With prayers, music and pomp, Germany, with world leaders in attendance, today celebrates the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall fell.
** QUICK HITS. Word is that President Barack Obama will likely split the difference on troop requests for Afghanistan. Not a surprise. … It looks more and more like the Army shrink who evidently shot over 40 of his comrades last week at Fort Hood was a homegrown jihadist. Whether he’s a crazy who latched onto the closest rationale at hand, a real believer who got increasingly radicalized, or one inspired by other jihadist elements is what’s important to know. … Congressional liberals are threatening to unravel the weekend victory on national health care due to new curbs on abortion.
** MAD MEN‘S SENSATIONAL SEASON FINALE. …
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
A big week ahead in presidential politics. And, for a change, in California politics, too.
President Barack Obama is celebrating the weekend passage of national health care by the House of Representatives. Now he has to get it through the Senate, then reconcile what will be different versions. While he’ll undoubtedly work on that this week, his week looks more likely to be dominated by military and geopolitical concerns. With a memorial service for the Fort Hood shooting victims coming before Veterans Day, which in turn is right before he leaves on his first big trip to East Asia, which he’s delayed a day after the shootings. (Also in the mix, the very fateful question of whether the Army officer shooter was a homegrown jihadist.)
Obama will also be dealing with simmering crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and the Middle East, as well as the selection of Europe’s first president and foreign minister.
In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be going up and down the state signing portions of the big state water deal he finally worked out with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders, before appointing a new lieutenant governor. I laid out last week why that should be State Senator Abel Maldonado, and I believe it will be.
Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has cleared the Democratic field for governor (which I reported here first on NWN with the passing of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from the contest), will be consolidating his position, albeit with the chronic rumors from the usual suspects that Senator Dianne Feinstein might run, which she won’t. GOP hopeful Meg Whitman, the ex-eBay CEO, has built a bit of a lead in her party primary, having spent nearly $20 million already. Of course, no one has spent a dime against her. That will change soon enough.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a big cushion of votes in the House, so she was able to give a pass to newer Democratic members from swing districts and still pass the bill with the public option intact. The Senate side is more problematic with regard to the public option, with some senators likely to go along with a filibuster to keep that out of the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to move it through with a provision allowing states to opt out. A fallback position would allow the public option to be triggered if it becomes apparent the the private insurance indstry is continuing to fail to provide adequate coverage.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking the global stage today marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. After the festivities, the leaders of the 27 nations in the European Union have a working dinner at which they will discuss the selection of their first president and foreign minister.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is an unannounced candidate to be the European Union’s first president. But his bid has faltered. He has a great deal of baggage from the Iraq War. He’s also too liberal for much of Europe, now dominated by the center-right. And he’s too big a superstar for the smaller countries, and for some of the larger ones, too, whose leaders have their own sizable egos. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is said to have complained that she didn’t relish the idea of having to listen all the time to “Mr. Flash.”
So the conventional wisdom is that the first president will be more of a convener than a power player. As a result, the colorless Belgian prime minister, Herman Van Rompuy, is reportedly the favorite.
But if Blair doesn’t become the president, a Blair protege is favored to become the European Union’s first foreign minister, an even more powerful post if someone like the Belgian takes the presidency and makes it a low-key office. That’s British Foreign Secretary David Milliband. The 44-year old was head of policy planning during Tony Blair’s campaign and the first four years of his prime ministership. Elected to the British parliament in 2001, he became the envirionmental minister, where he championed renewable energy and climate change issues. When Blair stepped down as prime minister in 2007, Gordon Brown then appointed Milliband foreign minister.
While the European leadership question plays out, Obama will be playing host to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, who’s in Washington for the Jewish Federation of North America meetings. The Israel/Palestine question again seems intractable. Which is not a surprise here. The Israeli leader undoubtedly wants to talk about Iran, which has refused to sign the nuclear agreement its representatives negotiated in Vienna.
Iran has sent out many mixed signals on this. They haven’t entirely rejected the deal they agreed to at first. After a few swerves, their line now is that they want to negotiate “details.” Which means the entire thing.
Afghanistan, of course, is a dominant issue for Obama. It’s a very fateful decision he has to make, and he will hold more high-level talks this week on his latest Afghanistan strategy. Will he announce it before he goes to Asia? And after he travels to Texas for the Fort Hood memorial? That would make it a very action-packed week.
One good bit of news comes from Iraq. After some big terrorist bombings, Iraqi legislators were balking at planned national elections early next year. But over the weekend, they adopted legislation setting up the elections.
Yesterday at the White House, President Barack Obama marked the historic vote on the House floor for national health insurance reform.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 3:45 PM Pacific, Obama signs the Veterans Employment Initiative Executive Order in the East Room.
At 4 PM Pacific, he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in the Oval Office.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Berlin today for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Other world leaders speaking at the festivities include Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former President George H.W. Bush, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Polish President Lech Walesa, and Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the late Soviet Union.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. As discussed last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on his water victory tour around the state.
At 2 PM, Schwarzenegger holds a press conference at a vista point overlooking Friant Dam in the Central Valley.
He will hold a press conference with state Senator Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) to sign part a part of the legislative package which he and others say is a big step to rebuilding California’s water system.
Cogdill was the very conservative party leader in the Senate who was ousted by far right senators upset when he helped broker a state budget compromise earlier this year.
The event will be webcast live at www.gov.ca.gov.
** 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. … From my November 4th column.
** IT’S NOVEMBER 22, 1963 ON MAD MEN. … From my November 2nd review.
** 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 $79 per barrel.
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.
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| Comments (42) |
Hail the Fall of the Berlin Wall; good for Hillary.
Very good speech by the President on health care.
I loved last night’s “Mad Men!” What did you think?
I liked it a whole lot. Looking forward to Bill’s review…
Barack is getting it done. What’s with all the whining?
Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:19 am
Very good speech by the President on health care.
So happy that Hillary is secretary of state.
Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:14 am
Hail the Fall of the Berlin Wall; good for Hillary.
This is not good. ABC News is reporting that Ft. Hood shooter Hasan had reached out to Al Qaeda and that the feds had a file on him.
Hillary is one of the O’s greatest gags.
Gigs?
Shocking. Positively shocking.
> Clutch J says:
November 9, 2009 at 10:13 am (Edit)
This is not good. ABC News is reporting that Ft. Hood shooter Hasan had reached out to Al Qaeda and that the feds had a file on him.
It’s endemic, I’m afraid.
>#
Capitol Boy says:
November 9, 2009 at 10:04 am (Edit)
Barack is getting it done. What’s with all the whining?
Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:19 am
Very good speech by the President on health care.
#
Capitol Boy says:
It was really terrific. Only 4000 words or so to wrap …
>#
Lorena says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:35 am (Edit)
I loved last night’s “Mad Men!” What did you think?
#
Capitol Boy says:
November 9, 2009 at 10:04 am (Edit)
I liked it a whole lot. Looking forward to Bill’s review…
She’s a global celebrity in her own right. A very good pick for a lot of reasons …
> Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:14 am (Edit)
Hail the Fall of the Berlin Wall; good for Hillary.
I would bet when the vote count showed they could pass it (albeit barely) dem leadership started releasing some members of its caucus in marginal districts to be able to vote no. The calculations that underlie a vote total on legislation can include many complex factors.
Haley Barbour has played up the narrowness of the vote as some harbinger of difficulties in the Senate. He knows the foregoing but is playing the current hand the Repubicans have, opposing reform despite clear signs they are catering to a shrinking POV on the issue.
That said, this is no slam dunk and the final shape of what can pass muster I think is still in flux but emerging.
>31.Jonas Blane says:
November 8, 2009 at 9:29 am
Pelosid looks happy for a 220-215 win.
Glad to see a serious and careful process is in place to reform of the structure of state government. Mike Feuer is a good pick as co-chair–very smart. He carried the legislation to enable and did some heavy lifting to pass the L.A. County transportation sales tax (Measure R) last year. It wasn’t a task for the fainthearted and he did it well. I think he could guide a process that produces a real package of ideas with more reality than the Performance Review did.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=ycaaetupmjlelh
I bust a gut at the flow chart Capitol Weekly uncoevered for Delta governance to explain the water reform package. Yesh, is it any wonder doing anything took decades to happen…
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=yegyfpyfob977v&xid=ye4wb871bil42b&done=.yeh0jao22enhqi
What’s weird to me about the Hasan thing is that the guy was clearly both radicializing and having a breakdown in the midst of professional psychiatrists and nobody intervened.
Well, I won’t recycle the old line regarding folks in the psychology biz …
Can we say Rube Goldbergesque?
#
Dana says:
November 9, 2009 at 10:46 am (Edit)
I bust a gut at the flow chart Capitol Weekly uncoevered for Delta governance to explain the water reform package. Yesh, is it any wonder doing anything took decades to happen…
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=yegyfpyfob977v&xid=ye4wb871bil42b&done=.yeh0jao22enhqi
I wrote #14 before I read today’s post, and I guess am not surprisd Bill noted the same factor regarding the final total. I continue to be amazed at how poorly the Republicans have targeted the swing seats for the next round of House elections. This will make it three terms since the 2006 takeover the dems have held those seats, and that will mean any attempt to get the Republicans back into the majority will be expensive and difficult to achieve. This isn’t the realignement Rove spoke of, but it seems to be what the Bush years actually produced…
“she was able to give a pass to newer Democratic members from swing districts and still pass the bill…:
That Hasan thing is what I was saying. It’d be weird if it wasn’t so. He’s probably crazy. Aren’t suicide bombers crazy?
Yeah, this site is fixed. The post is there right away.
This is a great day in history.
Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:14 am
Hail the Fall of the Berlin Wall; good for Hillary.
I’ll watch it tonight. Last night was no good.
Lorena says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:35 am
I loved last night’s “Mad Men!” What did you think?
“Shocking. Positively shocking.” — No shit 007. I can’t believe the feds didn’t do anything, which is FUBAR. Speaking of the military, General Casey’s hand wringing about backlash is also pretty embarrassing.
The self-congratulatory statements about the water deal among the parties notwithstanding, the actual bill language leaves a lot to be desired in terms of concrete provisions beyond creation of yet another commission to come up with a “plan” for the Delta. All they really did was add a few ornaments to the existing Rube Goldberg contraption. Everything else, drop back and punt.
And the $11 billion, sport shoes?
Still listening to those ranting radio shows?
Hap Hazard says:
November 9, 2009 at 3:22 pm
“Shocking. Positively shocking.” — No shit 007. I can’t believe the feds didn’t do anything, which is FUBAR. Speaking of the military, General Casey’s hand wringing about backlash is also pretty embarrassing.
Doh!
Meet the Press, Jack? They do rant and proselytize there now, I would concur
I you hadn’t posted before it would be credible.
Embarrassing because he worries about racists? That is embarrassing.
Hap Hazard says:
November 9, 2009 at 3:22 pm
“Shocking. Positively shocking.” — No shit 007. I can’t believe the feds didn’t do anything, which is FUBAR. Speaking of the military, General Casey’s hand wringing about backlash is also pretty embarrassing.
It was excellent. I’ll read Bill’s review after dinner.
Lorena says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:35 am
I loved last night’s “Mad Men!” What did you think?
What new video today?
Reagan and Obama on the Berlin Wall.
And?
> marcos leon says:
November 9, 2009 at 6:11 pm (Edit)
It was excellent. I’ll read Bill’s review after dinner.
Lorena says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:35 am
I loved last night’s “Mad Men!” What did you think?
That was Dan Walters’ line. Now it’s that it’s too big!
> Hap Hazard says:
November 9, 2009 at 3:27 pm (Edit)
The self-congratulatory statements about the water deal among the parties notwithstanding, the actual bill language leaves a lot to be desired in terms of concrete provisions beyond creation of yet another commission to come up with a “plan” for the Delta. All they really did was add a few ornaments to the existing Rube Goldberg contraption. Everything else, drop back and punt.
General Casey has to actually run the Army, not chat away as an ideologue.
> Hap Hazard says:
November 9, 2009 at 3:22 pm (Edit)
“Shocking. Positively shocking.” — No shit 007. I can’t believe the feds didn’t do anything, which is FUBAR. Speaking of the military, General Casey’s hand wringing about backlash is also pretty embarrassing.
Indeed.
> Jack Aubrey says:
November 9, 2009 at 12:10 pm (Edit)
This is a great day in history.
Jonas Blane says:
November 9, 2009 at 9:14 am
Hail the Fall of the Berlin Wall; good for Hillary.
It depends on one’s perspective. Craziness is not always easy to define. I think there are types of personality prone to this behavior, especially given the right prodding.
> Jack Aubrey says:
November 9, 2009 at 12:09 pm (Edit)
That Hasan thing is what I was saying. It’d be weird if it wasn’t so. He’s probably crazy. Aren’t suicide bombers crazy?
Right. The left can still screw the thing up, of course. I think it will be worked out, however.
> Dana says:
November 9, 2009 at 11:03 am (Edit)
I wrote #14 before I read today’s post, and I guess am not surprisd Bill noted the same factor regarding the final total. I continue to be amazed at how poorly the Republicans have targeted the swing seats for the next round of House elections. This will make it three terms since the 2006 takeover the dems have held those seats, and that will mean any attempt to get the Republicans back into the majority will be expensive and difficult to achieve. This isn’t the realignement Rove spoke of, but it seems to be what the Bush years actually produced…
“she was able to give a pass to newer Democratic members from swing districts and still pass the bill…: