President Barack Obama told Native American tribal leaders today that he is determined to reverse the federal government’s history of marginalizing and ignoring the plight of Indian nations.
** QUICK HITS. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that her house of Congress will vote out national health care on Saturday. … A horrific set of shootings has occurred today at Fort Hood in Texas, home of the 1st Cavalry Division (in which my dad once served) amongst other units. There are 12 dead and 31 wounded. The three alleged shooters are all Army personnel, including an officer with an Arabic name, who is apparently a shrink. … The far right, led by the execrable Drudge Report, has already been quick to play up his name and implied religion. Not that the aptly named Drudge, once the de facto assignment editor for big media before his bias and ignorance were so well known, would know anything about any of this. … I’m sure that folks on the other extreme will talk up the evils of military service. We should know more before rattling on. We do know that the Fort Hood units have been heavily deployed in combat zones. … California GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, the ex-Hewlett Packard CEO, today rolled out eight Senate endorsements: Arizona Senator John McCain, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. … Fiorina trails Senator Barbara Boxer by a wide margin and is locked in a dead heat in the GOP race with far right Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who will benefit from the Tea Party crowd on the national right wing.
** NEW POLL: OBAMA NOW SEEN AS MOSTLY LIBERAL. A new Gallup Poll shows that President Barack Obama is now seen by most as mostly liberal in his policies.
This is in significant contrast to how he was seen when he was sworn in as president.
A majority of Americans now see President Barack Obama as governing from the left. Specifically, 54% say his policies as president have been mostly liberal while 34% call them mostly moderate. This contrasts with public expectations right after Obama’s election a year ago, when as many expected him to be moderate as to be liberal.
This finding comes from a USA Today/Gallup survey, conducted Oct. 16-19, which offers several indications that Obama’s public image has changed since his election last November. Much of that change is inauspicious for Obama.
Perhaps related to the re-evaluation of Obama’s ideological orientation, fewer Americans today than in April say Obama is keeping the promises he made during the campaign.
While most Americans say it is important to them that President Obama keep the promises he made during the campaign (82%), far fewer, 48%, currently believe he has done so. This represents a slide in support for the president on this measure since April, when nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) said he was keeping his promises.
For all the criticism of Obama from certain quarters of the left, he actually has lost no support amongst liberal voters. Where he has dropped is amongst moderate Democrats, independents, and, of course, Republicans.
Obama’s favorable rating, now 55%, is a more fundamental indicator of the post-election change in his image. Immediately after the election, 68% of Americans viewed Obama favorably. The figure rose to 78% around the time of his inauguration and registered in the mid- to high 60s from March through July. However, an early October Gallup survey showed the figure dropping to 56%, similar to the latest finding.
Among Democrats by ideology, Obama’s favorability rating has fallen mostly among moderate Democrats, from 97% to 84%, with a smaller dip among conservative Democrats, 78% to 72%. It has held steady at 97% among liberal Democrats.
This erosion of support for Obama among moderate Democrats (as well as among Republicans and independents) may correspond with the increasing percentage of Americans perceiving that Obama is governing from the left.
President Obama is not enjoying the same broad appeal and centrist image that he did in the afterglow of his election last November. Although a majority of Americans continue to view him favorably, this percentage has declined. The common perception that he would govern as a moderate has given way to a heightened belief that Obama’s policies are mostly liberal. (Interpreted in the light of Americans’ generally conservative leanings, this could be a problem for Obama politically.) And whereas in April most Americans believed he was sticking to the promises he made during the campaign, fewer than half now say that’s the case.
** GARAMENDI RESIGNS AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. I don’t know who Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will appoint. However, it will not be anyone who is running for governor.
Here’s the resignation letter of the new Congressman, who won in a landslide in a Tuesday special election:
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
On Tuesday, November 3, 2009, I was elected to fill the vacant seat representing California’s 10th Congressional District.
Today, at 12:00pm EST, I will be sworn in as a member of the United States Congress. Therefore, effective at the time of my swearing in as a member of Congress, I resign my position as Lieutenant Governor of the State of California.
It has been an honor to serve the people of California as Lieutenant Governor, and I look forward to continuing to serve our great state in Washington, DC.
Sincerely,
JOHN GARAMENDI
Lieutenant Governor
An Italian court has convicted 23 Americans of abducting an Egyptian cleric, suspected of terrorism, and torturing him as part of an interrogation. This is the first trial concerning the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program. It’s all in absentia, of course.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has delivered opening remarks and is participating in an interactive discussion with tribal leaders at the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:40 AM Pacific, he receives his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Biden have lunch in the Private Dining Room.
At 10:40 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
At 12 noon Pacific, Obama meets with President Ian Khama of Botswana in the Oval Office.
At 12:40 PM Pacific, Obama meets with representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office.
At 1 PM Pacific, he meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 1:50 PM Pacific, Obama delivers closing remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Iran seemed, after a typical stalling tactic, to accept the nuclear deal it negotiated the week before last in Vienna, albeit with big caveats, then said no to it. Now it says it wants to negotiate “details.”
Obama continues deliberations on his latest strategy for Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai is officially re-elected with the weekend election now canceled due to his challenger’s complaint of ongoing massive electoral fraud.
The UN says it will temporarily relocate 600 of its foreign staff based in Afghanistan. This comes in the wake of last week’s deadly Taliban attack on UN staffers in Kabul.
Obama is also prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins next week.
Hideki Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBIs as the New York Yankees won their 27th championship last night with a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no planned public events today.
Presumably he is still celebrating from finally getting his big state water deal with the Legislature.
Legislative passage came very early yesterday.
** OBAMA’S OFF TO A VERY GOOD START. One year ago, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Is his presidency delivering on the promise of his candidacy? Yes. I think he’s off to a very good start. But I’m not doing handstands.
I keep Obama’s book containing his campaign program, Change We Can Believe In, on my desk. Is Obama doing what he said he would do? Yes, mostly.
It’s important to be clear about something. Obama is not a left-wing politician; he’s a center/left politician. That’s clear when you examine what he ran on last year. He ran on a center/left platform, not a left-wing platform.
Many on the left and the right, either through misunderstanding or pursuit of their own agendas, get this wrong. Each wing imagines (or pretends to imagine) that Obama is a lefty, and alternately prods and assails him on that false basis.
But let’s not clear space on Mount Rushmore just yet. …
** IT’S NOVEMBER 22, 1963 ON MAD MEN. “Everything’s going to be okay.” — Don Draper
No, Don. It won’t. It really won’t. …
** AFGHANISTAN, AGAIN: THE THICKET OBAMA’S NOT GETTING OUT OF. … From my October 29th column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE GYPSY AND THE HOBO.” … From my October 26th review.
** CHINATOWN’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION AND THE POLANSKI SCANDAL. … From my October 23rd essay.
** OBAMA IN THE THICKET OF “AFGHANIRANISTAN.” … From my October 21st column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE COLOR BLUE.” … From my October 19th review.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “WEE SMALL HOURS.” … From my October 12th review.
** WHY OBAMA DOESN’T DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, OR THE OLYMPICS RAP. … From my October 9th column.
** ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, JERRY BROWN, BILL CLINTON AND THAT CRAZY CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. … 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.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation. You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $80 per barrel.
This is up about $46 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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| Comments (54) |
The President, and the Fort Hood shootings.
Perhaps.
> Horst says:
November 6, 2009 at 4:38 am (Edit)
This is a terrible tragedy. Your military may have been infiltrated by Islamists. This happens. Hamburg can be anywhere today, minus the fun.
That’s right.
> sergei says:
November 6, 2009 at 1:39 am (Edit)
The shottings is a similar event as we have had. The soldiers are stressed, they snap.
I don’t know yet.
> Lorena says:
November 5, 2009 at 6:43 pm (Edit)
The Fort Hood killings are horrible! How did it happen?