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Lost in the chatter about whether President Obama will win a second term in November is an even bigger — and perhaps even more important — question: Is it possible for a president — any president — to succeed in the modern world of politics?

IN HIS BRAND-NEW biography “Barack Obama: The Story,” The Post’s David Maraniss deftly hops along the personal islands of the president’s formative years, from his days with laid-back Hawaiian classmates to his long insular hours in New York, and his soul-searching from Occidental to Illinois, and his looking backward to Kenya and Kansas. It is a sweeping multigenerational journey.

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski welcomed a letter from Barack Obama on Friday in which the U.S. leader expressed regret for upsetting Poles earlier this week by referring to a "Polish death camp".

In the intro to his new book, The Amateur, serious author Edward Klein promises to reveal the "dark side" of President Obama, the one his "advisers have gone to elaborate lengths to hide" from the American public. "[B]ased on my reporting, I concluded that Obama is actually in revolt against the values of the society he was elected to lead," Klein writes. It's a bold claim, to say the least, and we were skeptical. But after reading all 258 pages, we can confirm that Klein has the evidence to back it up.

Francois Hollande, the Socialist "Mr Normal" who will be sworn in as French president next week, says he is worth almost 1.2 million euros ($1.5 million), considerably less than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

President Barack Obama's announcement that he now supports same-sex marriage came sooner than planned as a result of comments made by Vice President Joe Biden, he said in an interview broadcast Thursday.

Vladimir Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade, returns to the presidency Monday after winning a controversial election in March.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suffered a major setback after his supporters fared badly in Iranian parliamentary elections.

A biography on Barack Obama that comes out next month includes journal entries from a former girlfriend at Columbia University.

President Barack Obama marked the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death with a speedy trip to Afghanistan, signing a strategic pact with Kabul on Wednesday and delivering an election-year message to Americans that the war is winding down.