Discussing better than expected economic numbers this morning, President Barack Obama also talked up his “cash for clunkers” program.
** UPDATE: CALIFORNIA 2010 FUNDRAISING. The fundraising numbers for the first half of 2009 are becoming available now after 5 PM. A few quick takes … GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman has, somehow, spent about $6 million already. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom reports $1.2 million cash on hand. But he has over $300,000 in accrued debts, meaning he has only $900,000 available to spend. That’s less than one-eighth what frontrunner Jerry Brown, who has paid all his bills, has to spend …
** QUICK HITS. In another sign of nascent economic recovery, the Dow Jones finished up again today, making this July the biggest gaining July in the US stock market in 20 years. … Sarah Palin, touted as the most popular governor in America when she was the surprise pick last year for the national Republic ticket, quit her office this month little more than halfway through her only term in office with her Alaska constituents having a far more mixed view of her.According to a Hays Research poll taken Wednesday and Thursday, Palin has a 47% positive rating in Alaska while 48% give her a negative rating. … Not much happened in California politics today. Mainly waiting on the potential gubernatorial campaign rivals to former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown to follow his lead of yesterday and release their fundraising results for the first half of 2009.
The world’s largest economy contracted 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the last three months of 2008, compared with the 0.8 percent drop previously on the books, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. …
Consumer spending, not surprisingly, also fell farther than previously revealed.
Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, decreased 1.8 percent in last year’s fourth quarter from the same period in 2007, exceeding the prior estimate of a 1.5 percent drop. Purchases also began sinking sooner than previously projected, registering their first decline at the start of 2008 rather than in the second half. …
Residential construction fell 21 percent during the period, almost 2 percentage points more than previously reported, aggravating what was already the worst slump since the Great Depression.
The mouthpieces of the far right spent most of the election denying that America was in recession at all. But the truth is that the recession began in December 2007. Now that Barack Obama is in the White House, they talk up the country’s economic woes incessantly.
And as perception, like employment, almost always lags recovery, they are scoring some points. But those political gains will be relatively short-lived.
** PALIN CANCELS CALIFORNIA TRIP TO REAGAN LIBRARY. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was slated to appear at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley on August 8th for the 50th anniversary of the Republican Women Federated Clubs. Her office had previously closed the event to press. Now she’s not coming at all, in another of those scheduling mishaps that seem to plague her. You’ll recall the on-again/off-again saga of her appearance at the big Republican national congressional fundraising dinner in Washington.
** THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE FANTASY LIVES: WHY REPUBLICANS NURTURE THE OBAMA “BIRTHER” NONSENSE. Because most of their voters may believe it.
A new Research 2000 poll for the Daily Kos shows the breadth of the belief in the cockeyed notion that Barack Obama was not born in America. It’s concentrated in the Republican Party, amongst conservatives and older voters, and in the South.
Perhaps racism isn’t dead after all, and irrationality is loose in the Republican mainstream.
58% of Republicans believe that Obama isn’t really an American or say they’re not sure if he really is. 28% of Republicans say that the president is not an American, while 30% say they aren’t sure if he is. Only 42% of Republicans say they believe that the president of the United States is an American.
With respect to all Americans, 77% believe that Obama is an American, 11% say he is not, and 12% aren’t sure.
The breakdowns of Democrats and independents more than makes up for the dodgy Republican view. 93% of Democats and 83% of independents believe that Obama was born in the US, with only 4% and 8% believing he was not.
The regional breakdown is fascinating. 93% in the Northeast, 90% in the Midwest (which Obama represented in the Senate), and 87% in the West believe that Obama is really an American. But only 47% in the South say they believe what has repeatedly been shown to be the case.
As that poor, benighted white woman sputtered to John McCain at an October town hall: “He’s … an Arab!”
If Obama were not black, with a “foreign”-sounding name, this dangerously irrational notion would not be so pernicious and insistent.
President Barack Obama met yesterday with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She is making progress against an Islamic jihadist insurgency on Mindanao and elsewhere.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama has lunch with business leaders in the Private Dining Room of the White House. Their names have not been disclosed.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the economy in the Diplomatic Reception Room.
At 12:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 3:10 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden Obama and Biden arrive at Blair House, across the street from the White House.
At 3:15 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden host a meeting with members of the Cabinet at Blair House.
At 7 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden return to the White House.
The Obama Cabinet is holding a two-day retreat, today and Saturday, at Blair House. The 22 Cabinet-rank officials are meeting to assess how things are going and discuss how to work together across disciplines.
Obama’s remarks on the economy come with strong sign that the recession is being arrested. America’s gross domestic product for the last quarter declined only 1%, significantly less than had been expected.
The GDP declined 6.4% in the first quarter, the biggest drop in 30 years.
Obama is also closely following the progress of health care legislation in both houses of Congress. A major bill will be voted out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee by day’s end. Details are still emerging about the shape of an emerging compromise in the Senate Finance Committee.
Civilian deaths in Afghanistan are up 24% this year, according to the UN. Most are due to the Taliban, but too many are due to US air strikes against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, an issue in the Afghan election.
Obama is also monitoring several geopolitical crises.
In Afghanistan, the central Taliban leadership is trying to overrule a truce struck in a northern province of the country between Taliban fighters and the Afghan government and has declared that all negotiations are to be conducted by them. The British have declared their part of the offensive against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan a completed success.
Campaigning is underway for Afghanistan’s August 20th election. President Hamid Karzai, who faces two challengers, remains a strong favorite. Taliban forces are stepping up attempts to disrupt the election.
According to the UN, some 1,013 Afghan civilians died in the first half of this year, compared to 818 during the same period in 2008 and 684 in 2007.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce the signing of the California National Guard Education Assistance Program. It will help about one thousand National Guard members pay for colleges and universities with grants to cover most fees for attending qualifying institutions.
Schwarzenegger makes the announcement with remarks at the Parade Field of the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.
** IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?Is President Barack Obama getting overexposed? As talented a communicator as he is, it seems he’s in danger of just that.
In part because he is such a talented speaker. He’s the big gun that Team Obama keeps firing when it’s in harm’s way. Which it almost always is, having inherited the biggest economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression, a growing environmental crisis, and geopolitical crises around the globe. Not to mention a hyper-partisan political environment and a semi-functional media culture.
The question takes on some urgency for Obama with his “hurry up offense” coming up short on universal health care.
With Obama having dipped in the polls, though still very healthy in the mid-50s in job approval despite multiple crises, it’s a good moment to rethink one’s drink, so to speak.
There’s no question that, in this fragmented media culture marked by an acute attention deficit disorder, Obama is the prime driver of news. But that doesn’t mean he has to do it himself. …
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my July 21st essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
The great “beer summit” at the White House has just taken place, as you can see here.
** QUICK HITS.The great beer summit at the White House has just taken place. According to the pool reporter, who couldn’t hear anything that was said, Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates drank Sam Adams Light (a switch from the reported Red Stripe, Jamaica’s finest), Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley had Blue Moon, President Barack Obama drank Bud Light, and surprise participant Vice President Joe Biden went with Bucklers. While the “beer summit” took place, the Gates and Crowley families toured the White House. … The House Energy & Commerce Committee, under LA Congressman Henry Waxman, is on course to vote out a major health reform bill before the August Congressional recess. We don’t know yet if the Senate Finance Committee, angling for a bipartisan approach, will be there, too. …
** JERRY BROWN HAS $7.4 MILLION IN HIS CAMPAIGN WARCHEST AS OF JUNE 30TH. Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today that he has $7.4 million in the bank for a future campaign. And that he has raised over $8 million since beginning fundraising around the middle of last year, including $3.5 million from January through June of this year.
Brown has not announced a campaign for governor in 2010, but the two-time Democratic presidential runner-up is widely expected to make the race. As a result, however, he has much tighter limits on the size of contributions he can currently raise than do the other potential contenders, Republicans Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner, and Tom Campbell and Democrat Gavin Newsom. Brown can now only raise about a quarter as much as his rivals per contribution.
Assuming that he does run, Brown can then go back to contributors now maxed out at the attorney general level and raise still more money from them.
Brown spent only $170,000 during the first six months of 2008, during which time all but one of his potential rivals for the Democratic nomination dropped out. In a droll nod to his yet undeclared status, Brown said: “With nearly $7.4 million as of last month and a spending rate of only five percent, this campaign is exercising the fiscal discipline desperately needed in government today.”
President Barack Obama’s ratings have gone down among white working class voters following his comments at last week’s prime time press conference about the police incident around Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates on July 16th. The controversy has been an enormous distraction for Obama.
** PEW RESEARCH: OBAMA DOWN FROM 60S TO MID-50S IN JOB APPROVAL.Pew Research is tracking other reputable polls, showing President Barack Obama’s job approval rating down from 61% a month and a half ago to 54% now. There are concerns about his health care plan and its cost, as well as confusion about what it would entail. There’s ongoing fear about the economy, though there are now multiple signs of improvement. (Employment is always a lagging indicator in recovery, as is public opinion.) There are the same contradictory views of government as we see in California: Voters worry about spending too much, don’t want more taxes, and don’t want any diminution in public services. And there is the controversy around the brief arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates.
Obama’s comments on the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. appear to have played some role in his ratings decline. News about the arrest of the prominent African American Harvard professor at his Cambridge home was widely followed by the public and 79% are aware of Obama’s comments on the incident. Analysis of the poll data found that the president’s approval ratings fell among non-Hispanic whites over the course of the interviewing period as the focus of the Gates story shifted from details about the incident to Obama’s remarks about the incident1. Interviews Wednesday and Thursday of last week found 53% of whites approving of Obama’s job performance. This slipped to 46% among whites interviewed Friday through Sunday as the Gates story played out across the nation.
Consistent with this trend, a small re-contact survey conducted Monday night finds a mostly negative reaction, particularly among whites, to Obama’s comments on the controversy, even though the public is closely divided over who was at fault in the original dispute. Based on what people have heard about the incident in Cambridge, 27% of blame Gates, 25% fault the police officer, 13% volunteer both or neither, and 36% offer no opinion. However, more people disapprove (41%) than approve (29%) of the president’s handling of the situation. And by a margin of about two-to-one, more whites disapprove (45%) than approve (22%).
This is why it’s important for Obama not to get overexposed, and to avoid doing prime time press conferences when he has no news to report. The fatigued president committed a relatively minor gaffe, and in this media culture, it was consumptive.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … WHEN SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE ADVOCATES TRY TO REVERSE CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 8?
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 12 PM Pacific, Obama meets with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines in the Oval Office.
The Philippines, a longtime American ally and former colony, are dealing with a persistent Islamic jihadist insurgency.
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the Oval Office. They will then have beers on the South Lawn.
This is all due to Obama’s inartful wading into the controversy around the brief arrest of Gates after he returned home from a trip and had difficulty getting in his front door.
Obama intends to turn his gaffe, and the incident itself, into a “teachable moment” about persistent racial flash points in the culture.
Gates will drink Red Stripe, Crowley will drink Blue Moon, and Obama will have a Bud Light. NO “tastes great, less filling” jokes, please.
Obama is closely following the progress of health care legislation in both houses of Congress. A major bill is expected to be voted out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee by week’s end. Details are still emerging about the shape of an emerging compromise in the Senate Finance Committee.
Obama is also monitoring several geopolitical crises.
In Afghanistan, the central Taliban leadership is trying to overrule a truce struck in a northern province of the country between Taliban fighters and the Afghan government and has declared that all negotiations are to be conducted by them. The British have declared their part of the offensive against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan a completed success.
In Pakistan, a third of the more than two million refugees caused by the Pakistani Army offensive against the Taliban, urged by Obama, have returned home. Several refugee camps have been closed.
In Israel, after pressure from the Obama Administration, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has ordered a halt to construction of hundreds of new housing units being built for settlers in the disputed West Bank.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared victory at the Beverly Hilton in November 2006 following his second landslide election as governor in this NWN video.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
Today is his birthday. He is 62.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my July 21st essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
Saying his economic policies have helped prevent a depression, President Barack Obama retooled his health care message today at a town hall in North Carolina.
** NEW CALIFORNIA POLL OFF EMBARGO, SHOWS CAUTION ON ENVIRONMENT DURING RECESSION. The latest Public Policy Institute of California poll came off embargo at 10 PM tonight. It shows that California voters, while still strongly pro-environmental protection, are more cautious in the depths of economic recession. While big majorities favor state policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions (66% now, compared to 73% a year ago, with the decline due to Republicans), Californians are split on whether to take action during the recession. Of course, little action will be taken during the recession, not that poll respondents were told that.
What is extremely popular is new regulations tightening vehicle fuel efficiency, which is at the heart of climate change action. 75% favor more public transit and more efficient use of existing transportation infrastructure, while less than 20% want more freeways.
Californians also, by a narrow majority, favor some expansion of offshore oil drilling. They remain split on new nuclear power plants.
Job approval ratings for politicians are down. President Barack Obama remains extremely popular in California, with a 65% job approval rating. But that’s down seven points since May.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job approval rating is just 29% with likely voters, while the state Legislature is at 17%. But the poll, which is focused on environmental issues, was taken in a leisurely fashion over a two-week period from July 7th to July 21st. This is the period in which Schwarzenegger was struggling to get the Legislature to pass a new state budget.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … WHEN SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE ADVOCATES TRY TO REVERSE CALIFORNIA’S PROPOSITION 8?
** QUICK HITS.Health care reform gained renewed traction this afternoon when word came from the US Senate Finance Committee that a draft plan is about to emerge from it and that it will be fully funded for the next decade. The so-called “public option” may give way to a “co-op option.” This comes after a deal was reached for a key House committee vote on Friday, as reported below. Congress then goes on August recess, with full votes in September. … But while legislation is moving for him again, President Barack Obama has some bad news in several polls that came out late today. Voter views of his health care plan have turned decidedly mixed, though when the particulars of his plan are tested, it’s popular. … There’s also major unease at the level of spending in Obama’s budget. It’s not unlike the situation in California, where most voters want continued levels of service but less government spending. … Obama is by far the most popular politician in the country, and his job approval is still in the low to mid-50s. … Sarah Palin, on contrast, is notably unpopular, with two-thirds saying she should never be president. Other leading Republican presidential hopefuls lack popularity, as well. … Meanwhile, in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a special legislative session for September to consider recommendations by a special commission on the state’s tax structure. The commission has delayed its report till then. … And some Democratic legislators are challenging Schwarzenegger’s line-item vetoes yesterday, occasioned by his receiving an underwater budget from the Legislature, on the grounds that they inserted special language to classify social spending as simply a continuation of an already enacted budget. But since the budget had to be redone, for more than two months since the failure of the May 19th special election initiatives, there would be no budget, and hence no appropriations, in the absence of action.
Legislation has already been passed by the House Ways & Means and Education & Labor Committees.
The deal calls for exempting more small businesses from a requirement to offer coverage, trimming subsidies to help people buy health insurance, and making any government-sponsored insurance plan negotiate payment rates with medical providers — instead of dictating them. …
Details include:
_Exempting businesses with payrolls of $500,000 or below from a requirement to provide insurance to employees or pay a penalty. The existing bill had set the level at $250,000. The penalty would hit businesses with payrolls between $500,000 and $750,000 on a sliding scale before kicking in fully at 8 percent of payroll.
_Poor people would get subsidies to help them buy care after spending 12 percent of their income on premiums, instead of 11 percent in the existing bill.
_Payment rates to doctors and other medical providers would be negotiated with the secretary of Health and Human Services, instead of tied to Medicare rates as the bill now says. The Blue Dogs contend that change will lead to fairer payment rates.
_In addition to the public plan, states will have the option of setting up health care co-ops. Details on that were still being worked out.
_Instead of the federal government picking up the full cost of an expansion of Medicaid, states would pick up part of the costs.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: WITH CITY HALL AND POLITICAL OPERATIONS WRACKED BY DEPARTURES, WHAT’S WITH TUMULTUOUS “TEAM” NEWSOM? It’s been a tumultuous week for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. On Monday, his longtime campaign manager Eric Jaye left his longshot campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. So did his campaign finance director, Paige Barry Arata.
Meanwhile, back on the governmental side, on Tuesday Newsom lost San Francisco City Budget Director Nani Coloretti and his chief environmental advisor, City Climate Change Director Wade Crowfoot.
Former campaign manager Jaye, who nurtured Newsom through both mayoral runs and the decision to declare gay marriage legal in the City by the Bay, is pursuing his other private political consulting concerns. Former campaign finance director Arata is returning to a City hall job.
Former city budget director Coloretti is taking a job as an assistant to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. And former city environmental chief Crowfoot gets a newly created position as West Coast political director for the Environmental Defense Fund.
This much high-level turnover in a very short period of time is highly unusual. What’s up with all the turmoil in “Team” Newsom?
If a TV series were made about Newsom, it might be called Entourage. He frequently rolls with a big group of people, almost all guys. There are many agendas.
For months, I’ve been hearing about intense infighting in the Newsom circle as the young mayor has tried to move out from what he frequently calls “47 square miles surrounded by reality” — a line he never attributes to its author, Jefferson Airplane singer Paul Kantner — to run for governor against frontrunner Jerry Brown, whose family is in many ways responsible for Newsom’s own prominence. It is a big step to take, and a tough row to hoe for a politician whose only real contested race was against a Green who subsequently dropped out of politics. And in that race in 2003, Newsom had to be bailed out by national Democrats, otherwise the Greens would have embarrassed the party by winning the mayoralty of a large city.
Gang Gavin has had a lot of different ideas about how to go about all this. Tensions were exacerbated by the presence of an outsider, veteran Democratic strategist Garry South, who I’ve known well since he moved to California and emerged in the state’s politics in the early ’90s. Much more vulnerable than he seems with his bluff exterior, South is a smart guy who has trouble stopping talking. His lengthy monologues tended to grate. But he has more experience and knowledge than Newsom or the rest of the entourage, so his views increasingly held sway.
This is beginning to get into what will, I suppose, be a longer piece at some point or another, so suffice for now to say that South’s arguments outlasted Jaye’s. South has focused on essentially sophomoric attacks against Brown — he’s too old and out of it! — while Jaye wanted a more Obama-like campaign focusing on Newsom’s personality and use of social media. Which has been totally overblown, as I’ll explain at some point. Incidentally, none of these people were actually for Obama in the primaries, and Newsom was a national co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Nothing has really been working for Newsom in his governor’s race, and some around him see that his quest is quixotic. So Jaye left and South, who is getting paid more by Newsom at this point in the race than super-rich Steve Westly was paying him in his unsuccessful Democratic primary run for governor in 2006, remained. Newsom is far behind on fundraising, with only as much money as it takes to run for a lesser statewide office, so why not get a new finance director?
The turmoil in Newsom’s City Hall is intriguing. Newsom has been touting his mastery of the city’s budget, but the fact is that San Francisco has serious ongoing budget problems, even after big budget cuts. And he hasn’t been around much, so being his budget director is a difficult position.
The departure of his city environmental chief came with most of the policies Newsom is touting in place, to the extent they will be in place. What’s left is an uphill primary race against Brown, who is much more famous than Newsom for his championing of the environment.
With all this internal turmoil surfacing, South employed his trademark attempt at distraction, placing a story with his old friend Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle about Brown having raised $10 million for his “charities.” Which are actually two charter schools in Oakland for low-income kids. The money, from big companies and foundations, goes directly to the schools, with the only overhead being a small fraction in the raising of the funds themselves. Unmentioned in the article is that Brown himself is the largest contributor, with a million dollars coming from his family foundation.
If Brown gave favors to the companies and foundations in exchange for the donations to the schools — which are hurting for funds in this environment — that would be a problem for him. But there’s no allegation of that.
In any event, South’s messaging is incoherent. Either Brown is a doddering relic, or he’s not. Showing him to be one of the biggest charitable fundraisers for education in the state is more than a bit of a backfire.
President Barack Obama held a “tele-town hall” on health care reform yesterday at AARP headquarters in Washington. Today he holds health care reform town halls in North Carolina and Virginia.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is on the road today. He holds town halls on health care reform in North Carolina and Virginia, two heretofore red states he captured last November.
Obama received his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office, then departed for Andrews Air Force Base where he boarded Air Force One and flew to Raleigh, North Carolina.
At 8:15 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
At 8:55 AM Pacific, Obama holds a town hall on health care reform at Broughton High School.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama departs Raleigh, North Carolina en route on Air Force One to Bristol, Virginia.
At 12:40 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Bristol, Virginia.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, he holds a town hall on health care reform with Kroger Supermarket employees in Bristol, Virginia.
At 3 PM Pacific, he departs Bristol, Virginia en route to Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One.
At 4:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he gets on Marine One.
At 4:25 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
The two-day US/China Strategic & Economic Dialogue between high-level US and Chinese officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner on the American side and Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councillor Dai Bingguo on the Chinese side wrapped up late yesterday.
This first of the US-China Dialogues turned into a table-setting and air-clearing exercise.
Nothing new was decided. China expressed disquiet with US budget deficits. America suggested that China can’t rely on US consumers to buoy the Chinese economy with purchases, as the revived US economy is expected to shift some from consumption to saving.
The US and China are by far the two leading economies in the world and share a symbiotic relationship. America is China’s biggest market and China is America’s biggest creditor.
California’s health care programs were especially hard hit by the meltdown of the state budget.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He is in Los Angeles, where he will hold private meetings and discussions.
Schwarzenegger will also do a TV interview with Fox News, as he did with MSNBC last Friday in the Capitol.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my July 21st essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
William Shatner does Sarah Palin’s resignation speech as beat poetry on TheTonight Show.
** QUICK HITS. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, dealing with California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis, presented with an underwater budget package by the state Assembly, cut over half a billion more using his line item veto. This hit hard at welfare and AIDS programs. The state now has a minuscule $500 million reserve. Some Democratic legislators, who offered no alternatives aside from ideas that won’t pass, talked of challenging the vetoes but the Legislature went into recess last Friday. … San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is trying to run against frontrunner Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination for governor and yesterday lost his longtime campaign manager, also yesterday lost his campaign finance director, who is returning to the city payroll. Today he lost his city budget director — speaking of which, Newsom has serious budget problems in San Francisco — and his chief environmental advisor, also on the city payroll, whose job was to come up with splashy green ideas. … The high-level US/China Strategic & Economic Dialogue wrapped up in Washington with no new decisions. I’ll have more tomorrow on this first of a new series of twice annual meetings. … The US and UK are moving to engage elements of the Taliban in negotiations on Afghanistan. This move comes on the heels of a truce in one Afghan province announced yesterday.
“Birther” conspiracy theorists, who’ve unaccountably been getting a lot of attention on cable TV news, like to claim that it’s all fabrication after the fact. But the notice of birth ran in the Honolulu Advertiser and another paper nine days after. Which leads to a fallback far right position, that Obama’s relatives falsely phoned in the birth. Actually, as the article points out, the hospital issued birth notices to Hawaiian newspapers. Which leaves the birther crowd with a massive conspiracy involving a hospital, major newspapers, and the State of Hawaii, all launched in 1961 to propel Obama to the presidency.
** IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?Is President Barack Obama getting overexposed? As talented a communicator as he is, it seems he’s in danger of just that.
In part because he is such a talented speaker. He’s the big gun that Team Obama keeps firing when it’s in harm’s way. Which it almost always is, having inherited the biggest economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression, a growing environmental crisis, and geopolitical crises around the globe. Not to mention a hyper-partisan political environment and a semi-functional media culture.
The question takes on some urgency for Obama with his “hurry up offense” coming up short on universal health care.
With Obama having dipped in the polls, though still very healthy in the mid-50s in job approval despite multiple crises, it’s a good moment to rethink one’s drink, so to speak.
There’s no question that, in this fragmented media culture marked by an acute attention deficit disorder, Obama is the prime driver of news. But that doesn’t mean he has to do it himself. …
President Barack Obama talked up universal health care in an AARP virtual town hall today.
** SOTOMAYOR WINS SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVAL. As expected, US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was easily approved today by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The vote was 13 to 6, with South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham, John McCain’s pal, joining 12 Democrats in voting to confirm the federal judge for a seat on the nation’s high court. The other six Republicans voted no.
The full Senate is expected to confirm Sotomayor as President Barack Obama’s first appointee to the Supreme Court next week.
Sotomayor will be the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?
President Barack Obama opened the first US/China Strategic and Economic Dialogue yesterday in Washington. The conference continues today.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote this morning on the confirmation of Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
At 7:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 10:30 AM, Obama participates in an AARP “tele-town hall” on health care reform at AARP Headquarters in Washington. Obama will do two more town halls this week on health care, in North Carolina and Virginia. But the “public option” may be slipping away in the Senate Finance Committee.
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with the chairs of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in the Oval Office.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden greet the expanded delegations of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Obama kicked off the first of what are to be twice yearly US-China strategic dialogues early yesterday morning with opening remarks at the Ronald Building and International Trade Center in Washington.
This is a two-day conference between high-level US and Chinese officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner on the American side and Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councillor Dai Bingguo on the Chinese side.
The US and China are by far the two leading economies in the world and share a symbiotic relationship. America is China’s biggest market and China is America’s biggest creditor.
This first of the US-China Dialogues has turned into a table-setting and air-clearing exercise.
No major agreements appear to be forthcoming.
China has expressed concern about America’s big budget deficits while America has expressed concern about China’s reliance on export of cheap goods into the US market. Not that the goods are so cheap. The Apple computer I’m writing this on was designed in California and assembled in China.
Confronted again by California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis and continued legislative inaction, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency at the beginning of July. He signs a new version of the state budget this morning.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold private meetings in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
At 11 AM, he will sign the new version of the state budget, with brief remarks in the Cabinet Room of the Governor’s Office.
The state Assembly sent him an underwater budget, so Schwarzenegger will make a lot of line item vetoes.
Needless to say, California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis isn’t really over. But the state will be able to stop issuing IOUs.
Though not yet. The state Treasurer’s office needs to assess the budget and financial markets to determine when and how the state can gain the customary bridge financing of summer months.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my July 21st essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he wants new rules on the conduct of US troops, to further minimize civilian casualties, and is pursuing negotiations with the Taliban.
** QUICK HITS. Jerry Brown is another step closer to clearing the field for the Democratic nomination for governor of California. Infighting among high-priced consultants in the campaign of his distant remaining challenger, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, surfaced when Newsom lost his campaign manager today. (See item below, and future coverage.) Attorney General Brown, the former two-term governor and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination, is far ahead on relevant measures. … The head of the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in Ukraine today on a 10-day trip. His visit follows last week’s trip by Vice President Joe Biden, and should further the influence of Russia in this former Soviet republic that has sought to join NATO. … The US today lifted its embargo on infotech and aerospace shipments to Syria. The move is designed to further the Mideast peace process and to further isolate Iran in the region.
** GAVIN NEWSOM LOSES HIS CAMPAIGN MANAGER. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has been trying to mount a longshot bid for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, today lost his campaign manager. Eric Jaye ran both of Newsom’s mayoral campaigns. He was also behind Newsom’s decision to make himself the champion of same-sex marriage.
Newsom badly trails former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, both politically and financially. He needs to seriously outspend Brown in order to have a chance at the nomination, but instead is far behind, with only enough to run for lieutenant governor or one of the other lesser statewide offices.
This is one of the first concrete signs of progress in an ongoing effort to engage so-called moderate Taliban. Taliban elements, while some have been willing to talk, have previously insisted that there could be no truce until foreign troops leave the country.
** BILL SIMON JOINS MEG WHITMAN’S CAMPAIGN. 2002 California Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon, whose family has long been a stalwart behind national conservatives, today endorsed ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman’s campaign for governor. He will serve as a state co-charirman and senior policy advisor.
“Meg Whitman’s success in business grew from her conservative fiscal principles and solutions-based leadership,” said Simon in a statement released by the Whitman campaign. “Meg believes lower taxes and smaller, more efficient and effective government will generate jobs and bring prosperity back to California.”
Whitman’s only previous involvement in public affairs came as national co-chair of the John McCain for President campaign and national finance co-chair of the Mitt Romney for President campaign.
Simon won the 2002 Republican nomination in an upset over moderate Republican former LA Mayor Dick Riordan, whose frontrunning candidacy was cut down by $10 million in negative TV ads from then Governor Gray Davis. After losing to Davis in a low turnout election marked by popular dissatisfaction with both campaigns, Simon tried again to run for governor in the 2003 recall election. But, overwhelmed by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s candidacy, he quickly withdrew.
The Simon family has played a big role in financing the conservative movement nationally, with Simon’s late father, former Treasury Secretary William Simon, providing major capital for a string of think tanks and advocacy projects.
President Barack Obama, addressing a two-day US-China “dialogue” in Washington, said that relations between the two countries are “as important as any bilateral relationship in the world.”
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
Another busy week in presidential politics, and a rather slow week in California politics.
President Barack Obama continues his focus on universal health care legislation, with additional focuses on China and Israel.
He is continuing his focus of the past few weeks on universal health care, which has run into some turbulence. Not surprising, as it was President Teddy Roosevelt who called for universal health over 100 years ago and it has yet to be achieved.
Obama will travel to two states this week promoting health care reform and host a virtual town hall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has the votes to pass health care in the House. Of course, if she had them in hand for a bill in actuality, she would probably call the vote.
There is still major wrangling underway regarding the shape of the bill between liberal and moderate Democrats, with LA Congressman Henry Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee the center of contention. Negotiations have waxed and waned, but are apparently on again. A bill has already cleared the House Ways & Means Committee, once the key committee in the House.
The House Democratic Caucus will meet this afternoon in search of consensus on health care.
In the Senate, the Finance Committee is the center of contention. That’s why Obama summoned Senate Majority Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana to the Oval Office during the week.
There’s still a decent chance that the House will pass universal health care legislation before the August recess. Though Pelosi may delay the recess for her members until they pass the bill.
There is no chance that the Senate will pass a bill before going on recess, though the White House has hopes that the Senate Finance Committee will.
Vice President Joe Biden begins the week with a lower profile following his whirlwind tour last week of Ukraine and Georgia, where he reassured the two US allies and former Soviet republics on the border of Russia about US intentions toward them while pursuing a closer relationship with Russia. Without committing to any new program of military support, which Georgia in particular sought after its military was smashed in last summer’s brief war with Russia.
But he’s pushing behind the scenes on health care, and deeply involved in emerging moves on Israel.
A string of high-level American envoys is in the midst of meetings in Israel. First was Middle East special envoy George Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader. Today it’s Defense Secretary Bob Gates, the former CIA director. Later in the week it’s National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former Marine Corps commandant and NATO commander. Then special advisor Dennis Ross, the former Mideast negotiator.
They’re working on some difficulties with Israel around settlements in the West Bank by fundamentalist religionists and continuing talk of a potential Israeli strike against Iran. All of it shrouded in some mystery.
The director of Mossad said last month that Iran is several years away from a nuclear weapon. Iran says it’s not developing a nuclear weapon. In any event, it’s a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while calling for diplomatic engagement with Iran, caused some confusion in the past week by talking of a US nuclear umbrella over the Middle East, which she walked back.
For his part, Gates said today that Iran has until the end of September to show progress with diplomatic engagement. This Obama policy has been complicated by Iran’s election and the predictable suppression of demonstrations there.
With regard to China, this week’s joint dialogue in Washington is the first of what are now planned to be twice yearly affairs.
The next one will be in Beijing, in November. And Obama will atttend that, giving Beijing a major summit just as Moscow had one earlier this month.
America and China are the top two economies in the world, and share a unique symbiotic relationship. America is China’s biggest market. China is America’s biggest creditor.
China is a rising military power, and has begun to bump up against the US in the Pacific. But America is a superpower, with capabilities far beyond those of the Chinese.
With a mutual need for coperation and plenty of room for conflict, it’s a relationship in need of serious management.
Meanwhile, in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continues dealing with the state’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
The situation is better, following the latest passage of the latest version of the budget. But unless revenues improve — and they have been nose-diving of late, even with signs of stabilization in the global economic crisis and some signs of recovery in California — the budget will have to be adjusted again later this year.
The budget crisis shows the essentially static nature of California politics.
The budget finally adopted last Friday by the Legislature is essentially the budget that I expected on May 19th, when the special election initiatives went down, putting a big hole in the budget adopted in February. Big program cuts, no taxes, takings from local government, and some continuing financial sleight-of-hand.
It was all very predictable. Yet Democrats postured about taxes they should have known they couldn’t get, due to the state’s constitutional and political realities. And Republicans offered little more than the rhetoric of “No.” Most every one followed cues from their political financiers and ideological taskmasters.
It was all quite boring and predictable.
And now Schwarzenegger gets to cut another $1.1 billion from this version of the budget, as the Assembly put a hole in the budget agreed on by the governor and legislative leaders and passed by the Senate. That $1.1 billion amounts to $1 billion in local gas tax revenue and $100 million from an offshore oil drilling project.
Though the defeat of the latter is counted as victory by many Dems, it’s a bit of a throwaway. It was fairly obvious that something worth “only” $100 million (a year) could be sacrificed to make liberals feel better about all the big cuts they’ve had to accept.
Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee who resigned yesterday as Alaska’s governor little more than halfway through her only term, criticized big government, journalists, and bloggers but offered no specifics on her future plans.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has a busy day, continuing the focus on health care but also focusing heavily on China.
Obama kicked off the first of what are to be twice yearly US-China strategic dialogues early this morning with opening remarks at the Ronald Building and International Trade Center in Washington.
This is a two-day conference between high-level US and Chinese officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner on the American side and Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councillor Dai Bingguo on the Chinese side.
The US and China are by far the two leading economies in the world and share a symbiotic relationship. America is China’s biggest market and China is America’s biggest creditor.
Obama has also received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the White House.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama meets with FIFA President Joseph Blatter in the Oval Office. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the world soccer association. FIFA wants Obama to attend the World Cup next year and Obama wants the World Cup to come to America.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama welcomes the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) Champion Detroit Shock to the White House.
At 4 PM Pacific, Obama and and First Lady Michelle Obama host a reception for ambassadors in the Grand Foyer.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He will hold private meetings in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
That crisis abated, for now, at the end of last week when the Legislature finally adopted a revised version of the budget. The Legislature is now in recess.
But the version adopted by the state Assembly put a $1.1 billion hole in the plan negotiated by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders and passed by the Senate. So Schwarzenegger is marking up the document with his “blue pen” for a series of large line-item vetoes.
Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the budget next Tuesday.
Needless to say, California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis isn’t over. But the state will be able to stop issuing IOUs.
Though not yet. The state Treasurer’s office needs to assess the budget and financial markets to determine when and how the state can gain the customary bridge financing of summer months.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my new essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
Afghan Taliban fighters with AK-47s and suicide vests attacked a police station today in Khost, a provincial capital near the Pakistani border, the second such recent attack less than a month before Afghan elections. The effort failed again, with seven Taliban killed and none on the allied side.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama has no scheduled public events.
US special envoy for South Asia Richard Holbrooke is in Afghanistan this weekend, where Taliban forces in their stronghold of southern Afghanistan have been dispersed, at least for now, by the Marine offensive Obama ordered there.
With less than a month till Afghanistan’s presidential election on August 20th, Taliban fighters have been attempting to stage terrorist attacks in other parts of the country, without success so far, as you see in the footage above from Khost.
Also on Sunday, Taliban fighters attempted to assassinate one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s two vice presidential running mates as he campaigned outside Kunduz in northern Afghanistan. The attempt failed.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on CNN’s State of the Union, said that she has the votes in her chamber to pass universal health care. The details, however, are still being worked out.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her first appearance in her new post on NBC’s Meet The Press this morning. She said that Iran will not be allowed to develop a deployable nuclear weapon and that the US is committed to diplomatically engaging the troublesome Islamic republic despite the regime’s crackdown on protesters claiming that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wasn’t really re-elected last month. Protests have largely subsided.
Clinton also credited China with helping bring North Korea back from the edge of confrontation.
Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will co-host with their Chinese counterparts a conference on global economic recovery on Monday and Tuesday in Washington. Both America and China will have large delegations in attendance.
In other news, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin formally steps down as governor of the Land of the Midnight Sun today after a series of three picnics with soon-to-be former constituents. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and poster girl for America’s far right, served just over half of her first and only term as governor. At just under 700,000, Alaska’s population is less than that of any of California’s 40 state Senate districts.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger is working this weekend on another $1.1 billion in cuts to California’s reeling state budget. These cuts will come through line-item vetoes.
The additional budget cuts — on top of the approximately $15.5 billion already enacted in the latest budget — were made necessary by the state Assembly knocking a $1.1 billion hole in the budget passed by the Senate.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama argues that small business will benefit from his health care reform.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama has no scheduled public events today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He is continuing to focus on universal health care, which has run into some turbulence. Not surprising, as it was President Teddy Roosevelt who called for universal health over 100 years ago and it has yet to be achieved.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has the votes to pass health care in the House. Of course, if she had them in hand for a bill in actuality, she would probably call the vote.
There is still major wrangling underway regarding the shape of the bill between liberal and moderate Democrats, with LA Congressman Henry Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee the center of contention. Negotiations have waxed and waned, but are apparently on again. A bill has already cleared the House Ways & Means Committee, once the key committee in the House.
In the Senate, the Finance Committee is the center of contention. That’s why Obama summoned Senate Majority Harry Reid of Nevada and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus of Montana to the Oval Office during the week.
There’s a good chance that the House will pass universal health care legislation before the August recess. Though Pelosi may delay the recess for her members until they pass the bill.
There is no chance that the Senate will pass a bill before going on recess, though the White House has hopes that the Senate Finance Committee will.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended the Friday evening parade outside the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks in Washington, a staple of summertime in the capital.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is resting up some this weekend at the Naval Observatory, which is the vice presidential residence in Washington. He’s back from his tour of Ukraine and Georgia, where he reassured the two US allies and former Soviet republics on the border of Russia about US intentions toward them while pursuing a closer relationship with Russia. Without committing to any new program of military support.
Biden also met yesterday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was still in Washington following his first-ever visit to the White House earlier in the week. Here’s the pool report, from a Politico reporter, which inadvertently shows you how worthless most pool reports from the conventional media really are:
Your pool was escorted into the Roosevelt Room at 11:37a.m as Biden–just back from his four day trip overseas– was casually chit-chatting with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki. “It’s so good to have you, welcome,” Biden said to al-Maliki.
Appearing in the room with VPOTUS this morning: Ambassador Chris Hill, Jeffery Feltman (the acting secretary of state for near east affairs), Molly Phee the (NSC director for Iraq), Tony Blinken, Herro Mustafa and Gamal Helal, (the interpreter.) Standing alongside al-Maliki: Hoshyar Zebari (Iraqi Foreign Minister), Abd al Qadir al-Mufriji (Iraqi Minister of Defense), Sadiq al-Rikabi (adviser), Yasin al-Majid (adviser), and Samir al-Suaydi (Iraqi ambassador to the U.S.)
Biden did not make remarks to the press. He simply shook hands and cracked a few jokes along the way.
After greeting al-Maliki, Biden recognized a familiar face in the room, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, and he proceeded to crack a friendly joke at his expense. Pointing at the foreign minister, he turned to al-Maliki and then to the interpreter in the room and said, jokingly, “Would you translate…I said, ‘You had to bring him along?”
After the interpreters translated Biden’s remarks, the row of Iraqi leaders laughed and made little quips of their own.
After hugging the foreign minister, Biden shook hands with all the Iraqi leaders.
“How are you…good to see you,” Biden said, making his way down the row. “Nice to see you.” At the end of the line, he cracked another joke: “This is what I want to look like when I grow up,” he said.
It was unclear who he was referring to.
Pool escorted out at 11:40a.m.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
In his weekend radio address, he maintains a positive mode with regard to the legislative leaders and the version of the state budget that finally emerged on Friday afternoon.
But the reality is that the state Assembly opened a $1.1 billion hole in the budget, as I mentioned yesterday, which Schwarzenegger will have to make up in as yet undisclosed ways.
Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the budget next Tuesday.
Needless to say, California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis isn’t over. But the state will be able to stop issuing IOUs.
Though not yet. The state Treasurer’s office needs to assess the budget and financial markets to determine when and how the state can gain the customary bridge financing of summer months.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my new essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $68.05 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up $34 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
President Barack Obama challenged school districts around the country to improve teacher quality, encourage innovation, and meet higher standards to win “Race To The Top” grants, which total $5 billion.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … IS OBAMA GETTING OVEREXPOSED?
** QUICK HITS.The California Legislature finally adopted (mostly) a new budget today more than two months after the failure of the May 19th special election initiatives, along with the ongoing global economic crisis, blew a big hole in the latest state budget. But, while the state Senate adopted the plan agreed to in the Big 5 negotiations between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, the Assembly blew a $1.1 billion hole in the plan, with no provisions to make up the difference. I don’t yet know how it’s going to get resolved. … President Barack Obama, walking back the tone of his Wednesday night criticism of the brief arrest of a black Harvard professor trying to get back into his home after a trip, invited both the arresting officer and the prof for a beer. It will happen, but has not yet been scheduled to my knowledge. Obama was right, but probably shouldn’t have used the word “stupid” in describing the incident. …
** CALIFORNIA BUDGET CRISIS UPDATE: MID-AFTERNOON. Around 3 PM this afternoon, the state Assembly finally finished going through the latest state budget. The Assembly passed almost everything the state Senate had passed by 6:30 AM, but blew a $1.1 billion hole in the budget by turning down the transfer of local gas tax revenue to the state ($1 billion) and the additional offshore oil drilling ($100 million per year).
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a press conference at 3:30 PM to discuss next steps.
** CALIFORNIA BUDGET CRISIS UPDATE: NOON. As we move to the noon hour in California, the state Assembly is still struggling to work through the budget passed at 6:30 AM by the state Senate. The safeguards and sanctions demanded by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on welfare and in-home social services have passed. But the raid on local government revenues, revenue from expanded oil drilling on an existing offshore lease, and, oh yes, the question of future additional spending on education to make up for present cuts are all still outstanding. That’s all …
** ABOUT THAT “BIRTHER” FANTASY A CALIFORNIA CONGRESSMAN GOT CAUGHT UP IN THIS WEEK … When Orange County Congressman John Campbell, widely regarded as a credible and not crazy conservative California Republican, ran afoul of reality earlier this week on Hardball for his alliance with the fringe movement claiming President Barack Obama isn’t really an American (see video below), it showed how far out of hand this has gotten.
You’d think that John McCain’s campaign looked into this. Which, of course, they did, as I knew from conversations last year with McCain campaign director and former Arnold Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt.
While they ruled out any chance of the ‘birther’ lawsuits holding up in court, lawyers for the McCain campaign did check into the rumors about Obama’s birth and the assertions made by Berg and others. “To the extent that we could, we looked into the substantive side of these allegations,” said Potter. “We never saw any evidence that then-Senator Obama had been born outside of the United States. We saw rumors, but nothing that could be sourced to evidence. There were no statements and no documents that suggested he was born somewhere else. On the other side, there was proof that he was born in Hawaii. There was a certificate issued by the state’s Department of Health, and the responsible official in the state saying that he had personally seen the original certificate. There was a birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser, which would be very difficult to invent or plant 47 years in advance.”
President Barack Obama’s timetable for passage of universal health care has hit a snag in the Senate.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is back from the road today, but still pushing universal health care.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, he meets with Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus in the Oval Office. With Obama’s first deadline for passage of health care legislation about to be missed, they will discuss a new timetable.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama has lunch with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Private Dining Room.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on education at the Department of Education. He will unveil a new $5 billion initiative for education reform.
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama signs a proclamation celebrating the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the East Room of the White House.
At 5:45 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Marine Corps Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks.
President Barack Obama’s latest prime time press conference on Wednesday night drew his smallest audience yet.
Biden is back from his trip to reassure US allies in Ukraine and Georgia about America’s burgeoning relationship with Russia and to further assess the situation in those countries. He was noncommittal when Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who provided Russia with its hoped-for pretext to invade last summer when he foolishly attacked the breakaway province of South Ossetia, asked for American anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is back from her tour of India and Asia. She will make her first appearance as secretary of state this coming Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He will have private discussions in and around the Capitol on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
After an all-night session, the state Senate adopted a new budget earlier this morning. The budget is as has been described.
The state Assembly, however, is still working its way through things.
The Big 5 group of Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced Monday night that they have arrived at agreement on a new budget to deal with the state’s $26.3 billion deficit.
The plan includes $15.5 billion in cuts and $4.7 billion in borrowings from local government, with a variety of financial maneuvers mostly making up the balance. State workers continue to receive three unpaid “furlough” days per month, about a 15% pay cut.
The plan has no new taxes and does include changes Schwarzenegger demanded in welfare and in-home social service programs. Education is promised repayment in the future for cuts in the present (thanks to the Prop 98 proportional spending requirement), but the promise is not written into the constitution.
As such, it’s a budget that could have been arrived at weeks ago, as various bottom lines both political and constitutional have long been evident.
The plan survived a burst of opposition on plans to cut corrections funding by reducing the number of inmates from 25,000 to 27,000.
Which was still more non-seriousness in a very non-serious process.
It was opposed by some police groups who fear early releases from prisons (largely of folks who will be released anyway), and by Republicans who pretended they had no idea that the inmate population would be reduced through changes in the parole and rehabilitation systems and greatly expanded use of home detention. Since the Republicans offered no serious ideas of their own to arrive at the budget cuts, their protest was quite disingenuous.
Their concerns will be assuaged by counting prison budget cuts against an undetermined policy which will be voted on separately next month. The policy is what’s been bandied about for days, here and elsewhere.
Already financially-strapped local governments are protesting the plan to seize billions in their revenues, and some public employee unions continue to oppose the budget deal, calling still for tax increases which have literally never been in the cards for any serious political observer and have already been repeatedly defeated. Environmentalists dislike the plan to drill more in federally-leased lands off the Santa Barbara coast, bringing in $100 million in revenue for decades.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my new essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
President Barack Obama discussed health care and the economy in last night’s prime time press conference at the White House.
** QUICK HITS.California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis might get at least a near-term solution tonight. After the usual delays with this crew, the Legislature says it will finally start voting tonight on the latest budget deal. … President Barack Obama’s universal health care proposal, still caught between a few disparate version in the Congress, will come up short of his original goal of passage by the August recess. The Senate now will take up the bill after the recess, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says a bill will emerge from the Senate Finance Committee by August 7th. For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco says the House will pass a bill in August. … Meanwhile, the stock market continued rising today on the strength of improving corporate earnings reports. The Dow went over 9000 for its highest close since the presidential election last November. After nosediving during the presidential transition, and again early in the Obama Administration, the market is now up 38.5% in less than five months. That is the fastest such gain since 1975.
** GREENING GAVIN. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who’s spent nearly a year traveling outside California during his time as mayor of the City by the Bay (he was elected at the end of 2003), and is now trying to run for the Democratic nomination for governor of California, has been traveling the state talking up San Francisco as the center of greenery in America.
** CALIFORNIA BUDGET UPDATE. Coming out of noontime, the state’s budget deal still appears to be intact (see item below for details), with votes in both houses of the Legislature supposedly on tap for today.
There’s been some more turbulence, with the big AFSCME public employee union putting up another web video ad calling for more social justice and tax hikes. And Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa reportedly said earlier today the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t consulted him. Villaraigosa and Schwarzenegger are personal friends. The Governor’s Office noted that Villaraigosa has been on a few recent budget crisis calls with Schwarzenegger and other mayors.
Villaraigosa, who dropped out of the Democratic gubernatorial sweepstakes as I anticipated last month, has been working his way through a big budget crisis in his city, though it is actually smaller on a proportional basis than that of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who still hopes to run for governor.
The big takeaway of revenues from local government in this state budget deal makes their jobs all that much harder to accomplish.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is on the road today, pushing universal health care in the Midwest and raising money for the Democratic National Committee.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office, and has departed Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Cleveland Ohio.
At 9:25 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Cleveland, Ohio at Cleveland Hopkins Airport.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama tours the Cleveland Clinic.
At 11:10 AM Pacific, Obama hosts a town hall on health care reform at Shaker Heights High School.
At 1:25 PM Pacific, Obama departs Cleveland, Ohio on Air Force One en route to Chicago, Illinois.
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Chicago, Illinois at O’Hare International Airport.
At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama attends a fundraising dinner at the residence of Penny Pritzker, his national finance chair in the campaign.
At 5:05 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Both Chicago funders are for the Democratic National Committee.
At 6:15 PM Pacific, Obama departs Chicago, Illinois on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:50 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he transfers from Air Force One to Marine One.
At 9:05 PM Pacific, Obama arrives back at the White House.
Vice President Joe Biden expressed support for Georgia during a press avail in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Biden was noncommittal when Saaksahvili asked for anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is on the tail end of a trip to reassure US allies in Ukraine and Georgia about America’s burgeoning relationship with Russia and to further assess the situation in those countries.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is touring Asia. She’s been participating in the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and has held a roundtable discussion with the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
After Clinton insisted that North Korea must drop its nuclear weapons program or face further international isolation, the North Koreans attacked her on a personal basis, insistting that the secretary of state and former first lady and presidential candidate is unintentionally funny and stupid.
“She has made a spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in,” said a spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry.
“Her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent. We cannot but regard Mrs Clinton as a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community. Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping.”
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a video posted on his Twitter account that was somewhat controversial, hefted a large knife as he thanked supporters for budget-cutting ideas and for suggesting that he autograph auctioned state vehicles to boost the price.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He will have private discussions in and around the Capitol on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Later today, at a time not certain, both houses of the Legislature are supposed to vote on and adopt the state budget deal announced earlier in the week.
The Big 5 group of Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced Monday night that they have arrived at agreement on a new budget to deal with the state’s $26.3 billion deficit.
The plan includes $15.5 billion in cuts and $4.7 billion in borrowings from local government, with a variety of financial maneuvers mostly making up the balance. State workers continue to receive three unpaid “furlough” days per month, about a 15% pay cut.
The plan has no new taxes and does include changes Schwarzenegger demanded in welfare and in-home social service programs. Education is promised repayment in the future for cuts in the present (thanks to the Prop 98 proportional spending requirement), but the promise is not written into the constitution.
As such, it’s a budget that could have been arrived at weeks ago, as various bottom lines both political and constitutional have long been evident.
The plan survived a burst of opposition on plans to cut corrections funding by reducing the number of inmates from 25,000 to 27,000.
Which was still more non-seriousness in a very non-serious process.
It was opposed by some police groups who fear early releases from prisons (largely of folks who will be released anyway), and by Republicans who pretended they had no idea that the inmate population would be reduced through changes in the parole and rehabilitation systems and greatly expanded use of home detention. Since the Republicans offered no serious ideas of their own to arrive at the budget cuts, their protest was quite disingenuous.
Their concerns will be assuaged by counting prison budget cuts against an undetermined policy which will be voted on separately next month. The policy is what’s been bandied about for days, here and elsewhere.
Already financially-strapped local governments are protesting the plan to seize billions in their revenues, and some public employee unions continue to oppose the budget deal, calling still for tax increases which have literally never been in the cards for any serious political observer and have already been repeatedly defeated.
** ANOTHER ‘60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my new essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared together today at the White House to say that the US withdrawal is on schedule.
** QUICK HITS. It looks like the latest California budget deal is still on track, despite a revolt from the right claiming ignorance of plans to cut the ranks of inmates by more than 25,000. Despite the uproar, no one has put forward an alternative that meets political and constitutional realities. … Another day of silence in Iran, where a smaller number of protesters, apparently in the hundreds to low thousands, was once again forcibly dispersed earlier this week. … With President Barack Obama about to hold his prime time press conference, it looks now like national health care reform will pass in the House by the end of the month but not in the Senate.
** EXCERPTS FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PRIME TIME PRESSER REMARKS TONIGHT.
That is why I’ve said that even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort.
This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive. And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
So let me be clear: if we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit. If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate we’re having right now.
I realize that with all the charges and criticisms being thrown around in Washington, many Americans may be wondering, “What’s in this for me? How does my family stand to benefit from health insurance reform?”
Tonight I want to answer those questions. Because even though Congress is still working through a few key issues, we already have agreement on the following areas:
If you already have health insurance, the reform we’re proposing will provide you with more security and more stability. It will keep government out of health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your insurance if you’re happy with it. It will prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. It will give you the security of knowing that if you lose your job, move, or change your job, you will still be able to have coverage. It will limit the amount your insurance company can force you to pay for your medical costs out of your own pocket. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don’t have health insurance, or are a small business looking to cover your employees, you’ll be able to choose a quality, affordable health plan through a health insurance exchange – a marketplace that promotes choice and competition Finally, no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition. I have also pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our deficit over the next decade – and I mean it. …
I understand how easy it is for this town to become consumed in the game of politics – to turn every issue into running tally of who’s up and who’s down. I’ve heard that one Republican strategist told his party that even though they may want to compromise, it’s better politics to “go for the kill.” Another Republican Senator said that defeating health reform is about “breaking” me.
So let me be clear: This isn’t about me. I have great health insurance, and so does every Member of Congress. This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings…This debate is not a game for these Americans, and they cannot afford to wait for reform any longer. They are counting on us to get this done. They are looking to us for leadership. And we must not let them down. We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on. And we will do it this year.
“Violence continues to be down and Iraqis are taking responsibility for their own security,” Obama said. “This progress is made possible by the resilience of the Iraqi people and security forces and also because of the extraordinary service of American troops.”
Obama also said he will get Iraq out from under a United Nations resolution requiring it to pay 5% of its oil revenues, mostly to Kuwait, as reparations for the first Gulf War in 1991.
The meeting was Maliki’s first visit to the White House. He had been reluctant to visit the White House when George W. Bush was president for fear that he would look like an American puppet. But Obama is much more popular in Iraq than Bush.
Orange County Congressman John Campbell ran into trouble last night on Hardball when he tried to explain why he is co-sponsoring a bill pushed by the so-called “birthers,” a fringe element that insists that President Barack Obama is not really an American.
** ONE IN SIX AMERICAN ADULTS HAVE NO HEALTH COVERAGE. As the fight over health care reform intensifies, with President Barack Obama prepping for a prime time press conference tonight, a new Gallup Poll indicates that 16% of American adults have no health insurance.
The number of those without health care is on the rise.
The June 2009 data encompass more than 29,000 daily tracking interviews of Americans aged 18 and older. Trend data show a small but measurable uptick in the percentage of uninsured adults over the last year and a half. The percentage uninsured averaged 14.8% among the approximately 350,000 adults interviewed in 2008, and rose to 16.2% among the 178,000 adults interviewed in the first six months of this year.
The June 2009 data encompass more than 29,000 daily tracking interviews of Americans aged 18 and older. Trend data show a small but measurable uptick in the percentage of uninsured adults over the last year and a half. The percentage uninsured averaged 14.8% among the approximately 350,000 adults interviewed in 2008, and rose to 16.2% among the 178,000 adults interviewed in the first six months of this year.
With an aggregated sample of more than 29,000 interviews in June, Gallup is able to report an up-to-date indication of segments of the adult population with the highest percentage uninsured. At 41.5%, Hispanic Americans are, by a significant margin, the demographic segment of the adult population most likely to be uninsured. Non-Hispanic black Americans are also significantly more likely than non-Hispanic white Americans to be uninsured, 19.9% vs. 11.6%. There is a strong relationship between age and income and health insurance coverage, with younger and low-income Americans significantly more likely to be uninsured than others. In fact, the two groups with the highest uninsured rates, other than Hispanics, are Americans who make less than $36,000 per year and those aged 18-29, with 28.6% and 27.6% uninsured, respectively.
Americans in the South and West have higher rates of non-coverage than those in the East and Midwest.
President Barack Obama, speaking yesterday from the White House Rose Garden, praised what he calls an emerging consensus on health care reform and discussed his reversal of congressional expansion of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter program.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has a big day today, pushing universal health care in a key prime time press conference and meeting with the prime minister of Iraq.
Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, he met with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama holds an expanded meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the Oval Office.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama holds one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Maliki in the Oval Office.
At 12 PM Pacific, Obama and Prime Minister Maliki hold a joint press conference in the Rose Garden.
At 5 PM Pacific, Obama holds a press conference in the East Room of the White House.
The event will be roadblocked on all cable news nets and broadcast networks, with the exception of Fox.
Obama is pushing hard on universal health care legislation now moving though the Congress, needless to say. As are allies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and ranking members of Congress hold a health care press conference on Capitol Hill at 8:30 AM Pacific.
Vice President Joe Biden said earlier today that the US, while “resetting” relations with Russia, doesn’t recognize Russian “spheres of influence” over former Soviet republics.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden has held a breakfast meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and delivered remarks at Ukraine House in Kiev.
Biden departed Kiev and has arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia.
At 9 AM Pacific, Biden attends an official dinner hosted by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in Tbilisi.
At 10:35 AM Pacific, Biden attends an outdoor concert at President Saakashvili’s home in Georgia.
Biden is on a trip to reassure US allies in Ukraine and Georgia about America’s burgeoning relationship with Russia and to further assess the situation in those countries.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Thailand. She’s been participating in the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and has held a roundtable discussion with the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
Clinton insisted that North Korea must drop its nuclear weapons program or face further international isolation.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today. He will have private discussions on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger appeared this morning on The Today Show on NBC and ABC’s Good Morning America discussing the crisis and its possible resolution, for now.
The Big 5 group of Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced Monday night that they have arrived at agreement on a new budget to deal with the state’s $26.3 billion deficit.
The plan includes $15.5 billion in cuts and $4.7 billion in borrowings from local government, with a variety of financial maneuvers mostly making up the balance. State workers continue to receive three unpaid “furlough” days per month, about a 15% pay cut.
The plan has no new taxes and does include changes Schwarzenegger demanded in welfare and in-home social service programs. Education is promised repayment in the future for cuts in the present (thanks to the Prop 98 proportional spending requirement), but the promise is not written into the constitution.
As such, it’s a budget that could have been arrived at weeks ago, as various bottom lines both political and constitutional have long been evident.
It’s opposed by police groups who fear early releases from prisons (largely of folks who will be released anyway) and already financially-strapped local governments.
Legislative leaders are briefing their party caucuses and hope to bring the deal to a vote on Thursday.
Conservative Republicans are threatening to revolt about the cutting of the prison population, which they portray as a surprise to them. Though it’s hard to see how it can be.
** ANOTHER ’60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.We have two iconic ’60s anniversaries this week. Ironically, it’s the least known by far of the two that continues to resonate most in the culture. On July 20th, 1969, a human being first walked on the Moon. On July 21st, 1964, Goldfinger wrapped principal photography.
We haven’t gone to the Moon for 37 years, nor can we go to Mars, as the Apollo 11 astronauts are urging, anytime soon, but we sure go to blockbuster action movies. And Goldfinger is the ur-action blockbuster. … From my new essay.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. … From my July 19th column.
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
The F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, seen in this promotional video, was killed today in a vote by the US Senate, 58-40. A Lockheed Martin facility in Southern California is a major contractor.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … ANOTHER ’60S ANNIVERSARY: THE UR-ACTION BLOCKBUSTER GOLDFINGER.
** QUICK HITS. Recession, what recession? California-based Apple’s revenues and profits were up sharply for the quarter concluded on June 30th, on the strength of increased laptop and smartphone sales. … California’s prison inmate population would be cut by more than 25,000 in the latest state budget deal, through rehabilitation programs, home detentions, and ending some paroles. … California’s state university trustees voted today to increase student fees by 20% and cutpay by instituting two unpaid furlough days a month. … Following a meeting in the White House between President Barack Obama and Democratic committee members, the House Energy & Commerce Committee could vote on a health care reform bill by the end of the week. A bill has already passed Ways & Means.
** BIG LOSSES FOR CALIFORNIA’S PUBLIC PENSION FUNDS. California’s two biggest public pension funds, the Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System, have both just reported huge losses over the past year, around 25% each according to the funds, though the absolute numbers indicate much higher losses than that.
The California Public Employees Retirement System has just reported that its giant investment fund lost $56.2 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, ending the fiscal year with $180.9 billion in assets. The fund reported a preliminary investment return of minus 23.4 percent for the year.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System reported that its portfolio shrank by $43.4 billion over the same period to end the fiscal year at $118.8 billion. It reported a preliminary loss of 25 percent.
(The investment returns reported by the funds are calculated using a more complex formula than a simple percentage return based on market value.)
You’ll recall that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to say — well, “likes” may be too strong — that the world has lost one-third of its wealth.
Public pensions were expanded during Gray Davis’s governorship, sold to the Legislature by the pension funds and public employee unions on the basis that stock market earnings would more than make up for the additional spending. Obviously, there is a problem with that scenario.
The funds say they have enough to continue to meet their obligations now, which they will do, but must raise contributions in the future.
The aircraft, which has problems in certain types of weather, is far more high-performance than anything it will encounter anywhere in the world, and costs $150 million per airframe. Defense Secretary Bob Gates urged that it be killed off, arguing that it conflicts with actual missions needed and with the plan to expand the Army.
A Lockheed Martin facility in Palmdale, California is one of the major facilities that has been used to produce the F-22, which was first seen close up, as I mentioned some time back with regard to product placement, in the movie Transformers.
** SOTOMAYOR SUPPORT FIRM AFTER SENATE HEARINGS LAST WEEK. The new Gallup Poll shows support for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about where it was before the hearings. 55% support the New York federal judge’s confirmation, while 36% oppose it.
According to the new USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted July 17-19, 36% of Americans are against the Senate voting to confirm Sotomayor. This is also similar to the 33% that took this position in the July 10-12 Gallup survey, but is up slightly from the 28% who were opposed after she was first nominated by President Barack Obama in May. Since May, support for Sotomayor has been stable in the mid-50s, but opposition has grown as the percentage with no opinion has dropped by half.
Initial support for Sotomayor was similar to that seen for other recent Supreme Court nominees. However, the subsequent eight-percentage-point increase in opposition to her serving on the Supreme Court is on the high side when compared with other recent nominees, thus producing the relatively high level of opposition measured in the most recent survey. With only 9% of Americans expressing no opinion about Sotomayor’s fate, the lowest seen for any nominee, she now garners more opposition than any Supreme Court nominee of the past two decades, except for the unsuccessful Harriet Miers.
Still, in the more than two decades of Gallup polling on Supreme Court nominees, no nominee with at least 50% support from the American public failed to win confirmation. The 55% now supporting her is slightly lower than the 60% who favored John Roberts in 2005, but is comparable to the slight majorities who supported Samuel Alito (54%) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (53%) prior to those justices’ confirmations.
What this actually means is that opposition to Sotomayor is now beginning to track with the base Republican vote in the country.
Nevertheless, several Republican senators have announced that they will vote for her confirmation, and more are expected to follow suit. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to confirm her on July 28th.
President Barack Obama pushed for universal health care yesterday, and continues today.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama delivers brief remarks on health care reform in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.
At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Democratic members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee in the Roosevelt Room.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host an event celebrating country music in the East Room.
Obama is pushing hard on universal health care legislation now moving though the Congress.
Vice President Joe Biden is in Ukraine today, promising that as the US moves into a closer relationship with Russia that it will not forsake its new ally. Biden goes to Georgia, whose military was shattered last summer after a brief war with Russia, next.
Biden is meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, the famed “gas princess,” in Kiev. She was part of the Orange Revolution which installed a pro-US government in the former Soviet republic on the border of Russia. But more recently, she has become more aligned with the Russian point of view.
Biden is also meeting with parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych.
The White House ceremony honoring Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrapped up her trip to India.
She made deals opening the door to big sales of nuclear reactors and military equipment to India. But Clinton made little headway on arms control or climate change.
Following Clinton’s visit, the head of the Indian armed forces comes to the US for six days.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today. He will have private discussions on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
The Big 5 group of Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced last night that they have arrived at agreement on a new budget to deal with the state’s $26.3 billion deficit.
The plan includes $15.5 billion in cuts and $4.7 billion in borrowings from local government, with a variety of financial maneuvers mostly making up the balance. State workers continue to receive three unpaid “furlough” days per month, about a 15% pay cut.
The plan has no new taxes and does include changes Schwarzenegger demanded in welfare and in-home social service programs. Education is promised repayment in the future for cuts in the present (thanks to the Prop 98 proportional spending requirement), but the promise is not written into the constitution.
As such, it’s a budget that could have been arrived at weeks ago, as various bottom lines both political and constitutional have long been evident.
It’s opposed by police groups who fear early releases from prisons (largely of folks who will be released anyway) and already financially-strapped local governments.
Legislative leaders are briefing their party caucuses and hope to bring the deal to a vote on Thursday.
** WHY THE BIG FADE FOR BRUNO? Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It’s gotten so much publicity it feels like it’s about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it’s down 73% from the opening weekend.
Why the big fade? It’s actually not much of a mystery.
Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn’t predicted in the first place. …
** HILLARY’S BACK! (OR NOT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed address Wednesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington fell decidedly flat. For a few fairly obvious reasons.
First, President Barack Obama, like a number of other presidents before him, starting with Thomas Jefferson, is his own secretary of state. Second, Obama has already laid out America’s new geopolitics, in a series of major addresses in Prague, Cairo, Moscow, and Accra, Ghana, as well as in announcements here in the US on new policies with regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Thus making Clinton’s speech an exercise in echo. Third, Obama has other very powerful geopolitical counselors, including Vice President Joe Biden (whom a mutual friend told me when he was tapped for the ticket really wanted to be secretary of state), a coterie of special envoys reporting to the White House, and National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant.
And fourth, Clinton has been neatly mouse-trapped by Obama. She and her husband have been moved off the political gameboard by Team Obama. As I expected when I wrote about her appointment here on the Huffington Post when it was rumored last November. … From my July 15th column.
** DIMINISHING RETURNS FOR OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING? President Barack Obama returned early Sunday morning from a near week-long international tour that took him to a key summit in Moscow, a G-8 summit, and his first appearance in Africa as president. But some suggested, with his poll numbers down a bit and media attention mostly elsewhere, that his summiteering is having diminishing returns.
Perhaps. But I think it has at least as much to do with the media culture.
American media, especially cable TV news, is moving more into infotainment mode, stuck on a few areas. Geopolitics has never been its strong suit, and political coverage is mostly focused on food fights. Which was unfortunate, as following on to his addresses in Prague and Cairo, Obama gave the final two of his advertised four major speeches on his new geopolitics last week, in Moscow and in Accra, Ghana. … From my July 12th column.
** OBAMA DOES MOSCOW, AND VICE VERSA. Flying to Italy Wednesday morning for the troubled G-8 summit, President Barack Obama departed Moscow after a very intriguing summit with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
This was the so-called “Reset Summit” to bring American/Russian relations out of the neo-Cold War depths they’d sunk to last year. It certainly succeeded at that, and at some other things as well, especially with regard to sharp reductions in nuclear weapons, aid for the US effort in Afghanistan, and a pullback on NATO expansion, a longtime thorn in the side of Russia. But other sticking points remained, on a US anti-missile shield and on Iran.
All amidst some notable intrigue, some of it generated from the Obama side. …
Unlike most of the rest of Europe, Russia is hardly in the grip of Obamamania. He’s certainly more popular than George W. Bush or John McCain, but that’s damning with faint praise. … From my July 8th column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!)… From my July 4th column.
** REPOSITIONING AMERICA: OBAMA’S CAIRO SPEECH AS THE ULTIMATE IN EVENT MARKETING. … From my June 4th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
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