President Barack Obama said this morning that he phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai in appreciation for what he called Karzai’s welcoming of a run-off, at last, for the August 20th presidential election. Yes, and I’m noticing bats circling in the skylight.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA IN THE THICKET OF “AFGHANIRANISTAN.”
** QUICK HITS.International negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program appeared to stall today in Vienna, Austria. Iran is refusing to let France participate with Russia in nuclear enrichment of Iranian stocks, citing supposed French violations. The move comes in the wake of claims by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that British, US, and Pakistani intelligence agencies are behind Sunday’s lethal assault on IRGC leaders. In addition, the promised international inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities, including the previously secret underground facility near a Revolutionary Guard base, have not yet occurred. Israel, not surprisingly, has long believed that Iran is engaged in a game of stall ball. … European Union finance ministers meeting today in Luxembourg failed to agree on climate change and financial regulation. Poland blocked a move to subsidize Third World efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and Britain, home of the City of London, blocked a move for further regulation of financial institutions. This doesn’t bode well for the UN climate change negotiations later this year in Copenhagen. … In California, a statewide association of local redevelopment agencies sued today to block transfer of $2 billion in funds now earmarked to deal with the state’s chronic budget crisis. The urban redevelopment heyday has come and gone, but the apparatus remains.
** JERRY-RIGGING: GOING AFTER A BIG BANK, PROVIDING MONEY FOR THE ARTS, AND GENERALLY DOING ARGUABLY NEAT THINGS IN HIS NON-CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN. Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, acting on information provided by whistleblowers, today sued State Street Bank and Trust for allegedly defrauding California’s two massive public pension funds, the Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System. State Street, a financial giant based in Boston, denied the charges.
“Over a period of eight years, State Street bankers committed unconscionable fraud by misappropriating millions of dollars that rightfully belonged to California’s public pension funds,” Brown said in a statement. “This is just the latest example of how clever financial traders violate laws and rip off the public trust.”
State Street is a leading provider of financial services to institutional investors. In the course of this extraordinarily lucrative service, Brown charges that the bank has been ripping off the Golden State’s biggest public pension funds for the costs of executing foreign currency trades since 2001. Brown says that this was accomplished by consistently charging at or near the highest interbank rate of the day, rather than the rate at the time of execution, as legally required. And that the bank concealed its actions by deliberately failing to include time stamp data about the time of the trades.
Brown’s asking for more than $200 million in damages and penalties.
Last week, Brown and the California Arts Council (which he founded as governor) announced that over half a million dollars obtained from an anti-trust settlement with big music companies will be distributed to 42 local arts organizations to stage low-cost public concerts. The $549,000 is what remained from the settlement after the rest was paid in consumer rebates and distribution of CDs to schools and libraries.
Two of Brown’s distantly trailing rivals in his as yet unannounced campaign for governor, Republican Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, both appeared today on panels at the annual Milken Institute State of the State conference in LA. As did Brown’s former chief of staff, former Governor Gray Davis, who backs Brown again for governor. Neither Brown nor Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at the event, organized by the institute of convicted junk bond power broker Michael Milken.
The term “Jerry-rigging,” incidentally, is a pun on jury-rigging, and a spoof on the notion held by more than a few that Brown simply makes it up as he goes along.
** SUPPORT FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION HITS NEW HIGH (SO TO SPEAK).A new Gallup Poll shows that 44% now back legalization of marijuana. But 54% are opposed.
Marijuana is highlighted as an issue, for the moment at least, because President Barack Obama has altered federal policy. Federal authorities will no longer crack down on medicinal marijuana operations, which certainly sell beyond those with a clearcut medical need, so long as they are in compliance with state law. This has been a real issue for California, which approved a medical marijuana initiative earlier in the decade.
U.S. public support for legalizing marijuana was fixed in the 25% range from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, but acceptance jumped to 31% in 2000 and has continued to grow throughout this decade.
Public opinion is virtually the same on a question that relates to a public policy debate brewing in California — whether marijuana should be legalized and taxed as a way of raising revenue for state governments. Just over 4 in 10 Americans (42%) say they would favor this in their own state; 56% are opposed. Support is markedly higher among residents of the West — where an outright majority favor the proposal — than in the South and Midwest. The views of Eastern residents fall about in the middle.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has accepted a run-off election and the finding of a UN-backed elections commission that massive vote fraud occurred on his behalf in the August 20th election. Karzai will face former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, seen in this interview earlier today. The run-off election is November 7th.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and New York today.
Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He is meeting now in the Oval Office with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
At 8:50 AM Pacific, Obama presents the Presidential Unit Citation to Vietnam War veterans in the Rose Garden of the White House.
At 10:10 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 11:35 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to New York City.
At 12:30 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in New York City.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama tours the Joint Terrorism Task Force Headquarters in New York City.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks to staff members at the Joint Terrorism Task Force headquarters.
At 4:10 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a fundraiser for Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate running for New York’s 23rd Congressional District at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.
At 5:20 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in the Hammerstein Ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental.
At 6:50 PM Pacific, Obama departs New York City on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 7:40 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he embarks on Marine One.
At 7:55 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama is monitoring several situations throughout the day.
In domestic politics, the insurance industry is signaling that it isn’t really all that opposed to national health care reform.
This move comes with publication of a new ABC News/Washington Post poll showing strong majority support for the public option, which previously enjoyed less support.
Obama’s new communication strategy is working.
Except among liberals, who are frustrated by the slow pace. That would be slow in an ADD sense, not a relative sense.
With much of its leadership killed in weekend bombings by the Sunni militant group Jundallah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are blaming Britain, the US, and Pakistan for being behind the attacks. This comes amidst slow going over Iran’s nuclear program.
In Afghanistan, with much of his vote thrown out by a UN-backed elections commission, President Hamid Karzai today finally agreed to a run-off election with his chief rival, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who served as foreign minister from 2001-2006 and was Northern Alliance spokesman during the war against the Soviets and the overthrow of the Taliban. The run-off will be November 7th.
The Pakistani Army’s offensive in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan is continuing. Pakistani forces are moving in a deliberate manner; this is not a blitzkrieg. Which would probably miss major pockets of resistance.
The second round of international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program is going slowly in Geneva. Iran rejected the French offer to enrich its uranium because France is critical now and skeptical of Iran’s intentions. I’m not aware of the promised international inspections taking place, as they should be by now.
Further complicating matters is Sunday’s terrorist bombings of Revolutionary Guards leaders. The IRGC is claiming that MI-6, CIA, and the Pakistani ISI instigated the attack by the Iranian Sunni militant group Jundallah.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is off today on a five-day trip to Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Biden has become a bit of a thorn in the side of Russia, having made comments denigrating its future prospects. Will he, at this critical moment in dealings with Russia around Iran and other jihad-related matters, give quiet reassurance in Eastern Europe in the wake of Obama abandoning the missile shield project or again say something that the Russians choose to be inflamed by?
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private discussions today in and around the Capitol.
The principal topic? California’s chronic water crisis.
At 11:30 AM, Schwarzenegger checks out a hydrogen-powered semi truck in Capitol Park.
At 2:30 PM, Schwarzenegger meets with Baja California Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan in the Governor’s Council Room. He will sign memoranda of understanding in a wide variety of areas.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. … From my October 9th column.
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
This is up about $44 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is “hopeful” about a successful resolution of the hotly disputed August 20th Afghan president election.
** AFGHAN ELECTION RESULTS AGAIN DELAYED, UNTIL TUESDAY. Amidst word that a UN-backed elections commission is declaring as many as one-third of his votes to be fraudulent, Afghan President Hamid Karzai today said that results of the recount will at last be released on Tuesday.
The vote took place nearly two months ago but has been hotly disputed by Karzai’s election opponents, including chief rival Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the former Afghan foreign minister and Northern Alliance spokesman, and United Nations observers. They charge massive fraud on the part of Karzai supporters. After first declaring victory, Karzai may be on the verge of accepting a run-off election and other concessions to opponents.
** REVOLUTIONARY GUARD LEADER CHARGES BRITISH, AMERICAN, AND PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE INVOLVEMENT IN BOMBINGS, WHILE NEW U.S. POLL SHOWS WIDESPREAD DISTRUST OF IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM. The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards charged today that British intelligence, in league with US and Pakistani services, instigated yesterday’s deadly terrorist bombings by Iranian insurgents which killed five top IRGC commanders and scores of other cadre.
Americans overwhelmingly see Iran’s nuclear program as geared toward the development of atomic weaponry, and more than eight in 10 support direct diplomatic talks to try to resolve the situation, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
As negotiators from the United States, France and Russia meet with Iran starting today in Vienna, public opinion in the U.S. is decidedly behind one possible outcome should the talks fail: 78 percent in the new poll support international economic sanctions against Iran to try to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
There’s less, though still sizable backing for military engagement, with 42 percent of Americans supporting the bombing of Iran’s nuclear development sites and 33 percent advocating invading the country with U.S. ground forces (54 and 62 percent, respectively, oppose these actions).
Three in 10 support direct financial incentives such as aid money or more trade; two-thirds of Americans oppose these potential inducements.
Public reviews of how President Obama is handling the situation with Iran have changed little since the spring and summer: 52 percent of Americans now approve of how he is doing in this area, 39 percent disapprove.
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel delivered a strong message yesterday to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, saying there will be no new assistance to Afghanistan unless the hotly disputed August 20th presidential election is resolved appropriately.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
It’s another big week in presidential politics, and perhaps an eventful week in California politics.
President Barack Obama is working with congressional leaders to harmonize the several versions of national health care reform that have passed the five committees dealing with the issue in the Senate and the House.
A seeming impasse was broken last week when, despite heavy opposition from the insurance industry, the Senate Finance Committee at last passed a sweeping bill, picking up one Republican vote, Maine Senator Olympic Snowe, with another Republican vote, fellow Maine Senator Susan Collins, likely on the floor. If the versions are harmonized. This version, unlike those coming from the House, does not include the public option, though various triggers to activate a competing national health service are contemplated.
The Obama Administration is also continuing economic stimulus activities. Though the Dow is over 10,000 for the first time in a year — opposition leaders used to jibe about the “Obama Market,” but obviously no longer — the overall economy is sluggish at best.
As complex as health care and the economy are, there are other more complicated geopolitical matters on the plate of the new Nobel Peace Prize winner. And they all concern how to balance diplomacy with the potential use of force.
The Obama Administration is rolling out a new policy toward Sudan in an effort to stop the Darfur horror. If major progress is made, new aid will be forthcoming. If not, tough sanctions.
Yesterday in Iran, internal insurgents struck in two terrorist bombing attacks against the leadership of the Revolutionary Guards, killing five top commanders and wounding dozens of others. Iran claimed the attacks, believed to have been carried out by dissident ethnic Baluchis, were instigated by “foreign enemies.”
More talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program are scheduled for today. Promised international inspections have not yet taken place.
In Afghanistan, results of the United Nations-led review of August 20th’s hotly-disputed presidential election — long in the counting and recounting — are coming, perhaps today. I wrote that they would come over the weekend, but they did not, which was just the latest delay in an oft-delayed process.
They will lead to a formal call for a run-off election, which current President Hamid Karzai, who claimed he won an easy majority two months ago, has been resisting. His administration is widely described as incompetent and corrupt and many of his votes are judged to be fraudulent.
Karzai was the pick for the Afghan presidency of the Bush/Cheney Administration, and had a very chummy relationship with former President George W. Bush. Which makes yesterday’s marches by Karzai supporters opposing “foreign interference” all the more amusing, unintentionally.
In Pakistan, heavy fighting is underway in the jihadist stronghold of South Waziristan. 30,000 Pakistani Army troops began a ground offensive on Saturday.
Back in California politics, legislative committees this week will take up major legislation dealing with the state’s chronic water crisis. Most of it has reportedly been agreed to by Governor Arnold Scharzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, with state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg playing a leading role.
I spoke with Schwarzenegger chief of staff Susan Kennedy and she sounds optimistic about the progress of the water package. Legislative votes are said by various sources to be likely sometime next week.
In the race to succeed Schwarzenegger, whose time is limited by term limits, former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown continues in a commanding position, though he is not a formal candidate.
Brown, a two-time Democratic presidential runner-up, has nearly cleared the Democratic field. His sole remaining party rival, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who represents a third generation of his family that has advanced due to its relationship with the Brown family, was in Philadelphia, New York, and Texas last week trying to raise money to catch up with Brown, who has held no out-of-state fundraisers. San Francisco, where Brown leads Newsom by a wide margin, is in a chronic budget crisis and Newsom is termed out as mayor. Newsom’s ballyhooed LA fundraiser with former President Bill Clinton, actually one in a long string of such events rewarding top Hillary Clinton backers around the country, came and went, attracting a few hundred people, no major stars, and a handful of $5000 contributions.
On the Republican side, ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, and former Congressman Tom Campbell continue making low-key appearances around the state, mostly aimed at the California’s decidedly conservative Republican primary electorate.
Russia conducted a large military exercise with five former Soviet states over the weekend in Kazakhstan, whose president says his country will enrich Iranian uranium.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has had his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has also met with the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge winners.
At 12:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 1 PM, Obama meets with North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad in the Oval Office. Conrad is now a leading Democratic moderate, though as a state official he was a crusading populist.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden held a working breakfast this morning at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Biden then held an economic recovery act event with Energy Secretary Steve Chu, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Biden then hits the road for campaign events.
This afternoon, he does a rally in Edison, New Jersey for Governor Jon Corzine. In the evening, he appears at a fundraiser in Pittsburgh for Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. And later this evening, Biden delivers the keynote address at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee’s annual Kennedy-Lawrence Dinner.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appears in the Central Valley today.
At 10 AM, he holds a press conference in Merced City Hall to sign legislation cracking down on fraudulent mortgage practices taking advantage of the national foreclosure crisis.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
This is up about $44 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
NASA researchers are finding that ice sheets are shrinking around the world, with warmer underwater ocean currents especially affecting the Antarctic.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama has received his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
In Iran today, internal insurgents struck in two terrorist bombing attacks against the leadership of the Revolutionary Guards, killing five top commanders and wounding dozens of others. Iran claimed the attacks, believed to have been carried out by dissident ethnic Baluchis, were instigated by “foreign enemies.”
More talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear program are scheduled for tomorrow. Promised international inspections have not yet taken place.
In Afghanistan, results of the United Nations-led review of August 20th’s hotly-disputed presidential election — long in the counting and recounting — are coming today. They will lead to a formal call for a run-off election, which current President Hamid Karzai, who claimed he won an easy majority two months ago, has been resisting.
In Pakistan, heavy fighting is underway in the jihadist stronghold of South Waziristan. 30,000 Pakistani Army troops began a ground offensive yesterday.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events today.
California First Lady Maria Shriver appears today on NBC’s Meet The Press.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama takes on the health insurance industry for opposing national health care reform. Obama again describes the debate as being in its final stages.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is continuing to monitor the situation in Afghanitan, where results from the August 20th presidential election are at last about to be released.
President Hamid Karzai was said to be at 54%, high enough to avoid a run-off against the former foreign minister and Northern Alliance spokesman, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. Now Karzai seems to be at 47%.
Is this an election, or a duffer adjusting his golf score?
Obama and his geopolitical advisors will continue to discuss the coming course correction on Afghanistan through next week and probably for the bulk of the month.
Obama is also monitoring the Iranian nuclear crisis. We should know this weekend how well Iran is complying with its agreement to allow international inspectors to look at its program, including the formerly secret underground nuclear facility next to a Revolutionary Guards military base outside Qom.
And the Pakistani Army’s long-anticipated ground offensive against jihadists in their longtime stronghold of South Waziristan kicked off today.
The father of the late Anna Nicole Smith’s child testified yesterday that he was concerned about all the drugs she was taking. Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown is investigating the case as an example of massive prescription drug abuse.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appears at the annual firefighters memorial ceremony this morning in Capitol Park.
The Legislature takes up his proposals for a comprehensive water program next week.
I spoke with Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, yesterday. She’s optimistic.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $78.53 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $45 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
This is the highest oil price this year.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama made his first trip as president yesterday to New Orleans.
** QUICK HITS. That wildly-disputed Afghanistan presidential election of August 20th seems headed at last for a run-off, likely to be announced tomorrow. … Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is emerging as a hawk advocating a big escalation of US troops in Afghanistan. … San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, an early and key backer of President Barack Obama, received a big boost to her campaign to become California’s attorney general today in the form of the endorsement of highly regarded New York-turned-LA Police Chief Bill Bratton.
** JERRY-RIGGING. The first of a new feature, which will not appear at the beginning of each morning as the Obama and Schwarzenegger features do, as the former governor-turned-attorney general of California, the clear favorite to be the next governor, is in a bit more “stealth mode,” to borrow an Arnold line, than that.
NWN readers will recall the Field Poll of Wednesday, which revealed that California voters want major changes to address the state’s dysfunctional system of governance. But do not want the things that most activists and professional good government reformers want.
That poll was commissioned by the latest group of reformers, who held a conference on Wednesday at the Sacramento Convention Center. These reformers consisted of the the California studies operations at Stanford, Berkeley, and Sacramento State. I wasn’t there, as this stuff is highly predictable, though worthy nonetheless. But I did note that one of the main agenda items was a recounting of various historical efforts to change California’s constitution, presumably for the better.
What was odd about it was that it left out one of the most successful efforts. That would be the California Political Reform Act. Which was authored by one Jerry Brown, working with the late grassroots group called the People’s Lobby.
The Political Reform Act merely changed the whole of California politics, ending the free ride lifestyle for legislators afforded by lobbyists and shining a searchlight on what had been the Wild West fundraising of state politics, which until then included unreported cash contributions.
The Fair Political Practices Commission was created by this Brown initiative, enacted by the people of California in 1974. It has since become a model for other states around the US.
Now, of course, the reality is that special interest money finds a way. As someone who has pushed political reform, and written about it, for decades, my observation is that it is like a river seeking the sea.
So, should there be a constitutional convention to deal with California’s crisis of governance? Sure. Why not? But don’t imagine that it’s a panacea. The Field Poll should serve as a wakeup call for credulous activists.
I’ve talked with Brown about this for months, well, actually, years. Will he, again, be an advocate of fundamental political reform? I would be surprised if he is not. But he will do this on his own timeline. Assuming, naturally, that he actually intends to run for an historic third term as governor of California.
** OBAMA DOES S.F. President Barack Obama departed the City by the Bay for the city by the, er, oil fields this morning following a hugely successful fundraiser last night at the St. Francis Hotel. The event was budgeted to raise $2 million for the Democratic National Committee. Instead, it raised well over $3 million. Which, again, places San Francisco on a par with New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago in the world of Obama political finance.
Though San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a national co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign against Obama, was out of town, the world-famous Union Square shopping area and tourist mecca, which the St. Francis fronts on, was shut down for one of the few times in its history. The better to avoid it becoming mobbed by protesters insisting that Obama immediately withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq and endorse gays in the military.
While activist groups were denied a venue just across the street from the Obama fundraiser, they ended up with better access than that. Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans (many years ago, I lived for a time in her guest house), contributed $30,000 to attend the high-end reception with Obama where she hand delivered a mass petition and engaged the president in conversation for several minutes.
Evans, who, incidentally, introduced me to someone named Arianna Huffington in 1994 — “Explain to me why I want to meet that right-wing _____,” “Trust me, she’s great.” — has become something of a fixture at Obama fundraisers.
Someone who’s even more of a fixture, former California state Controller Steve Westly, the ex-eBay honcho-turned-leading greentech venture capitalist, was also very much in evidence, having raised much of the money for the event. Westly, who’s one of Obama’s earliest and biggest backers, met privately with the president, telling NWN that he continues to marvel at Obama’s energy.
“He’s a workout demon,” says Westly. “That’s why he’s high energy at the end of the day ending up on the West Coast when other presidents would be dragging.”
Westly, who was Obama’s first California co-chairman, as well as a national finance co-chairman, told me during the week that the San Francisco fundraiser picked up noticeably after Obama won his surprise Nobel Peace Prize last Friday.
He thinks, not surprisingly, that Obama is doing well. I remember Westly, the good venture capitalist, talking up Obama in 2006 when I was still a big skeptic about the freshman senator. Like others amongst his Silicon Valley brethren, Westly is thrilled that the Bay Area now rivals LA and New York as centers of Obama political finance.
** OBAMA TODAY. Following his hugely successful fundraiser last night at the St. Francis Hotel, President Barack Obama is on the road today, in San Francisco and Houston, where he will join former President George Herbert Walker Bush. Full report coming up on Obama’s big San Francisco fundraiser.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco.
At 9:35 AM Pacific, he leaves San Francisco on Air Force One en route to Houston, Texas.
At 12:55 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Houston, Texas
At 2:50 PM Pacific, Obama attends the Points of Light Forum at Texas A&M University with former President George H.W. Bush.
At 5:25 PM Pacific, Obama departs Houston on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he embarks on Marine One.
At 8:15 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama said he’s “not tired” at last night’s fundraiser at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
Vice President Joe Biden is also on the road today.
Biden attends events today in Nevada with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is up for re-election next year in the Silver State.
Obama is continuing to monitor the situation in Afghanitan, where results from the August 20th presidential election are at last about to be released.
He and his geopolitical advisors will continue to discuss the coming course correction on Afghanistan through next week and probably for the bulk of the month.
Obama is also monitoring the Iranian nuclear crisis. We should know this weekend how well Iran is complying with its agreement to allow international inspectors to look at its program, including the formerly secret underground nuclear facility next to a Revolutionary Guards military base outside Qom.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He will have private discussions in and around Los Angeles.
The Legislature takes up his proposals for a comprehensive water program next week.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is continuing its recent price climb, now trading around $77 per barrel.
This is up about $43 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Islamic jihadist terrorists carried out three attacks in Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, on Thursday in advance of a Pakistani Army offensive against the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan.
Obama was at 53% job approval before his surprise Nobel win last Friday. He went up to 56% early this week in its aftermath. But he’s now he’s back to 53% job approval, still very good in this challenging climate.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize proved to be catnip for tonight’s San Francisco fundraiser, which is sold out. I’m told that attendance and contributions took off in the Bay Area after the Nobel announcement, and Obama’s graceful statement in response.
** RUN-OFF LOOMS IN AFGHANISTAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US, a close ally of controversial President Hamid Karzai, told the New York Times that a run-off is likely in the hotly disputed August 20th presidential election. That election left Karzai with a seemingly hefty lead over his principal challenger, former Northern Alliance spokesman Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, but the election was marred by widespread charges of massive election fraud.
The results have been delayed several times, and are now supposed to be revealed on Saturday.
Naturally, this will impact President Barack Obama’s latest strategy review.
“Chances are there will be a second round, although it was not so sure up to a couple of days ago, but now it looks like there will be a second round,” Mr. Jawad said in the interview on Wednesday in Washington.
A runoff would further complicate the debate President Obama is leading at the White House about whether to send as many as 40,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. Administration officials have said that Mr. Obama will announce his decision within the next several weeks, but not knowing who is in charge in Kabul might change that timetable.
The earliest a runoff could be realistically held, Mr. Jawad said, was late October or early November, with the vote tally expected back two weeks later. If the election is not held by early November, it will almost certainly have to be delayed until the spring of 2010 because heavy snow and closed roads throughout the country would prevent many voters from going to the polls.
My guess is that Abdullah will ultimately end up as the president, but not this time around. And in a government with a very different configuration and writ.
** OPPOSITION TO PG&E INITIATIVE FORMING. Pacific Gas & Electric, the giant Northern California utility company, is on the street paying signature gatherers to qualify an initiative for next year’s California statewide ballot to stop local governments from aggregating renewable power for their communities.
** REID GOES UP ON AIR IN ADVANCE OF NEVADA SENATE RE-ELECTION. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has rather dismal re-elect numbers in Nevada polling but no heavyweight Republican opponent, has just gone up on the air with two TV ads for his 2010 re-election campaign in the Silver State.
** NEW ESSAY COMING UP … CHINATOWN‘S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION EMERGES, IN THE MIDST OF THE RENEWED POLANSKI SCANDAL.
President Barack Obama addressed a fundraiser last night for the new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate in Washington.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is on the road today, visiting New Orleans and San Francisco.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and is en route to New Orleans on Air Force One.
At 9:25 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in New Orleans, Louisiana at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
At 10 AM Pacific, Obama visits with students at Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School in New Orleans.
At 11:15 AM Pacific, Obama holds a town hall at the University of New Orleans.
At 1:10 PM Pacific, Obama departs New Orleans on Air Force One en route to San Francisco.
At 5:20 PM Pacific, Obama lands at San Francisco International Airport.
At 7:20 PM Pacific, Obama delivers brief remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
At 7:35 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at at DNC fundraising reception at the St. Francis Hotel.
Vice President Joe Biden is also on the road today.
This morning, he discusses the economic stimulus program in St. Louis, Missouri.
This afternoon,he attends an event for Missouri Secretary of State, and senatorial candidate, Robin Carnahan in St. Louis.
In the evening, Biden attends a reception for the Democratic National Committee in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The airport shuttle driver charged with plotting to bomb the New York subway system reportedly had ties to the top tier of Al Qaeda.
Incidentally, Obama will have no scheduled public events in San Francisco, the better to avoid anti-war protesters and LGBT advocates who feel he’s not aggressive enough. I’ll have a full report on his fundraiser.
Obama is continuing to monitor the situation in Afghanitan, where results from the August 20th presidential election are at last about to be released.
He and his geopolitical advisors will continue to discuss the coming course correction on Afghanistan through next week.
Obama is also monitoring the Iranian nuclear crisis. We should know this weekend how well Iran is complying with its agreement to allow international inspectors to look at its program, including the formerly secret underground nuclear facility next to a Revolutionary Guards military base outside Qom.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a press conference this morning in Los Angeles to highlight his signing of a bill by Assemblyman Kevin de Leon that will require vendors of ammunition to keep a log of sales and require secure holding and transmission of ammunition.
The event will take place at 10 AM at the Los Angeles Police Department.
In his speech yesterday in San Francisco at the annual Oracle World conference, Schwarzenegger addressed the situation around First Lady Maria Shriver using a mobile phone while driving.
“I promised the people I am going to create action and stop her. Of course, this is a no-win situation because if I don’t create action, the voters get upset. If I do create the action and stop her, then I get no action. So I’m in big trouble.”
Shriver, for her part, says she’s donating her favorite cell phone to a women’s program, or something.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is continuing its recent price climb, now trading around $77 per barrel.
This is up about $43 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cut multi-billion dollar deals on energy and space yesterday with Chinese leaders. Today in Beijing he threw cold water on the idea of sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program. “The joint Russian-Chinese position in international affairs,” he said, “is often a restraint for some of our more hot-headed international partners.”
** NEW ESSAY COMING UP … CHINATOWN‘S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION EMERGES, IN THE MIDST OF THE RENEWED POLANSKI SCANDAL.
** QUICK HITS. Arianna Huffington today called on Vice President Joe Biden to resign.It’s a classic. (Don’t be linear.) … The Dow finished above 10,000 today for the first time in more than a year. And the right, which was talking about “the Obama market” when it was reeling earlier in the year, today pooh-poohed this latest sign of a nascent economic recovery. … Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, visiting a Russian city today that is neither Moscow nor St. Petersburg to wrap up her Russian trip, said that Russia will be on board with Iranian sanctions if need be, notwithstanding Vladimir Putin’s big splash of cold water from Beijing. Yes, it will. If it gets what it wants and if administration officials stop mocking Russia and recognize that, while it may very well be screwed in the long term, we all live in the shorter term, as John Maynard Keynes rather more memorably put it. … Last minute preparations are underway for President Barack Obama’s fundraiser tomorrow at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. I’m told the event will raise well in excess of $2 million for the Democratic National Committee. … Speaking of my hometown (and the St. Francis Hotel that has loomed very large in my life), its mayor, Gavin Newsom, is showering Sacramento Mayor and former NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson with gifts following the theft of his since-recovered garment bag less than a block away on Union Square. Johnson endorsed Newsom’s longshot bid for governor earlier this year at a College Democrats-sponsored rap concert in the River City that was actually financed by $100K in contributions raised by operatives of the big corporate consulting firm Newsom’s chief strategist actually works for. But lately, that endorsement has been inoperative. Not surprisingly. Okay, enough with the easy shots.
** MARIA CAUGHT CHATTING, AGAIN! The celebrity gossip web site TMZ has caught California First Lady Maria Shriver again breaking the law requiring hands-free mobile phone use while driving. That’s the law signed and promoted by her husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Posted Oct 14th 2009 12:58AM by TMZ Staff
Dear Gov. Schwarzenegger,
While you were Twittering a few minutes ago about the “swift action” coming to Maria, your scofflaw wife was at it again — jawing away on a handheld cell phone while driving in Brentwood.
But it gets worse … while Maria was illegally yappin’ away (the third time she’s been photographed doin’ it) she saw our cameraman catching the illegal activity on tape — and that’s when she dropped the phone in an attempt to cover it up! The tape does not lie….
Arnold, the fines are bad enough — but do you have any idea what your Verizon bill is gonna look like?
Let’s see. There have been about 150,000 citations issued in California since this law went into effect last year. And it appears that Schwarzenegger decided to sign this law after catching his teenage daughter chattering away on the phone while driving. Schwarzenegger, noting that teenagers are distracted enough, decided to take action.
So I had to buy one of those snazzy Bluetooth devices, which I’d resisted because it makes me feel like a Borg. (I’m already over-technologized as it is.) But at first I thought it was cool. Then it got old.
Then I lost two of them, and these things are not cheap.
So, rather than keep dropping dollars out of my pocket, I decided to leave the third Bluetooth device in the car. Where, naturally, its power runs down.
I was out driving one night, talking with a top law enforcement official, not hands-free, when I noticed a police car. Which I mentioned to the LEO, joking: “Hey, if I get pulled over, I’ll just tell him I’m talking to you.”
The reply? “Oh God, don’t do that.” So I said I was kidding and pulled over to the side of the road.
** PUTIN IN BEIJING SAYS NO IRAN SANCTIONS FOR NOW. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in Beijing today to confer with Chinese leaders, said in a press availability that sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program are not the right way to go now.
“There is no need to frighten the Iranians,” Putin told reporters in Beijing.
“We need to look for a compromise. If a compromise is not found, and the discussions end in a fiasco, then we will see,” he said, adding that talks of sanctions was “premature” at present.
Russia is in the midst of complex negotiations with the US on Iran and on Russia’s desired sphere of influence in its “near abroad,” the post-Soviet space that was once part of the empire ruled by the Soviet Union.
Nevertheless, as I’ve noted below and before, Russia doesn’t have to approve sanctions for them to work. Russia need only not work actively against sanctions. To add another level of complexity to the equation.
** FIELD POLL: CALIFORNIANS WANT CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, BUT NOT CHANGES MOST CON CON ADVOCATES WANT.Today’s Field Poll of registered California voters is a classic case of good news/bad news for advocates of fundamental reform of the state’s dysfunctional system of governance. It’s also unremittingly bad news for the tax revisions promoted by a state commission appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders.
None of this surprises me in the least, and will come as no surprise to NWN readers.
Voters say they do want a constitutional convention to deal with the state’s dysfunctional government. And perhaps illegal immigration, though not same-sex marriage. However … Voters don’t want to make it easier for the Legislature to raise taxes by ending the two-thirds vote requirement, don’t want to change Prop 13 to tax commercial property at a higher rate, and like term limits. They also don’t want to flatten the progressivity of the income tax — thus handing a huge tax cut to the rich in the middle of a recession — or enact a very complex “net receipts” tax altering the corporate and sales tax regimes.
President Barack Obama praised what he called the passage of “a critical milestone,” the fact that all five Congressional committees charged with health care have passed various forms of a national health care reform plan.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Fairfax County, Virginia today.
It’s another big day of meetings on the coming course correction in Afghanistan for the Obama White House.
Obama has had his daily intelligence briefing.
At 6:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
Vice President Joe Biden had a working breakfast this morning with General David Petraeus prior to the meeting.
At 11:05 AM Pacific, Obama and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tour a construction site at the Fairfax County Parkway Extension.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the benefits of the economic recovery act.
At 12:50 PM Pacific, Obama signs an executive order restoring the White House Advisory Commission and Interagency Working Group. He then observes Diwali in the East Room of the White House. Diwali is a holiday marking the end of harvest season in India and Nepal.
At 4:10 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at an event for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Incidentally, Obama comes to San Francisco tomorrow for a big fundraiser at the St. Francis Hotel. He will have no scheduled public events, the better to avoid anti-war protesters and LGBT advocates who feel he’s not aggressive enough. I’ll have a full report on his fundraiser.
Here’s the AfPak council of war meeting today in the White House Situation Room: Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (via videoconference), Secretary of Defense Bob Gates; Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations; Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew; Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command; General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan (via videoconference); Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence; CIA Director Leon Panetta; Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (via videoconference); Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (via videoconference); General James Jones, National Security Advisor; Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security; Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I’ll be writing about Afghanistan, again, in the next few days.
The White House last night became “Casa Blanca” as the Obamas hosted an evening of Latin music.
The Senate Finance Committee yesterday passed a version of national health care reform legislation. Now it will have to be reconciled with other versions that have passed other committees in both houses.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has wrapped up her meetings in Moscow, where she held lengthy meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitri Medvedev. There is no agreement on sanctions on Iran, though the Russians say they are in accord on the need to block an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Translation? There are still outstanding issues with regard to Russia’s sphere of influence in its “near abroad,” i.e., the post-Soviet space. Medvedev was the friendlier of the top two Russian officials with whom she met.
Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is in China today meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, gauging China’s position on Iran and Russia’s desires to further its sphere of influence, including Central Asia, where, as readers know, Moscow is very much reasserting itself.
Of course, formal Russian support for sanctions on Iran is not necessary. What is necessary is the absence of active Russian opposition. This assumes that diplomacy with Iran fails. We’ll know by the end of the week how Iran is cooperating with international inspectors.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a speech today in San Francisco.
At 3:30 PM, he addresses the Oracle OpenWorld 2009 conference at Moscone Center. This is an annual conference for the giant software corporation.
Meanwhile, the state Senate begins taking up special session legislation discussed by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders. It will also attempt to deal with a number of other bills requiring two-thirds votes that were not brought up during the regular legislative session due to a tiff between Democratic and Republican leaders.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, heavily lobbied by her party to vote no, instead voted today in the Senate Finance Committee to approve a national health care reform program. With reservations.
3:45 PM NOTE: POWER OUTAGE. The big Pacific storm has knocked down my electric power until later tonight. That means my broadband connection and wireless network are down, reducing me to dial-up Internet service. As the laptops are on battery (and the newest doesn’t have a modem), the operation is shutting down for the day.
** HEALTH CARE CLEARS SENATE FINANCE.A national health care reform bill cleared the Senate Finance Committee today on a 14-9 vote. One Republican, Maine’s Olympia Snowe, voted yes, while all other Republicans voted no.
This version does not have the so-called public option, and must be reconciled with legislation that has passed four other committees, most of which do have the public option.
“Is this bill all that I would want?” Ms. Snowe asked. “Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls. And I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.”
In her speech, she said she still shared many of her Republican colleagues’ reservations about the legislation, and she pointedly warned Democrats that they could easily lose her support at any of the many legislative steps that still lie ahead.
“My vote today is my vote today,” she said. “It doesn’t forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”
** OBAMA’S NOBEL BOUNCE, AND A SLIGHT UPTICK FOR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING.The new Gallup Poll for today shows what it showed yesterday, a bounce for President Barack Obama in the wake of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently most Americans are proud of Obama, and of his winning the prize, whether he actually deserved it at this time or not.
Obama’s job approval rating is up to 56%. On the day he emerged as the surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, last Friday, he was at 53%. Earlier in the week, he had slipped to 50% job approval. Which is actually good in such a still troubled time. Governors would love to have that sort of job approval rating.
Gallup’s first look at 2009 Christmas spending intentions finds Americans, on average, planning to spend $740 on gifts this year. That’s down somewhat from the $801 recorded at this time a year ago, but higher than the $639 prediction Americans gave two months later in the economically troubled 2008 holiday season.
From 2000 through 2007, Americans’ final estimate of their spending on Christmas gifts approached or exceeded $800 in each of Gallup’s final measures in late November or early December of each year. The trend highlights how remarkable last year’s $639 December figure was, a finding that foreshadowed reports showing a decline in year-over-year holiday retail sales for 2008.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected today to pass a sweeping national health care reform bill.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
At 6:30 AM Pacific, Obama receives his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
At 6:50 AM Pacific, he receives his daily economic briefing in the Oval Office.
At 7:20 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:25 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
At 9:15 AM Pacific, Obama attends working lunch with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero in the Cabinet Room.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama and Zapatero hold a press availability in the Oval Office.
At 11:10 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Indiana Senator Evan Bayh in the Oval Office.
At 1:35 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Defense Secretary Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Biden and Dr. Jill Biden attend “In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina” on the South Lawn of the White House.
The Senate Finance Committee will vote today on national health care reform legislation. Assuming passage of a bill, then it will have to be reconciled with other versions that have passed other committees in both houses.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Moscow, where she held lengthy meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and is meeting with President Dmitri Medvedev. There is no agreement on sanctions on Iran, though the Russians say they are in accord on the need to block an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Translation? There are still outstanding issues with regard to Russia’s sphere of influence in its “near abroad,” i.e., the post-Soviet space.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Moscow, where she has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. She also meets with President Dmitri Medvedev.
Of course, formal Russian support for sanctions on Iran is not necessary. What is necessary is the absence of active Russian opposition.
This assumes that diplomacy with Iran fails. We’ll know by the end of the week how Iran is cooperating with international inspectors.
In addition to health care and Iran, Obama is continuing his focus on the latest course correction for Afghanistan, as you can see from his public schedule.
I’ll be writing about Afghanistan, again, in the next few days.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private discussions in and around the Capitol.
On tap, as it were? Water, again. And education reform.
Schwarzenegger will sign bills cracking down on drunk drivers, through use of ignition interlock devices, in an 11:30 AM event in the Governor’s Council Room.
Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the California Legislature to deal with the state’s chronic water crisis. Everyone says major progress has been made on the issue. But we’ve heard this sort of thing before, and in the special interest environment of the Legislature, all it takes is one or two pulling the strings to unravel the fabric of a deal.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
This is up about $40 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama addressed the Human Rights Campaign dinner in Washington on Saturday night, pledging his support for gay and lesbian rights.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
Happy Columbus Day! After the holiday, another major week in presidential politics. And look for some action in California politics.
President Barack Obama expressed optimism over the weekend that the long slog on a national health care reform bill is nearing an end. The Senate Finance Committee will vote tomorrow on a bill which does not contain a so-called public option. But some form of a public option may be injected in the conference process reconciling the various bills that have emerged from various committees.
Intriguingly, especially since the Senate Finance process has been criticized as a front for the insurance industry by advocates of a national health service, the insurance industry is now denouncing the emerging bill as supposedly costing more than the current system.
The Obama national security team continues to work on its latest course correction in Afghanistan. This will be a major focus of the week ahead, as Obama will continue to confer with his team on this for at least this week and probably longer. One reason why this is taking awhile, aside from being a highly momentous decision, is that Obama wants everyone on board with the new policy.
Not surprisingly, the Obama team is developing alternatives independent of those included in General Stanley McChrystal’s much-leaked report.
The outcome of the August 20th presidential election, incidentally, is still unclear. But a result of sorts may finally be announced this week, after blowing through previous such deadlines, which included October 7th, as I reported last week. President Hamid Karzai has many more votes counted on his behalf than his principal challenger, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and Northern Alliance spokesman, but much of the balloting is formally suspect and could be thrown out. A run-off between the two is still an option.
Obama’s new Afghanistan commander McChrystal, who had seemed to be lobbying for a big escalation there prior to his being summoned to meet with the president a week ago Friday in Copenhagen, will continue to participate long-range. He had planned to make his report in person last Friday, but now won’t come to Washington until shortly before the new course is announced, the better to avoid his presence becoming a potential rally point for war hawks.
In Pakistan, where the army has pushed back Taliban gains and is prepping a major offensive in the jihadists’ longtime remote stronghold of South Waziristan, an assault on army headquarters was ended over the weekend.
A Taliban raiding party, dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms and with appropriate markings, got inside the compound on Saturday and shot up the place, taking many hostages. A brigadier general and a colonel, apparently just arriving at headquarters, were killed in the melee along with about a dozen other army personnel. All the Taliban raiders were killed or captured.
The Taliban have been reeling of late in Pakistan, with their principal leader killed by an American drone strike along with many other cadre. They’ve also been riven by brutal infighting. But in the last week, they’ve struck back with three terrorist attacks. One on civilians, one blowing up the headquarters of the UN Food Program, and this attack on army headquarters, which clearly had some inside help.
Obama is also monitoring the simmering Iranian crisis. We’ll know in a week if Iran follows through on its rather limited commitment to allow greater scrutiny of its nuclear program. As I mentioned the other day, the Obama Administration has accelerated the development of advanced bunker buster bombs. These weapons could be used to destroy underground nuclear facilities, such as the one recently revealed next to a Revolutionary Guards military base outside the religious center of Qom.
In California politics, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t nail down his hoped-for comprehensive solution to the state’s chronic water crisis with his threat of mass vetoes, but did achieve agreement on most deal points during days of lengthy negotiations with state legislative leaders. So he vetoed many bills and signed many others prior to the Sunday midnight deadline and called a special legislative session on water beginning today.
The Legislature, unlike the federal government, is working today as a result of Columbus Day being axed as a holiday during budget negotiations earlier this year.
Schwarzenegger is also going to move on education reforms needed to qualify California for the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top challenge grants.
With former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown having emerged last week as even more of a clear favorite to succeed Schwarzenegger in next year’s election, NWN will institute a new feature watching what he is doing.
“Jerry-Rigging” will follow Brown’s activities on a regular basis, something that hasn’t been happening here.
Last week, of course, the Field Poll showed Brown with massive polls over all opponents, including the three Republicans and the sole remaining Democrat, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, whose much-hyped fundraiser with former President Bill Clinton came and went to little effect. Some of the state’s much-diminished press corps is finally getting around to reporting what it had failed to report for weeks; namely, that Clinton is embarked on a national fundraising tour for politicians loyal to Hillary’s presidential campaign. On this tour, Newsom was one of half-a-dozen in a week-long period, receiving the most tepid of public endorsements.
No major stars came to Clinton’s LA fundraiser for Newsom, attended by a few hundred people, and only four contributions of $5,000 were received by the Newsom campaign. None of this surprised me, as I have good contacts with the Clinton camp. and obviously cover presidential politics on a daily basis.
The situation regarding the California governorship is laid out in my long Huffington Post piece — “Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown, Bill Clinton and That Crazy California Governorship” — which is linked below.
On this day in history, Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev banged his shoe at the UN and declared of the US “We will bury you” in 1960, Al Qaeda bombed the USS Cole in 2000, and Al Qaeda bombed a tourist mecca in Bali.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has no scheduled public events on the Columbus Day holiday.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
At 9 AM, he appears with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the roof of a building at Loyola Marymount University.
There the two will sign the nation’s first federal-state memorandum of understanding on expediting renewable energy projects.
Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the California Legislature beginning today to deal with the state’s chronic water crisis.
His threat of mass vetoes did not produce the comprehensive water deal he’d hoped for, despite constant meetings with legislative leaders. But it did move the process signficantly forward, such that agreed-upon bills are to be introduced this week as part of the special session.
Of the more than 700 bills awaiting his disposition, Schwarzenegger signed many and vetoed many. I don’t have the exact count.
One bill Schwarzenegger did sign, that he’d vetoed last year, is a bill by San Francisco state Senator Mark Leno which makes May 22nd Harvey Milk Day in California. Milk is a gay rights icon, the San Francisco supervisor assassinated 30 years ago by right-wing former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who also killed Mayor George Moscone.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th 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 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, 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.
This is up about $39 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
The Pakistani Army has ended a hostage crisis inside its headquarters. Taliban raiders, dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms and with proper vehicle decals, assaulted the HQ yesterday in advance of an Army offensive in the Taliban’s greatest stronghold.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama gave a mostly well-received address to the Human Rights Campaign dinner last night. He pledged to end the “Don’t ask/don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the US armed forces instituted by former President Bill Clinton.
There is a large LGBT rights march today in Washington.
In other action, the Obama national security team continues to work on its latest course correction in Afghanistan. This will be a major focus of the week ahead, as Obama will continue to confer with his team on this.
Not surprisingly, the Obama team is developing alternatives independent of those included in General Stanley McChrystal’s much-leaked report.
The outcome of the August 20th presidential election, incidentally, is still unclear. President Hamid Karzai has many more votes counted on his behalf than his principal challenger, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and Northern Alliance spokesman, but much of the balloting is formally suspect and could be thrown out. A run-off between the two is still an option.
In Pakistan, where the army has pushed back Taliban gains and is prepping a major offensive in the jihadists’ longtime remote stronghold of South Waziristan, an assault on army headquarters has been ended.
A Taliban raiding party, dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms and with appropriate markings, got inside the compound yesterday and shot up the place, taking many hostages. A brigadier general and a colonel, apparently just arriving at headquarters, were killed in the melee along with about a dozen other army personnel. All the Taliban raiders were killed or captured.
The Taliban have been reeling of late in Pakistan, with their principal leader killed by an American drone strike along with many other cadre. They’ve also been riven by brutal infighting. But in the last week, they’ve struck back with three terrorist attacks. One on civilians, one blowing up the headquarters of the UN Food Program, and this attack on army headquarters, which clearly had some inside help.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
He continues negotiating in the Capitol with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders for a major new state water project, the first in 40 years.
Schwarzenegger is threatening mass vetoes if the oft-promised legislative action on water is not forthcoming.
This led some Democratic legislators to demand that former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown formally investigate Schwarzenegger for extortion. But Brown, noting that there is no legal rationale for such a move and citing Bismarck’s dictum likening the making of legislation to the making of sausage, turned them down flat, saying that legislative deal-making is clearly not an occasion for “doilies and tea.”
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses what he calls the closing phase of the national health care debate, citing prominent Republicans supporting his approach, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Health Secretary Tommy Thompson, and former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole (’96 GOP presidential nominee) and Bill Frist.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
At 5 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Obama’s speech comes on the eve of a major gay rights demonstration Sunday in Washington.
Reaction continues to set in on his surprise win of the Nobel Peace Prize.
I think Obama is a little embarrassed by the idolatry of some of his fans, whom he would probably prefer be supporters.
And he must be taken aback by the insanity of some of his knee-jerk critics’ attacks. Though perhaps not, as they are as predictable as the tide, though less useful.
In any event, the now formally-ordained peacemaker returns this weekend to discussion and contemplation of his next moves in Afghanistan. I’m told this will go on for at least another week.
Obama’s new commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, who had seemed to be lobbying for a big escalation there prior to his being summoned to meet with the president on Friday in Copenhagen, will continue to participate long-range. He had planned to make his report in person last Friday, but now won’t come to Washington until shortly before the new course is announced, the better to avoid his presence becoming a potential rally point for war hawks.
Obama is also monitoring the simmering Iranian crisis. We’ll know in a week if Iran follows through on its rather limited commitment to allow greater scrutiny of its nuclear program. As I mentioned the other day, the Obama Administration has accelerated the development of advanced bunker buster bombs.
Obama is sounding optimistic about a national health care reform bill, as you can see in his weekend video/radio address, which plays above.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private discussions in and around the Capitol.
Schwarzenegger is pushing for a deal on California’s water crisis, holding hundreds of bills hostage in an effort to force through a solution.
Not everyone likes this, naturally.
He met at length yesterday and last night with Democratic and legislative leaders on water, but no agreement was reached.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th essay.
** IRANIAN CRISIS: PROGRESS, PROBLEMS.There was some good progress in Thursday’s international negotiation sessions with Iran on its nuclear program. But anyone who imagines the problem is solved is quite delusional.
Let’s focus first on the positive from Geneva. …
But, with regard to Israel, as the old joke goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. … From my October 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.
PGA Commissioner Tim Finchem announced in San Francisco yesterday that golf is now an Olympic sport, beginning with the Rio Games of 2016. Golf is an Olympic sport? Really? Why not pool?
** 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 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, 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.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed at $71.77 per barrel on Friday. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $38 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama spoke this morning following his surprise win of the Nobel Peace Prize.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama is dealing with the shock wave reaction to his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. His initial statement was a good start, but he needs to be adept to find a way to turn this win/lose into a win/win. … Obama today named Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, daughter of Sacramento mega-developer and political powerhouse Angelo Tsakopoulos, to be the US ambassador to Hungary. Which reminds me. Is the embassy in Buda or Pest? … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a spirited, forceful presentation at a pro-water development/conservation rally outside the Capitol before returning to ongoing negotiations with legislative leaders. He said an historic agreement is very close. He didn’t say anything about light at the end of the tunnel. … Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown says he doesn’t see any hint of illegality in Schwarzenegger’s use of the threat of mass vetoings unless there is at last a deal on water. Some Democratic legislators were calling it bribery. Or perhaps they meant extortion, in any event demanding a formal investigation. …
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. When the Vulcans finally make first contact with the peoples of Spaceship Earth, there’s no doubt who most will choose to represent us. Which is when we may learn that President Barack Obama really is a “Manchurian candidate,” an alien agent, albeit not of the sort featured in even the sweatiest imaginings of the yaposphere.
Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize this morning makes it two surreal Fridays in a row.
Last week, we learned that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympic Games. Which should have surprised approximately no one, not that you’d know that from the profusions of rage and disappointment — or from the far right, happy rage — that Obama’s trip to Copenhagen came up short. …
** FIELD POLL NON-SURPRISE: BOXER WITH BIG LEAD IN CALIFORNIA SENATE RACE. The new Field Poll of California voters shows Senator Barbara Boxer with big leads over either of her prospective Republican opponents in her re-election bid.
Boxer leads former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, 49% to 35%. And Boxer leads far right Orange County Assemblyman Chuck De Vore, 50% to 33%.
As readers know, I’ve never thought that Boxer was in any real trouble, especially with this sort of opposition. She’s controversial, because she’s an outspoken liberal, but California voters like balancing the establishmentarianism of Senator Dianne Feinstein with the feisty advocacy of Boxer.
And her opponents are deeply flawed. De Vore is simply one of the most extreme members of a legislative party that has slid far to the right, as we have seen repeatedly over the last few years. Fiorina is perhaps fortunate that she wasn’t indicted by Attorney General Jerry Brown for her role in corporate spying at Hewlett-Packard, which fired her after a series of mistakes.
Fiorina, incidentally, has lost her early lead over De Vore in the Republican primary. She had a 31-19 lead in March. Now it’s Fiorina 21%, De Vore 20%.
On a personal note, I’ve known Boxer since she knocked on my parents’ door as a candidate for a seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, and helped her in her first election to Congress, in which she replaced her former boss, a fellow named John Burton. I don’t always agree with her, but I like her. She’s a high-energy politician who’s adept going door-to-door and dealing at snazzy cocktail parties, and a former journalist with the Pacific Sun, for which I wrote a few pieces a great many years ago. Oddly, some lefty bloggers, showing that the Republicans aren’t the only party with out there elements, complain that Boxer isn’t in tune enough with “the base.” By which they probably mean she doesn’t pay enough attention to them. That’s how Gavin Newsom overcame antipathy there. The reality is that if there is any major mainstream politician who’s in tune with the Democratic liberal base, it’s Barbara Boxer.
** OBAMA’S REMARKS ON WINNING THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
Good morning. Well, this is not how I expected to wake up this morning. After I received the news, Malia walked in and said, “Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is Bo’s birthday!” And then Sasha added, “Plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up.” So it’s good to have kids to keep things in perspective.
I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build — a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action — a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
These challenges can’t be met by any one leader or any one nation. And that’s why my administration has worked to establish a new era of engagement in which all nations must take responsibility for the world we seek. We cannot tolerate a world in which nuclear weapons spread to more nations and in which the terror of a nuclear holocaust endangers more people. And that’s why we’ve begun to take concrete steps to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, because all nations have the right to pursue peaceful nuclear power, but all nations have the responsibility to demonstrate their peaceful intentions.
We cannot accept the growing threat posed by climate change, which could forever damage the world that we pass on to our children — sowing conflict and famine; destroying coastlines and emptying cities. And that’s why all nations must now accept their share of responsibility for transforming the way that we use energy.
We can’t allow the differences between peoples to define the way that we see one another, and that’s why we must pursue a new beginning among people of different faiths and races and religions; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.
And we must all do our part to resolve those conflicts that have caused so much pain and hardship over so many years, and that effort must include an unwavering commitment that finally realizes that the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in nations of their own.
We can’t accept a world in which more people are denied opportunity and dignity that all people yearn for — the ability to get an education and make a decent living; the security that you won’t have to live in fear of disease or violence without hope for the future.
And even as we strive to seek a world in which conflicts are resolved peacefully and prosperity is widely shared, we have to confront the world as we know it today. I am the Commander-in-Chief of a country that’s responsible for ending a war and working in another theater to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies. I’m also aware that we are dealing with the impact of a global economic crisis that has left millions of Americans looking for work. These are concerns that I confront every day on behalf of the American people.
Some of the work confronting us will not be completed during my presidency. Some, like the elimination of nuclear weapons, may not be completed in my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it’s recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone. This award is not simply about the efforts of my administration — it’s about the courageous efforts of people around the world.
And that’s why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity — for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace.
That has always been the cause of America. That’s why the world has always looked to America. And that’s why I believe America will continue to lead. Thank you very much.
Former Vice President Al Gore says that President Barack Obama’s surprise win this morning of the Nobel Peace Prize is “thrilling.” Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize with top scientists in 2007 for his work on climate change.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
His day is dominated by ongoing discussions about the AfPak situation with national security team, as well as his surprise win of the Nobel Peace Prize.
He also focuses on reforming the financial sector.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama then delivered brief remarks on his surprise win of the Nobel Peace Prize.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Virginia Senator Jim Webb, the most highly decorated Marine officer of the Vietnam War and former secretary of the Navy, in the Oval Office. The subject is Afghanistan.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden hold a working lunch meeting in the Private Dining Room of the White House.
At 10:40 AM Pacific, Obama meets with five Americans who have been hurt by the outdated rules regulating the financial sector in the Roosevelt Room.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on regulatory reform in the East Room.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host a barbeque for U.S. Secret Service agents and their families on the South Lawn. These folks may be the most important people in Obama’s life, for obvious reasons. That stylish watch you see him wearing in all his appearances is a Secret Service chronograph given to him by Secret Service agents for his birthday in 2007.
President Barack Obama awoke this morning to learn that he is the surprise winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his outreach to the Muslim world, efforts to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and creating a new climate in geopolitics.
In a lengthy meeting on Wednesday with his national security team, Obama discussed how to continue strengthening Pakistan against jihadist influence. Despite the success of the recent Obama-inspired military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistan’s security and intelligence have long been shot through with jihadist sympathizers.
Obama was to have received an in-person briefing today from the US commander in Afghanistan, Generaly Stanley McChrystal, but that has been put off for a week, during which high-level discussions will continue. McChrystal is participating in these sessions via secure video conference.
Obama also continues to focus on national health care reform, where the version of the bill moving through the Senate Finance Committee has been costed out by the Congressional Budget Office at some $829 billion over a decade, with 94% of the population covered and some deficit reduction.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger holds private discussions in and around the Capitol. He also holds a rally on water this afternoon outside the Capitol.
Schwarzenegger is pushing for a deal on California’s water crisis, holding hundreds of bills hostage in an effort to force through a solution.
Not everyone likes this, naturally.
He met late last night with Democratic and legislative leaders on water, but no agreeement was reached.
At 2:30 PM, Schwarzenegger makes remarks on the water impasse at a rally held by the Latino Water Coalition on the by the East Steps of the Capitol.
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP.Six years ago last night, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California in a 17-point landslide. It was the dramatic California recall election, and I spoke with Schwarzenegger in his suite at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles before he went downstairs to deliver his victory speech in the ballroom below.
The sun was setting, in the rather nice view from the presidential suite, into the Pacific and what proved to be more a more than capacity crowd was gathering downstairs. Schwarzenegger, naturally excited even when he’s not all that excited, told me he intended to do big things for California, and end the gridlock that ground state government to a halt less than a year after the re-election of Gray Davis.
Five years earlier, in 1998, I spoke with Gray Davis in his rather less cinematic election night suite at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. He had just won a 20-point landslide election as governor of California.
Davis, a less excitable fellow than Arnold Schwarzenegger, was nevertheless quite pleased at gaining this goal of a lifetime. He told me that he intended to do big things for California, but wanted to avoid spending commitments that the state’s revenue — then flush from the dot-com boom — couldn’t sustain over time.
Despite all the drama, and landslide election victories for governors of two different political parties — who are nonetheless friends now notwithstanding Schwarzenegger ousting Davis in the recall election six years ago — including another 17-point landslide victory for Schwarzenegger in 2006, the state’s budget is a mess, its political gridlock seemingly intractable.
Now California is heading into another gubernatorial election. And according to the brand new Field Poll, and everything else I know, the likely next governor is someone who’s already won a landslide election as governor, albeit 30 years ago. That’s Jerry Brown, who won his latest landslide in 2006 when he was elected California’s attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brown is a former two-term governor, two-term mayor of gritty Oakland, and two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. … From my October 8th essay.
** IRANIAN CRISIS: PROGRESS, PROBLEMS.There was some good progress in Thursday’s international negotiation sessions with Iran on its nuclear program. But anyone who imagines the problem is solved is quite delusional.
Let’s focus first on the positive from Geneva. …
But, with regard to Israel, as the old joke goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. … From my October 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 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, 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.
This is up about $37 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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