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 RECESSION LAST YEAR WAS MUCH WORSE THAN REPORTED. While right-wing Republicans were spending much of their time denying that there even was a recession in the US, it was actually more than twice as bad as finally reported in 2008 by the Bush/Cheney Administration.
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.
The event will be webcast live at 10:30 AM www.gov.ca.gov.
** 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 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: 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 in the $67 to $68 per barrel range.
This is up over $33 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (54) |
Douglas MacArthur, the only man to be a general in the US Army and field marshal in the Philippine Army … at the same time!
MacArthur was the protector of the Philippines from the Japanese who failed. And the liberator of the Philippines who followed through on one of the most famous lines in the history of war: “I shall return!”
> Dana says:
July 31, 2009 at 2:25 pm (Edit)
I never made the connection. And here I have been living next to the park all these years. Sometimes the obvious just eludes you.
>20.Bill Bradley says:
July 31, 2009 at 11:09 am
Yes, MacArthur Park. And sadly, few today will even understand why the protests were held there
He didn’t see it because he didn’t want to see it and because the loudest voices in his party were in complete denial.
> Brasky says:
July 31, 2009 at 2:12 pm (Edit)
“THE RECESSION LAST YEAR WAS MUCH WORSE THAN REPORTED”
Bush allowed the real threats of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to fester while he was lost in Iraq. Plus he couldn’t see the biggest economic downturn in 70 years.
Welcome back, Dr. Hemlock.
> Jonathan Hemlock says:
July 31, 2009 at 12:29 pm (Edit)
Birthers are the new Birchers.
It’s quite striking, isn’t it?
> Brasky says:
July 31, 2009 at 12:21 pm (Edit)
“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.”
Birthers are going to push what’s left of the Republican party out of the mainstream. Look at those independent numbers!
And say goodbye to Latinos.
Finally, the Right Wing Media is making MY life easier.