Still, apart from an occasional speech to black colleges, he has largely avoided addressing racial issues during his term of office — a stance that some critics in the black community have described as politically craven, but which may also be politically astute.
The clearest statement from the DOJ came from Deputy Attorney General James Cole, who said his office's stance on the issue would be "the same as it's always been".
The gains have been made despite disapproval by a majority of its residents of President Bush's performance in office and his stance on the war in Iraq, health care, the economy and gay marriage.
The Home Office reiterated its stance and said drugs were illegal because they were dangerous.
"Part of the reason our office takes the stance we do is because we communicate with [students] after they go out in the field, so we have heard back from engineers who have gone into those fields," he continued.
The sitting president, Lee Myung-bak, has defined his term in office with a hawkish stance towards the North.
In a letter to Daniel Kinley, the commission's executive director, the comptroller's office took a similar stance.
Stoke submitted a bid that Dynamo found acceptable, but the league office took a firm stance and rejected the initial offers.
Given the stakes, analysts have been speculating for weeks about how Mr. Lee, who came to office promising a tougher stance against the North, would respond to the warship's sinking.
Before the forum began, the executive director of the group, Allie Feldman, asked audience members to take out their cellphones and call her office to protest her stance on the carriage industry.
