Beltway. “Especially after all we’ve been through the past several years,” he said. “And that should encourage us to work even harder on the issues that matter to you.”

• Representative Andy Harris of Maryland delivered this week’s Republican address, hoping to intertwine the Internal Revenue Service controversy with the implementation of the health care law. “Now just think about the fact that it’s the I.R.S. that will be responsible for enforcing many of these regulations. If we’ve learned anything this week, it’s that the I.R.S. needs less power, not more,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it turns out that the I.R.S. official who oversaw the operation that’s under scrutiny for targeting conservatives is now in charge of the I.R.S.’s Obamacare office. You can’t make this stuff up.”

Happenings in Washington

• Dozens of women in red hats and flamboyant purple outfits, known as the Red Hat Society, will welcome World War II veterans arriving on two Honor Flights at Reagan National Airport on Saturday.