President Barack Obama said Sunday that the United States and Russia will have a treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year’s end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to the Singapore summit with Asia-Pacific leaders.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in China today.
Obama will be in China until Wednesday.
Obama flew from Singapore to Shanghai today on Air Force One, arriving in Shanghai at 6:30 AM Pacific.
His trip to Singapore bore some fruit, especially in the form of his meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
The two leaders agreed that America and Russia will produce an accord cutting nuclear weapons by the end of the year.
Medvedev also said that Russia is increasing pressure on Iran to accept the deal its negotiators agreed to last month — in which Iran would ship its uranium to Russia for enrichment — and to demonstrate that its program is not geared to producing nuclear weapons.
Should Iran fail to do so, he said, Russia is open to “other options” to ensure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. He brushed aside a threatening demand on Friday by a top Iranian legislator that Russia provide Iran with the S-300, one of the world’s most advanced anti-aircraft systems.
The news was not so good, though not surprising, on climate change.
The Asia Pacific leaders in Singapore agreed that next month’s Copenhagen conference will be an interim event, with no global accord to be reached.
Instead, they agreed to a plan proposed by a top UN official who flew in from Europe; namely that progress be achieved in Copenhagen toward an eventual agreement next year.
At a conference to be held in Mexico City.
Given that European leaders, as reported on NWN, failed to agree on subsidies for developing nations at their recent summit, this was an inevitable outcome.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Israel today.
Time in Israel is 10 hours ahead of California.
At 10:45 AM Pacific, Schwarzenegger takes part in a a moderated conversation, entitled “The Fight for Alternative Energy Sources,” with Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and moderated by Better Place Founder and Chief Executive Officer Shai Agassi.
Waxman, of course, is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
This is part of the Saban Forum, held at the David Citadel Hotel Jerusalem. Saban being Haim Saban, a Hollywood mogul and friend of Schwarzenegger.
Earlier today, Schwarzenegger signed a memorandum of understanding between California and Israel on renewable energy with Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
Speaking this morning (local time) in Tokyo, President Barack Obama declared that an era of American disengagement in Asia is over. He also warned that the U.S. and its Asian partners “will not be cowed” by North Korean defiance over its nuclear weapons program.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Singapore today.
Obama arrived from Tokyo on Air Force One and attended an APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit dinner.
The time in Singapore is 16 hours ahead of the time in California. It is GMT + 8.
At 4:40 PM Pacific, Obama visits with U.S. Embassy employees and their families.
At 5:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at the Istana and is greeted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. The two then hold a bilateral meeting.
At 6 PM Pacific, Obama participates in the APEC retreat session.
The rest of Obama’s schedule for today takes place on Sunday local time.
At 10 PM Pacific, Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev hold a bilateral meeting.
At 11:15 PM Pacific, Obama attends a summit meeting with the leaders of the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) nations.
At 12:45M AM Pacific, Obama and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hold a bilateral meeting.
The Hawaiian-born Obama lived for a while as a child in Indonesia, where his sister was born.
At 1:45 AM Pacific, Obama departs Singapore on Air Force One en route to Shanghai, China.
At 6:25 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Shanghai, China.
His address to a packed house in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall was billed as another big geopolitical statement, this time with regard to America’s relations with Asia.
… What happens in Asia has a direct effect on our lives at home.
This is where we engage in much of our commerce and buy many of our goods. And this is where we can export more of our own products and create jobs back home in the process.
This is a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens the security of the wider world, and where extremists who defile a great religion plan attacks on both our continents. And there can be no solution to our energy security and our climate challenge without the rising powers and developing nations of the Asia Pacific. …
There must be no doubt: As America’s first Pacific president, I promise you that this Pacific nation will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world. …
The rise of a strong, prosperous China can be a source of strength for the community of nations. And so, in Beijing and beyond, we will work to deepen our strategic and economic dialogue. …
We welcome China’s efforts to play a greater role on the world stage.
In his weekend video/radio address, recorded before he left for Asia, President Obama looks back at a week in which we honored those who serve on Veterans Day, and mourned those we lost at Fort Hood. He especially addresses the case of Nidal Hasan.
On the geopolitical front, Obama is monitoring crises in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
These are discussed in my new column linked below.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the road today.
He is flying from Los Angeles to Jerusalem, Israel.
He has no scheduled public events today.
On Sunday, he will take part in the Saban Forum in Jerusalem, where he and Los Angeles Congressman Henry Waxman will discuss renewable energy and climate change.
Prior to that, he will sign a memorandum of understanding on renewable energy with Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
Later, Schwarzenegger will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
His trip continues next week in Iraq, where he will meet with the troops.
** OBAMA IN FLUX.As he embarks on his first big trip to Asia, President Barack Obama’s strategies are in flux in many areas.
His first stop, Japan, is acting more independently of America after the long reign of the relatively conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
His next stop, Singapore, host of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, holds a host of trade challenges, as well as a sideline meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
The stop after that, China, is the increasingly assertive great power on the cusp of superpowerhood, locked in a symbiotic economic relationship with America.
His final stop, South Korea, is friendly but embroiled in an endless stand-off with North Korea, another aspiring nuclear power.
It’s no surprise that Obama is being followed on his Asian trip by other crises. Because so much in his geopolitics is so fundamentally unresolved, making that Nobel Peace Prize more than a bit premature.
He still doesn’t have his newest strategy for Afghanistan. … From my new column.
** 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.
** 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.
** 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 $76.35 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $42 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 said today that there appears to be plenty of water on the moon, according to data from a spacecraft intentionally crashed onto its surface. Significant amounts of water could make it easier to set up a base camp for astronauts.
** QUICK HITS. A big Republican backlash, predictably, to the move to transfer the suspected mastermind of 9/11 from Guantanamo Bay to New York for trial. … The Pakistanis say they will control all major roads in South Waziristan, the Taliban stronghold, by Thanksgiving. … A teapot tempest around Jerry Brown’s former aide recording interviews by a few reporters, notably one who bollixed another story, is proving to have short legs. … His would-be GOP rivals, meanwhile, are scuffling again over debates. Who said what, and when? Very exciting.
** NEXT ON OBAMA’S ASIAN TRIP. President Barack Obama delivers a significant address at 5 PM Pacific to a select crowd of 1500 at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
He will discuss nuclear nonproliferation, North Korea, and relations with Japan and China.
At 6 PM Pacific, Obama visits with U.S. Embassy employees and their families.
At 7:05 PM Pacific, Obama has lunch with the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Akihito and Michiko, at the Imperial Palace.
Emperor Akihito is the son of Hirohito, who sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne during World War II.
At 11:30 PM Pacific, Obama departs Tokyo on Air Force One en route to Singapore.
At 6:05 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Singapore.
**OBAMA IN FLUX.As he embarks on his first big trip to Asia, President Barack Obama’s strategies are in flux in many areas.
His first stop, Japan, is acting more independently of America after the long reign of the relatively conservative Liberal Democratic Party.
His next stop, Singapore, host of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, holds a host of trade challenges, as well as a sideline meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.
The stop after that, China, is the increasingly assertive great power on the cusp of superpowerhood, locked in a symbiotic economic relationship with America.
His final stop, South Korea, is friendly but embroiled in an endless stand-off with North Korea, another aspiring nuclear power.
It’s no surprise that Obama is being followed on his Asian trip by other crises. Because so much in his geopolitics is so fundamentally unresolved, making that Nobel Peace Prize more than a bit premature.
He still doesn’t have his newest strategy for Afghanistan. …
** NEW POLL: BACKING FOR GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM DROPS. Amidst all the clamorous debate over health care, something interesting has happened. Support for replacing the current private insurance-dominated system with a government-run system has actually dropped.
In the new Gallup Poll, only 32% favor having the government take over health care. 61% are opposed.
This development comes even as most favor having a public option in the national health care bill.
A second question Gallup tracks each November asks Americans directly about “replacing the current healthcare system with a new government-run health care system.”
Throughout this decade, a plurality of Americans have consistently favored maintaining the current system, although support has fluctuated. In November 2007, the edge for the private system over the government-run system was just 7 points, vs. a 31-point gap in 2004. The current 29-point gap is thus at the high end of the historical range.
Almost 9 out of 10 Republicans and Republican leaners favor maintaining the current healthcare system based mostly on private health insurance. Democrats and Democratic leaners favor the concept of replacing the current system with a government-run system, but Democratic opinion is less monolithic than Republican opinion; more than a third of Democrats would favor maintaining the current system.
This should be a bit of a wake-up call for persistent single-payer advocates who say their way is the only real reform.
In California, they have in the past passed a bill, predictably vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But they never tried to pass legislation to actually fund the program (which would not pass), rendering it meaningless.
With public support having nose-dived, it’s even more so.
Afghanistan is following President Barack Obama to Asia.
Happy Friday the 13th!
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Tokyo today.
Obama has ended his day in Japan. Later tonight, by U.S. time, Obama gives a speech at Suntory Hall, meets with U.S. embassy personnel, meets privately with the emperor and empress at the Imperial Palace, and then has lunch with them.
Then he flies to Singapore.
The time in Tokyo is 17 hours ahead of the time in California. It is GMT + 9.
I’ll present details and more context of the next leg of the trip later today.
Obama held a summit meeting with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in what for us was the middle of the night. They discussed the issues I outlined yesterday, and seemed agreeable, as expected.
On the geopolitical front, Obama is monitoring crises in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Obama apparently now wants additional options beyond those presented by General Stanley McChrystal, US commander in Afghanistan.
The new US ambassador to Afghanistan, retired General Karl Eikenberry, sent several cables late last week to the president opposing an escalation in Afghanistan, saying that President Hamid Karzai is incompetent and corrupt and that a surge will only make Afghanistan more dependent on America.
The Iranian nuclear situation becomes more convoluted every day. Now the head of the Iranian military has stated that he favors the plan Iran agreed to last month in Vienna, only to stall on ratification, then say no, and then say it wanted to re-negotiate on “details.”
There is either a power struggle under way in Tehran or Iran is trying to buy time against harsher sanctions and a possible Israeli attack.
The Obama Administration moved yesterday to seize a New York skyscraper and four mosques around the country — including one in California, in the sleepy Sacramento suburb of Carmichael — that it says are secretly controlled by Iran, serving as conduits of cash for the regime.
Incidentally, Russia may be shifting away from Iran, as part of a complex series of political changes in Moscow which sees power apparently flowing away from the siloviki, or core group of security/intel types.
The search for the first president of Europe is continuing, with Tony Blair still in the mix despite heavy opposition. European leaders will gather in Brussels next Thursday to make the decision.
Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court.
And a top 9/11 suspect will be tried in New York.
The purported mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is bound for trial in civilian federal court in New York City. He and four other detainees from Guantanamo Bay will be flown to New York late next month.
This will be quite the event, as well as the path forward to closing down the notorious prison.
Attorney General Eric Holder says he will seek the death penalty.
ARNOLD UPDATE: It’s official. Schwarzenegger flies to Israel tomorrow to participate in the annual Saban Form (hosted by his friend, Los Angeles entertainment mogul Haim Saban). He will talk about climate change.
Schwarzenegger will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger is prepping for an international trip, which begins this weekend. He will spend much of his time in Iraq, where he will visit the troops.
His schedule there is, of course, confidential for security purposes.
Schwarzenegger will not appoint the state’s new lieutenant governor before he leaves. I expect his choice to be State Senator Abel Maldonado.
This week was taken up by legislative signings on the big new California water package, and by Veterans Day.
The Schwarzenegger Administration, acting on a federal court order, submitted a plan late yesterday to reduce California’s prison population by more than 40,000 in two years by sending fewer people to prison for relatively minor crimes and parole violations and by utilizing alternate means of incarceration.
** 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.
** 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.
This is up about $42 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 observed Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, saying the nation owes a great debt to those who chose to pursue a higher cause by serving their country. He’s off today for his big Asian trip.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA IN FLUX.
** POLITICS NEVER SLEEPS. While almost all of America sleeps, President Barack Obama will be holding summit meetings with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Hatoyama’s party swept the long-ruling LDP from power earlier this year. Amidst promises of a more independent relationship with America.
But Hatoyama is no radical. Actually, he is part of the long-ruling elite of the island nation.
His father was the foreign minister in an LDP government. His paternal grandfather was prime minister and head of the LDP. His maternal grandfather was the founder of Bridgestone, one of the world’s largest tire companies.
It’s likely, in the Japanese way, that he will pursue a moderated course of independence.
And Obama, with his Nobel Peace Prize and global celebrity, is the president to work that through, while retaining America’s fundamental interests in the region.
Japan still needs protection from North Korea, and a place under America’s nuclear umbrella with regard to China. America still needs bases. Both need favorable trade arrangements and free-flowing capital and technology.
At 11:15 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Tokyo.
Tokyo time is 17 hours ahead of California time. It’s Greenwich Mean Time + 9.
At 1:50 AM Pacific, Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold a bilateral meeting at the Kantei in Tokyo.
At 2:10 AM Pacific, Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold an expanded bilateral meeting at the Kantei in Tokyo.
That means the meeting is opened to high-level officials and aides of both principals.
At 3:20 AM Pacific, Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold a joint press conference at the Kantei in Tokyo.
At 3:45 AM Pacific, Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama have dinner at the Kantei in Tokyo.
** REGARDING FORT HOOD.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
SUBJECT: Inventory of Files Related to Fort Hood Shooting
On November 6, 2009, I directed that an immediate inventory be conducted of all intelligence in U.S. Government files that existed prior to November 6, 2009, relevant to the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, especially anything having to do with the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, U.S. Army. In addition, I directed an immediate review be initiated to determine how any such intelligence was handled, shared, and acted upon within individual departments and agencies and what intelligence was shared with others. This inventory and review shall be conducted in a manner that does not interfere with the ongoing criminal investigations of the Fort Hood shooting.
The results of this inventory and review, as well as any recommendations for improvements to procedures and practices, shall be provided to John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, who will serve as the principal point of contact on this matter for the White House. Preliminary results of this review shall be provided by November 30, 2009.
BARACK OBAMA
It now appears that Hasan repeatedly contacted at least one suspected Al Qaeda recruiter, for the supposed purpose of interviewing him on his views. And that Hasan evidenced views that would appear to constitute conduct unbecoming an officer. Yet this time bomb kept on ticking.
The FBI apparently cleared him last year of suspected terrorist ties. And the Army promoted him.
This is, needless to say, a very explosive matter; in bureaucratic, political, and religious terms.
** NEW POLL: AMERICA SPLIT ON AFGHANISTAN. With President Barack Obama working his way toward his new strategy on Afghanistan, a new Gallup Poll finds the nation split down the middle, with pluralities only for any position.
35% of Americans say he should follow the recommendation of the commanding U.S. general in Afghanistan and increase troop levels by about 40,000. Another 7% support a smaller troop increase, meaning a total of 42% of Americans support a troop increase of some size. However, nearly the same percentage, 44%, would like to see the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan reduced.
With 44% of Americans in the Nov. 5-8 poll favoring a troop reduction and 7% wanting to keep troop levels where they are, a slim majority appears to oppose a troop increase. Last month, using a different question wording, Gallup also found the public largely divided on sending more troops to Afghanistan.
If Obama decides to increase U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, he will be going against the wishes of the vast majority of rank-and-file Democrats. In fact, 60% of Democrats would like the president to begin to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan, while 26% support a troop increase of about 40,000 (18%) or less than that number (8%).
On the other hand, the majority of Republicans side with Gen. McChrystal’s recommendation and support an increase of about 40,000 U.S. troops, with an additional 6% of Republicans favoring a smaller troop increase.
Independents are evenly divided between favoring a troop increase of any size (36% would like Obama to follow McChrystal’s recommended increase and 7% favor a smaller increase) and supporting a reduction in U.S. troops (43%).
This is a pretty slender reed on which to base an escalation.
There is also a big gender gap on Afghanistan.
Men are much more likely than women to favor expanding the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan. A majority of men favor a troop increase (including 45% who believe Obama should follow McChrystal’s recommendation) while only 32% of women agree. A majority of women would like to see the U.S. reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington, Alaska, and en route to Tokyo for the better part of the day.
Obama begins his big Asia trip today.
Obama made a brief statement to the press on the economy in the Diplomatic Reception Room, setting a December summit on employment.
He then departed for Andrews Air Force Base, where he boarded Air Force One and began the flight to Tokyo, with a stopover in Anchorage, Alaska.
Obama is receiving his daily intelligence and economic briefings on Air Force One.
At 1:50 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Anchorage, Alaska.
At 2:10 PM Pacific, Obama meets with service members at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at an event with service members at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.
At 3:55 PM Pacific, Obama departs Anchorage on Air Force One en route to Tokyo, Japan.
At 11:15 PM Pacific, Obama arrives in Tokyo, Japan.
The time in Tokyo is 17 hours ahead of the time in California. It is GMT + 9.
Obaa then holds a summit meeting with new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in what for us will be the middle of the night.
I’ll present more details and context later.
On the geopolitical front, Obama is monitoring crises in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Obama won’t accept any of the Afghanistan war options before him without changes as concerns soar over the ability of the Afghan government to secure its own country.
Obama met yesterday with his highest level national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
Obama apparently now wants additional options beyond those presented by General Stanley McChrystal, US commander in Afghanistan
The new US ambassador to Afghanistan, retired General Karl Eikenberry, sent several cables late last week to the president opposing an escalation in Afghanistan, saying that President Hamid Karzai is incompetent and corrupt and that a surge will only make Afghanistan more dependent on America.
Obama also prepped for his big trip to Asia.
It’s a week-long trip, touring a complex region where a newly assertive China and a more independent Japan are challenging America’s traditional dominance.
The challenges include the rise of China, now in a symbiotic relationship with America, with one the essential creditor to the other and the other the essential market for the other; Japan having finally broken the long string of post-war LDP governments; and ongoing crisis between the two Koreas, the northern half of which is chronically threatening to develop nuclear weapons. They had a low-level naval clash earlier this week.
The search for the first president of Europe is continuing, with Tony Blair still in the mix despite heavy opposition. European leaders will gather in Brussels a week from today to make the decision.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is in Washington.
He hosts a Recovery Act Implementation Cabinet meeting and meets with the National Sheriffs’ Association in the Roosevelt Room.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signs the last of the five bills in California’s big new water package.
This bill, SB X7 1 by state Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), deals with management of the Sacramento River Delta.
The event takes place at 10:15 AM next to a Delta levee in Isleton.
** 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.
** 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.
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.
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 took part in the memorial service yesterday at Fort Hood and also delivered an address, one of his best, on the enduring nature and value of military service in the changing world of the early 21st century.
** VETERANS DAY began as Armistice Day, proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson to commemorate the end of “the war to end all wars,” which we now know as World War I.
That war ended on November 11, 1918.
Armistice Day proved to have much longer legs, historically speaking, than did the League of Nations, Wilson’s creation which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
After World War II, and the Korean War, Armistice Day was recast as Veterans Day, a federal and state holiday to honor all those who have served, and serve today, in our Armed Forces.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Arlington, Virginia today.
He is celebrating Veterans Day, holding another meeting of his AfPak war council as he moves toward a new strategy for Afghanistan, and prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins tomorrow.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He and First Lady Michelle Obama have hosted a Veterans Day breakfast in the East Room.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
At 8:25 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his highest level national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden, who of course is in the big AfPak meeting, hosts a luncheon for veterans and active duty servicemembers and their families at the Naval Observatory at 11 AM Pacific.
Obama’s speech yesterday at Fort Hood, Texas to honor the victims and mark the tragedy of last week’s shootings by Major Nidal Malik Hasan is drawing praise even from such reflexively anti-Obama outlets as the New York Post.
As for Hasan, he apparently was cleared last year by the FBI of suspicion of terrorist activities. There’s a big bureaucratic finger-pointing exercise underway, which includes the Army for not only retaining him in the service but promoting him.
In other action, former President Bill Clinton’s talk yesterday with the Senate Democratic Caucus, calling on them to pass national health care, appears to have borne some fruit, with members of all stripes agreeing that they must pass a bill.
President Barack Obama heads on Thursday on a week-long trip to Asia, touring a complex region where a newly assertive China and a more independent Japan are challenging America’s traditional dominance.
On the geopolitical front, Obama is monitoring crises in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
And he is prepping for his big trip to Asia, which begins tomorrow.
The challenges include the rise of China, now in a symbiotic relationship with America, with one the essential creditor to the other and the other the essential market for the other; Japan having finally broken the long string of post-war LDP governments; and ongoing crisis between the two Koreas, the northern half of which is chronically threatening to develop nuclear weapons. They had a low-level naval clash earlier this week.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today, where he will celebrate Veterans Day.
At 11 AM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks at the Los Angeles National Cemetery Veterans’ Day Program at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
** 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.
** 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.
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.
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, honoring the 13 soldiers slain in last week’s Fort Hood shooting rampage, discussed the long tradition of military service in this country.
** ** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama is getting some rave reviews for his speech today at Fort Hood. It was delayed, as was his departure, for all the extra time he spent with survivors and the wounded. … Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan now supposedly won’t be released for a few weeks. Certainly not before he goes on his big Asia trip late this week, nor during it. … British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, the favorite, has officially pulled out of the running to be Europe’s first foreign minister. … Tony Blair is still pushing for the European presidency. … Besides Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing another big water bill, nothing of real significance happened in California politics today.
** OBAMA’S ADDRESS TODAY AT FORT HOOD, TEXAS.
We come together filled with sorrow for the thirteen Americans that we have lost; with gratitude for the lives that they led; and with a determination to honor them through the work we carry on.
This is a time of war. And yet these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible.
For those families who have lost a loved one, no words can fill the void that has been left. We knew these men and women as soldiers and caregivers. You knew them as mothers and fathers; sons and daughters; sisters and brothers.
But here is what you must also know: your loved ones endure through the life of our nation. Their memory will be honored in the places they lived and by the people they touched. Their life’s work is our security, and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – that is their legacy.
Neither this country – nor the values that we were founded upon – could exist without men and women like these thirteen Americans. And that is why we must pay tribute to their stories.
Chief Warrant Officer Michael Cahill had served in the National Guard and worked as a physician’s assistant for decades. A husband and father of three, he was so committed to his patients that on the day he died, he was back at work just weeks after having a heart attack.
Major Libardo Eduardo Caraveo spoke little English when he came to America as a teenager. But he put himself through college, earned a PhD, and was helping combat units cope with the stress of deployment. He is survived by his wife, sons and step-daughters.
Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow joined the Army right after high school, married his high school sweetheart, and had served as a light wheeled mechanic and Satellite Communications Operator. He was known as an optimist, a mentor, and a loving husband and father.
After retiring from the Army as a Major, John Gaffaney cared for society’s most vulnerable during two decades as a psychiatric nurse. He spent three years trying to return to active duty in this time of war, and he was preparing to deploy to Iraq as a Captain. He leaves behind a wife and son.
Specialist Frederick Greene was a Tennessean who wanted to join the Army for a long time, and did so in 2008 with the support of his family. As a combat engineer he was a natural leader, and he is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Specialist Jason Hunt was also recently married, with three children to care for. He joined the Army after high school. He did a tour in Iraq, and it was there that he re-enlisted for six more years on his 21st birthday so that he could continue to serve.
Staff Sergeant Amy Krueger was an athlete in high school, joined the Army shortly after 9/11, and had since returned home to speak to students about her experience. When her mother told her she couldn’t take on Osama bin Laden by herself, Amy replied: “Watch me.”
Private First Class Aaron Nemelka was an Eagle Scout who just recently signed up to do one of the most dangerous jobs in the service – diffuse bombs – so that he could help save lives. He was proudly carrying on a tradition of military service that runs deep within his family.
Private First Class Michael Pearson loved his family and loved his music, and his goal was to be a music teacher. He excelled at playing the guitar, and could create songs on the spot and show others how to play. He joined the military a year ago, and was preparing for his first deployment.
Captain Russell Seager worked as a nurse for the VA, helping veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress. He had great respect for the military, and signed up to serve so that he could help soldiers cope with the stress of combat and return to civilian life. He leaves behind a wife and son.
Private Francheska Velez, the daughter of a father from Colombia and a Puerto Rican mother, had recently served in Korea and in Iraq, and was pursuing a career in the Army. When she was killed, she was pregnant with her first child, and was excited about becoming a mother.
Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman was the daughter and granddaughter of Army veterans. She was a single mother who put herself through college and graduate school, and served as a nurse practitioner while raising her two daughters. She also left behind a loving husband.
Private First Class Kham Xiong came to America from Thailand as a small child. He was a husband and father who followed his brother into the military because his family had a strong history of service. He was preparing for his first deployment to Afghanistan.
These men and women came from all parts of the country. Some had long careers in the military. Some had signed up to serve in the shadow of 9/11. Some had known intense combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some cared for those did. Their lives speak to the strength, the dignity and the decency of those who serve, and that is how they will be remembered.
That same spirit is embodied in the community here at Fort Hood, and in the many wounded who are still recovering. In those terrible minutes during the attack, soldiers made makeshift tourniquets out of their clothes. They braved gunfire to reach the wounded, and ferried them to safety in the backs of cars and a pick-up truck.
One young soldier, Amber Bahr, was so intent on helping others that she did not realize for some time that she, herself, had been shot in the back. Two police officers – Mark Todd and Kim Munley – saved countless lives by risking their own. One medic – Francisco de la Serna – treated both Officer Munley and the gunman who shot her.
It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know – no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice – in this world, and the next.
These are trying times for our country. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the same extremists who killed nearly 3,000 Americans continue to endanger America, our allies, and innocent Afghans and Pakistanis. In Iraq, we are working to bring a war to a successful end, as there are still those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that Americans and Iraqis have sacrificed so much for.
As we face these challenges, the stories of those at Fort Hood reaffirm the core values that we are fighting for, and the strength that we must draw upon. Theirs are tales of American men and women answering an extraordinary call – the call to serve their comrades, their communities, and their country. In an age of selfishness, they embody responsibility. In an era of division, they call upon us to come together. In a time of cynicism, they remind us of who we are as Americans.
We are a nation that endures because of the courage of those who defend it. We saw that valor in those who braved bullets here at Fort Hood, just as surely as we see it in those who signed up knowing that they would serve in harm’s way.
We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process, just as surely as we will see that he pays for his crimes.
We are a nation that guarantees the freedom to worship as one chooses. And instead of claiming God for our side, we remember Lincoln’s words, and always pray to be on the side of God.
We are a nation that is dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal. We live that truth within our military, and see it in the varied backgrounds of those we lay to rest today. We defend that truth at home and abroad, and we know that Americans will always be found on the side of liberty and equality. That is who we are as a people.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day. It is a chance to pause, and to pay tribute – for students to learn of the struggles that preceded them; for families to honor the service of parents and grandparents; for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.
For history is filled with heroes. You may remember the stories of a grandfather who marched across Europe; an uncle who fought in Vietnam; a sister who served in the Gulf. But as we honor the many generations who have served, I think all of us – every single American – must acknowledge that this generation has more than proved itself the equal of those who have come before.
We need not look to the past for greatness, because it is before our very eyes.
This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in a time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains. They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war. They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and stations – all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.
In today’s wars, there is not always a simple ceremony that signals our troops’ success – no surrender papers to be signed, or capital to be claimed. But the measure of their impact is no less great – in a world of threats that no know borders, it will be marked in the safety of our cities and towns, and the security and opportunity that is extended abroad. And it will serve as testimony to the character of those who serve, and the example that you set for America and for the world.
Here, at Fort Hood, we pay tribute to thirteen men and women who were not able to escape the horror of war, even in the comfort of home. Later today, at Fort Lewis, one community will gather to remember so many in one Stryker Brigade who have fallen in Afghanistan.
Long after they are laid to rest – when the fighting has finished, and our nation has endured; when today’s servicemen and women are veterans, and their children have grown – it will be said of this generation that they believed under the most trying of tests; that they persevered not just when it was easy, but when it was hard; and that they paid the price and bore the burden to secure this nation, and stood up for the values that live in the hearts of all free peoples.
So we say goodbye to those who now belong to eternity. We press ahead in pursuit of the peace that guided their service. May God bless the memory of those we lost. And may God bless the United States of America.
President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in what was then West Berlin, divided by the Soviets from East Berlin, on June 12, 1987, marking the 750th anniversary of the City of Berlin. “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama travels to Fort Hood, Texas today to honor the victims and mark the tragedy of last week’s shootings by Major Nidal Malik Hasan.
Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are en route on Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base to Killeen, Texas.
Obama is receiving his daily intelligence and economic briefings on Air Force One.
At 9:25 AM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama arrive in Killeen, Texas.
At 9:50 AM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama meet with families of the fallen at III Corps Headquarters, Fort Hood.
At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama meet with wounded soldiers and their families at III Corps Headquarters, Fort Hood.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama addresses the Fort Hood community at III Corps Headquarters, Fort Hood.
This speech will be roadblocked on all cable news nets.
Also on hand will be Defense Secretary Bob Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey and Army Secretary John McHugh.
At 11:25 AM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama meet with wounded soldiers at Darnall Army Medical Center.
At 1:20 PM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama depart Killeen, Texas on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 4:20 PM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, where they board Marine One.
At 4:35 PM Pacific, Obama and Michelle Obama land on the South Lawn of the White House.
President Barack Obama spoke by video hook-up yesterday at the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Obama made a surprise video address yesterday to the crowds celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at the ceremonies.
Other world leaders speaking at the festivities included 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, the last leader of the Soviet Union.
In other action, former President Bill Clinton speaks to the Senate Democratic Caucus today, calling on them to pass national health care.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. As discussed last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on his water victory tour around California.
At 11:45 AM, Schwarzenegger holds a press conference at the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose.
There he will sign SBX7 7, statewide water conservation legislation by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
X7, incidentally, reflects the seventh legislative special session called by Schwarzenegger as governor.
** 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.
** 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.
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.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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.
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.
** 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.
** 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.
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.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
In a victory last night for President Obama, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed landmark health care legislation to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama has returned to Washington from Camp David.
At 10 AM Pacific, he delivers remarks at the White House on national health care.
The House passed a national health care bill last night on a vote of 220 to 215 after Obama went personally to Capitol Hill to make a closing pitch.
All California Democrats voted for the bill. All California Republicans voted against it.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will be signing the rest of the big California water deal this coming week, as well as appointing a new lieutenant governor, who I believe will be State Senator Abel Maldonado.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama condemns the despicable attacks at Fort Hood, honoring those who were killed and wounded.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Camp David this weekend.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama addresses the House Democratic Caucus at the Cannon House Office Building.
The principal topic? National health care.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama makes a statement to the press in the Rose Garden.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depart the White House on Marine One en route to Camp David.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will pass national health care this weekend.
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, and then said no to it. Now it says it wants to negotiate “details.”
Talking with Sky News on Friday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and senior aide to Ariel Sharon, said that Israel is seriously considering air strikes to take out Iran’s nascent nuclear capacity.
This was an unusually frank, on-the-record comment by a top Israeli official with regard to an attack on Iran.
Obama continues deliberations on his latest strategy for Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai is officially re-elected with the weekend election canceled due to his challenger’s complaint of ongoing massive electoral fraud.
Obama is also prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins next week.
Investigators examined Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s computer, his home and garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times by two civilian police officers. Soldiers do not go about an Army base carrying weapons, which is why Hasan was able to wreak havoc in a way that would have been impossible in a combat zone.
We are all trying to make sense of the shootings at Fort Hood. Perhaps they are simply senseless. Perhaps not.
If this is correct, we have the beginnings of an explanation for this horrific tragedy. But only that.
The Army psychiatrist, and what an irony that is, may be an insane person who grabbed hold of an ideology to rationalize an erratic view of the world. He may be a homegrown jihadist. We don’t know if he acted alone or was prodded by others.
We do know that these acts do not represent mainstream Islam.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will be signing the rest of the big California water package in various events next week.
He will also appoint a new lieutenant governor.
I expect that appointee to be State Senator Abel Maldonado.
** 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. …
** 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.
** 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 $77.43 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
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.
Ex-neighbors of the Army psychiatrist reported to have shot 13 people to death at Fort Hood, Texas recall him as a nice and giving person.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD HAS BEEN CLEARED.
Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me… ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that’s difficult to say. I mean, we don’t really…
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd: So you’re telling me there’s a chance … YEAH!
From Dumb and Dumber.
Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown has cleared the Democratic field for governor of California in 2010. Without so much as announcing his candidacy.
How that occurred is a story for another time. But for now, we’ll deal with non-serious reports of other challengers purportedly emerging.
They stem from consultants who won’t be hired by Brown — which is a very long list, actually, as Brown is the absolute antithesis of the consultant-driven candidate, since he knows politics far better than all but a few consultants and has a strong network of advisors, which the press has not yet gathered — and a few journos/bloggers who are either resentful, anxious for copy, or ideologically driven for some sort of ultra-left candidate who would have no more chance of becoming the next governor of California than do you.
Which does not include our old friend Willie Brown, the legendary former California Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor, who keeps coming up with fanciful scenarios. Not that he is not really a supporter of the other Brown, mind you. He simply likes to mix things up.
Willie likes to keep things interesting, and focused on himself. So he has, for the past few months, floated a number of alleged challengers to the other Brown. Notably not mentioning Senator Dianne Feinstein, now chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a post she’s worked toward for years, one of the key geopolitical offices on Planet Earth, and which is not, let me tell you, having worked with a senior member of that committee, granted to someone who runs off to run for some other office once it’s achieved. Feinstein, not incidentally, officiated at Jerry and Anne Brown’s lovely wedding ceremony.
Anyway, Willie Brown. He has recently floated Steve Westly, ex-eBay honcho, former state Controller, and current mega-Obama backer and greentech venture capitalist. And LA Congresswoman Jane Harman. And California First Lady Maria Shriver.
As it happens, I am in regular contact with Westly, often talking Beatles and Bond. Which is not true of Willie Brown. I know what he’s doing, and he’s not running against Brown. Quite the contrary. Shriver? Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger finds this amusing. She’s not running against Brown, either, which Willie would know, had he asked his pal Arnold. Harman? She’s not running for governor. She’s in a rather difficult Democratic primary re-election campaign. She couldn’t beat Brown if she tried for a hundred years.
Which brings us to a singularly non-serious report in Wednesday’s San Francisco Chronicle by reporter Carla Marinucci. Carla, who I have known for many years, has long been a regular conduit for lobbyist/political consultant Garry South. She also was the reporter recorded, unfortunately without notice, by Brown’s now ex-spokesman, in an effort to improve her reporting. Garry, who I’ve known since he moved to California in the early ’90s, was the chief strategist for a campaign which had no strategy — other than throwing right-leaning, anti-Brown spitballs — that of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Which was, needless to say, not how to do that campaign, to the extent that it existed.
Marinucci has produced numerous pieces reflecting Garry’s anti-Brown agenda, an agenda which may also be a front for Republican interests. Her latest report purported to reveal that there is a big anti-Jerry Brown move in the Democratic Party. It is, let’s be charitable, non-serious.
Carla’s hook is that former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg is emerging as a primary challenger to Brown. This is, to put it charitably, non-serious.
Hertzberg, who finished third in a race for LA mayor in 2005, was one of our volunteers in the Gary Hart for President campaign. Shortly after he became speaker, we met in what had been Willie Brown’s Capitol office, and he showed me the little heart-shaped pin I’d given him as a Hart campaign insider.
Bob is not running for governor, which I knew without asking. He’s focused on his group, California Forward’s, big governmental reform agenda. Nevertheless, thanks to Carla’s reportage, we talked yesterday, and here is his comment: “Oh, God no, I’m not running for governor!”
Marinucci in her San Francisco Chronicle report had elicited much the same quote, albeit not as pithy. Which, in her interpretation, meant that he was strongly considering running against Brown.
Hertzberg is not going to run against Attorney General Jerry Brown. Quite the contrary.
Buttressing, as it were, her reporting, Marinucci cited two blog reports which she presented as evidence of a mounting challenge to Brown.
The reports, actually, are quite the opposite, as a reasonable read of them reveals.
Then she cited a poll that she said showed big opposition within the party.
This poll, a term I use advisedly, is an Internet poll on the site of the California Majority Report. Which Marinucci reported is the web site for the state Democratic Party.
Which is, to put it simply, quite wrong.
The CMR is run by three Sacramento consultants, all of whom I know well. It is not the state party web site. Not by a long shot, as we all know well.
When I sent Carla an e-mail on this, she changed her report on the Chronicle web site. Naturally, I have a screenshot copy of her original report.
Here is what she wrote originally: “Indeed, a poll currently being taken by the California Majority Report — the state’s Democratic Party website — suggests that there’s a hunger among Democrats for other candidates.”
And here is what she changed it to after I told her she was dead wrong: “Indeed, a poll currently being taken by the California Majority Report — a state Democratic Party website — suggests that there’s a hunger among Democrats for other candidates.”
In both cases, she wrote: “The website poll shows 34 percent of the Democratic party respondents support Brown for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination — but 42 percent are “hoping someone else runs” and another 10 percent say they’re undecided and want additional candidates. (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had about 12 percent of that vote before he dropped out last week.)”
The irony is that her little change still makes her report dead wrong. The California Majority Report is still, in no way, shape, or form, a state Democratic Party web site.
In fact, there’s hardly any action there at all, as it goes days absent any posts from its principals or other writers.
In fact, the last two comments there are from me. And the first of those was posted in … September.
And the numbers in the poll have been the same for weeks now.
It doesn’t require actual reporting to know this.
** HUCKABEE IS THE LEADING GOP PICK FOR 2012. A new Gallup Poll shows that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to be the strongest Republican choice to run against President Barack Obama in 2012.
Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election, 71% of Republicans say they would seriously consider voting for Mike Huckabee. This gives Huckabee a slight edge over Mitt Romney (65%) and Sarah Palin (65%) in this early test of the strength of several potential Republican contenders. A majority of Republicans also say they would seriously consider voting for Newt Gingrich, but far fewer say they are currently ready to support the lesser-known Tim Pawlenty or Haley Barbour. …
The poll suggests that the appeal of these potential challengers to Barack Obama in 2012 at this point is primarily limited to the Republican faithful. Among all Americans, Huckabee and Romney perform better than the other Republicans tested, but only about 4 in 10 Americans say they would consider voting for either. …
In addition to gauging potential support for each candidate, the poll also asked Americans to say whether they think each is qualified to be president. Huckabee and Romney are the leaders in this respect, with about half of the public saying each is qualified. …
Thus, more Americans believe Huckabee (50%) and Romney (49%) are qualified to be president than say they would seriously consider voting for them (40% and 39%, respectively). The same is true for Gingrich, although there is a wider gap between the percentage who believe he is qualified (44%) and the percentage who would seriously consider supporting him (29%).
That is not the case for Palin, however. Thirty-three percent of Americans would seriously consider voting for her, but about the same number — 31% — believe she is qualified to be president. In fact, Republicans are more likely to say they would seriously consider voting for Palin for president (65%) than to say she is qualified for the job (58%). …
I like Huckabee. He is, however, like Palin, a creationist. And America in the 21st century will not elect a creationist as its president.
Gingrich is the author of alternative history novels. Which I have read, incidentally. He’s now being dinged by the right as being too “liberal.” Romney made his fortune as a corporate takeover artist, back when he was working with Meg Whitman, who hopes to be California’s next governor …
** ARNOLD’S BEST PICK FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR? ABEL MALDONADO. Who is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger going to pick as California’s new lieutenant governor, now that the old one is in Congress? That’s a good question.
Here’s who he should pick: State Senator Abel Maldonado.
Why?
That’s easy.
Maldonado is a Republican. Schwarzenegger gets nothing picking a Democrat. Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg is already out of the picture.
More to the point, Maldonado is a moderate Republican. If Schwarzenegger is to leave a legacy of more sensible politics in an era of frequently silly hyperpartisanship, he needs to bring greater moderation to an increasingly far right California Republican Party.
Maldonado is also, clearly, a Latino. And Latinos are the future in California politics. Yet they have been absent in the top ranks of statewide elected leadership in this state supposedly focused on the future.
And Maldonado has been an Arnold ally. One he did not do much for when he ran for state controller in 2006.
That led to a bitter break between the two. More lately, however, Maldonado has made some tough votes for Arnold on the budget and other matters.
The rap on Arnold is that he is not loyal to his friends. Actually, he is. But frequently not in politics, oddly enough.
Making Maldonado California’s new lieutenant governor deals with all these issues.
Can he be confirmed? Sure.
President Barack Obama, closing yesterday’s tribal nations conference, shared his shock and sympathy with the victims of the Fort Hood shootings.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama signs the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009 in the Oval Office.
At 11:35 AM Pacific, Obama visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
This was the previous duty station of the alleged Fort Hood shooter, an Army psychiatrist.
At 1:25 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Congressman-Elect Bill Owens of New York in the Oval Office.
Owens won a Congressional seat held by the GOP since the Civil War. How did he do it?
By being a reasonable person, and by not being caught in the middle of the GOP civil war between moderates and the far right.
He also supported national health care, with the public option, winning 49% of the vote in a seat held by Republicans since the Civil War.
Federal authorities last night searched the Killeen, Texas apartment of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man believed to be responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base.
At 2:10 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House of Representatives will pass national health care on Saturday.
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, and then said no to it. Now it says it wants to negotiate “details.”
Israel regards this as typical Iranian stall ball.
Talking with Sky News earlier today, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, a former ambassador to the US and senior aide to Ariel Sharon, said that Israel is seriously considering air strikes to take out Iran’s nascent nuclear capacity.
This was an unusually frank, on-the-record comment by a top Israeli official with regard to an attack on Iran.
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 is moving most of its foreign staff out of Afghanistan. This comes in the wake of last week’s deadly Taliban attack on UN staffers in Kabul.
In more good news, Iraq is talking about delaying its national elections now set for two months from now.
Obama is also prepping for his big Asia trip, which begins next week.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He signs the first pieces of the big California water package, those dealing with groundwater management.
At 10 AM, Schwarzenegger signs two bills at the Tujunga Wellfield Groundwater Recovery Project in Los Angeles, SBX7 6 and SBX7 8, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
Tonight Schwarzenegger celebrates First Lady Maria Shriver’s 53rd birthday.
** 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. …
** 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.
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.
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. …
** 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.
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.
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 is urging states to get their education policies in line with his administration’s reform priorities. And he has an economic incentive for them to do so: $5 billion in grants known as “Race to the Top.” California is moving forward on this.
** QUICK HITS.AARP is coming out for the national health care bill put together by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. … To no one’s surprise, ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced today that she’s running for the US Senate. She is tied in the Republican primary with far right Orange Conty Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, and trails Senator Barbara Boxer by a wide margin. … Look for this Cali GOP race to replicate the far right vs. moderate dynamic of that upstate New York Congressional seat that fell to the Democrats last night. … Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold a ceremonial swearing-in for Congressman-elect John Garamendi tomorrow afternoon on the House floor to fill the 10th district seat of California left open when Ellen Tauscher resigned to become the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs. … That will vacate the lieutenant governorship. I’ not sure who Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will appoint.
The package went from $9.9 billion in bonds to $11.1 billion this week as liberal legislators added more money for water recycling and conservation programs. Can California afford it?
“This is without any doubt the most comprehensive water infrastructure package that has passed here,” Schwarzenegger said.
Well, since the 1960s, that is, in the days of the late Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.
The plan provides funding for new dams, groundwater cleanup, conservation and habitat restoration. It gives Schwarzenegger comprehensive tools to begin restoring the crucial Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and create a stable water supply for cities in Southern California and farmers in the Central Valley.
Lawmakers have wrangled for years over how to upgrade the water system. The problems became more acute this year when farmers faced a third dry year with less snowfall and new pumping restrictions to protect a delta fish.
Democrats and Republicans spent months hashing out a strategy intended to change how water is used in California and how to better manage the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The water plan includes creation of a seven-member governing council to oversee the delta that funnels fresh water from Northern to Southern California, where most of the state’s population lives. The maze of earthen levees is susceptible to earthquakes that could halt pumping for months. Federal courts and agencies have ordered reductions in pumping to protect the delta’s collapsing ecosystem.
Legislators want to require California cities to use 20 percent less water by 2020, although large urban areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco would not have to meet such a high threshold because per-capita water use is lower than other parts of the state.
In his statement issued at 6 AM, which you can read below, Schwarzenegger singled out state Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a prominent Obama backer, for his leading role in making it happen.
President Barack Obama and European leaders speak after a meeting yesterday at the White House where they discussed Afghanistan, climate change, the global economy and other topics of mutual interest.
** 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. …
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Wisconsin today.
Obama has received his intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has also participated in a credentialing ceremony for foreign ambassadors in the Oval Office.
At 8:15 AM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Madison, Wisconsin.
At 10:30 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Madison, Wisconsin.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan meet with students at Wright Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, he delivers remarks on strengthening America’s education system at Wright Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin.
At 12:55 PM Pacific, Obama departs Madison, Wisconsin.
At 2:40 PM Pacific, he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 2:55 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama host an event celebrating classical music in the East Room.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Iran, which 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 Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai is officially re-elected with the weekend election now canceled.
Republican Chris Christie, a former corruption-busting prosecutor, unseated the deep-pocketed but very unpopular Governor Jon Corzine on Tuesday in a bruising contest that focused on New Jersey’s ailing economy.
Things did not go well yesterday for Obama in elections in New Jersey and Virginia, where both Democratic candidates lost.
Virginia was long expected.
But Obama tried to help Governor Jon Corzine pull things out over the weekend in New Jersey, where the former Wall Street mogul had become quite unpopular. It didn’t happen.
Obama has good job approval ratings in both states, so his coattails, at least for a weak candidate (Virginia) and an unpopular candidate (New Jersey) proved non-existent.
Things went better in Congressional special elections.
In California, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi easily won a Bay Area seat, as expected.
In upstate New York, the Democrats picked off a seat long held by Republicans, taking advantage of the bitter fight between right-wingers and moderates.
Vice President Joe Biden went head to head on the day before the election with Sarah Palin again, and helped win the seat.
Obama also monitored the New York city race in which independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg narrowly defeated the Democrat, despite record-setting spending (Obama was effectively neutral in that race), and the Maine initiative to repeal that state’s gay marriage law, which did pass.
NOTE: SCHWARZENEGGER WATER WEBCAST NOW AT 11 AM.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lengthy private talks in and around the Capitol paid off early this morning with the passage of a big California water deal.
Schwarzenegger hailed the legislative passage early today:
“Water is the lifeblood of everything we do in California. Without clean, reliable water, we cannot build, we cannot farm, we cannot grow and we cannot prosper. That is why I am so proud that the legislature, Democrats and Republicans, came together and tackled one of the most complicated issues in our state’s history. This comprehensive water package is an historic achievement.
“I particularly want to applaud the leadership of Senate President Darrell Steinberg. He has been a tireless leader, a relentless advocate for the environment and a true statesman.”
Schwarzenegger will hold a press conference to discuss the legislature’s passage of the package to reform and rebuild California’s water system today in the Capitol at 10 AM.
This afternoon, he tours Electric Vehicles International and announces the opening of their new worldwide headquarters and manufacturing facility in Stockton.
** 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 $47 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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