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.
** IRAQI PRIME MINISTER’S FIRST VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with President Barack Obama today in the White House and held a joint press avail. At which they only took two questions, as it happens.
“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.
** OBAMA DOES MOSCOW, AND VICE VERSA. … From my July 8th column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. … From my June 29th essay.
** STAR TREK FIRSTS … 43 YEARS ON. … From my June 23rd essay.
** OBAMA AND THE AYATOLLAH. . … From my June 19th column.
** OBAMA’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT: NORTH KOREA, AGAIN. … From my June 12th column.
** REMEMBERING AMERICA: OBAMA’S D-DAY SPEECH AND TWO DAYS IN JUNE. … From my June 8th 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.
You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** 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 is trading around $65 per barrel.
This is up about $31 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
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