Census: US population growth rising slowly

After two centuries of boom and bust, America's population growth may finally be leveling off.
In all, the U.S. population is now increasing a bit faster, thanks to an improving economy, but not enough to lift growth above its lowest level since the Great Depression.
The nation is getting older and is less likely than before to be married, with women waiting longer to have children, if at all. Immigration from other countries is on an upswing after years of sharp declines during the recession but may never return to the peak level it reached in the early 2000s.
New 2012 estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau offer the latest snapshot of the U.S. population, showing signs of revival and change in pockets of the U.S., especially in Sun Belt states hard hit during the recent recession.
"After decades of wars, a depression, immigration surges, baby booms, boomlets and busts, we are entering a new era of modest growth," said William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution who analyzed the numbers. "This is a result of our aging population, lower fertility rates and immigration levels that will probably not produce sharp population spikes."
As a whole, the U.S. population grew by 2.3 million, reaching 313.9 million people. That growth rate of 0.75 percent was higher than the 0.73 percent rate in 2011, ending five years of slowing growth rates. Nevertheless, the rate of growth remains stuck at historically low levels not seen since 1937, restrained by reduced childbirths.
Over the last year, the economy has shown improvement, with the unemployment rate declining modestly and U.S. migration edging up after hitting a record low in 2011. As a result, states including Texas, North Dakota, Colorado, Oregon and Virginia posted population growth increases as many young adults moved out from their parents' homes, seeking to test the job market in areas with thriving economies in energy or technology.
Still, the nation continues to get older, due to aging baby boomers and fewer people in their child-bearing years. Newly released census projections now show that U.S. growth may have largely peaked, barring a significant and sustained increase in new immigrants. The numbers put U.S. growth in the next year or two at just under 0.8 percent, before flattening and gradually falling to rates of about half a percent, a level unseen in more than a century.
U.S. growth reached a high in 1950 of more than 2 percent, lifted by the post-World War II baby boom.
Immigration to the U.S. was on the uptick in 2012 after falling significantly during the downturn, although it remained far from the level seen during the mid-2000 housing boom. Congress is expected to debate an overhaul of immigration law next year.
"We will now need to cope with population challenges that past growth has left us — notably, the needs of a large aging baby boom population which will require resources for its medical care, and the social and economic integration of first- and second-generation immigrants," Frey said.
The Census Bureau released state population estimates as of July 1, 2012. The data show annual changes through births, deaths, and domestic and foreign migration.
The data suggest that the impact of the recession on formerly fast-growing Sun Belt states may be waning. Nevada had more residents move into the state this year after suffering migration losses in previous years. Arizona and Florida, two other housing boom-and-bust states, also showed renewed migration gains after seeing their growth drop off sharply at the end of the last decade.
In all, 26 states grew faster this year compared to the previous year, of which 19 are in the South and West region.
"These gains remain far smaller than those each state experienced during the economic boom, but reflect considerable improvement over the situation at the depths of the recession," said Kenneth Johnson, a sociologist and senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire, referring specifically to Arizona, Nevada and Florida.
In contrast, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey saw more residents move away compared to the previous year.
North Dakota grew faster than any state in the nation, climbing by 2.2 percent from July 2011 to July of this year. The District of Columbia was next-fastest growing, followed by Texas, Wyoming and Utah.
Two states lost population: Rhode Island and Vermont.
Kimball Brace, president of Election Data Services, said if the 2010 census had been held this year, Minnesota would have lost a seat in the House of Representatives and North Carolina would have picked up one due to the shifting population figures. Based on continuing losses, Rhode Island is now on track to lose one of its two seats with just 33,000 people to spare — potentially to the gain of Oregon, which is about 59,000 people away from gaining a sixth seat.
California remained the most populous state, followed by Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.

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Woman sentenced to 1 year for export violations

A judge has sentenced a woman to one year in prison for conspiring to ship material to Pakistan for a nuclear reactor.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Thursday also ordered Xun Wang to pay a $100,000 fine and perform 500 hours of community service.
Wang, a former managing director of PPG Paints Trading Co. of Shanghai, admitted helping send three shipments of high-performance epoxy coatings from the U.S. to Pakistan through China without the required export license.
She pleaded guilty in November 2011. As part of the plea, Wang agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation.
The Justice Department says her cooperation led to this month's guilty plea by the China Nuclear Industry Huaxing (Wa-ZING) Construction Co. for conspiring to violate nuclear export restrictions on Pakistan.

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Assange addresses supporters at Ecuadorean Embassy

 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange emerged for a rare public address Thursday, praising jailed U.S. soldier Bradley Manning in an address delivered from the balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
Addressing supporters on a cold and wet English evening, the 41-year-old Australian looked fit and healthy despite half a year spent in trapped inside the small apartment he shares with Ecuador's diplomatic staff.
He gave no hint that he would end the standoff, which has seen him spend six months as a fugitive from European justice, saying he was holed up at the embassy for fear of the U.S. investigation into his activities.
"While this immoral investigation continues, and while the Australian government will not defend the journalism and publishing of WikiLeaks, I must remain here," he said.
While the U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into WikiLeaks' spectacular disclosures of U.S. secrets, Assange is currently wanted by police over allegations of sexual assault stemming from a trip to Sweden in mid-2010.
Many WikiLeaks supporters have suggested that the allegations are a ploy to extradite Assange, first to Sweden and then to the U.S. The Swedish government and Assange's alleged victims deny it, saying they are simply seeking justice.
Assange's address name-checked a series of jailed figures, including Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab and alleged Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond. But the biggest cheers came when he praised Bradley Manning, the alleged source of WikiLeaks' most earth-shaking revelations.
He said the 25-year-old "has maintained his dignity after spending more than 10 percent of his life in jail, some of that time in a cage, naked and without his glasses."
Manning, who was arrested in 2010, currently faces trial on 22 charges, including aiding the enemy. Testimony in pre-trial hearings has recently focused on the conditions under which he was detained — including times at which he was forced to strip naked and at least one incident in which he says he was made to stand at attention while nude.

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Judge allows evidence against man in GPS case

A federal judge is allowing prosecutors to use evidence in a drug conspiracy conviction that had been overturned because police used a global positioning system without a warrant.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington said in a ruling Thursday that Antoine Jones had not established that police would not have discovered the house in Fort Washington, Md., allegedly used to stash money and drugs but for the GPS. She ruled that, "to the contrary," police had identified the property as a likely "stash house" before the GPS was attached to his car.
In 2010, an appeals court reversed Jones' conviction because police used the GPS to track him. The Supreme Court affirmed, agreeing to bar police from installing GPS technology to track suspects without getting a judge's approval.

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Groups urge probe of $12 million mystery donation

Two election watchdog organizations on Thursday urged the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission to investigate more than $12 million in campaign contributions that were mysteriously funneled through two little-known companies in Tennessee to a prominent tea party group. The origin of the money, the largest anonymous political donations in a campaign year filled with them, remains a secret.
The watchdog groups said routing the $12 million through the Tennessee companies appeared to violate a U.S. law prohibiting the practice of laundering campaign contributions in the name of another person. They also said the lawyer in Tennessee who registered the companies, William S. Rose Jr. of Knoxville, may have violated three other laws by failing to organize each company as a political committee, register them as political committees and file financial statements for them with the government.
Rose did not return a telephone message, text message and email from The Associated Press and could not otherwise be reached immediately for comment. He previously told AP that his business was a "family secret" and he was not obligated to disclose the origin of the $12 million routed through Specialty Investments Group Inc. and Kingston Pike Development Corp. Business records indicate that Rose registered Kingston Pike one day after he created Specialty Group, in the final weeks before Election Day. Rose previously complained that phone calls and emails from reporters were irritating.
The watchdog organizations, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21, said a criminal investigation by the Justice Department was necessary "because the integrity of U.S. elections depends on the effective enforcement of the nation's campaign finance laws." They noted that, although the FEC traditionally enforces campaign finance laws and imposes civil fines for violations, the Justice Department can conduct criminal investigations of "knowing and willful" violations under the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act. Violations could carry up to five years in prison. The groups separately urged the FEC to investigate.
The contributions "raise serious questions about whether this was an illegal scheme to launder money into the 2012 elections and hide from the public the true identity of the sources of the money," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. He said no one should be permitted to "launder huge, secret contributions through corporate shells into federal elections."
The money went to the tea party's most prominent "super" political committee, FreedomWorks for America, which spent it on high-profile congressional races. The $12 million accounted for most of the $20 million the group raised this year. A spokeswoman for the FreedomWorks organization, Jackie Bodnar, did not return a telephone message left with her. FreedomWorks has previously declined to identify who was behind the donations to its super PAC or discuss them further.
The contributions represent a glaring example of the murkiness surrounding who is giving money to politicians in modern elections, shaped by new federal rules allowing unlimited and anonymous donations. The law has allowed wealthy executives, corporations and other organizations to establish shell companies and mail drops to disguise the source of the money they give to political groups and politicians. But the mysterious donations linked to Rose by far eclipse any suspicious money sent to support the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.
More than half the $12 million in contributions was routed through Rose's companies in the final days before the election even as the AP and Knoxville News Sentinel were jointly investigating $5.2 million in suspicious donations traced to one of the companies during October. That company, Specialty Group Inc., filed incorporation papers in September less than one week before it gave FreedomWorks several contributions worth between $125,000 and $1.5 million each. Specialty Group appeared to have no website describing its products or services. It was registered to a suburban Knoxville home.
Rose subsequently renamed the company Specialty Investments Group Inc. That firm and Kingston Pike Development Corp. — which Rose also registered and owns — were used to steer $6.8 million more in contributions to FreedomWorks. Among other amounts, FreedomWorks spent more than $1.8 million of the money on Connie Mack's unsuccessful Senate campaign in Florida and a similar amount opposing Tammy Duckworth, who was elected to Congress in Illinois.
Under U.S. law, corporations can give unlimited sums of money to outside groups supporting candidates, but not if their sole purpose is to make campaign contributions.
"These companies appear to have been created to hide the identities of one or more donors that pumped millions of dollars into a super PAC anonymously in the final weeks before an election," said the senior counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, Paul S. Ryan. He said such contributions could allow foreign governments, companies or citizens — all of whom are prohibited from donating to U.S. politicians — to launder money into American elections using similar practices.
Rose said in a statement last month that he formed Specialty Group to buy, sell, develop and invest in a variety of real estate ventures and investments. He declined interview requests from the AP over three weeks and complained in his statement that reporters had contacted his ex-wife and business colleagues. He also disputed any characterization that his company was "shadowy."
"The business of Specialty Group is my family secret, a secret that will be kept — as allowed by applicable law — for at least another 50 years," Rose said in his statement.

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Obama's pollster: Republicans have a tolerance problem

Much has been made of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s catastrophic performance last month among Latino voters – just 27 percent to President Obama’s 71 percent.
Now at 10 percent of the American electorate, Latinos are the nation’s fastest-growing minority. Suddenly, Republicans are suing for peace on comprehensive immigration reform, an issue they have long resisted out of fear it could lead to “amnesty” for those in the country illegally.
But to Joel Benenson, Mr. Obama’s campaign pollster, the GOP’s problem is bigger than Latinos and immigration.
“The Republican Party has a tolerance problem,” Mr. Benenson told reporters Wednesday at a session hosted by Third Way, a centrist Democratic group. “I think when you define people who look differently than you as illegal aliens, and use that term over and over again, and talk about self-deporting them, that’s a tolerance issue.”
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The “looking different” issue, Benenson adds, also helps explain why Asian-Americans voted for Mr. Obama over Mr. Romney by an even wider margin than Latinos, 76 percent to 23 percent. He suggests that the Obama campaign’s message on investment – in education, in building a future through hard work –also won Asian-American votes.
But the tolerance issue, he says, goes beyond race and ethnicity – it goes to issues.
“When you call people who believe in global warming ‘job-killers,’ you have a tolerance problem,” Benenson says.
“When you want to deny gay people, who want to make a lifetime commitment to each other, just as their parents did, because they want to spend a life together, and you want to deny them that life aspiration, you have a tolerance problem,” he says.
In addition, Benenson frames Republican attacks on contraception and Planned Parenthood as intolerance toward women.
A piecemeal approach to fixing the party’s demographic challenges won’t work, he suggests.
"If they think they can solve all their problems by picking off any one of those groups and saying, ‘Oh, we’ll fix our problem here or there,’ this goes to whether you have core beliefs that are in line and in touch with the vast majority of Americans,” the pollster says.
For most of the campaign, Obama led Romney by 10 percentage points on the question of whether his views and policies were in line with mainstream Americans. Only in the period immediately after the first Obama-Romney debate did the Republican nominee come close to even on that question.
The Republicans have embarked on a period of soul-searching, including a party-led task force that is reviewing the results of the 2012 election and brainstorming a path forward on how to widen the party’s appeal. And there’s no time to lose. Public acceptance of gay marriage, for example, is growing rapidly, as older Americans who are most resistant to the idea die off and younger people, who are broadly accepting, reach voting age.
Look at voters under age 40, says Benenson. “How do you redefine yourself now with what is almost half the electorate? They’re hearing a very strident, intolerant point of view on specific issues.... I mean, they have become a party of orthodoxy.”
He also points out that Romney won the white evangelical vote by the same margin as President George W. Bush in 2004 – 57 percentage points. But he lost the remaining three-quarters of the electorate by 23 points, 60 percent to 37 percent. Mr. Bush lost those voters by 13 points.

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The CW to Send People to the Woods to Die

In the case of that celebrity high-diving show, the argument could be made that at least those people are celebrities, and thus in some sense must know what they're getting themselves into, because they have managers and agents and things advising them. Right? But now something really dangerous is happening. The CW is sending regular folks into a very likely deadly situation for the delight of home viewers, and that just seems cruel. In an attempt to capitalize on The Hunger Games, which is a nonfiction series about Darfur, The CW has ordered a reality show called The Hunt, on which "12 teams of two are provided no food, water or shelter but must compete in a game where they rely on their physicality, survival skills and hunting skills to endure their conditions, capture one another and ultimately win a cash prize." Oh, great. Running around the woods, crazed from starvation and dehydration, trying to "capture" each other for money. Terrific. I mean, I guess it accurately depicts the state of things in the nation today, so there's that, but yikes. This sounds destined to go horribly, horribly awry. That said, if you want to go die in the woods for The CW, give 'em a call. I'm sure they'd love to have you. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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All right, here's some civilized TV news to wash out the taste of all that tree bark and human blood. Margo Martindale, longtime actress turned Emmy-winning Justified superstar, has been cast in a long arc on FX's upcoming Cold War thriller The Americans. That's the one with Keri Russell and some dude pretending to be normal Joe and Jane Americano in New Jersey, when they're secretly super-embedded Soviet spies. The show looks promising, and now Margo Martindale is going to be on it, which makes it a near-about must watch. She'll be playing "a KGB illegal living in the U.S. who delivers assignments." Which is intriguing! She's good when she's got a little villainy to play. Well done, Americans! Which, sigh, is likely the last time we'll be saying that today. [Deadline]
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Speaking of terrible America, HBO is planning a sequel to its award-winning movie about the 2008 presidential campaign Game Change, presumably based on the 2012 election followup to the Game Change book that's currently being written. So it's not exactly a sequel, in that it won't include a lot of the same characters, but it's a continuation of the theme and style, I guess. Like, presumably Julianne Moore won't be back playing Sarah Palin, unless there's one weird single scene of Sarah Palin wandering around Wasilla while sad music plays, looking at things and half-smiling in the cold, thin sun. Actually, can there be that scene? I'll direct the second unit if you guys don't want to go out to Alaska. As for the actual main characters, who should play Mitt Romney? Richard Jenkins maybe? If they fancied him up a bit? Could work. And, oh boy... What about Ann?? That's going to be the exciting role. Let's Mary Kay Place. And Paul Ryan... What about Paul Ryan... Oh, duh. Jason Schwartzman. Done. It's practically a wrap. Cut, print. [Vulture]
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Normally we don't cover music in this here column, because what is music these days, really, but this feels like worth noting: Bruno Mars currently has the number-one single in America, that annoying "Locked Out of Heaven" ditty, which is his fourth number-one song. That gives him "the fastest collection of a male artist's first four No. 1s in exactly 48 years." Forty-eight years! Meaning, longer than Paul Ryan has been alive. Sure that's kind of a weird, busy statistic, like best opening for a non-holiday R-rated comedy in the end of March, but still. Bruno Mars, setting big records. I didn't know that many people even knew who Bruno Mars was! Apparently they do, though. Apparently you've all been listening to Bruno Mars while over here the old Annie Lennox CD plays again and again and no one says a thing. Thanks a lot, guys. Leaving a friend out in the cold like that. What else aren't you telling me? Is Jennifer Paige still making music? Well? Is she?? [Billboard]
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This is the time of year for lists — best things, worst things, great things, sad things — but only one list truly matters. We didn't even know it mattered until we saw it, but then, suddenly, there it was, a new knowledge, a new list at the top of the Best List list. It's "Best and Worst Nudity of 2012," and it must be savored and cherished. If only for the bizarre phrase "Worst Nudity." Yikes. How would you like to wind up in the "Worst Nudity" category? You basically got naked for nothing. And not only did your nakedness serve no purpose, it was some of the worst nakedness of the whole year. It took away from the world, your nakedness. You were really bad at being naked this year. Just really terrible. So you get Worst Nudity, while some others get Best. Your nudity was bad, theirs was good. That's just how the world worked this year. Awful nudity, you. You were really, really bad at being naked this year. [Entertainment Weekly]
RELATED: At Long Last, CW Shows Whenever You Want Them
CBS has released a new trailer for its midseason drama Golden Boy and it looks kinda good? The show is about a young New York cop who rises to the ranks of police commissioner remarkably quickly, possibly through dirty/morally questionable means. It looks to be set in the future with flashbacks to the past/our present, which is sometimes interesting. It stars this guy, which ain't a problem, and I dunno, for normally squishy CBS it looks like it could be a little sharp. We'll give it a look. Which, ha, is exactly the point of this tease, so well done, tease people. You've done your jobs admirably. You may go home now.

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Taxman to Middle Class: ‘Bend Over'

President Barack Obama in 2008, and again during the 2012 election, promised absolutely, positively no tax hikes on the middle class. The rich, however, must pay more: "It's not me being stubborn, it's not me being partisan — it's just a matter of math."
How does Obama intend to pay for our cradle-to-grave welfare state? Why, by charging the dastardly "millionaires and billionaires" who "can afford to pay a little bit more." No more extending the Bush-era tax rates for the rich. To do so, Obama tells us, would "cost" $700 billion — over 10 years. So this "break" for the rich "costs" $70 billion a year — or a mere 6 percent of the trillion dollar annual deficits that Obama has rung up since he became president.
This leaves us short about $930 billion per year — just for the annual deficit, never mind paring down the ever-growing national debt. From where is the shortfall to be made up?
Lots of deluded Obama voters no doubt truly believe "the mess we're in" is due to "two unpaid for wars and irresponsible tax cuts for the rich." End the wars and slap the rich with Clinton-era tax rates, and voila, watch the deficit and debt go poof! But with Obama safely re-elected, some Democrats now speak the truth: The middle class, contrary to Obama's promise, will see substantial tax increases in order to pay for the welfare state the voters once again signed on to by re-electing Obama.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, appearing on MSNBC, said: "The only problem is — and this is, a little, initially going to seem like heresy from a progressive — the truth is everybody needs to pay more taxes, not just the rich. That's a good start. But we're not going to get out of this deficit problem unless we raise taxes across the board — to go back to what Bill Clinton had and his taxes. And if we don't do that, the problem is the pressure is going to be on spending even more."
Obama, however, still insists that any budget deal include tax rate hikes on the top 2 percent — a violation of the anti-tax-increase pledge most Capital Hill Republicans signed. He's winning the argument. Several Republicans now repudiate the pledge.
The "controversial" pledge states that the signer promises to his/her constituents and the American people to: "ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates."
But with post-election polls showing that Americans support raising taxes on the rich, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, now places "revenue on the table" — meaning the GOP accepts the election returns as a referendum for a "balanced approach" to dealing with our deficits and debt. By "revenue," Boehner means closing "loopholes" and "capping deductions" used by "the rich" to pay less in taxes. And more recently, fiscal conservative Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., now says he would accept a hike in tax rates, provided the Democrats present a plan to reform entitlements.
Polls show that if Congress and the President fail to come to a deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," Republicans will be blamed. And as the Democrats pin blame, expect their friends in the media to assist with joy and enthusiasm.
The Media Research Center tells us that ABC, NBC and CBS have a distorted view of the term "balance." After the election, those networks spent way more time on the issue of tax hikes than on the issue of spending cuts. ABC, says MRC, was the worst: "In the three weeks following President Obama's re-election, 'World News' devoted more than 10 minutes, 18 seconds to talk of tax hikes and just 35 seconds to spending cuts (a 17-to-1 margin)." So much for the balanced approach.
But the problem remains how to get rich people to pay for all the things voters want: insurance companies that are forbidden from turning away people with pre-existing illnesses; federal disaster relief; the placing of millions of uninsured on Medicaid; "world-class education"; "investments" in "green jobs of the future"; regulations to combat "climate change"; extending unemployment benefits again; etc.
In 1900, government spending at all three levels — local, state and federal — amounted to about 10 percent of national income. Government spending today amounts to 40 percent — or 50 percent, if one places a dollar value on the unfunded mandates imposed on states and businesses by Washington. The voters re-elected a President who increased the national debt faster and by a greater amount than any previous administration. And there are simply not enough rich folks to pay for it.
Obama, on Nov. 6, won the political argument to continue to expand government. But the election did nothing to change "the math." Memo to the middle class: Get ready, you're next.

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Kerry Nomination Could Create Musical Chairs in the Senate

News that Amb. Susan Rice withdrew her name from consideration for Secretary of State may have brightened the days of both senators from Massachusetts.
Prior to Rice's withdrawal, she was considered one of the top two contenders for the job- the other is Sen. John Kerry, and with Rice out of the running, Kerry is "all but certain" to get the nomination, according to ABC's Jake Tapper. That means a vacant seat and a special election, which could benefit out-going Sen. Scott Brown, who lost his bid for reelection to Elizabeth Warren in November.
Brown is widely expected to seek out his old job and he would be viewed as a strong contender, particularly in a special election to fill Kerry's vacancy. Republicans have a tendency to perform better in special elections, which draw many fewer voters.
But it would be at least six months - assuming that Kerry is indeed nominated as Secretary of State and assuming that Brown wins a special election - before he could re-join the Senate.
Massachusetts law dictates that a special election cannot take place sooner than 145 days from the time an out-going Congress member's resignation is effective, meaning that at least 145 days must pass between the date that member actually leaves their job and the date that the special occurs. At this juncture in time, even if Kerry is nominated tomorrow and has an incredibly quick confirmation at the beginning of the next Congress, the earliest conceivable date to reach this mark is in June, 2013.
INFOGRAPHIC: 2013 Cabinet Outlook
The special cannot occur more than 160 days from the time that the resignation is effective.
Brown's victory in a special election would not be a sure thing. Although he leaves office with high approval ratings- exit polls from the 2012 election showed him with a favor-ability rating of 60 percent- but Massachusetts is a solidly Democratic state, and there are many Democrats in elected office in the state who could challenge Brown.
In an odd twist of political gamesmanship, the law requiring a special election instead of an appointment from the Governor in the event of a vacant seat was passed by Democrats passed in Massachusetts in 2004 in case Kerry resigned if he won the presidency. He did not. But Democrats at the time were trying to take the appointment power away from the sitting Republican governor- Mitt Romney.

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Obama Ready for 'Meaningful Action' on Gun Control

Following the deadly school shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, President Obama may now be poised to push for new gun control measures after keeping relatively quiet about the issue during his first term.
In an emotional statement from the White House on Friday, Obama said the violent massacre -- the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history -- instilled "overwhelming grief" and heartache, and that the country has "endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years."
"We have been through this too many times, whether it's an elementary school in Newtown or a shopping mall in Oregon or a temple in Wisconsin or a movie theater in Aurora or a street corner in Chicago," he said of the other mass shootings in the past year alone.
"These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children," Obama said. "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."
The statement is a subtle but marked shift for Obama, who has not made gun control a priority during his presidency in spite of at least five major mass shootings that have occurred on his watch -- Binghamton, N.Y. (2009); Fort Hood, Texas (2009); Tucson, Ariz. (2011); Aurora, Colo. (2012); and Oak Creek, Wisc. (2012).
The White House has said that Obama cannot act alone and that there is little appetite in Congress to enact new gun laws. Obama had also been seen as loathe to revive a public gun debate ahead of the 2012 election campaign.
But with the latest tragedy, the tide may be turning.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, public figures and activists wasted little time Friday amping up pressure on the administration, including a hastily organized protest outside the White House gates.
"The country needs [Obama] to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement after the Newtown attack.
"Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough. We need immediate action," he said. "We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress."
Former Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in Tucson last year, called on lawmakers and the president to "stand up and do what is right."
"This time our response must consist of more than regret, sorrow, and condolence," he said in a statement on Facebook. "This can no longer wait."
Obama signaled in October during the second presidential debate that he is ready to take new action on gun control, including reintroduction of an assault weapons ban.
A 10-year federal ban on the sale of some semi-automatic weapons -- dubbed "assault" weapons -- expired in 2004 and has not been renewed despite several attempts. Obama in 2008 said he would push for renewal in his first term, but that effort never materialized.
"Weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets," Obama said in Hempstead, N.Y., on Oct. 16. "So what I'm trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced, but part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence."
The president has not mentioned gun control in any of his State of the Union addresses, including the 2011 address just days after the Tucson shooting. Meanwhile, his administration has expanded gun rights in some areas, allowing possession in national parks and on Amtrak. He has also backed off a 2008 campaign pledge to push for permanent reinstatement of the expired assault weapons ban.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit advcoacy group, in 2010 awarded Obama an "F" on gun control, citing "extraordinary silence and passivity."
In his few public statements on guns, Obama has sought to balance support for Second Amendment rights while emphasizing enforcement of existing laws and a national background check system rather than new controls.
"I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. And we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation," Obama told the National Urban League in July.
"But I believe the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons; that we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller; that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily," he said.
He made no mention of new legislation or initiatives to boost enforcement of existing laws, saying only that communities and government officials needed to "convene conversations" and build consensus.
"Steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time -- particularly when it touches on the issues of guns," he said.
President Obama has been widely praised for his empathetic response in the immediate aftermath of the shootings that have occurred on his watch, assuming the role of "consoler-in-chief," as have his predecessors.
But gun control advocates have been frustrated with his continued reluctance to publicly advocate for any legislative measures, including a ban on assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition magazines, to help prevent future tragedies.
"How many more Columbines and Newtowns must we live through?" said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a leading gun control advocate in Congress. "I am challenging President Obama, the Congress, and the American public to act on our outrage and, finally, do something about this."
The Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting in July 2012 was the largest mass shooting in U.S. history with 71 people hit by bullets; 12 were killed. The Newtown, Conn., shooting today is the second deadliest in U.S. history, with more than 28 dead.
A shooting at Virginia Tech in April 2007 was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history with 33 shot and killed, including the shooter.

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