Jay Carney

President Obama's reaction to the Proposition 8 decision was much like the president's stance on gay marriage -- somewhat unclear. White House press secretary Jay Carney said the White House wouldn't be commenting on the court's rejection of California's same-sex marriage ban, saying that the administration doesn't weigh in on ongoing litigation. But the president's top spokesman also seemed to suggest an endorsement of the decision, without saying so. "He has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples," Carney added.

President Obama said he learned Monday about Commerce Secretary John Bryson's weekend auto accidents in California, which apparently were caused by a seizure, but said he has not yet spoken with the Cabinet member. “My hope is that he is doing all right,” Obama said in a White House interview with KITV from Sioux City, Iowa. “We're still trying to find out. It sounds like it was health-related in some way, but we're going to make sure obviously that he gets the best care, and we'll be able to make a determination from there.” Bryson, the former chief of Edison International, struck cars in San Gabriel and Rosemead before police found him unconscious in his Lexus.

WASHINGTON -- The White House is again coming to the defense of a possible Cabinet nominee, even before President Obama makes up his mind on the post. White House spokesman Jay Carney backed up former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel on Thursday, saying the possible pick for secretary of Defense has been a "remarkable servant to this country. " "What I can tell you is that Sen. Hagel fought and bled for his country. He served his country well. He was an excellent senator," Carney told reporters.

WASHINGTON - President Obama plans to travel to Israel this spring, making his first trip of his presidency to the close U.S. ally. White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed the trip Tuesday, although he offered no dates and few details. Carney said the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the visit on a Jan. 28 phone call. The president will also visit Jordan and the West Bank on the trip, he said. News of the impending visit first broke in Israel, where it drew big headlines.

The president coming to your hometown is one thing. His arriving in a monstrous shimmering black bus is another. The U.S. Secret Service's new $1.1 million bus has been almost as big a star as the president himself has been during his backroads tour of the upper Midwest. People point at it. Kids gape at it. And just about everyone is curious about it. It has even brooked comparisons to Darth Vader's helmet. The bus--and there is another one like it that will eventually be used by the Republican presidential nominee--has been in the works for years.

The Obama administration will not release photos showing Osama bin Laden after he was killed by U.S. forces, the president has told CBS News in an interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes. " Obama said that after seeing the photos himself, and based on DNA testing, he is "absolutely certain" that Bin Laden is dead. But he said that releasing the photos could pose a national security risk. "It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool.

The White House says it's "coincidental" that President Obama's planned address to Congress next Wednesday conflicts with a debate for GOP presidential candidates. Others aren't so sure. Just moments after the administration announced the president was requesting a rare joint-session address to roll out his long-awaited jobs plan, press secretary Jay Carney was peppered with questions about what some viewed as a curious bit of counter-programming. Would the White House really schedule such a major address intentionally to overshadow the Republicans seeking Obama's job?

WASHINGTON -- The White House cast Vice President Joe Biden's comments on same-sex marriage as being in line with President Obama's views on the matter, saying the administration has not changed its position and both men are “evolving. "  “I have no update on the president's personal views,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday at a lively briefing dominated by questions about Biden's expression of support for gay marriage. “What the vice president said yesterday was to make the same point that the president has made previously, that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights.” But vice president went further than the president has in stating support for gay marriage.

  More than once, Hadiya Pendleton and President Obama walked the same streets. Last week, the high school sophomore performed as a majorette at his inauguration in Washington. On Tuesday, she was gunned down in a park  a mile from Obama's home on Chicago's South Side. By Wednesday, as word of Hadiya's death rippled around the country, an official petition cropped up asking that Obama and his family return to their hometown to attend the girl's funeral. “The president and first lady's thoughts and prayers are with the family of Hadiya Pendleton,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday.

The first test of legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling comes in the House, which plans to vote Monday evening on the plan agreed to by party leaders Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would work to take up the plan Monday as well, though that would be a challenge given traditional delaying tactics that may be employed. Passage in either chamber is far from assured. Some Republicans are objecting to the possibility of steep cuts in defense spending, while others continue to oppose any debt-ceiling increase.