President Barack Obama honored Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins today at the White House on the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon.
** QUICK HITS. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders are reportedly close again to a resolution, for now, on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. After more delays, they were supposed to begin meeting late this afternoon. … Defense Secretary Bob Gates announced today that the Obama Administration is increasing the size of the US Army from 547,000 personnel to 569,000. … Republicans, as expected, came out hard today against President Obama’s and Democratic efforts to pass universal health care legislation. They’ve begun running TV ads targeting moderate Democratic and Republican senators. Which the Obama team has been doing for a week.
But even the current NASA plan for a lunar base, drawn up under former President George W. Bush, who also spoke at one point of a mission to Mars, has been languishing. President Barack Obama has NASA’s plans under review.
Obama made no commitment today to either a base on the Moon or a mission to Mars. Instead, he used the occasion to talk up science education, which he says the space program helps make “cool.”
“Keep the goal by 2020 of having the highest college graduation rates of any country on Earth, especially in the math and science fields,” said Obama. He did say that he will make sure that when America decides it wants to return to manned — as distinguished from unmanned, which is flourishing — space exploration, NASA will be around to undertake the task.
The cost of a mission to Mars is daunting. Which is one reason why Bush, embarked on expensive wars and a big military build-up as the federal deficit climbed to record levels, never got beyond making a speech about it. I can’t get a good handle on the cost, but it would certainly be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, if not higher. And since we’ve had far more than that to bail out Wall Street, and there are other pressing needs at home, that doesn’t seem likely any time soon.
It seems to me that a Mars mission would have to be an international mission, involving Russia (which plays a critical role in space now), the European Union, Japan, and China.
** GINGRICH PREACHES DOOM AND GLOOM ABOUT AMERICA’S FUTURE AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking today at the right-wing Heritage Foundation in Washington, claimed that America is heading for disaster on the military front. On a day when the US Army size was actually increased, as it happens.
In a speech full of dire scenarios and gloomy predictions, the former House speaker argued that no price is too high for the federal government to pay when it comes to shoring up national security.
“We are living at the edge of catastrophe,” Gingrich said while laying out the flaws of the current governmental approach to security as well as his own framework for policy change.
Gingrich said the current defense budgetary approach in Washington is designed to meet an arbitrary budget goal and that over the years the government has failed to “translate the imagination (of potential attacks) into public policy.” …
Gingrich sketched out a number of seemingly scifi scenarios, such as an electromagnetic pulse, space-based weapons, cyberwar, radiological and biological attacks, which he says the country is woefully unprepared for.
I don’t remember him saying that seven months ago.
Gingrich is quite an imaginative fellow, co-author of a number of “alternate history” novels, which I’m actually reading. All based on “small” changes in history, i.e., the South wins the Civil War, Hitler defeats the Soviet Union, Yamamoto actually commands the attack on Pearl Harbor. I suppose I’ll be writing about it, as there is a chance for Gingrich to win the Republican presidential nomination if Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee take each other out.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first landing and walk on the Moon.
** PRESIDENT OBAMA’S REMARKS ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST LANDING ON THE MOON.
Very rarely do I have such an extraordinary pleasure as I have today to welcome three iconic figures, three genuine American heroes. To have Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin here beside me is just wonderful. And I think that all of us recall the moment in which mankind finally was untethered from this planet and was able to explore the stars; the moment in which we had one of our own step on the moon and leave that imprint that is there to this day. And it’s because of the heroism, the calm under pressure, the grace with which these three gentlemen operated, but also the entire NASA family that was able to, at great risk oftentimes, and with great danger, was somehow able to lift our sights, not just here in the United States but around the world.
We now have a wonderful NASA administrator in Charles Bolden and the deputy administrator Lori Garver. We are confident that they are going to be doing everything that they can in the decade to come to continue the inspirational mission of NASA. But I think it’s fair to say that the touchstone for excellence in exploration and discovery is always going to be represented by the men of Apollo 11.
So I’m grateful to them for taking the time to visit with us. The country continues to draw inspiration from what you’ve done. I should note, just personally, I grew up in Hawaii, as many of you know, and I still recall sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders when those capsules would land in the middle of the Pacific and they’d get brought back and we’d go out and we’d pretend like they could see us as we were waving at folks coming home. And I remember waving American flags and my grandfather telling me that the Apollo mission was an example of how Americans can do anything they put their minds to.
I also know that, as a consequence of the extraordinary work of NASA generally, that you inspired an entire generation of scientists and engineers that ended up really sparking the innovation, the drive, the entrepreneurship, the creativity back here on Earth. And I think it’s very important for us to constantly remember that NASA was not only about feeding our curiosity, that sense of wonder, but also had extraordinary practical applications. And one of the things that I’ve committed to doing as President is making sure that math and science are cool again, and that we once again keep the goal by 2020 of having the highest college graduation rates of any country on Earth, especially in the maths and science fields.
So I think on this 40th anniversary, we are — all of us thank and grateful to all of you for what you’ve done, and we expect that there’s, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrins. And we want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey.
All right? Thank you so much.
Buzz Aldrin talks about the first landing on the Moon, 40 years ago today.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
Another big week in presidential politics, with a heavy focus on health care reform. And perhaps a big week in California politics.
President Barack Obama, who today celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, pushes hard for universal health care reform legislation, which is now moving through Congress, this week.
He will make several speeches about health care, and on Wednesday, he holds another prime time press conference from the White House. During that he will address health care heavily, as well as discuss the current state of the slow-moving economic recovery and report on his recent geopolitical moves.
With Obama moving the US into conditional alliance with Russia, he’s dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to assess the situation in neighboring Georgia and Ukraine and reassure US allies there in the former Soviet republics. After foolishly invading the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, thus providing a hoped-for pretext, Georgia was itself invaded by Russia last summer and had much of its military smashed in the ensuing brief war. Ukraine went pro-US a few years ago in the peaceful Orange Revolution, but lately has been swinging back toward a more pro-Russian government.
In California, we may at last see a resolution, at least for now, of the state’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. It won’t be a final resolution, of course, as a variety of gimmicks will still be used.
A great deal of time has been wasted since the failure of the May 19th special election initiatives on proposals that could never pass, due to political and constitutional realities.
Various budget details are being worked out, reportedly, as they always are. When there’s a resolution, assuming there is this week, I’ll go into them.
In the meantime, let’s consider those details to be what Star Trek writers call “Tech the tech.” The technobabble in some Star Trek scripts was so high — with techno-solutions employed to bridge the predictable arc of the story — that writers literally would write “tech the tech.” The show’s science advisors would then invent some technobabble and insert it for the show’s characters to say.
Oh, and the unexciting 2010 governor’s race continues, with former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, not yet announced, far ahead of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on all relevant measures in the Democratic “race” and super-rich GOP hopefuls Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner engaged in intermittent sniping in various directions.
The American soldier captured by the Taliban last month during his off-hours in Afghanistan surfaced over the weekend in a Taliban propaganda video.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9:45 AM, Obama attends a White House roundtable with health care providers.
At 12:05 PM, he delivers brief remarks on health care reform.
At 10:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Church of Latter-Day Saints President Thomas Monson in the Oval Office. Reid is the highest ranking Mormon in the government.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama meets with the Apollo 11 Crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins — and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
They will commemorate today’s 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon.
The three famed astronauts will urge a manned mission to Mars, perhaps in concert with Russia.
The current NASA plan is to establish a lunar base.
At 12 PM Pacific, Obama will participate in a credentialing ceremony for foreign ambassadors in the East Room of the White House.
Obama is pushing hard on universal health care legislation now moving though the Congress.
He’s also monitoring several international crises, including Friday’s terrorist bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, a city in which he lived as a boy. Islamic jihadists have taken credit for the act, which so far has claimed nine lives.
The American soldier missing since last month in Afghanistan, whom the Taliban claimed they had captured after finding him drunk, surfaced over the weekend in a Taliban propaganda video. The US decried the act as a violation of international law, apparently holding the out-of-power Taliban to the same standard as a government.
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.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the midst of a trip to India.
The Indian government has thrown on extra security for Clinton’s visit. Notwithstanding the Pakistani Army’s offensive against the Taliban, India still has grave concerns about Pakistani-fostered jihadists wreaking havoc in India. Following Clinton’s visit, the head of the Indian armed forces comes to the US for six days.
Today Clinton signed two trade pacts with her Indian counterpart. One allows US companies to sell nuclear reactors to India. The other allows the US to institute safeguards to attempt to ensure that sensitive technology in US weapons sold to India is not transferred to third parties.
** 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 meeting of Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, scheduled since Saturday morning for 6 PM Sunday in the Governor’s Office, didn’t take place. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said yesterday afternoon that she was unable to make it before 8 PM.
So the group is slated to meet today, perhaps to finalize a resolution to the latest iteration of the state’s fiscal crisis, this one occasioned by revenues falling through the floor due to the global economic crisis and the state’s volatile revenue structure.
We’ll see.
** 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.
Human rights icon and African revolutionary Nelson Mandela, who fought for decades against South Africa’s apartheid system and stepped down as its president 10 years ago, celebrated his 91st birthday on Saturday. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who spent 27 years in prison, continues to speak out around the world.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama returned to the White House this morning from Camp David. He has no scheduled public events today.
Vice President Joe Biden departs this evening for Ukraine and Georgia, two formerly essential components of the late Soviet Union.
He is checking out the scene in Georgia, which was smashed last summer by Russia after its leaders foolishly invaded the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia now has de facto control of much the country, which borders Russia and has been seeking NATO membership as a staunch ally of the Bush/Cheney White House.
Biden is doing the same in Ukraine, another country bordering Russia which has been seeking NATO membership. Ukraine has been less obvious in baiting the Russian bear, not counting the Orange Revolution which brought a pro-American politician to the presidency and conflicts with Russia over its supply of natural gas. Ukrainian politics has lately been slanting back towards Russia.
UPDATE: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has cancelled his Sunday schedule in Sacramento. There is no Big 5 meeting to resolve California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarznegger has no scheduled public events today.
He holds private discussions in and around the Capitol, mostly focused on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis, and late this afternoon is scheduled to reconvene the Big 5 meeting process with legislative leaders on the budget crisis.
A resolution is reportedly close at hand.
Walter Cronkite, the quintessential news anchor, died Friday evening in New York at the age of 92.
** AND THAT’S THE WAY IT WAS … Walter Cronkite, the archetype of a passing paradigm, died late yesterday in New York at the age of 92. As anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, he was the most trusted voice in journalism in a time when that meant a great deal.
Americans read newspapers in the morning and watched one of three network news broadcasts in the evening. It was a more sedate and focused time, and Cronkite was the exemplar of a definitive brand of journalism, so much so that he signed off at the end of every half-hour evening broadcast with his trademark: “And that’s the way it is.”
Today, of course, the media culture is highly fragmented. Newspapers are declining and to a large extent eclipsed. Few wait around till 6 PM to see what’s on “the nightly news.”
Actually, I can’t remember the last time I watched a broadcast network nightly newscast, the program mode that once defined what the news was.
No one had more news authority, yet authority in an approachable sense, than Walter Cronkite. Unlike today’s news readers, Cronkite was a skilled journalist. Born in St. Joseph Missouri, a place best known as the eastern terminus of the Pony Express, Cronkite moved with his family to Houston at the age of 10. He dropped out of the University of Texas to work for a Houston newspaper, cutting his eyeteeth covering Texas politics before joining the United Press news service.
With notable stints in radio (including live broadcasts of football games based on brief wire service reports, an experience he shared with Ronald Reagan) interspersed in his early career, Cronkite covered a variety of things before becoming a notable World War II correspondent. He parachuted into action with the 101st Airborne Division, flew B-17 bombing missions, during which he manned a machine gun against Nazi fighters, and was in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge, in which the Nazis came close to reversing the post-D-Day course of the war.
After covering the Nuremberg war crimes trials and reporting from Moscow during the early days of the Cold War, Cronkite was recruited for CBS by the legendary Edward R. Murrow in 1950.
In 1952, Cronkite became a star with this newfangled television thing, anchoring the CBS coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions. In fact, the very term “anchor” was invented to describe what Cronkite did at those conventions. He continued anchoring the network’s election night coverage and political party conventions through 1980.
In 1962, Cronkite became the anchor of the CBS Evening News, bringing many of the most iconic events of recent history — the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil rights movement, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, the space program and first landing on the Moon, the Watergate scandal, wars in the Middle East, the rise of Ronald Reagan — into America’s homes.
When Cronkite turned against the Vietnam War, it was a major event. In this decade, while in an active retirement, he warned against the Iraq War.
Could he have the impact today that he had in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s?
Almost certainly not. The media culture is far more fragmented today. TV news is driven by cable news channels, which have much smaller audiences. And cable is being superceded by the Internet. As cable news becomes more infotainment and partisan shoutfest, I watch it far less, getting my information from a variety of feeds and sources utilizing the net, as well as the old-fashioned way of using my newfangled phone.
Cronkite decried what’s happening with cable news. But he would have needed a vehicle, which a big broadcast network can still provide.
But nothing can deliver the audience that he once commanded. The days of that sort of media dominance have been totally undone by technology.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama again pushes the health care reform legislation moving through Congress.
** 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.
At 8 AM Pacific, he departed for Camp David.
He’s expected to return to the White House on Sunday.
Obama is pushing hard on universal health care legislation now moving though the Congress.
He’s also monitoring several international crises, including yesterday’s terrorist bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, a city in which he lived as a boy. Islamic jihadists have taken credit for the act, which so far has claimed nine lives.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also spoke out about the Jakarta terror bombings. She is in India on a five-day visit. Today she is in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital and site of a terrorist siege by Islamic jihadists last Thanksgiving. There she visited the hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace, that was hit hard in the jihadist strike.
The Indian government is throwing on extra security for Clinton’s visit. Notwithstanding the Pakistani Army’s offensive against the Taliban, India still has grave concerns about Pakistani-fostered jihadists wreaking havoc in India. Following Clinton’s visit, the head of the Indian armed forces comes to the US for six days.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, has completed four days of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nothing has happened to derail her confirmation as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, and a few Republicans have come on board as supporters.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today. He will have private discussions on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger and the other Big 5 legislative leaders met last night and reportedly made progress.
They are scheduled to meet again at 6 PM on Sunday. In the meantime, staff will work on bill language.
The emerging agreement apparently does not include the Democratic proposal that all cuts/deferrals in Prop 98-mandated education funding be repaid, focusing only on the present situation.
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd 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 last July 11th, crude oil closed on Friday at $63.56 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $30 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program.
President Barack Obama presents highlights of his visit last week to Moscow. While China is the alternative financial power on the planet, Russia is the alternative great power in a geopolitical sense.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama scheduled another prime time press conference for next Wednesday, at 6 PM Pacific. This is part of his full-court press on universal health care. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a Big 5 meeting with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders for 4 PM today on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. It’s the first such session since negotiations stalled over education funding a couple days ago. … Obama will host the Apollo 11 astronauts at the White House on Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon.
** CALIFORNIA’S OWN NANCY PELOSI IS STILL DOWN IN NATIONAL POLLING.According to the new Gallup Poll, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco is still down amongst most Americans in the wake of her controversy over what the CIA supposedly told her about torture. 48% view her unfavorably, while only 32% view her favorably.
That may change, with new reports of CIA lying to Congress coming out this week. But not yet.
Pelosi’s image in the latest Gallup Poll, conducted July 10-12, is little different from her image in May, when 34% of Americans viewed her favorably and 50% unfavorably. Pelosi’s ratings turned more negative than positive between November 2008 and May 2009, spanning the controversy over what she knew and when she knew it regarding the CIA’s use of waterboarding as a coercive interrogation technique. Even though that controversy has died down, her image has not recovered to date.
As seen in May, a bare majority of Democrats view Pelosi favorably, but Republicans as well as independents have mostly unfavorable views. In May, Gallup reported that the decline in Pelosi’s ratings seen at that point was the result of lower favorability from Republicans and independents, with little change in Democrats’ views. Since then, Republican favorability toward Pelosi has increased slightly, from 9% in May to 14% today, while the percentage of Democrats viewing her favorably has declined from 62% to 55%, its lowest point since she ascended to the speakership.
The decline in Pelosi’s standing amongst Democrats is due to moderates drifting away from her, a common phenomenon in national security controversies.
** AMERICANS STILL POSITIVE ABOUT AFGHANISTAN, THINK IRAQ WAS A MISTAKE. With casualties mounting in Afghanistan though still relatively light, as anticipated, a new Gallup Poll shows continuing support for the Afghan War. But the Iraq War is judged to have been a mistake, even though most think things are going well there now, with US combat forces withdrawn from the cities and towns.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans say U.S. involvement in Iraq was a mistake, contrasted with 36% who say involvement in Afghanistan was a mistake. Americans’ views of the way things are going in each war are roughly the same — 56% say Iraq is going well for the U.S., while 54% say this about Afghanistan.
** REPUBLICANS FOR SOTOMAYOR. Republican Senators Mel Martinez of Florida and Olympia Snowe of Maine have joined Indiana’s Richard Lugar in formally committing to vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a US Supreme Court justice.
** UPDATE: President Barack Obama will speak on the progress of universal health care at 12:15 PM Pacific at the White House. He is also meeting privately today with several senators, including conservative Democrats Birch Bayh of Indiana and Kent Conrad of North Dakota.
** NEVADA UNEMPLOYMENT SKYROCKETS. One of the persistent tropes of California’s far right, and of those pols who desperately seek its blessing such as ex-eBay CEO and McCain and Romney campaign co-chair Meg Whitman, is that Nevada is prospering because of California’s regulation and taxation. But the truth is that Nevada, the name of which Whitman has consistently mispronounced, has a tanking economy.
Nevada’s unemployment rate shot up to 12% last month, much higher than that of California. Actually, the tarnished Golden State, notwithstanding its obvious woes, does not have one of the highest unemployment rates in the West.
Speaking with the Las Vegas Sun, Anderson (director of Nevada’s employment department) said, “There is some sentiment that the U.S. economy may be near the bottom of the recession. Unfortunately May brought with it news suggesting that economic conditions in Nevada remain extremely weak.”
He said employment historically is a lagging indicator of the economy’s health.
“Hence, when a recovery does take hold in Nevada, labor market conditions will likely not respond immediately. This recession has hit the state extremely hard.”
flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″> President Barack Obama addressed the NAACP convention in New York City last night on the organization’s 100th anniversary, noting that civil rights leaders paved the way for his election.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has no scheduled public events today.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama is meeting now with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden have a working lunch in the White House.
Obama and Biden are pushing hard behind the scenes on universal health care, which is moving in both houses of Congress.
Legislation passed the House Ways and Means Committee early today.
Obama released a statement decrying the terrorist bombing of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, a city in which he lived as a boy. Islamic jihadists have taken credit for the act, which so far has claimed nine lives.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also released a statement about the Jakarta terror bombings. She is off to India today. She will be in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital and site of a terrorist siege by Islamic jihadists last Thanksgiving. The Indian government is throwing on extra security for Clinton’s visit.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, has completed four days of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nothing has happened to derail her confirmation as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, a prominent Republican (and Obama friend), announced that he will vote to confirm Sotomayor and some other Republicans, such as South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, John McCain’s buddy, are expected to follow.
San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays visited with President Obama earlier in the week as the two men flew to the All-Star Game on Air Force One.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy, who was quite good in his cameo in The Dark Knight, says that the committee will discuss Sotomayor’s confirmation next Tuesday, though the vote may take place later. The Senate is expected to confirm her before the August recess.
In Pakistan, refugees displaced by the Pakistani Army offensive against the Taliban continue to return home.
In Iran, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tehran today for the first time in more than a week before being dispersed by security forces. Infighting amongst the ruling elite continued today, with former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful insider cleric, delivering the weekly address at Friday prayers, urging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to review the presidential election results.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
The Big 5 of Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders did not meet as scheduled yesterday.
The reality is that they seem hung up, as usual, on matters relating to the Prop 98 education funding requirements. Democrats want billions in deferred/cut education spending to be spent in the future. But it’s unclear where that money comes from.
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, the former state attorney general and Democratic leader in the state Senate, said yesterday that the budget should be passed without dealing with the Prop 98 matter.
In other action, Schwarzenegger late yesterday appointed former Assemblyman Jerome Horton, an African American Democrat from the LA area, to the state Board of Equalization. The vacancy on the state’s tax board was created when Judy Chu was sworn in yesterday as the first Chinese-American member of Congress by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Chu handily won a special election to replace LA Congresswoman Hilda Solis, who is now President Obama’s secretary of labor.
** 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 new 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd 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.
Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon, launched 40 years ago today from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard. The moon landing took place on July 20, 1969.
** QUICK HITS. The American Medical Association today endorsed the universal health care bill championed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, LA Congressman Henry Waxman, and Bay Area Congressman George Miller now moving through the House of Representatives. … US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor went through another day of Senate confirmation hearings unscathed. The Senate Judiciary Committee vote on her confirmation is set for next Tuesday. … Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says he plans to put universal health care legislation on the Senate floor by the end of the month. … President Barack Obama raised about $1 million for embattled New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine in New York funders. … No progress today on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did not convene the Big 5 meeting with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders. Schwarzenegger is balking at new legislation pushed by Democrats to guarantee billions more in future education spending to make up for contemporary cuts/deferrals. Democratic state Treasurer Bill Lockyer agrees with Schwarzenegger that the budget should be passed without that additional legislation.
** NO REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTER AGAINST SOTOMAYOR (NO KIDDING!).Republican senators say they won’t filibuster Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination on the floor of the US Senate.
While that’s a sign that there may be some Republican votes for Sotomayor, the filibuster issue is largely moot, as Democrats now have 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, enough to block any filibuster attempt.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Sotomayor’s confirmation next Tuesday, with the full Senate expected to do so before the August recess.
Perhaps not surprisingly, any changes to the pension system now appear to be off the table in the current negotiations.
** ROMNEY LEADS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL RACE, WITH PALIN AND HUCKABEE CLOSE BEHIND.The new Gallup Poll shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as the early leader in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee are fairly close behind, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a solid fourth position. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (who polling shows would lose his own state to President Barack Obama in a landslide) and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour are much further back.
Here are the numbers: Romney 26%, Palin 21%, Huckabee 19%, Gingrich 14%, Pawlenty 3%, and Barbour 2%.
While Palin trails Romney in the current candidate preference test, she leads both him and Huckabee in terms of their respective favorable ratings among Republicans. Currently, 72% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have a favorable opinion of Palin, compared with 56% for Romney and 59% for Huckabee. But her lead on this measure largely reflects the fact that she is better known than the two former governors, given the substantially lower “no opinion” figures for her. Republicans rate each candidate more positively than negatively by better than 3-to-1 ratios.
However, Huckabee’s numbers among all Americans look better by comparison. Although each GOP contender receives a similar favorable rating from the American public — 43% for Palin, 37% for Romney, and 42% for Huckabee — Huckabee’s negatives are lower. As a result, his +19 net favorable score is much better than Romney’s +8 and Palin’s -2. …
Though it is little over a year since the 2008 GOP primaries, Americans’ opinions of Romney and Huckabee have changed significantly. Notably, each seems to have lost a significant share of the public familiarity he built up during the campaign. There has been a double-digit increase in the percentage of Americans who do not express either a positive or a negative opinion of both Romney and Huckabee.
However, the loss in familiarity may not be a bad thing, as the increase in “no opinion” has accompanied a corresponding drop in unfavorable ratings for each, with little change in their favorable ratings. Whereas Romney was viewed significantly more negatively than positively in February 2008, about the time he suspended his campaign, now on balance Americans view him more positively due to a 17-point drop in his unfavorable ratings.
Most Americans aren’t paying any attention to these candidates other than Palin. I think those negatives go back up when the spotlight shifts back to their personas and policies.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave what her aides billed as a major policy address on Wednesday, but said nothing that her boss, President Obama, hasn’t already said.
** 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. …
President Barack Obama visited Ghana on Saturday, saying that the 21st century won’t be determined only “in Rome, or Moscow, or Washington” but in Africa as well.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama pushes his health care plan again and is on the road again today.
He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, he meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Senator Ben Nelson Nebraska to discuss health care reform. Nelson is a conservative Democrat who has been balking on universal health care.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine to discuss health care reform. Snowe is a moderate Republican who has been balking on the issue.
At 10:25 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to New York City.
At 11:15 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in New York.
At 12:35 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a fundraiser for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. The former Wall Street mogul is down in the polls, trailing in his race for re-election this November.
The New Jersey governor’s race, along with the Virginia governor’s race, is one of two key off-year elections this year.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks to the NAACP’s 100th anniversary conference.
At 5:15 PM Pacific, Obama attends a Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner.
At 7:10 PM Pacific, he departs New York en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:15 PM Pacific, Obama is back at the White House.
Vice President Joe Biden is in Virginia today.
Biden holds a meeting of the Middle Class Task Force, which he chairs, in Alexandria.
Then he travels to Richmond, Virginia’s capital, where he will highlight successful elements of the economic recovery act at a community college.
In the evening, Biden appears with Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds, who is in a close race to succeed Governor Tim Kaine, the Democratic national chairman who is prevented by term limits from running again.
Deeds is the Virginia state senator who handily defeated longtime Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia Democratic primary.
Meanwhile, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, is back on Capitol Hill for a fourth day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nothing has happened to derail her confirmation as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger held a Big 5 meeting with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders from 4:30 PM to 10 PM, with an hour dinner break.
Yesterday’s Big 5 meeting started three hours late.
The leaders will reconvene today, but when I do not know.
Big 5 negotiations between Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders began again late Friday afternoon, continued over the weekend, took a break Monday for staff consultation, then continued Tuesday and Wednesday.
Progress is reportedly being made, but we’ve been down that road before. The reality is that they seem hung up, as usual, on matters relating to the Prop 98 education funding requirements. Democrats want billions in deferred/cut education spending to be spent in the future. But it’s unclear where that money comes from.
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd 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.
This is up about $27 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
The New York stock exchange, like international markets earlier, rallied today on the strength of rising microchip sales for California-based Intel and higher corporate earnings.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … HILLARY’S BACK! (SORT OF).
** QUICK HITS. US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor completed a third day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee with no miscues. On her part. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, a very conservative Republican, did preface a question with a stereotypical Ricky Ricardo impression: “Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do.” The GOP has a decided tin ear, needless to say. … US and NATO casualties in Afghanistan for the first half of July have, as expected, already equaled the bloodiest month there since 9/11 due to the Obama-ordered offensive against the Taliban. 46 US and allied troops have died so far this month. A high number for Afghanistan. A low number for a war. … No real news on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis today. The Big 5 meeting started late, but there’s been little sniping. … The California Democratic Party is trying a legal move to get Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s TV ad on the budget crisis off the air, on the grounds that he is not promoting either his own candidacy or an initiative. … San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, trailing badly in his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against his family’s patron, former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, appointed state Senator Alex Padilla of LA as his campaign chairman in an attempt to get some traction in Southern California and with Latinos. But Padilla is a very mixed bag with both. … Two Californians, former state Treasurer Phil Angelides and former Central Valley Congressman Bill Thomas (a Democrat and a Republican), were named today as co-chairs of the Congressional commission probing the nation’s financial meltdown. The report is due on December 15, 2010. Angelides, the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, lost by 17 points to Schwarzenegger.
** BROWN AND FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION GO AFTER ALLEGED MAJOR MORTGAGE FRAUD ARTISTS. At a press conference and media conference call today in Los Angeles, former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown and Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz announced that they are suing 14 corporations and 21 individuals for allegedly ripping off homeowners desperately seeking mortgage relief.
Since the housing collapse, hundreds of loan modification and foreclosure-prevention companies have cropped up, charging thousands of dollars in upfront fees and claiming that they can help to reduce mortgage payments. Yet, loan modifications of significance are rarely, if ever, obtained. Less than 1% of homeowners receive principal reductions of any kind.
“The loan modification industry is teeming with confidence men and charlatans, who rip off desperate homeowners facing foreclosure,” Brown said. “Despite firm promises and money-back guarantees, these scam artists pocketed thousands of dollars from each victim and didn’t provide an ounce of relief.”
The suits were filed in Los Angeles and Orange County, which Federal Trade Commission chairman Leibowitz described as one of the national centers of this deceptive industry.
Leibowitz, former chief counsel to the US Senate anti-trust subcommittee, was appointed by President Barack Obama as head of the FTC in March.
He praised Brown as the best attorney general in the country on the mortgage crisis and described him as an important ally of the Obama Administration on pharmaceutical issues.
President Barack Obama, speaking at the same time as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ballyhooed major address, pushed hard on a universal health care reform plan to avoid further economic instability.
“This progress should make us hopeful, but it can’t make us complacent,” said Obama, as he pressed for congressional action before the August recess.
The midday event was meant to highlight nurses’ support for the kind of comprehensive revamp Obama says is necessary to ensure the country’s fiscal health and save American businesses and families millions of dollars in rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
The president stressed the cost savings an overhaul would bring, while repeating his assurances that those who like their health-care provider and their plan would be able to keep them, even though the government cannot force companies to continue to provide the plans they provide now.
He used the recent progress in Congress — the House proposal introduced yesterday and a Senate Health Committee proposal introduced today — to say Washington was “now closer to the goal of health reform than we have ever been.” Both proposals would include a public option.
What was interesting about Obama’s remarks, in addition to the ongoing health care push, was that they came at the same time that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was giving what her aides touted as her major address on American’s foreign policy at the very time that Obama appeared in the Rose Garden. The White House released formal text for Obama about 10 minutes after Clinton’s speech began.
President Barack Obama, accompanied by San Francisco Giants Hall of Famer Willie Mays, attended the Major League All-Star Game last night and threw out the first pitch.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is receiving his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He is appearing on various morning TV shows discussing health care reform.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on health care reform in the Rose Garden.
At 12:10 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
Before their meeting with Gates, Biden meets with General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command.
In the evening, Biden hosts a dinner for freshmen House members at the Naval Observatory, his vice presidential residence.
Hillary Clinton’s “3 AM” attack ad against Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries. Now Secretary of State Clinton, overshadowed by President Obama on geopolitics and slowed by elbow surgery, gives a resurfacing speech today.
While Obama is speaking on health care, the White House focus of the day, in the Rose Garden, Clinton will be giving what is billed as a major address to a Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington.
Meanwhile, Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is in her third day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in the Middle East for another day, conferring with Gulf Arab leaders, talking up better news on tech orders and saying the US wants to work with them on developing a stronger financial framework. The six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, taken together, are America’s second largest creditor behind China, as well as a source, through sovereign wealth funds, of massive investment in US banks and industry.
And Energy Secretary Steve Chu is in Beijing, where the Nobel Prize-winning physicist is challenging China to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger swears in new members of the state’s nursing board at 11:45 AM, makes some remarks, and then takes questions from the press.
Schwarzenegger just fired most members of the board, mostly appointed by him, after revelations by Pro Publica and the Los Angeles Times that the board was lax in disciplining problem nurses. The deeper problem may lie with the board’s staff, the director having been in place since early in the Pete Wilson Administration.
Most questions are expected to be on the state’s budget crisis.
On that front, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders met from late yesterday afternoon till just before midnight. They are scheduled to begin meeting again at 1:30 PM today.
Big 5 negotiations between Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders began again late Friday afternoon, continued over the weekend, took a break Monday for staff consultation, then continued yesterday.
Progress is reportedly being made, but we’ve been down that road before.
** 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. …
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd 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.
This is up about $27 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, cast her controversial comment that “a wise Latina” can make a better judge as a matter of diversity.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … HILLARY RETURNS! (SORT OF).
** QUICK HITS. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor took some flak from Republcans on the Senate Judiciary Committee today but passed through without any new controversy or real damage. The hearing continues tomorrow. … With talks continuing behind closed doors, no public progress today in California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. But no sniping, either. The issues are as they always are. How much to cut where, how sacrosanct eduction spending is, whether to raid local government or find cuts and gimmicks elsewhere, and so on. While all this drags on, California’s bond rating got another downgrade. … Meanwhile, a big natural gas pipeline project, the Nabucco project, designed to diversify Europe away from its dependence on Russia is running into predictable big problems. … Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, overshadowed in her new role, delivers a major address tomorrow. I’ll explain.
** BIG NEW CONGRESSIONAL HEALTH CARE PLAN. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other Californians in Congress, like LA’s Henry Waxman and the San Francisco Bay Area’s George Miller, today revealed the big new health care bill Pelosi intends to pass this month in the House of Representatives. It’s a $1.5 trillion plan that for the first time would make health care a right and a responsibility for all Americans, with medical providers, employers and the wealthiest picking up most of the tab.
The federal government would be responsible for ensuring that every person, regardless of income or the state of their health, has access to an affordable insurance plan. Individuals and employers would have new obligations to get coverage, or face hefty penalties.
Health care overhaul is President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority, and his goal is to slow rising costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.
Democratic leaders said they would push the measure through committee and toward a vote in the full House by month’s end, while the pace of activity quickened on the other side of the Capitol. …
The liberal-leaning plan lacked figures on total costs, but a House Democratic aide said the total bill would add up to about $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private calculations. Most of the bill’s costs come in the last five years after the 2012 presidential election.
The legislation calls for a 5.4 percent tax increase on individuals making more than $1 million a year, with a gradual tax beginning at $280,000 for individuals. Employers who don’t provide coverage would be hit with a penalty equal to 8 percent of workers’ wages with an exemption for small businesses. Individuals who decline an offer of affordable coverage would pay 2.5 percent of their incomes as a penalty, up to the average cost of a health insurance plan.
And it has the so-called “public option” for a real national health service.
Ensign, a family values conservative, had been chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and a dark horse hopeful for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. But he resigned his party leadership post in the wake of revelations.
This is probably not a good idea on Ensign’s part, as this report from today’s Las Vegas Sun may make clear.
Discomfort over the Ensign affair escalated last week after the senator disclosed that his parents had paid $96,000 to the family of Cynthia Hampton, the campaign staffer with whom Ensign had the affair.
She and her husband, Doug Hampton, one of the senator’s top aides, had both left the senator’s employment around the time of the payment in April 2008.
The affair has drawn in Ensign’s colleagues, including Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a housemate in the Christian home they share in Washington. Mark Sanford, the South Carolina governor who recently admitted an affair with an Argentine woman, has said he sought counseling with those from the C Street house.
In a televised interview last week with Sun columnist Jon Ralston, Doug Hampton said Ensign paid his wife more than $25,000 in severance — a sum that raised alarm because it was not reported, as would have been required, on campaign disclosure statements.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, is in her second day of Senate confirmation hearings.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama has a day mostly focused on travel, to Middle America. He does a major economic stimulus event in hard-hit Michigan and throws out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, appearing later on the broadcast during the game.
He has already held one-on-one and extended meetings with Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands in the Oval Office.
At 7:50 AM Pacific, Obama receives his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
At 8:05 AM Pacific, Obama receives his daily economic briefing in the Oval Office.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 10:30 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
At 12:40 PM Pacific, he delivers remarks on community colleges at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan. Obama has a $12 billion initiative on community colleges, which can be a prime source of training and re-education for a changing workforce.
At 2 PM Pacific, Obama departs Mt. Clemens, Michigan en route to St. Louis, Missouri.
At 3:25 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in St. Louis.
At 5:35 PM Pacific, Obama throws out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis.
Obama will appear on the All-Star Game broadcast sometime between the third and fifth innings.
At 7 PM Pacific, Obama departs St. Louis, Missouri en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:55 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base.
At 9:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives back at the White House.
Meanwhile, Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is in her second day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
And Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in the Middle East, conferring with Gulf Arab leaders, reassuring them about the Obama Administration’s economic moves and talking up International Monetary Fund forecasts which have been revised upward for the second half of 2009 and for 2010.
The six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, taken together, are America’s second largest creditor behind China, as well as a source, through sovereign wealth funds, of massive investment in US banks and industry.
American troops in Afghanistan are setting up security arrangements for the national election on August 20th.
As he travels today, Obama will also be monitoring a number of geopolitical crises and situations:
In Afghanistan, where his Marine offensive in the south of the country is going well, with light casualties, pushing the Taliban back from positions in which they’d become entrenched. US forces are also fanning out around the country to lay the security groundwork for the country’s election on August 20th.
In Iran, where protests against the June 12 presidential election outcome have mostly abated.
In Pakistan, where refugees displaced by the Pakistani Army offensive, urged by Obama, against the Pakistani Taliban are beginning to return to their homes in the Swat Valley and elsewhere.
In North Korea, where a belligerent Pyongyang has been quiet of late following its fizzled challenge to the US on the 4th of July.
And in Russia, where reaction is still emerging to last week’s Moscow Summit. The Russian media seems mostly positive about Obama and relations with the US, but the proposed anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic continues to be a point of major contention.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
He has no scheduled public events today.
Big 5 negotiations between Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders began again late Friday afternoon, continued over the weekend, took a break Monday for staff consultation, and will continue today.
Progress is reportedly being made, but we’ve been down that road before.
** 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. …
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd 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.
This is up about $27 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged during this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor that, “barring a complete meltdown,” she will be confirmed.
** QUICK HITS.No problems emerged today for Judge Sonia Sotomayor in her first day of Senate confirmation hearings as President Barack Obama’s first appointee to the US Supreme Court. Which should be no surprise. The only problem was not for Sotomayor or Obama but new New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Hillary Clinton’s appointed replacement), who rattled on so long in her co-introductory remarks for Sotomayor that committee chairman Pat Leahy had to cut her off. … It was a quiet day in California’s chronic-turned chaotic budget crisis. Talks are continuing but not in Big 5 mode as staffers reportedly are working on what was discussed late Friday and over the weekend. The sniping abated as well, except for an AFSCME claim early this morning that private contractors constitute $34 billion in state government waste. … For his part, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut a 60-second TV spot that will air tomorrow around the state talking about all the budget plans he won’t sign.
** BOXER ON TARGET. While Democrats go after ex-Hewlett Packard CEO and 2010 Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina for not registering her business and foundation with the state, and the far right Flash Report slams her and boosts far right Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore for the nomination, incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer is on target in her re-election campaign.
Boxer will report having more than $5.4 million in her campaign warchest on July 15th. She raised nearly $1.5 million in the past quarter. She has over 35,000 contributors.
At this point in her last election cycle, in mid-2003, Boxer had significantly less cash on hand, some $3.2 million, and went on to a landslide re-election victory the following year.
As the Senate begins its confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor Monday, a new Gallup Poll finds Americans in favor of her winning Senate approval, by 53% to 33%. Since late May, shortly after her nomination was announced, the percentage in favor of her confirmation has changed little, but the percentage opposed has increased as the percentage with no opinion has gone down.
These results are based on a July 10-12 Gallup Poll, conducted in the final days before the hearings began. The 53% in favor of Sotomayor’s confirmation is in line with those for recent nominees who won confirmation, including Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Clarence Thomas, all of whose pre-hearing ratings were near 50%. It is higher than those of two nominees — Robert Bork and Harriet Miers — whose nominations were withdrawn or were defeated by the Senate.
There is not much evidence to suggest that Senate hearings change public support for Supreme Court nominees to a large degree. Gallup took readings for Alito and Roberts immediately before, and upon completion of, their Senate hearings. Support for Alito’s confirmation rose only slightly, from 49% to 54% in January 2006. Likewise, the needle barely moved (from 58% to 60%) after Roberts’ confirmation hearings in September 2005.
This lack of movement was true even in the case of Thomas, whose hearings attracted national attention after accusations that he had sexually harassed a former colleague. From the initial measurement in July 1991, shortly after his nomination was announced, until immediately before the Senate vote that made him a Supreme Court justice in October 1991, the percentage of Americans in favor of confirming Thomas to the Court did not vary much, ranging only between 52% and 58%. During this time, opposition to Thomas did increase, but only to as high as 30%.
President Barack Obama addressed the parliament of Ghana and many other guests on Saturday.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
A consequential week in presidential politics and in California politics.
President Barack Obama, back from a week of summiteering in Russia, Italy, and Ghana, focuses in this week on his universal health care plan, the low-speed economic recovery, Middle East peace, and the confirmation of his Supreme Court appointee. And in California, a resolution to the state’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis may be in the offing, though a plan for long-term reform of the tangled tax code, expected this week, may get hung up. What a surprise.
On health care reform, it looks likely that Obama will have to forego the bipartisan approach. Not a surprise there. But he also has problems with a number of more conservative Democrats, who don’t want the so-called “public option,” i.e., the development of a parallel genuine national health service. If Obama is to meet his goal of passage in both houses by the August recess, he will need to take control of this from his allies in Congress, else the issue will drift.
Obama made it clear in his weekend video/radio address that he is not planning a second big economic recovery package. (Which also, presumably, made it clear to diehards in California that he will not bail out the state budget, which would leave things as they are.)
But the White House is focused on ramping up the existing economic stimulus as much as possible, though most of the spending is more backloaded.
While Obama was summiting last week with Russian and G-8 leaders and delivering a tough love address in Africa, his emissaries were meeting with Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab leaders to kick-start the Middle East peace process. At particular issue? An agreement on settlements by conservative Jewish religionists in the West Bank.
Obama is likely to have a simpler time of it, well, not just likelier, with his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The Republicans may be ready to fold on Sotomayor, whose Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings got underway early this morning in Washington and are likely to span the week.
In California, without presenting too many burdensome details that have been trotted out in vain many times before, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders say they are closing in on a resolution to the state’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Adding to a sense of some urgency is the fact that banks stopped accepting the state’s IOUs on Friday. The last time IOUs were issued, in 1992, the impasse went on for two months past the deadline.
But as former Governor Gray Davis, then the state’s controller issuing the IOUs, noted recently, the difference is that San Francisco-based Bank of America, a longtime mainstay of the California economy, was horning the IOUs. Now BofA is part of a conglomerate based out-of-state, its Californian heritage a thing of the past.
One major reason for the state’s chronic fiscal woes is a goofy boom/bust revenue structure that is too geared to the fortunes of very high-income Californians, as well as an old industrial economic model. But a tax revision commission expected to come up with a proposal on Thursday may not come through.
Why? Partisan disagreement, naturally. One mistake of would-be reformers from the more conservative side of the spectrum is to flatten the income tax while broadening it.
It should be clear that lowering taxes for the wealthy while raising them for the middle class is a political non-starter. The top rate cannot go down.
Oh, and the 2010 California gubernatorial race, naturally, goes on. On the Democratic side, it’s a very one-sided contest between former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, who has described Brown as essentially the greatest thing since sliced bread.
On the Republican side, ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a national co-chair of the John McCain and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns, continues staffing up with PR specialists while answering few questions of her own. Super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner continues to take pot shots at Whitman and Brown, while former Silicon Valley Congressman Tom Campbell, who has little campaign money, will issue statements on the budget and tax revision.
The Mexican drug wars flared up yesterday with a round of attacks by drug cartels forces against police.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is back at work in the White House following his near week-long series of meetings and speeches in Russia, Italy, and Ghana.
Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He has just announced that Dr. Regina Benjamin, a family practitioner from Alabama who is African American, will be the new surgeon general of the United States.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama meets with the leaders of a dozen labor unions in the Roosevelt Room to discuss health care reform, the economy, and their proposed “card check” legislation to make it easier to unionize.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, he welcomes the Columbus Crew soccer team to the White House in the Rose Garden.
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at the Urban and Metropolitan Policy Roundtable in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Obama will also meet with Congressional leaders on health care reform.
He will also meet with leaders of major Jewish organizations.
Obama’s pick for the US Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, has her first day of confirmations hearings today before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senators are making an opening round of statements now. There are 12 Democrats and seven Republicans on the committee. That will last until around 10 AM.
Then New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand will introduce Sotomayor, at length, as you might suppose.
Around 10:30 AM Pacific, Sotomayor makes her own introductory remarks.
The actual questioning of Sotomayor by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee should begin on Tuesday and continue into Wednesday.
Outside witnesses testify on Thursday.
Unless Sotomayor trips up during the hearing, this looks like a relatively easy confirmation.
Obama is also monitoring a number of international situations, including a big outbreak of violence by drug cartel forces yesterday against Mexican police.
UPDATE: No Big 5 meeting today on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. Staffs are meeting to go over the details that have apparently been agreed on thusfar, as well as upcoming matters. The Big 5 will meet again tomorrow.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in in and aroud the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
He has no scheduled public events today.
Big 5 negotiations between Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders began again late Friday afternoon, continued over the weekend, and will continue today.
Progress is reportedly being made, but we’ve been down that road before.
** 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. …
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. … From my June 29th essay.
** 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.
This is up about $25 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha, toured a center of the African slave trade yesterday in Ghana.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … DIMINISHING RETURNS FROM OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING?
OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama and his family returned to the White House very early this morning following a flight on Air Force One from Accra, Ghana.
Obama has no scheduled public events today.
Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He phoned Judge Sonia Sotomayor, his pick for the US Supreme Court, to wish her luck in advance of her Senate confirmation hearings, which begin tomorrow.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, mostly focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger is holding more Big 5 discussions today with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders.
Atmospherics are again positive for a resolution, for what that’s worth, as we’ve heard a number of times before.
One major difference is that banks stopped accepting IOUs on Friday. In 1992, the last time the state government issued IOUs during a big budget stalemate, the San Francisco-based Bank of America accepted the IOUs throughout the impasse, as former Governor Gray Davis, then the state controller, recently recalled. But BofA, an historic mainstay of the California economy, since then was taken over by another, out-of-state, banking conglomerate.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama said that his economic recovery act has arrested the nation’s economic freefall and that his policies are setting the stage for a reworked economy.
** OBAMA’S ADDRESS TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT IN ACCRA, GHANA. (This is the fourth of four tentpole speeches on Obama’s new geopolitics, the first three addresses having taken place in Prague, Cairo, and Moscow. Transcript provided by the White House.)
THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there. (Laughter.)
Good afternoon, everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra and to speak to the representatives of the people of Ghana. (Applause.) I am deeply grateful for the welcome that I’ve received, as are Michelle and Malia and Sasha Obama. Ghana’s history is rich, the ties between our two countries are strong, and I am proud that this is my first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as President of the United States of America. (Applause.)
I want to thank Madam Speaker and all the members of the House of Representatives for hosting us today. I want to thank President Mills for his outstanding leadership. To the former Presidents — Jerry Rawlings, former President Kufuor — Vice President, Chief Justice — thanks to all of you for your extraordinary hospitality and the wonderful institutions that you’ve built here in Ghana.
I’m speaking to you at the end of a long trip. I began in Russia for a summit between two great powers. I traveled to Italy for a meeting of the world’s leading economies. And I’ve come here to Ghana for a simple reason: The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra, as well. (Applause.)
This is the simple truth of a time when the boundaries between people are overwhelmed by our connections. Your prosperity can expand America’s prosperity. Your health and security can contribute to the world’s health and security. And the strength of your democracy can help advance human rights for people everywhere.
So I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart; I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world — (applause) — as partners with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. That partnership must be grounded in mutual responsibility and mutual respect. And that is what I want to speak with you about today.
We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.
I say this knowing full well the tragic past that has sometimes haunted this part of the world. After all, I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family’s — (applause) — my family’s own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story.
Some you know my grandfather was a cook for the British in Kenya, and though he was a respected elder in his village, his employers called him “boy” for much of his life. He was on the periphery of Kenya’s liberation struggles, but he was still imprisoned briefly during repressive times. In his life, colonialism wasn’t simply the creation of unnatural borders or unfair terms of trade — it was something experienced personally, day after day, year after year.
My father grew up herding goats in a tiny village, an impossible distance away from the American universities where he would come to get an education. He came of age at a moment of extraordinary promise for Africa. The struggles of his own father’s generation were giving birth to new nations, beginning right here in Ghana. (Applause.) Africans were educating and asserting themselves in new ways, and history was on the move.
But despite the progress that has been made — and there has been considerable progress in many parts of Africa — we also know that much of that promise has yet to be fulfilled. Countries like Kenya had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s when I was born. They have badly been outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent.
In many places, the hope of my father’s generation gave way to cynicism, even despair. Now, it’s easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict. The West has often approached Africa as a patron or a source of resources rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage and nepotism in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is still a daily fact of life for far too many.
Now, we know that’s also not the whole story. Here in Ghana, you show us a face of Africa that is too often overlooked by a world that sees only tragedy or a need for charity. The people of Ghana have worked hard to put democracy on a firmer footing, with repeated peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections. (Applause.) And by the way, can I say that for that the minority deserves as much credit as the majority. (Applause.) And with improved governance and an emerging civil society, Ghana’s economy has shown impressive rates of growth. (Applause.)
This progress may lack the drama of 20th century liberation struggles, but make no mistake: It will ultimately be more significant. For just as it is important to emerge from the control of other nations, it is even more important to build one’s own nation.
So I believe that this moment is just as promising for Ghana and for Africa as the moment when my father came of age and new nations were being born. This is a new moment of great promise. Only this time, we’ve learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future. Instead, it will be you — the men and women in Ghana’s parliament — (applause) — the people you represent. It will be the young people brimming with talent and energy and hope who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.
Now, to realize that promise, we must first recognize the fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: Development depends on good governance. (Applause.) That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. That’s the change that can unlock Africa’s potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans.
As for America and the West, our commitment must be measured by more than just the dollars we spend. I’ve pledged substantial increases in our foreign assistance, which is in Africa’s interests and America’s interests. But the true sign of success is not whether we are a source of perpetual aid that helps people scrape by — it’s whether we are partners in building the capacity for transformational change. (Applause.)
This mutual responsibility must be the foundation of our partnership. And today, I’ll focus on four areas that are critical to the future of Africa and the entire developing world: democracy, opportunity, health, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.
First, we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments. (Applause.)
As I said in Cairo, each nation gives life to democracy in its own way, and in line with its own traditions. But history offers a clear verdict: Governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not.
This is about more than just holding elections. It’s also about what happens between elections. (Applause.) Repression can take many forms, and too many nations, even those that have elections, are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves — (applause) — or if police — if police can be bought off by drug traffickers. (Applause.) No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top — (applause) — or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. (Applause.) That is not democracy, that is tyranny, even if occasionally you sprinkle an election in there. And now is the time for that style of governance to end. (Applause.)
In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions are the key to success — strong parliaments; honest police forces; independent judges — (applause); an independent press; a vibrant private sector; a civil society. (Applause.) Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people’s everyday lives.
Now, time and again, Ghanaians have chosen constitutional rule over autocracy, and shown a democratic spirit that allows the energy of your people to break through. (Applause.) We see that in leaders who accept defeat graciously — the fact that President Mills’ opponents were standing beside him last night to greet me when I came off the plane spoke volumes about Ghana — (applause); victors who resist calls to wield power against the opposition in unfair ways. We see that spirit in courageous journalists like Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who risked his life to report the truth. We see it in police like Patience Quaye, who helped prosecute the first human trafficker in Ghana. (Applause.) We see it in the young people who are speaking up against patronage, and participating in the political process.
Across Africa, we’ve seen countless examples of people taking control of their destiny, and making change from the bottom up. We saw it in Kenya, where civil society and business came together to help stop post-election violence. We saw it in South Africa, where over three-quarters of the country voted in the recent election — the fourth since the end of Apartheid. We saw it in Zimbabwe, where the Election Support Network braved brutal repression to stand up for the principle that a person’s vote is their sacred right.
Now, make no mistake: History is on the side of these brave Africans, not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. (Applause.) Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. (Applause.)
Now, America will not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation. The essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its own destiny. But what America will do is increase assistance for responsible individuals and responsible institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance — on parliaments, which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition voices are heard — (applause); on the rule of law, which ensures the equal administration of justice; on civic participation, so that young people get involved; and on concrete solutions to corruption like forensic accounting and automating services — (applause) — strengthening hotlines, protecting whistle-blowers to advance transparency and accountability.
And we provide this support. I have directed my administration to give greater attention to corruption in our human rights reports. People everywhere should have the right to start a business or get an education without paying a bribe. (Applause.) We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don’t, and that is exactly what America will do.
Now, this leads directly to our second area of partnership: supporting development that provides opportunity for more people.
With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds the promise of a broader base of prosperity. Witness the extraordinary success of Africans in my country, America. They’re doing very well. So they’ve got the talent, they’ve got the entrepreneurial spirit. The question is, how do we make sure that they’re succeeding here in their home countries? The continent is rich in natural resources. And from cell phone entrepreneurs to small farmers, Africans have shown the capacity and commitment to create their own opportunities. But old habits must also be broken. Dependence on commodities — or a single export — has a tendency to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, and leaves people too vulnerable to downturns.
So in Ghana, for instance, oil brings great opportunities, and you have been very responsible in preparing for new revenue. But as so many Ghanaians know, oil cannot simply become the new cocoa. From South Korea to Singapore, history shows that countries thrive when they invest in their people and in their infrastructure — (applause); when they promote multiple export industries, develop a skilled workforce, and create space for small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs.
As Africans reach for this promise, America will be more responsible in extending our hand. By cutting costs that go to Western consultants and administration, we want to put more resources in the hands of those who need it, while training people to do more for themselves. (Applause.) That’s why our $3.5 billion food security initiative is focused on new methods and technologies for farmers — not simply sending American producers or goods to Africa. Aid is not an end in itself. The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating the conditions where it’s no longer needed. I want to see Ghanaians not only self-sufficient in food, I want to see you exporting food to other countries and earning money. You can do that. (Applause.)
Now, America can also do more to promote trade and investment. Wealthy nations must open our doors to goods and services from Africa in a meaningful way. That will be a commitment of my administration. And where there is good governance, we can broaden prosperity through public-private partnerships that invest in better roads and electricity; capacity-building that trains people to grow a business; financial services that reach not just the cities but also the poor and rural areas. This is also in our own interests — for if people are lifted out of poverty and wealth is created in Africa, guess what? New markets will open up for our own goods. So it’s good for both.
One area that holds out both undeniable peril and extraordinary promise is energy. Africa gives off less greenhouse gas than any other part of the world, but it is the most threatened by climate change. A warming planet will spread disease, shrink water resources, and deplete crops, creating conditions that produce more famine and more conflict. All of us — particularly the developed world — have a responsibility to slow these trends — through mitigation, and by changing the way that we use energy. But we can also work with Africans to turn this crisis into opportunity.
Together, we can partner on behalf of our planet and prosperity, and help countries increase access to power while skipping — leapfrogging the dirtier phase of development. Think about it: Across Africa, there is bountiful wind and solar power; geothermal energy and biofuels. From the Rift Valley to the North African deserts; from the Western coasts to South Africa’s crops — Africa’s boundless natural gifts can generate its own power, while exporting profitable, clean energy abroad.
These steps are about more than growth numbers on a balance sheet. They’re about whether a young person with an education can get a job that supports a family; a farmer can transfer their goods to market; an entrepreneur with a good idea can start a business. It’s about the dignity of work; it’s about the opportunity that must exist for Africans in the 21st century.
Just as governance is vital to opportunity, it’s also critical to the third area I want to talk about: strengthening public health.
In recent years, enormous progress has been made in parts of Africa. Far more people are living productively with HIV/AIDS, and getting the drugs they need. I just saw a wonderful clinic and hospital that is focused particularly on maternal health. But too many still die from diseases that shouldn’t kill them. When children are being killed because of a mosquito bite, and mothers are dying in childbirth, then we know that more progress must be made.
Yet because of incentives — often provided by donor nations — many African doctors and nurses go overseas, or work for programs that focus on a single disease. And this creates gaps in primary care and basic prevention. Meanwhile, individual Africans also have to make responsible choices that prevent the spread of disease, while promoting public health in their communities and countries.
So across Africa, we see examples of people tackling these problems. In Nigeria, an Interfaith effort of Christians and Muslims has set an example of cooperation to confront malaria. Here in Ghana and across Africa, we see innovative ideas for filling gaps in care — for instance, through E-Health initiatives that allow doctors in big cities to support those in small towns.
America will support these efforts through a comprehensive, global health strategy, because in the 21st century, we are called to act by our conscience but also by our common interest, because when a child dies of a preventable disease in Accra, that diminishes us everywhere. And when disease goes unchecked in any corner of the world, we know that it can spread across oceans and continents.
And that’s why my administration has committed $63 billion to meet these challenges — $63 billion. (Applause.) Building on the strong efforts of President Bush, we will carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS. We will pursue the goal of ending deaths from malaria and tuberculosis, and we will work to eradicate polio. (Applause.) We will fight — we will fight neglected tropical disease. And we won’t confront illnesses in isolation — we will invest in public health systems that promote wellness and focus on the health of mothers and children. (Applause.)
Now, as we partner on behalf of a healthier future, we must also stop the destruction that comes not from illness, but from human beings — and so the final area that I will address is conflict.
Let me be clear: Africa is not the crude caricature of a continent at perpetual war. But if we are honest, for far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.
These conflicts are a millstone around Africa’s neck. Now, we all have many identities — of tribe and ethnicity; of religion and nationality. But defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different tribe, or who worships a different prophet, has no place in the 21st century. (Applause.) Africa’s diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause for division. We are all God’s children. We all share common aspirations — to live in peace and security; to access education and opportunity; to love our families and our communities and our faith. That is our common humanity.
That is why we must stand up to inhumanity in our midst. It is never justified — never justifiable to target innocents in the name of ideology. (Applause.) It is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in wars. It is the ultimate mark of criminality and cowardice to condemn women to relentless and systemic rape. We must bear witness to the value of every child in Darfur and the dignity of every woman in the Congo. No faith or culture should condone the outrages against them. And all of us must strive for the peace and security necessary for progress.
Africans are standing up for this future. Here, too, in Ghana we are seeing you help point the way forward. Ghanaians should take pride in your contributions to peacekeeping from Congo to Liberia to Lebanon — (applause) — and your efforts to resist the scourge of the drug trade. (Applause.) We welcome the steps that are being taken by organizations like the African Union and ECOWAS to better resolve conflicts, to keep the peace, and support those in need. And we encourage the vision of a strong, regional security architecture that can bring effective, transnational forces to bear when needed.
America has a responsibility to work with you as a partner to advance this vision, not just with words, but with support that strengthens African capacity. When there’s a genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems — they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response.
And that’s why we stand ready to partner through diplomacy and technical assistance and logistical support, and we will stand behind efforts to hold war criminals accountable. And let me be clear: Our Africa Command is focused not on establishing a foothold in the continent, but on confronting these common challenges to advance the security of America, Africa, and the world. (Applause.)
In Moscow, I spoke of the need for an international system where the universal rights of human beings are respected, and violations of those rights are opposed. And that must include a commitment to support those who resolve conflicts peacefully, to sanction and stop those who don’t, and to help those who have suffered. But ultimately, it will be vibrant democracies like Botswana and Ghana which roll back the causes of conflict and advance the frontiers of peace and prosperity.
As I said earlier, Africa’s future is up to Africans. The people of Africa are ready to claim that future. And in my country, African Americans — including so many recent immigrants — have thrived in every sector of society. We’ve done so despite a difficult past, and we’ve drawn strength from our African heritage. With strong institutions and a strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and Lagos, Kigali, Kinshasa, Harare, and right here in Accra. (Applause.)
You know, 52 years ago, the eyes of the world were on Ghana. And a young preacher named Martin Luther King traveled here, to Accra, to watch the Union Jack come down and the Ghanaian flag go up. This was before the march on Washington or the success of the civil rights movement in my country. Dr. King was asked how he felt while watching the birth of a nation. And he said: “It renews my conviction in the ultimate triumph of justice.”
Now that triumph must be won once more, and it must be won by you. (Applause.) And I am particularly speaking to the young people all across Africa and right here in Ghana. In places like Ghana, young people make up over half of the population.
And here is what you must know: The world will be what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, and end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can — (applause) — because in this moment, history is on the move.
But these things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your future. And it won’t be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you every step of the way — as a partner, as a friend. (Applause.) Opportunity won’t come from any other place, though. It must come from the decisions that all of you make, the things that you do, the hope that you hold in your heart.
Ghana, freedom is your inheritance. Now, it is your responsibility to build upon freedom’s foundation. And if you do, we will look back years from now to places like Accra and say this was the time when the promise was realized; this was the moment when prosperity was forged, when pain was overcome, and a new era of progress began. This can be the time when we witness the triumph of justice once more. Yes we can. Thank you very much. God bless you. Thank you. (Applause.)
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha, is in Ghana today. He returns to Washington late in the day on Air Force One.
Following his daily intelligence briefing, Obama held a bilateral meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills at Christianborg Castle in Accra, Ghana.
He then attended an expanded breakfast with President Mills at Christianborg Castle in Accra, Ghana.
Barack and Michelle Obama then attended an event on maternal health at La General Hospital in Accra, Ghana.
Following that, Obama delivered the fourth of his major international addresses when he spoke to the Ghanaian Parliament at the Accra International Conference Center.
Obama discussed America’s relations with Africa in a new world framework, a major address following the others in the series in Prague, Cairo, and Moscow.
Barack and Michelle Obama then met with Head Chief Osabarima Kwesi Atta II.
At 8:15 AM Pacific, the Obama family tours the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.
This was one of the principal staging areas for the African slave trade. African slaves were kept in the dungeons there for weeks and months before being shipped out to America and Europe.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.
At 10:50 AM Pacific, the Obamas attend a departure ceremony at Kotoka International Airport.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, the Obamas depart Accra, Ghana en route to Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One.
Obama chose Ghana for his major African address because it is something of a beacon of democracy and economic development on the continent. In contrast to his father’s native Kenya.
Illinois Senator Roland Burris announced yesterday that he won’t run next year, removing a headache for the Obama Administration, but also making it inevitable that the U.S. Senate will have no African American members.
With Obama’s encouragement, the G-8 leaders agreed to provide $20 billion in food aid to Africa, mainly in development programs rather than cash which would otherwise likely end up in the pockets of corrupt regimes.
In contrast to his African venture, the G-8 summit looks like a disappointment. While leaders agreed to continue economic stimulus efforts, with the International Monetary Fund projecting a 1.4% contraction in the global economy this year (down slightly from the previous forecast), there’s still concern about continuing unemployment. Which is usually a lagging indicator of any recovery.
The more established industrial countries are at loggerheads with more recently industrializing countries on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. China and India are not on board. As a result, the more established powers agreed to a goal of cutting temperature rises but not specific targets in greenhouse gas reductions.
This means there is a great deal to be done prior to the big Copenhagen conference late this year on climate change.
While at the G-8 summit, Obama said he wants his universal health care plan passed by August. The administration has gained nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in savings to be applied to the plan through deals with the hospital and pharmaceuticals industries.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in in and aroud the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
He has no scheduled public events today.
The situation has devolved into a static storyline, with sniping but no alternative budget plan on the table.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass quietly returned to the Big 5 meeting process yesterday afternoon, with Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders meetings for a few hours.
** 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?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. … From my June 29th essay.
** 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 last July 11th, crude oil closed on Friday at $59.89 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $26 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
President Barack Obama met today in the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … DIMINISHING RETURNS FROM OBAMA’S SUMMITEERING?
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama’s buddy, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, announced today as the G-8 summit ended that if the proposed US anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe isn’t resolved to Moscow’s satisfaction by September, he will move offensive missiles into Kaliningrad, formerly the Prussian/German city of Konigsberg, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic. … Obama is in Ghana for a major address tomorrow. … With California Democrats going after former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorini, a potential challenger to Senator Barbara Boxer, the San Francisco Chronicle today reported that she failed to register her business and foundation with the state. Readers know I don’t take her very seriously as a rival for Boxer. … Former UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, now director of LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art, sued today to try to get the California Supreme Court to invalidate Prop 13 and its requirement for a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. His theory? That the famed initiative did not merely amend the state constitution, but revised it, meaning it needed to go through more of a process than mere adoption in a popular vote. The same theory was used by most gay marriage advocates recently, and quite unsuccessfully, in a challenge to the anti-gay marriage Prop 8. … No progress today in California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis, though there was some more sniping, fairly desultory in nature.SEIU is intimating it may stage a strike of state employees. That seems like a less than brilliant idea to me.
** A SOBERING REPORT FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE CONTROLLER. Democratic state Controller John Chiang released his monthly fiscal report this afternoon.
“California continues to pay for its history of unbalanced budgets. The State spent $10.4 billion more than it collected last year alone, and is now without enough cash to cover all of its payment obligations,” said Chiang.
“Our major sources of revenue have continued their trend downward, leaving no viable option but to craft a new budget that recognizes California’s recovery has yet to begin.”
Personal income taxes in June were $987 million below (-18.0%) estimates in the May Revision, and sales taxes were short by $154 million (-5.8%). Corporate taxes were $1.31 billion above estimates (41.2%). Corporate taxes in May and June were boosted by a surge of payments from corporate taxpayers hoping to avoid a new State penalty.
The State started the fiscal year with a $1.45 billion cash deficit, which grew to $11.9 billion on June 30, 2009. Borrowed money from special funds provided enough cash to fund State operations through June 30. The Controller faced a large cash shortfall at the end of July, forcing his office to begin issuing registered warrants or “IOUs” to any General Fund payment that was not protected by the State Constitution, federal law, or court decision. Without IOUs, the State would have run out of cash and begun missing those protected payments at the end of July.
While updated cash projections show that IOUs will preserve enough cash to make those protected payments through September, the cash shortfall in October will endanger the State’s ability to make those payments.
** NO EXODUS OF THE RICH FROM CALIFORNIA. The Public Policy Institute of California has a new report undermining the conservative argument that California’s high taxes (which are not actually that high) are driving the rich from California. In reality, says the PPIC survey, it’s the low income who are more likely to leave. Perhaps because of the unemployment situation.
Though the state’s population, biggest in the US, continues to grow, due to native births, more people are leaving California than arriving here. But there is disagreement as to how long that’s been going on. Some say it began at the beginning of the decade; others in the last few years. And the reasons are unclear. One reason may be that the state has an ever-growing population.
** PANETTA ACKNOWLEDGES PAST C.I.A. LYING TO CONGRESS: VINDICATION FOR PELOSI? CIA Director Leon Panetta has recently acknowledged several instances of lying by Central Intelligence Agency officials to Congress, perhaps providing the cover of vindication to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said in the spring that a CIA record showing that she was personally briefed in on the use of torture in interrogation was false. The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman of the time, Florida’s Bob Graham, supported Pelosi’s contention, saying that a similar CIA report about him was also false.
** BURRIS STEPS AWAY. Illinois Senator Roland Burris, the only African American in the US Senate, announced today that he will not seek election to the seat to which he was appointed late last year by then Governor Rod Blagojevich. At issue is President Barack Obama’s Senate seat, which Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell. He appointed Burris after the controversy erupted, and Burris was finally seated. However, Burris’s position became untenable once it was shown that he had agreed to raise money for Blagojevich as he sought the Senate appointment.
** BIPARTISAN HEALTH CARE REFORM COMING UP SHORT FOR OBAMA.ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, the former top Bill Clinton aide, reports that negotiations for a bipartisan universal health care plan are really going nowhere on Capitol Hill.
This makes it likely that Obama and the Democrats will go it alone in Congress. Not an issue in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said for weeks that she has the votes. But in the Senate, this will test the Democrats’ new 60-vote filibuster-proof majority.
Especially since on a Democrats-only health care bill, Obama will almost certainly include the so-called public option, which would allow Americans to opt for a true national health service.
President Barack Obama, wrapping up his participation in the G-8 summit today in Italy, said he’s pursuing his universal health care plan as a top priority.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama wrapped up his participation in the G-8 (group of eight advanced industrial nations) summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The time there is nine hours ahead of California.
He and First Lady Michelle Obama then went to Rome, and to Vatican City.
There they met with Pope Benedict XVI and toured the Vatican.
At 9 AM Pacific, they depart Rome for Accra, Ghana on Air Force One.
At 1:20 PM Pacific, they arrive in Accra, Ghana.
The time in Ghana is seven hours ahead of Ghana.
Obama will deliver a major address in Ghana on Saturday on America in relation to Africa and the Third World.
With Obama’s encouragement, the G-8 leaders agreed to provide $20 billion in food aid, mainly in development programs rather than cash which would otherwise likely end up in the pockets of corrupt regimes.
The G-8 summit does not appear to have been much of a success. While leaders agreed to continue economic stimulus efforts, with the International Monetary Fund projecting a 1.4% contraction in the global economy this year (down slightly from the previous forecast), there’s still concern about continuing unemployment. Which is usually a lagging indicator of any recovery.
The more established industrial countries are at loggerheads with more recently industrializing countries on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. China and India are not on board. As a result, the more established powers agreed to a goal of cutting temperature rises but not specific targets in greenhouse gas reductions.
This means there is a great deal to be done prior to the big Copenhagen conference late this year on climate change.
While at the G-8 summit, Obama said he wants his universal health care plan passed by August. The administration has gained nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in savings to be applied to the plan through deals with the hospital and pharmaceuticals industries.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is holding a roundtable with small business owners on health care.
A new, though much smaller, round of protests in Tehran is being forcibly dispersed by Iranian security troops.
And there was more disorder today in Iran, where perhaps a few thousand protesters turned out in various parts of Tehran on the day after the 10th anniversary of student protests. They are protesting the promptly declared landslide re-election of radical Islamist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The protesters were forcibly dispersed by Iranian security forces.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in Sacramento and Los Angeles, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
He has no scheduled public events today.
The situation has devolved into a static storyline, with sniping but no alternative budget plans on the table.
** 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 new column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. … From my June 29th essay.
** 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.
This is up about $26 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
President Barack Obama today discussed a G-8 agreement on climate change.
** QUICK HITS. The US has released, to Iraqi authorities, five Iranian “diplomats” captured in Iraq two years ago after purportedly causing a lot of trouble for American troops. The Iraqis will undoubtedly release them. The Obama Administration is continue to pursue its strategy of engagement with Iran. … House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to take up a resolution commemorating the life of pop superstar Michael Jackson. The City of Los Angeles is out about $1.4 million from Tuesday’s festivities. … No progress this afternoon in California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. No new sniping, either, other than what I wrote about earlier in the day. This is a static storyline. … Nevada Senator John Ensign’s parents acknowledged giving about $100,000 to the family of the staff member he had an affair with. Her husband had been one of the top aides to Ensign, a former Senate Republican leader and right-wing presidential hopeful.
** OBAMA BEHIND THE SMILE: SID BLUMENTHAL’S FATE. I’ve known Sidney Blumenthal for a long time. He was a prominent writer for the New Republic, then the New Yorker, and became deeply involved with the Clintons, promoting them heavily during Bill Clinton’s run for the presidency and after. He ended up as a senior advisor in the White House, working closely with Hillary Clinton. After the Clinton White House days, he wrote books and wrote for the Guardian, and with the Clintons.
As time passed, Blumenthal moved from being something of an ideologist to an attack dog. Among his targets were Jerry Brown in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries, George H.W. Bush in the 1992 general election, Bob Dole in the 1996 general election, and Barack Obama and John Edwards in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Blumenthal to a top position on her staff, as a counselor and messagemeister.
Hillary, incidentally, will give her first big speech as secretary of state next week, which I will cover in full.
** CALIFORNIA CRISIS UPDATE. At mid-day, there are no substantive developments on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis. There is, however, more sniping.
The California Teachers Association has produced a TV ad attacking Governor Arnold Schwarzengger for proposing the suspension of Prop 98, which locks up much of the state budget for education spending.
As fights go, this is a remarkably static one. No one has put forward a credible alternative — i.e., one that can actually be passed and that itself passes legal muster — to the budget proposed by Schwarzenegger. Which is not a budget that I like. But, following the failure of the special election initiatives, the situation is what it is. And absent a federal bailout, which is quite unlikely, Schwarzenegger’s budget, in one permutation or another, is the only thing on the table.
** GALLUP POLL: WIDESPREAD SUPPORT IN ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL NATIONS FOR ACTION ON GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION. With newer industrializing countries such as China and India balking at action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, public opinion in more long-established countries is mostly strongly in favor of action.
A Gallup Poll shows that most citizens in industrialized/industrializing countries representing most of the world’s population take climate change very serious and want action taken to stop it.
Leaders from 17 major economies that account for roughly 80% of global emissions will engage in climate change talks Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Italy. Nearly all of them represent nations where awareness of climate change is already high, except for Indonesia, India, and South Africa, where high percentages of residents have never heard of global warming or don’t have an opinion.
The G-8 summit is wrapping up in Italy.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is participating in the G-8 (group of eight advanced industrial nations) summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The time there is nine hours ahead of California.
Following his daily intelligence briefing, Obama began the day with a bilateral meeting with President Lula of Brazil in the G-5 Building.
Obama then met with G-8 national leaders leaders and the leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt at the Guardia di Finanz School.
Obama then took part in a working lunch of the leaders of the G-8, +5, Egypt, and six international organizations at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Then came a meeting with representatives of the Junior 8 at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Obama then attended a discussion on world trade at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Obama is now taking part in the Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment at the Guardia di Finanza School.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama delivers a statement to the press regarding the Major Economies Forum discussion on the environment at the Guardia di Finanza School.
The more established industrial countries are at loggerheads with more recently industrializing countries on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama attends the G-8 dinner hosted by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Guardia di Finanza School.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden promotes the Obama economic recovery program in events in Cincinnati, Ohio and upstate New York.
In advance of today’s 10th anniversary of student protests in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that his re-election last month was the most democratic in the world.
And there was more disorder in Iran, where perhaps a few thousand protesters turned out in various parts of Tehran on the 10th anniversary of student protests. They are protesting the promptly declared landslide re-election of radical Islamist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The protesters were forcibly dispersed by Iranian security forces. It was the first attempt at demonstrations in 11 days.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private meetings and discussions in and around the Capitol, focusing on California’s chronic-turned-chaotic budget crisis.
With no progress in talks, Schwarzenegger is considering another pay cut for state employees, an additional 5%, likely in the form of another unpaid furlough day.
That would bring budget crisis-induced pay cuts for California state workers to about 20%, certainly not what public employee unions had in mind for their members.
Schwarzenegger’s administration is also dealing with a budget complexity, caused by the Prop 98 education funding requirement, that could lead to a loss of some federal stimulus funding.
** 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 new column.
** OBAMA’S CONSEQUENTIAL FIRST 4TH: NOKO, AFPAK, IRAQ, RUSSIA, PALIN (PALIN?!) Quite a consequential first 4th of July as president for Barack Obama.
Not only did he have 20 of daughter Malia’s schoolgirl friends over for a Camp David sleepover in honor of her 11th birthday on the 4th of July — just wait till her “Independence Day,” Dad — he had a few other things on his plate, as well as the barbeque for military families and the fireworks show. Not counting his inherited worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
North Korea was to have been the drama of the day. But it turned into a major fizzle. … From my July 4th column.
** THE GOP’S PALIN FOOD FIGHT: WHY NOW? You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. For a sideshow, she’s very good at being the center of attention. Even when she doesn’t want to be.
She had a few big controversies earlier this year — her on-again/off-again headlining of the big GOP congressional fundraiser, her pregnant teenage daughter, the usual Alaska stuff — but she’s hit the jackpot this week with a huge food fight among big name Republicans. What’s unexamined is this question: Why now? … From my July 2nd column.
** TRANSFORMATIVE: LE CINEMA DE MICHAEL BAY. I love the films of Michael Bay. In fact, they are so dramatic and compelling that …
Gotcha! I actually do not love the films of Michael Bay. I don’t hate them, either. And there are a couple that I like. But the fact that it is considered preposterous for a writer — a writer who writes about anything, even wallpaper — to not dismiss Bay’s work in the most vehement of terms points up a dramatic disconnect between the critical community and the movie-going audience.
Bay’s new flick, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, just took in an astounding $200.1 million at the domestic box office in its first five days of release. … From my June 29th essay.
** 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.
This is up about $26 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program. But oil has been slumping over the past week or so from recent highs on fears that the global economic recovery is happening too slowly.
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