The Ghost Writer, based on Robert Harris’s best-selling novel, The Ghost, premieres on February 11th at the Berlin Film Festival and opens in Los Angeles and New York on February 19th. Directed by Roman Polanski, it’s a roman a clef on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, concerning the completion of his memoirs.
** TONY BLAIR’S FRIDAY, AND IRAQ. Tony Blair, the only Labour Party leader to win three terms as prime minister of the United Kingdom, has long seemed well-positioned to be the global statesman of the age. Highly intelligent, charming, articulate, and mediagenic, at 56 he and his foundation are involved around the world on a host of issues, from climate change to poverty to terrorism. He’s been the Middle East special envoy of the Quartet powers (US, UN, EU, and Russia) and was long the favorite to become the first president of the European Union.
There’s just been one thing in the way. The Iraq War.
The obstacle still remains.
On Friday, Blair at last was compelled to give six hours of public testimony on the origins of the Iraq War, before the Chilcot Inquiry in London. Arriving before dawn, hours before he was due, in order to avoid the protesters, he did not avoid the families of British soldiers killed in the Iraq War crowded into the hearing room.
He also did not acknowledge them.
Although he hardly broke under questioning, which was at most pointed, Blair struggled to justify his position in joining President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the invasion of Iraq.
Blair had sold the war on the basis of Iraq possessing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, which he dramatically claimed could be deployed in 45 minutes. But there was no WMD.
In December, Blair said that he would have taken Britain to war even had he known there was no WMD. Why? Because Saddam Hussein was a very bad guy and Iraq is better off without him. Which would make more sense if he were an aspiring leader of Iraq.
On Friday, he refined his position. The war was justified, he said, because in the post-9/11 era any potential threat could not be tolerated. In other words, since Saddam Hussein was against the West (which had supported him in his war with Iran), and since he had technologists capable of developing weapons of mass destruction, he had to act to eliminate that potential threat.
Of course, that explanation, which sounds suspiciously like that of Dick Cheney — who, ironically, opposed Blair in internal war councils as a too liberal influence on Bush — doesn’t fly very well.
In his testimony, Blair seemed curiously unaware of the vast Iranian influence inside Iraq. Or of how the elimination of Saddam would empower Iran within the region, by removing him as a strong counterweight. Or that his dramatic claim of WMD deployable “within 45 minutes,” which the public took to mean against, say, them, actually pertained to battlefield chemical weapons. Which also did not exist.
So the Iraq obstacle remains for Tony Blair.
Next month a new movie comes out, based on a best-selling novel by a former Blair friend, who broke with the prime minister over the Iraq War and his leadership of Britain in the war on terror.
Like the novel, the film — directed by Roman Polanski, who was suddenly arrested last year on 30-year old sex charges on a routine trip from France to Switzerland, while still working on the film — is a roman a clef about Tony Blair. Polanski was finally able to post a huge bond and moved, under house arrest, to his Swiss chalet, where he finally completed The Ghost Writer.
It stars former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan as former Prime Minister Adam Lang, British actress Olivia Williams (seen lately on American TV’s Dollhouse) as Ruth Lang, Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall as top Lang aide Amelia Bly, and Ewan McGregor (Obi-wan Kenobi in the recent Star Wars trilogy) as the unnamed ghost brought over from London to finish the politician’s memoirs on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.
I’ve read the novel and followed the film and will write more on this.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama has no scheduled public events today.
Yesterday, following his scheduled meeting with former President George H.W. Bush, Obama made an unscheduled visit to a high-profile college basketball game, the clash between national Top Ten powers Georgetown and Duke. He was accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, senior advisor David Axelrod, and press secretary Robert Gibbs. Obama took the microphone during the national TV broadcast for the better part of a quarter delivering color commentary on the game.
Today Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere.
Pakistani media reported today that the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban was killed earlier this month by a U.S. air strike. His predecessor was killed late last year by a U.S. air strike. The Pakistani Army has not confirmed the report. The Taliban deny the report. They had also denied that the previous leader had been killed.
Hamas says that a top Hamas commander, murdered earlier this month in a luxury Dubai hotel room, was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad. Dubai authorities say they are looking for a European “gang” of seven individuals traveling on the passports of various countries which they will not name. Mossad had no denied the Hamas claim. Israel says that the Hamas commander was in charge of smuggling arms from Iran into Gaza.
In Iraq, a top Sunni leader said he may call for a boycott of upcoming national parliamentary elections in the wake of the government’s banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates with supposed links to the former regime of the late Saddam Hussein.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
President Barack Obama directly engaged Congressional Republicans, meeting yesterday at their retreat in Baltimore, in an extraordinary live session.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He met early this morning in the Oval Office with former President George H. W. Bush, who was accompanied by his son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
He has no other scheduled public events.
Obama scored yesterday, big time, when he appeared before the House Republican Caucus in Baltimore. There, in a televised session akin to Prime Minister’s Question Time in Britain, he told Congressional Republicans that their approach as the “party of no” is hurting America, challenged them to help govern the country through perilous times, and entertained their questions, some of which are more like little speeches.
The session was carried live on the cable news nets, and went so well for Obama that Fox News cut away long before CNN and MSNBC.
The Obama Administration, as expected, has reversed course and now will not hold the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Manhattan.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the idea when it was announced in November. Since then, however, Al Qaeda has demonstrated that it is definitely alive and kicking with the narrowly averted 12/25 attack in the skies over Detroit. New York police officials determined that the trial will costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year to secure. New York real estate interests, looking at the massive security plans for Lower Manhattan, realized that it could seriously disrupt the real estate market there. New York politicians of all stripes came out against the plan this week.
Bloomberg, who once talked of the righteousness of holding terrorism trials near the site of the late World Trade Center, now says that KSM should be tried on a military base.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.
Iran has again made a vague offer of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear enrichment program. Is it genuine? Or merely another attempt to buy time?
The big international conference on Afghanistan took place Thursday in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.
I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.
I have a column on this, which is linked below.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama says that reining in budget deficits, while ranking below job creation as his top priority, is critical for success.
In Iraq, security forces are still hunting for the planners of a bloody series of bombings in Baghdad. And the crisis over the banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates from the national parliamentary elections in March continues.
Yesterday in London, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his first public testimony on the hotly disputed origins of the Iraq War. Appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry, Blair was forced to come up with a new rationale for the invasion, as the previous rationale of WMD obviously proved to be wrong.
I’ll have more on this later. Along with the brand new trailer for Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, based on the best-selling Blair roman a clef novel The Ghost by former Blair friend Robert Harris.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
State Controller John Chiang warned yesterday that California’s state government will run out of money by the beginning of April if the Legislature does not get moving on budget solutions.
The state Senate has held hearings on Schwarzenegger’s budget proposals.
The state Assembly, in a now familiar pattern, has not.
** WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO MONTHS MAKES AS THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY PLAYS OUT FAR FROM WASHINGTON.What a difference two months makes. Way back then, as it were, the staunchly resolute talk on Afghanistan was all about the big military surge just announced by President Barack Obama, with NATO leaders pledging to ante up lots of troops, too. (Even as actual national commitments were, well, lacking.) Now the talk coming out of Thursday’s big 70-nations conference in London on Afghanistan centers on talking with the Taliban, and on exit strategies.
While all the attention — in the hyperventilating aftermath of the Democrats’ eminently avoidable Massachusetts special election loss — was on Obama’s State of the Union address, an event of far greater relevance to the fate of his presidency played out not in Washington, but in London.
In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.
The economy is slowly recovering. One way or the other, Obama will be able to campaign for re-election in 2012 having staved off another Great Depression inherited from the Bush/Cheney Administration. Which he focused on effectively in his big speech. The question is how quickly and fully the recovery comes prior to the mid-term election, in order for Obama and the Democrats to limit expected losses. … From my new column.
** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger.
The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.
The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008. … From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 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 $72.89 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $39 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Testifying today in London, former Prime Minister Tony Blair defended his decision to take Britain into war with Iraq, telling an investigative panel that he would do the same again even though the weapons of mass destruction used to justify the invasion did not exist.
** WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO MONTHS MAKES AS THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY PLAYS OUT FAR FROM WASHINGTON.What a difference two months makes. Way back then, as it were, the staunchly resolute talk on Afghanistan was all about the big military surge just announced by President Barack Obama, with NATO leaders pledging to ante up lots of troops, too. (Even as actual national commitments were, well, lacking.) Now the talk coming out of Thursday’s big 70-nations conference in London on Afghanistan centers on talking with the Taliban, and on exit strategies.
While all the attention — in the hyperventilating aftermath of the Democrats’ eminently avoidable Massachusetts special election loss — was on Obama’s State of the Union address, an event of far greater relevance to the fate of his presidency played out not in Washington, but in London.
In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.
The economy is slowly recovering. One way or the other, Obama will be able to campaign for re-election in 2012 having staved off another Great Depression inherited from the Bush/Cheney Administration. Which he focused on effectively in his big speech. The question is how quickly and fully the recovery comes prior to the mid-term election, in order for Obama and the Democrats to limit expected losses. …
** WHITMAN SKIPS CALIFORNIA APPEARANCES IN JANUARY, BUT IS ABOUT TO RESURFACE. Billionaire Meg Whitman, the ex-eBay CEO who is running for the Republican nomination for governor of California, really hasn’t done a public event in California this month. She’s been doing some other things (more on that later), which includes her spending this week back East promoting her CEO memoir, “The Power of Many.”
But she will make public appearances next week in California, after going, as far as I can tell, more than a month-and-a-half without doing so.
She’s continuing to promote her book, of course. Whitman will appear in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento.
While Whitman has been off the campaign trail, at least in the state which she seeks to govern in her first foray into public affairs, her Republican rival, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, has appeared at events all around the state.
That included a speech and extended question and answer session with journalists at the California Newspaper Publishers Association conference.
Whitman, who had two disastrous press conferences last year (one of which I filmed), has been dodging California political reporters for months.
But she has found the time to talk to East Coast media types, who naturally know little about California, usually of the conservative variant.
You’ll recall I referenced her interview on Fox News earlier in the week, in which she said that she trails Jerry Brown by 10 points.
She also appeared on The Today Show and other outlets promoting her book.
In the wake of the 12/25 attack, opposition to holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City has intensified and broadened. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has reversed his earlier position and both of New York’s Democratic senators are now opposed.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Maryland today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he has toured a small business.
At 8:25 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on a jobs tax credit in Baltimore.
At 9:10 AM, Obama delivers remarks at the House Republican Issues Conference at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel.
At 10:55 AM Pacific, Obama returns to the White House.
At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
Democratic congressional leaders are still trying to work out the path forward on the national health care bill.
Obama has a new domestic problem to contend with, related to geopolitics.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Obama friend, has come out against holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Big Apple. And ranking Empire State pols, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, are joining him in that.
Bloomberg complains that it will cost a billion dollars to provide proper security for the trial, which he says is best held on a military base.
I think the Obama Administration will move the trial.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.
Iran has again made a vague offer of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear enrichment program. Is it genuine? Or merely another attempt to buy time?
The big international conference on Afghanistan took place yesterday in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.
I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.
I have a column coming up on this.
Meanwhile, Taliban forces today came close to overrunning government troops in the capital city of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.
This comes less than two weeks after a small Taliban team paralyzed the national capital of Kabul for hours with a daring raid.
A fierce battle broke out on Friday between Afghan security forces and a team of Taliban fighters targeting UN and government buildings in the capital city of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
In Iraq, security forces are still hunting for the planners of a bloody series of bombings in Baghdad. And the crisis over the banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates from the national parliamentary elections in March continues.
And today in London, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has given his first public testimony on the hotly disputed origins of the Iraq War. Appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry, Blair was forced to come up with a new rationale for the invasion, as the previous rationale of WMD obviously proved to be wrong.
I’ll have more on this later.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Fresno today.
At 11 AM, Schwarzenegger joins U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari, Congressman Jim Costa, and other business, labor, environmental, and community leaders in an event at the Fresno Amtrak station to discuss and celebrate the $2.3 billion in Recovery Act funding awarded to California for high-speed rail.
California garnered over one-fourth of the rail funding announced yesterday in Florida by President Obama, by far the most of any state.
** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger.
The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.
The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008. … From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $40 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Leaders from 70 nations meeting today in London at an international conference on Afghanistan have agreed on a timetable of sorts for foreign forces to exit the country. The delegates also backed the Afghan president’s plan to lure Taliban fighters to renounce violence.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … AFGHANISTAN AGAIN: THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY UNSPOOLS NOT IN WASHINGTON BUT IN LONDON.
** QUICK HITS. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was confirmed for another four-year term today by the U.S. Senate. The vote was 70 to 30. California’s senators split on the vote, with Dianne Feinstein in favor and Barbara Boxer opposed. … Feinstein, the very active chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today in coming out against the Obama Administration’s plan to hold the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City. Feinstein, Bloomberg, and a host of New York politicians now want the trial held on a military base. … The buzz coming out of the big London conference on Afghanistan is all about exit strategies. But it’s not exactly clear what the exit strategy is, or how it might work. … Proponents of legalized marijuana turned in petitions they say hold more than enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November California ballot. The proposal had majority support in polling last year. … Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair testifies tomorrow in London at the Chilcot Inquiry into the origins of the Iraq War. Blair insisted at the time that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed in 45 minutes. …
** VERY GOOD NUMBERS FOR OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. Polls by CNN and CBS News show a strongly positive response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last night.
In the CNN poll, 78% had a positive response to the speech and the goals outlined within it.
But the number who reacted very positively is down from the reaction to Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last February 24th. Which, of course, was at the height of the euphoria over Obama’s historic election.
Nearly half of Americans who watched President Obama’s State of the Union address said they had a very positive reaction to his speech, according to a poll of people who viewed the address.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey indicated that 48 percent of speech watchers had a very positive reaction, with three in 10 saying they had a somewhat positive response and 21 percent with a negative response. …
The poll also indicated that before the speech, 53 percent of people questioned said they thought Obama’s policies will move the country in the right direction. That increased to 71 percent when questioned after the speech. …
Six in 10 of those asked said they thought Mr. Obama conveyed a clear plan for creating jobs, and seven in 10 said his plans for the economy will help ordinary Americans. Another seven in 10 said President Obama has the same priorities for the country as they have.
The same individuals were interviewed both before and after Wednesday’s State of the Union, and after the speech, 70 percent said Mr. Obama shares their priorities for the country, up from 57 percent before the speech.
However, a sizable 57 percent said the President will not be able to accomplish all of the goals he set out in his speech. Most Democrats who viewed the speech (63 percent) said the man they elected would be able to accomplish all of his goals, but only 11 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independent voters agreed.
Most Democrats and independents who watched said the president shares their priorities, while most Republicans did not.
I thought was good, but a laundry list, as is typical for State of the Union addresses. At least it hung together better than Bill Clinton’s State of the Unions, which really came off as strung together issues discussed in a typically discursive manner. And which, nonetheless, were generally more popular than the State of the Unions delivered by other presidents.
To me, Obama’s speech was more of a repackage than a reboot.
Of course, had the Massachusetts special election not been blown, no one would have expected a reboot. Instead, Obama would be moving past the months of mud-slinging, negotiation, and deal-making on health care and trumpeting the bill’s virtues.
Instead, Democrats are still searching for a path forward on health care while Obama pivots back to the economy.
There was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting into, and out of, Afghanistan.
The economy is slowly recovering. One way or the other, Obama will be able to campaign for re-election having staved off another Great Depression inherited from the Bush/Cheney Administration. Which he focused on effectively last night.
The question is how quickly and fully the recovery comes prior to the mid-term election, in order for Obama and the Democrats to limit expected losses.
In my view, the fate of Obama’s own first term hinges more on what is happening today in London, where 70 nations have come together to confer on Afghanistan, than what happened last night in Washington.
Nevertheless, the speech was effective. Obama laid out additional, if not new, ideas on stimulating the economy. He inveighed against the investment banking crisis which nearly crashed the global economy. He promised more reforms and railed a bit against the Supreme Court’s unleashing the floodgates of corporate money in politics. He promised to move forward on gay rights, ending the “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy in the military. He promised continued action on the environment, and on growing the green tech economy. The Bush/Cheney tax cuts for the rich and oil companies — which contributed greatly to the record deficits Obama inherited — are coming to an end. And Obama is reining some discretionary government spending — clearly a concern for worried independents — to the dismay of some of the left, while increasing spending on jobs and education.
All of which makes a great deal of sense politically.
** ANOTHER CALIFORNIA POLL.The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has just added another poll alongside the Field Poll of this week. PPIC has a different methodology, which I think underestimates older voters.
In the governor’s race, PPIC came up with the same results it did last month. Where Jerry Brown led billionaire Meg Whitman by six last month, he led by five this month.
Whitman, incidentally, who polls extensively as you might imagine (Oh, does she poll.) just told Fox News that she is 10 points behind Brown.
Brown had the same big lead over Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner as he had last month.
And Whitman has a huge lead over Poizner in the Republican primary that she had last month. Of course, she has been advertising unchallenge for months, something which will change in the near future.
In the Senate race, Barbara Boxer is four points ahead of Tom Campbell. Who has a much bigger lead over Carly Fiorina than he has in the Field Poll.
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Florida today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He and Vice President Joe Biden then flew on Air Force One to Tampa, Florida.
At 8:50 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden arrive in Tampa, Florida.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with service personnel at MacDill Air Force Base.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden hold a town hall meeting at the University of Tampa. There they will announce the award of $8 billion in economic stimulus funds for high-speed rail.
Over a quarter of that money is actually coming to California.
At 11:55 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden depart Tampa, Florida on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, where they embark on Marine One.
At 2 PM Pacific, they land on the South Lawn of the White House.
Obama is assessing his performance in last night’s State of the Union address.
The early soundings are promising.
I’ll have more on the State of the Union later.
Democratic congressional leaders are still trying to work out the path forward on the national health care bill.
And Obama has a new domestic problem, related to geopolitics.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Obama friend, has come out against holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Big Apple. And ranking Empire State pols, like new U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, are joining him in that.
Bloomberg complains that it will cost a billion dollars to provide proper security for the trial, which he says is best held on a military base.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The big international conference on Afghanistan is underway today in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.
Leaders from 70 nations are in London today discussing the crisis of Afghanistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is representing the U.S. Much of the conference centers on winning over elements of the Taliban.
I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley today.
Schwarzenegger will tour BNSF Railway’s experimental Hydrogen Fuel Cell Switch Locomotive in the LA area’s City of Commerce and hold a press conference.
The press conference is at 10 AM.
At 12:45 PM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks on his California Jobs Initiative at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Annual Power Report Lunch. Schwarzenegger and state Senator Abel Maldonado, his appointee as lieutenant governor, will participate in a moderated Q&A.
** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my new column.
** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger.
The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.
The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008. … From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $40 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
The Federal Reserve notes some improvement in the economy, but is keeping interest rates at record lows.
** OBAMA STATE OF THE UNION EXCERPTS.
We face big and difficult challenges. And what the American people hope – what they deserve – is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds and different stories and different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared. A job that pays the bill. A chance to get ahead. Most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.
You know what else they share? They share a stubborn resilience in the face of adversity. After one of the most difficult years in our history, they remain busy building cars and teaching kids; starting businesses and going back to school. They are coaching little league and helping their neighbors. As one woman wrote to me, “We are strained but hopeful, struggling but encouraged.”
It is because of this spirit – this great decency and great strength – that I have never been more hopeful about America’s future than I am tonight. Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We don’t allow fear or division to break our spirit. In this new decade, it’s time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength. And tonight, I’d like to talk about how together, we can deliver on that promise. …
By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Co-pays will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans. And neither should the people in this chamber. …
Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time for something new. Let’s try common sense. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the people who sent us here.
To do that, we have to recognize that we face more than a deficit of dollars right now. We face a deficit of trust – deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years. To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.
That’s what I came to Washington to do. That’s why – for the first time in history – my Administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.
But we cannot stop there. It’s time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my Administration or Congress. And it’s time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office. Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign companies – to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.
I’m also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform. You have trimmed some of this spending and embraced some meaningful change. But restoring the public trust demands more. For example, some members of Congress post some earmark requests online. Tonight, I’m calling on Congress to publish all earmark requests on a single website before there’s a vote so that the American people can see how their money is being spent. …
** QUICK HITS. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who got a thumbs down on his conceptually sound but in practice rather confusing proposal to make sure that prison spending doesn’t continue to outstrip university spending, got a thumbs up today from the California Legislative Analyst Office on his proposal to cut the salaries of state workers during the ongoing state budget emergency. … House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, smarting from the left over President Barack Obama’s limited budget freeze proposal, said today that defense spending should be frozen as well. With major ground forces still engaged in two wars, a global intelligence war raging, and deep popular concern about security, that’s not going to happen. … Obama will talk tonight about a path forward on national health care reform, which was on the verge of final passage when last week’s Massachusetts upset occurred.
Intriguingly, this is a slight improvement from last week, when it was 41% to 41%.
But the enthusiasm factor currently favors Republicans. Which is only natural, considering how demoralized Democrats have become.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Democrats like to feel bad about their prospects. Think back to the endless handwringing in the 2008 election, when it was obvious that Republican strategists were standing on their heads in desperation to remain competitive.
Looking ahead to the November midterms, our NBC/WSJ poll shows that 44% of registered voters prefer a Dem-controlled Congress, versus 42% who want a GOP-controlled one. Last week’s survey showed a 41%-41% tie on this question. But Republicans continue to enjoy a significant enthusiasm advantage. Voters who are most interested in the midterms prefer a Republican-controlled Congress by eight points, 49%-41%. And those who say they blame BOTH Democrats and Republicans side with GOP on the generic ballot by a 2-to-1 margin. But the poll also shows that the midterm cake isn’t baked just yet, although the ingredients certainly are there. Low-interest voters prefer Democrats on the generic ballot by 10 points, 47%-37% — so if they turn out, Democrats have a chance to minimize their midterm losses. What’s more, the survey provides some evidence that Obama might be more of an asset than a liability in November: 37% say their vote will be a signal of support for the president, while 27% say it will be a signal of opposition; 35% said it won’t signal anything about Obama. By comparison, just days before the ‘06 midterms, Bush was a -15 net negative on that question.
Measure 66, raising taxes on individuals making $125,000 per year and households making $250,000 per year, passed on a vote of 54% to 46%. Measure 67, raising the state’s minimum tax on corporations and corporate tax rates, passed 53% to 47%.
The top income tax rate in Oregon before yesterday’s vote was 9%, somewhat lower than California’s top rate of 10.3%. Oregon’s new rate is 11%.
Proponents of the tax hike measures, principally funded by public employee and teacher unions, outspent the anti-tax coalition (which included Nike), $6.9 million to $4.6 million.
A big selling point on the tax hike side was Oregon’s very low minimum corporate rate of $10 per year, which affected most Oregon companies and had been in effect since 1931. (The new corporate minimum is $150 per year.) Another big selling point was the need to prevent further erosion of the schools and public services.
President Barack Obama’s inauguration and inaugural address on January 20th, 2009. The new president was introduced by California Senator Dianne Feinstein.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 11 AM Pacific, he meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 6 PM Pacific, Obama delivers the State of the Union address.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Vice President Joe Biden hosts a luncheon meeting with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani at the Naval Observatory. Kurdistan, of course, is part of Iraq.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Biden hosts athletes and coaches from the Special Olympics at the White House.
Obama is spending much of the day finalizing and prepping for tonight’s State of the Union address.
The State of the Union comes at a critical moment for Obama, and for the nation. While his personal favorability remains high, Obama’s national job approval rating has descended from its once Olympian heights to the high 40s. (It’s still in the high 50s in California.)
Obama and the Democrats placed great stock in passing a sweeping near universal health care reform bill, spending months of painstaking negotiation and dealmaking on it.
And taking quite a few hits in the process, even as the economic recovery, which began at last some months ago, proved sluggish and jobs-free and public anger rose over a bailed-out Wall Street seeming to return to its old ways.
But the thinking was that the national health care reform bill, having gotten further than any such effort in the past century, passing both houses of Congress, would at last be reconciled and enacted. Giving Obama immediate benefits to tout in a rescheduled State of the Union. Which would mark the beginning of a major sales effort on the benefits of the bill, as well as a pivot to a heavy focus on jobs and reining in financial excess.
This strategy, of course, was thoroughly disrupted by the avoidable debacle in last Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s old seat.
The problem was that everything took too long, allowing plenty of time to focus on the customary sausage-making of the legislative process.
Remember that Massachusetts state law was changed to allow the appointment of longtime Kennedy ally Paul Kirk as the interim senator. That was for the express purpose of maintaining the 60-vote filibuster-proof Senate majority, in order to pass the national health care bill.
But the process dragged on much longer than it was supposed to have. And now Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are finding that they don’t have a clear path forward on health care.
It’s all rather reminiscent of what happened in California in 2007. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had won his second landslide election as governor, then spent virtually all of 2007 working on a universal health care program which my old colleague, MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell, amusingly likened to Hillary Clinton’s plan. In the end, it passed the state Assembly and stalled in the Senate, precipitating the decline of Schwarzenegger’s job approval rating.
Restoring the economy and creating jobs will be the main themes of President Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address.
As president, Obama has the advantage of having a great deal more power than a state governor. He has real levers over the economy (and a business cycle that is starting to turn), a big economic stimulus already enacted that is mostly unspent, and likely more stimulus ahead. Not to mention his role as Commander-in-Chief.
Tonight Obama is expected to focus on economic revival efforts and on blossoming federal red ink.
Obama will propose something of a freeze on federal spending, but only in limited fashion. Independent voters are wary of all the goverment spending of the past year on bailing out the financial system and stimulating the economy, which in turn comes on top of the record deficits that Obama inherited from the Bush/Cheney White House. And there is creditor concern over America’s heavy deficit spending.
The federal government, unlike, say, the State of California, can borrow and print money for its day to day operations. Which in the Bush/Cheney era included massive unfunded federal programs and tax cuts for the wealthy and two overseas wars.
Obama’s proposed three-year freeze on spending covers programs for which Congress appropriates money every year, such as parks, air traffic control, education, and farm subsidies. It does not include defense and security spending, foreign aid, veterans benefits, or entitlements such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
It also does not include a second economic stimulus package of $150 to $200 billion, which passed the House last month.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The big international conference on Afghanistan convenes tomorrow in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.
I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles today.
At 10:45 AM, following his tour of SunPower Systems in Richmond, he holds a press conference highlighting his proposal to exempt green tech manufacturing equipment from the state sales tax as part of his job-creation initiative.
At 5:40 PM, Schwarzenegger walks the red carpet at Universal Studios in Universal City and co-hosts the premiere of Nuclear Tipping Point, a new documentary film on the threat of nuclear proliferation.
The film features former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry (a Californian), former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, and former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger.
** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger.
The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.
The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008. … From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Another big car bombing has hit Baghdad, this one targeting a police crime lab, killing at least 21 people, many of them police officers involved in crime scene investigation.
** QUICK HITS.A few conversations with folks in Washington yields a sense of incipient hysteria that might even begin to approach that of cable and the blogoshere. Deep breaths, everybody. A little zazen is in order on all sides. The alternative is a political and media culture that strokes out. … With serious trouble in Afghan governance, major efforts are underway to reach out to the Taliban. Several leading Taliban members have been removed from a UN sanctions list. Will this create a split with more hardline members? … The accused shooter at an Army recruiting office in Little Rock last June (he killed one soldier and wounded another) now says he’s a member of Al Qaeda. The recent Muslim convert did travel to Yemen in 2007 and 2008, before, ironically, being deported back to the U.S. … The state Assembly has yet to schedule hearings in the latest special session on California’s chronic budget crisis. The state Senate has been having hearings for the last week or so. …
** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger.
The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.
The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.
And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. …
An enthusiastic President Barack Obama welcomed the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House yesterday, along with some enthusiastic LA area members of Congress.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9 AM Pacific, he has lunch with business leaders in the State Dining Room.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Defense Secretary Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
Obama is prepping for Wednesday night’s State of the Union address.
He is expected to focus on economic revival efforts and on blossoming federal red ink.
Obama had always planned to pivot to the economy and a more populist stance with regard to Wall Street excess following the holidays. He was blocked in this first by the 12/25 Al Qaeda attack, then by the need to finalize negotiations on the national health care reform bill, the positive aspects of which he’d planned to trumpet in his State of the Union address.
That’s not happening, of course, due to last week’s debacle in Massachusetts. Without which most of the noise in the media culture since then would never have been heard.
Obama will propose something of a freeze on federal spending, but only in limited fashion. Independent voters are wary of all the goverment spending of the past year on bailing out the financial system and stimulating the economy, which in turn comes on top of the record deficits that Obama inherited from the Bush/Cheney White House. And there is creditor concern over America’s heavy deficit spending.
The federal government, unlike, say, the State of California, can borrow and print money for its day to day operations. Which in the Bush/Cheney era included massive unfunded federal programs and tax cuts for the wealthy and two overseas wars.
Obama’s proposed three-year freeze on spending covers programs for which Congress appropriates money every year, such as parks, air traffic control, education, and farm subsidies. It does not include defense and security spending, foreign aid, veterans benefits, or entitlements such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
It also does not include a second economic stimulus package of $150 to $200 billion, which passed the House last month.
The $250 billion in savings over 10 years is dwarfed by the roughly $10 trillion in additional debt the governemnt is expected to accrue over that time period.
Obama has also proposed a deficit reduction commission. But that is likely to die in the Senate, perhaps today. Why? Because conservatives fear that some tax increases will be proposed. And liberals fear that some spending cuts will be proposed. This will undoubtedly sound familiar to Californians who’ve seen their state become increasingly ungovernable.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, where suicide bombers struck again today, killed about 40 people in bombings targeting hotels in Baghdad.
Vice President Joe Biden’s mediation efforts in Iraq, where the government is banning hundreds of Sunni candidates from national parliamentary elections, do not seem to have borne fruit.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in San Diego today.
At 10 AM, he holds a press conference at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, presumably to announce a new grant for biomedical research from billionaire Denny Sanford, who made his fortune in the credit card business.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008.
Here’s something to keep in mind amidst all the hype, hysteria, and hubris srrounding last Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election. But for one of the worst Democratic campaigns in American political history, you wouldn’t be hearing any of this. …From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st essay.
On Monday, Avatar passed director James Cameron’s previous record-holder Titanic in global box office. Each film has grossed over $1.8 billion around the world. Avatar was released just five-and-a-half weeks ago. Cameron also directed Terminator, Terminator 2, and True Lies starring Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
In what perhaps is not the most opportune moment to be hanging out with rich basketball players, President Barack Obama welcomed the world champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House this afternoon. The event, which is the sort of thing presidents do with championship sports teams, was scheduled well in advance of the Democratic defeat in Massachusetts.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA.
** QUICK HITS. California’s Public Employee Retirement System has lost a half billion dollars on a New York real estate deal. Toss that on top of the wildly optimistic assumptions about the stock market that underlay big expansions of state employee retirement benefits a decade ago and you have a deepening problem. … Senator Barbara Boxer’s opposition to the reconfirmation of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke has been countered by the support of her California colleague, Senator Dianne Feinstein. But Arizona’s John McCain, facing a Republican primary challenge this year from the far right, came out today against Bernanke. Bernanke, assailed by many on the left and right for his closeness to Wall Street, has a plurality of senators who’ve committed on his confirmation. His current term ends Saturday. … California Republican GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman will, after a six-week hiatus, make a few public appearances this week. To promote her new book about her business career. But the appearances are back East.
** VEGAS MAYOR WON’T RUN FOR GOVERNOR.Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced today at noontime that he will not run for governor of Nevada. Goodman, a Democrat who changed his registration to independent last month in anticipation of a possible bid for the governorship, was running very strongly in the polls in a three-way race with likely Democratic nominee Rory Reid, a Clark County commissioner who is the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and any of the Republican candidates.
In fact, Goodman was neck-and-neck with the Republicans, and well ahead of Reid.
Ending months of speculation, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced today that he will not run for governor of Nevada and will spend more time promoting Las Vegas and its economy. “I love Las Vegas, this is my town. I love the people of Las Vegas,” he told reporters this afternoon. “… I’ll try to be the best mayor I know how for the next 15 months and let somebody else take over the reins.”
Goodman, who has been telling the media for about six months he’s considering running for governor, announced his decision at a press conference this afternoon at his office at City Hall.
A former Democrat, Goodman changed his affiliation to non-partisan in Dec. 15, just to keep his options open to run as an independent for governor.
Goodman said that this morning he notified friends who had said they would support him and told them he wouldn’t run. Goodman said he had been poised to begin gathering the 250 signatures of registered Nevada voters and submit his petition of candidacy as an independent by Feb. 4.
Goodman is a very flamboyant and popular figure, known for traveling with Vegas showgirls to promote his city. It’s not clear that he would have worn well in a campaign for governor. He made his fortune as a criminal defense lawyer, not infrequently for mob figures.
But he also runs well in a potential U.S. Senate race. And the elder Reid is in very hot water in his re-election race this year.
President Barack Obama, who delivers his State of the Union address on Wednesday night, held a “White House to Main Street” town hall last week in Ohio.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
Another big week in presidential politics, and an intriguing week in California politics.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Wednesday night. He had hoped to play up the positive aspects of the national health care reform bill that, in different versions, has passed both houses of Congress. That, however, is now stalled, perhaps permanently. (Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say they are not going to let all their work go to waste.)
So instead Obama will focus on more efforts to revive the economy and grow jobs. The U.S. economy was on the verge of another Great Depression when Obama took office a year ago. That threat has been averted, and a recovery is now underway.
However, it’s a jobless recovery so far. And it’s a jobless recovery occurring in the midst of ongoing buckracking on Wall Street and in other major financial institutions, to the natural anger of the public.
So Obama, as previously reported, is pivoting back to the populist themes of his 2008 campaign.
He’s also more clearly reconstituting his political team, placing presidential campaign manager David Plouffe in the national role of overseeing Democratic campaigns across the country. The economic advisors who’ve counseled a cautious tack in dealing with the excesses of the financial industry are being moved more to the sidelines, at least politically.
Obama is in this predicament — no national health care bill to play up in the State of the Union, no super-majority in the Senate, a preposterous defeat this past Tuesday in the Massachusetts special election — because people at all levels of the Democratic Party apparatus were asleep at the switch with respect to the race to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy. (See my column linked below.)
And, lest anyone imagine that only Barack Obama had a rugged week last week, his old rival, 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is about to get a serious primary challenge to his Senate re-election in Arizona.
Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, unseated by a Democrat in 2006, has just quit his Phoenix radio show. He’s been attacking McCain for months, and some polls have shown him running fairly close to the Vietnam War hero, who was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
McCain, in turn, has been running ads attacking Hayworth on his own radio station as a big spender during his 12 years in the House.
Incidentally, in case you were wondering why McCain has been so silent on the question of his 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin, even as she savaged his top advisors and staffers, here is why: Palin will appear with McCain in March, both for a big rally and a fundraiser.
Palin is coming to Arizona to save McCain from the very far right elements she champions.
Also on tap this week is the international conference in London on Thursday to deal with the question of Afghanistan. It’s time for America’s European allies to actually ante up when it comes to the hoped-for troop increases to complement Obama’s big military surge in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s elections for national parliament, scheduled for May, have been postponed to September. Why? Because donor nations, in the wake of the highly fraudulent Afghan presidential election, have not ponied up the $50 million needed to conduct them. And Afghanistan, despite massive foreign aid, doesn’t have the money itself. Or so Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration says.
This is just the latest blow to the legitimacy of the Afghan government, coming in the wake of two successive parliamentary rejections of Karzai’s Cabinet nominees. Without a legitimate government, there is little hope of the big new military surge in Afghanistan succeeding.
And, as if the international conference on Afghanistan were not enough action in the former world capital city, London is also the site on Friday of a long-awaited event.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will publicly testify on Friday before the Chilcot Inquiry on the origins of the Iraq War. The supposed proof of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and an imminent threat from those non-existent weapons, has since collapsed. That was Blair’s case for war.
Other members of his administration have testified earlier in the proceedings that Blair was warned that the war was illegal, and that he had nonetheless agreed with then President George W. Bush to invade Iraq in any event.
Speaking of Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps ended its mission there over the weekend. Nearly seven years after playing a leading role in the invasion, the Marines are pulling out of Iraq, leaving Army units as the only American ground forces in the still deeply troubled country.
It is not as though the Marines are simply coming home. Under the new Obama strategy for Afghanistan, the Marines are playing the lead role in clearing operations in Taliban territory. In fact, the Marines will launch a major offensive in Afghanistan next month.
Nevertheless, the drawdown of American combat forces in Iraq is underway. By September of this year, only 50,000 troops are slated to remain in Iraq. Of course, most of the withdrawals are scheduled for after the March parliamentary elections, which are likely to draw major terrorist activity.
Indeed, there were major terrorist car bombings today in Iraq, with some 100 people reportedly killed.
And that’s not the only problem for the Iraqi elections. The largely Shia-dominated government has barred over 500 Sunni candidates from running on the grounds of continued de-Baathification, i.e., claims that these candidates were linked to the late Saddam Hussein’s once ruling Baathist party.
Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq now to mediate the dispute.
Adding to the complications of Obama’s life, an audio tape that Al Jazeera says is from Osama bin Laden is out claiming that he ordered the barely averted Christmas Day disaster over Detroit. The tape plays above at the top of the NWN Weekend Edition.
It’s not impossible that bin Laden ordered the attack. Some of the top leaders of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been close to Obama (one was his private secretary). But most experts think that bin Laden is leading more by inspiration than operation these days.
Back in California, state leaders continue grappling with the chronic state budget crisis and very sluggish economic recovery. And there’s an election on, as you may have heard.
I’ll have a long piece this week on the the Republicans running for governor and U.S. senator against former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown and Senator Barbara Boxer. But for now, a few points.
The frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who hasn’t had a public event in about six weeks while nonetheless running round-the-clock radio ads, is expected to resurface this week. That’s because she’s publishing a book.
It’s a familiar CEO-style tome called “The Power of Many: Values for Success in Business and in Life.”
The governor that Whitman hopes to succeed, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, had a few thoughts on his successor over the weekend.
In Sunday’s Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times, Schwarzenegger discusses the difficulty of enacting sweeping change in government — think back to the entire year he spent on trying to pass a universal health care program after winning a landslide re-election victory in November 2006 — and has some interesting things to say about his successor as governor.
Arnold freely talks about his admiration for Jerry Brown. Would he be upset if the Republicans lost and Brown succeeded him?
“No,” he said, taking a final puff. “I think the best person should win, whatever party that is.”
The New Orleans Saints are headed to their first Super Bowl in their 43 years after a thrilling 31-28 overtime win for the National Football Conference championship yesterday over the Minnesota Vikings. The game, played in the Superdome less than four-and-a-half years after it was a notorious evacuation site in Hurricane Katrina, was a major sign of life for the nearly destroyed city. The Saints face the favored Indianapolis Colts on February 7th.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden then meet with the Middle Class Task Force in the East Room. Several initiatives will be discussed that will be rolled out further in the State of the Union address on Wednesday.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden have lunch in the Oval Office.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama welcomes the National Basketball Association champion Los Angeles Lakers to the White House in celebration of their most recent title.
At 1:50 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani. Kurdistan, of course, is part of Iraq.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has private talks in and around the Capitol today.
He also gives his final annual luncheon address to the Sacramento Press Club at noontime. He will speak mainly about reviving the economy and the state’s chronically bad fiscal situation.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008.
Here’s something to keep in mind amidst all the hype, hysteria, and hubris srrounding last Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election. But for one of the worst Democratic campaigns in American political history, you wouldn’t be hearing any of this. …From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st essay.
The Dark Knight, in many ways the key film of the Noughties, was passed over the weekend for the number two spot on the all-time domestic box office list by Avatar.
** 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
In a new audio tape given to Al Jazeera, Osama Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the failed attack on a U.S. airliner on December 25th. Bin Laden, whose identity was not immediately confirmed by U.S. intelligence officials, warns President Barack Obama that Al Qaeda will launch more attacks on the U.S. unless he solves the Israeli/Palestinian crisis.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events today.
Obama is prepping for his State of the Union address on Wednesday night. He had hoped to play up the positive aspects of the national health care reform bill that, in different versions, has passed both houses of Congress. That, however, is now stalled, perhaps permanently.
So instead Obama will focus on more efforts to revive the economy and grow jobs. The U.S. economy was on the verge of another Great Depression when Obama took office a year ago. That threat has been averted, and a recovery is now underway.
However, it’s a jobless recovery so far. And it’s a jobless recovery occurring in the midst of ongoing buckracking on Wall Street and in other major financial institutions, to the natural anger of the public.
So Obama, as previously reported, is pivoting back to the populist themes of his 2008 campaign.
He’s also more clearly reconstituting his political team, placing presidential campaign manager David Plouffe in the national role of overseeing Democratic campaigns across the country. The economic advisors who’ve counseled a cautious tack in dealing with the excesses of the financial industry are being moved more to the sidelines, at least politically.
Obama is in this predicament — no national health care bill to play up in the State of the Union, no super-majority in the Senate, a preposterous defeat this past Tuesday in the Massachusetts special election — because people at all levels of the Democratic Party apparatus were asleep at the switch. (See my column linked below.)
Adding to the complications of Obama’s life, an audio tape that Al Jazeera says is from Osama bin Laden is out claiming that he ordered the barely averted Christmas Day disaster over Detroit. The tape plays above.
And Afghanistan’s elections for national parliament, scheduled for May, have been postponed to September. Why? Because donor nations, in the wake of the highly fraudulent Afghan presidential election, have not ponied up the $50 million needed to conduct them. And Afghanistan, despite massive foreign aid, doesn’t have the money itself. Or so Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration says.
This is just the latest blow to the legitimacy of the Afghan government, coming in the wake of two successive parliamentary rejections of Karzai’s Cabinet nominees.
Without a legitimate government, there is no hope of the big new military surge in Afghanistan succeeding.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of state today.
He has no scheduled public events.
In today’s Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times, Schwarzenegger discusses the difficulty of enacting sweeping change in government — think back to the entire year he spent on trying to pass a universal health care program after winning a landslide re-election victory in November 2006 — and has some interesting things to say about his successor as governor.
Arnold freely talks about his admiration for Jerry Brown. Would he be upset if the Republicans lost and Brown succeeded him?
“No,” he said, taking a final puff. “I think the best person should win, whatever party that is.”
President Barack Obama continues his renewed populist theme in his weekend video/radio address, talking about his barring of lobbyists from his administration and the fight to come in the wake of the Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate spending in federal elections.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
The U.S. Marine Corps today ends its mission in Iraq.
Nearly seven years after playing a leading role in the invasion, the Marines are pulling out of Iraq, leaving Army units as the only American ground forces in the still deeply troubled country.
It is not as though, however, that the Marines are simply coming home. Under the new Obama strategy for Afghanistan, the Marines are playing the lead role in clearing operations in Taliban territory.
In fact, the Marines will launch a major offensive in Afghanistan next month.
Nevertheless, the drawdown of American combat forces in Iraq is underway. By September of this year, only 50,000 troops are slated to remain in Iraq.
Of course, most of the withdrawals are scheduled for after the March parliamentary elections, which are likely to draw major terrorist activity.
And that’s not the only problem for the Iraqi elections. The largely Shia-dominated government has barred over 500 Sunni candidates from running on the grounds of continued de-Baathification, i.e., claims that these candidates were linked to the late Saddam Hussein’s once ruling Baathist party.
Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq now to mediate the dispute.
Vice President Joe Biden has flown to Iraq to help ease rising tensions that threaten to delay the March parliamentary elections. At issue is whether hundreds of candidates should be blacklisted for suspected links to Saddam Hussein’s regime, a move which many see as a Shia ploy against the Sunni.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Bob Gates is in South Asia. He said that the Obama Administration agrees with Afghan Presiden Hamid Karzai’s plan to engage the Taliban and bring them into the process. Gates described the Taliban as “part of the fabric” of Afghanistan.
But, he said: “The question is whether they are prepared to play a legitimate role in the political fabric of Afghanistan going forward, meaning participate in elections, meaning not assassinating local officials and killing families and opposing education of children and so on.”
Gates is also dealing with the ongoing enmity and rivalry between India and Pakistan, as well as persistent reports in the Pakistani press that America will seize Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and set up permanent bases in the country.
Gates has urged Pakistani leaders to further expand their successful counter-offensives of last year against the Pakistani Taliban to North Waziristan, where key Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban cadre are believed to have a safe haven. The Pakistanis are refusing, claiming that their military and intelligence bandwidth is stretched by current operations.
On the domestic front, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are working on a path forward for national health care reform. Specifically, they are doing what I wrote about the other day: Figuring out how to make changes in the Senate bill through the budget reconciliation process — which requires only 51 votes, and which was used to pass the sweeping tax cuts of the Bush/Cheney era — to satisfy House members.
And, lest anyone imagine that only Barack Obama has had a rugged week, his old rival, 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is about to get a serious primary challenge to his Senate re-election in Arizona.
Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, unseated by a Democrat in 2006, has just quit his Phoenix radio show. He’s been attacking McCain for months, and some polls have shown him running fairly close to the Vietnam War hero, who was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
McCain, in turn, has been running ads attacking Hayworth on his own radio station as a big spender during his 12 years in the House.
Incidentally, in case you were wondering why McCain has been so silent on the question of his 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin, even as she savaged his top advisors and staffers, here is why: Palin will appear with McCain in March, both for a big rally and a fundraiser.
Palin is coming to Arizona to save McCain from the very far right elements she champions.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008.
Here’s something to keep in mind amidst all the hype, hysteria, and hubris srrounding last Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election. But for one of the worst Democratic campaigns in American political history, you wouldn’t be hearing any of this. …From my January 22nd column.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 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 at $74.54 per barrel on Friday. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama wove populist themes into his town hall meeting today in Ohio.
** QUICK HITS. Senator Barbara Boxer today came out against the reconfirmation of Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke is a bete noire for liberals, and Boxer is one of the most liberal members of the Senate. The Obama Administration still seems to be supporting Bernanke, even as it takes on more aggressive policies with regard to Wall Street. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, back from two days in Washington, seems confident that California will get a big chunk of the $7 billion it’s seeking from the federal government as part of a solution to its chronic budget crisis. … The British government has increased its terrorism threat warning level to “severe,” just one level below the “critical” level which indicates an imminent attack. The UK also halted direct flights from Yemen. London is the site of a major international conference on Afghanistan on January 28th.
** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008.
Here’s something to keep in mind amidst all the hype, hysteria, and hubris srrounding last Tuesday’s Massachusetts special election. But for one of the worst Democratic campaigns in American political history, you wouldn’t be hearing any of this.
No sweeping claims about a sea change in politics. No clashing claims of diametrically opposed ideological realignments. Oh, and no death knells on all sides for national health care reform. …
Yet here is what we do know. Scott Brown, an arguably moderate Republican, ran a campaign geared toward the independents who make up nearly half the Bay State electorate, far outnumbering registered Democrats, who in turn outnumber registered Republicans.
To do this, he ran a campaign of positioning. He de-emphasized his Republicanism, casting himself as a regular guy in a pickup truck. (Though he is actually a real estate lawyer who went to tony Tufts, a former Cosmo centerfold married to a TV newscaster.) He appeared either on his own hook, or with popular cultural figures from the sports world.
He did not associate himself with Republican politicians. He was greatly helped in this by virtue of the fact that he had no serious opponent in the Republican primary, so he didn’t have to advertise his Republican positions in order to win the nomination.
In fact, I’m told that the first time he appeared with former Governor Mitt Romney, a backer of his legislative career, was when Romney popped on stage election night to laud the senator-elect right before Brown gave his decidedly uneven victory speech.
Brown cast himself as a populist, talking against big interests and Washington dealmaking, tapping into anger about the Wall Street bailouts. Which of course his own party backed to the hilt. …
** CALIFORNIA FIELD POLL: WHITMAN INCREASES LEAD IN REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY, JERRY BROWN LEADS BOTH REPUBLICANS BY DOUBLE DIGITS.The latest Field Poll has ex-eBay CEO and Republican presidential campaign co-chair Meg Whitman splitting the departed Tom Campbell’s support with state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Since Poizner’s support was in the single digits, that yields a continuing big lead for Whitman, 45% to 17%. 38% of of the Republican primary electorate is undecided.
Whitman, as you know, has been advertising for months, and Poizner has yet to run an ad.
In general election match-ups, former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown leads Whitman, 46% to 36%, and Poizner, 48% to 31%. That’s among likely voters. In a Field Poll three months of registered voters, Brown led Whitman, 50-29, and Poizner, 50-25.
In the other big California public poll, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), of a month ago, Brown led Whitman by only six points, compared to 10 points in the new Field Poll. Then it was Brown 43%, Whitman 37%. And Brown 48%, Poizner 31%.
After clearing the Democratic field last year, Brown has yet to declare his candidacy. He has spent less money than his last Democratic rival, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, paid his chief strategist Garry South.
Though the primary is not until June, and the general election in November, I would say that Brown must declare by March. Which is when the filing deadline is, naturally.
So, does the Field Poll tell us anything new? Not really. Still, it does tell us some interesting things.
Obviously, Poizner is not going to make any headway until he starts campaigning more heavily, mostly through advertising funded by his own great wealth. Whitman is actually a target-rich environment as candidates go. It will be interesting to see what happens to her when she starts getting hit. The candidate has had disastrous press conferences and has yet to participate in a debate.
As for Brown, he is largely unknown amongst voters under 30. Who are not expected to be a big factor in this election, though President Barack Obama may have something to say about that next fall.
The higher you go in age, the better Brown does. And his popularity with people of color is key. Among only white voters, he and Whitman are essentially tied.
He’s also good with independents, the group which gave another Brown, the one named Scott, a shock victory this past Tuesday night in Massachusetts.
Brown leads Whitman among independents by nearly a 2 to 1 margin.
Still, Brown will need to re-introduce himself, and begin laying out the narrative of Jerry Brown. It’s, to borrow a phrase from the Beatles, a long and winding road. It’s also a hell of an interesting story.
Incidentally, one big advantage that Scott Brown had in the Massachusetts special election for the Senate is that he had, essentially, no primary. When Andrew Card, who was former President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, decided not to run — news flash, he would have lost — that left Brown with only an even less well-known opponent.
This enabled Scott Brown to run as a de facto independent rather than a Republican. Had he had to run in a Republican primary, he would have been defined in partisan terms, not to mention beaten up, before he got to the run-off. As it was, he was free to craft his identity on his own hook, avoiding Republican identifiers that would have turned off independents and developing a persona to counter what voters didn’t like about the governing Democratic Party in Massachusetts.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talked to the U.S. Conference of Mayors about jobs and economic recovery.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Ohio today.
Obama received his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office and is on Air Force One en route fom Andrews Air Force Base to Cleveland, Ohio.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Cleveland, Ohio. He will then make his way to Lorain County, which is part of the Greater Cleveland metropolitan area, hard hit by the global recession.
At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama tours the facilities of Wind Turbine Manufacturing and Fab Lab.
At 11:05 AM Pacific, Obama holds a town hall meeting at Lorain County Community College.
At 1:55 PM Pacific, Obama departs Cleveland on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama lands at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 3:15 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
This is part of what the Obama White House calls the White House to Main Street tour, in which Obama will travel to economically hard-hit parts of the country to learn firsthand about the effects.
Obama, as I suggested yesterday, appears to be edging away from Wall Street-friendly Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and chief economic advisor Larry Summers, Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary (and a key architect of Clinton era financial deregulations), toward former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker for his economic counsel.
Meanwhile, the future of national health care reform efforts remains murky in the wake of the loss of the late Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat, which deprived Democrats of their 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Both houses of Congress have passed version of a national health care bill, with significant differences that were being painstakingly worked out.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says now that the House does not have the votes to pass the Senate bill as is and then rely on changes in the Senate passed through the majority vote budget reconciliation process. Which is the course that labor leaders have urged.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Bob Gates is in South Asia. Speaking today in Islamabad, he said that the Obama Administration agrees with Afghan Presiden Hamid Karzai’s plan to engage the Taliban and bring them into the process. Gates described the Taliban as “part of the fabric” of Afghanistan.
And Vice President Joe Biden will soon be in Iraq to try to mediate an emerging dispute over upcoming parliamentary elections there on March 7th. The government, in the name of “de-Baathification,” i.e., shunning former members of the late Saddam Hussein’s political party, is trying to throw hundreds of Sunni Muslim candidates off the elections list. Which can lead to serious discord between Sunni and Shia.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in California today following his two-day trip to Washington.
Schwarzenegger flew to Washington on Tuesday night to press his case for more federal assistance for California. The chronic state budget crisis became chaotic with the advent of the global near financial meltdown and a consequent sharp decline in revenues, especially from its top-heavy tax structure.
In his absence, and I neglected to mention this, Jerry Brown was the acting governor. Brown, as you know, served two terms as governor of California in the ’70s and ’80s. Now he is California’s attorney general, with a 46-36 lead over ex-eBay CEO Mege Whitman, the Republican frontrunner, in the new Field Poll. In last month’s PPIC poll, Brown held a 43-37 lead. As I reported at the time, private polling then had Brown with a 10-point lead. Brown was acting governor in the absence of a confirmed lieutenant governor, with the state’s legislative leaders out of the state with Schwarzenegger.
Brown, naturally, did not make any appointments or issue or revise any executive orders in Schwarzenegger’s absence. He did declare a state of emergency from the current severe storms in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, and Siskiyou counties.
In any event, Schwarzenegger is now back in the state.
At 11:15 AM, Schwarzenegger will be in Los Angeles at the L.A. County Emergency Office, where he will receive a briefing on the emergency situation surrounding the storms and hold a press availability on the recovery efforts.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) Is this the last Clinton melodrama? There is a certain air of finality to it. Not because nothing more can happen, but because the most likely melodramas of the future (and most recent past) are laid out and have received far less pushback than they would have before. … From my January 14th column.
** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE.President Barack Obama does have a big problem on security. Well, more accurately, he has big problems. But not all the problems that are trumpeted are real, for the trumpeting itself is a big part of the problem. … From my January 12th column.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 Huffington Post column.
George Clooney gives a preview of the Hope for Haiti benefit telethon he’s producing to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The show airs on the broadcast networks and many other channels tonight.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $41 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama stepped up his criticism of Wall Street on Thursday with a far-reaching proposal for tougher regulation of the biggest banks.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008.
** OBAMA’S PIVOT TO POPULISM. In the wake of the eminently avoidable loss of the late Ted Kennedy’s old seat in the Senate, President Barack Obama is striking tones from his 2008 campaign which were oddly ignored by the Democratic candidate who allowed herself to be upset in Massachusetts, Martha Coakley. Obama has been pinned down for months, painstakingly trying to work a dysfunctional system in Washington that is dominated by special interest lobbyists on one of the most complex and historically change-resistant issues of all, health care. The negativity and compromise have added up.
First, Obama rolled out a tax on big banks bailed out as part of the controversial Wall Street rescue, financial institutions that just paid big bonuses to their executives. That was last week. This morning, he moved to restore some of the financial regulations that were undone by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
Then the U.S. Supreme Court handed him another opportunity, with its aggressive decision — on a 5 to 4 vote — to allow corporations (and unions, which have less money) to spend unlimited amounts to influence federal elections.
Here’s Obama’s statement: With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington–while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates. That’s why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. The public interest requires nothing less.
Ironically, Coakley had the ideal office with which to emphasize a stance against rich and powerful interests gaming the system against the average American. She’s the state attorney general, an office in which it is possible to compile an impressive record on that score. She could even have brought suit during her campaign for the Senate to upstage anything that Scott Brown, a state senator, could do on his own.
She failed to do so, thus allowing Brown to seize the mantle of champion of the angry and disaffected. It helped Brown greatly that he was not a plutocrat himself, though hardly the regular guy he made himself out to be. It also helped that Coakley did next to nothing to establish a counter-narrative on Brown, giving him a free ride in the process.
** WHITMAN MATCHES AL CHECCHI’S PERSONAL SPENDING RECORD. The campaign of billionaire ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman, the California Republican gubernatorial hopeful, announced this morning that she has contributed another $20 million from her personal fortune to her campaign. This brings her personal spending thusfar to about $40 million, already matching the record for a California campaign set by former Northwest Airlines CEO Al Checchi in his losing bid for the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
And it’s only January. The Republican primary, in which Whitman faces fellow super-rich hopeful Steve Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, is in June. Former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown cleared the Democratic field for governor last year without officially announcing. Brown’s former chief of staff, Gray Davis, won that 1998 Democratic primary against Checchi despite being heavily out-spent.
Whitman’s campaign says she now has $30 million cash on hand. Which may again put her ahead of Poizner, who donated $15 million to his campaign last month.
In general election match-ups, Boxer leads all Republicans by double digits.
Boxer leads Campbell, 48-38; Fiorina, 50-35; and De Vore, 51-34.
During his Tuesday night victory speech, Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown declared that his daughters are “available.”
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:10 AM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Economic Recovery Advisory Board Chair Paul Volcker in the Oval Office.
Obama may be edging away from Wall Street-friendly Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and chief economic advisor Larry Summers, Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary, toward former Federal Reserve chief Volcker for his economic counsel. Summers was one of the principal players in the Clinton era financial deregulations.
At 8:40 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on financial reform in the Diplomatic Reception Room. He will push back toward the Glass-Steagal law which formerly regulated Wall Street and other big financial firms.
At 9 AM Pacific, Biden meets with British Foreign Secretary David Milliband at the Naval Observatory.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama addresses a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the East Room.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
What remains unclear is the future course of the national health care reform bill. Which has dragged on seemingly forever, despite passage in both houses of Congress, and was on the verge of finalization when one of the worst Democratic campaigns in American history ended the Democrats’ (somewhat illusory) 60-vote filbuster-proof majority in the Senate.
The Obama White House is assessing this morning’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. In a 5-4 decision, with Sacramento’s David Kennedy the deciding vote and author of the decision, the Court ruled that corporations and labor unions may now spend directly, without limits, on independent expenditure campaigns on behalf of federal candidates. Direct contributions to federal candidates from corporations and unions are still prohibited. They are still required to set up political action committees to do that.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, as well as the Ukrainian presidential election, the first round of which took place on Sunday. Both run-off candidates are pro-Russian, so the pro-American administration there, which sought membership in NATO and has long been unpopular, is kaput. The current Ukrainian president, celebrated in the Bush/Cheney White House and vilified in the Kremlin, got 6% of the vote.
Obama is also stepping up the relief effort in Haiti, which is struggling amidst chaos and unrest.
Former Senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards finally acknowledged the obvious today, that he in fact did father a child with his mistress while running for president.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington today.
Schwarzenegger flew to Washington on Tuesday night to press his case for more federal assistance for California. The chronic state budget crisis became chaotic with the advent of the global near financial meltdown and a consequent sharp decline in revenues, especially from its top-heavy tax structure.
Today he meets privately with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, later, with the entire California Congressional delegation.
Last week’s tension with Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein appears to have been smoothed over.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) Is this the last Clinton melodrama? There is a certain air of finality to it. Not because nothing more can happen, but because the most likely melodramas of the future (and most recent past) are laid out and have received far less pushback than they would have before. … From my January 14th column.
** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE.President Barack Obama does have a big problem on security. Well, more accurately, he has big problems. But not all the problems that are trumpeted are real, for the trumpeting itself is a big part of the problem. … From my January 12th column.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 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.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the message from Massachusetts voters isn’t to drop health care, but to move forward with their considerations in mind.
** QUICK HITS.The fate of the national health care reform bill appears to be in a state of confusion late today. I see appears because appearances can be deceiving. There is no desire in the Senate to jam another version of the already passed bill through before the seating of Senator-elect Scott Brown, who triumphed last night in the Massachusetts special election over a poorly-done Democratic campaign. So President Barack Obama today talked about a scaled-back version of health care reform which can gain Republican votes. This prompted organized labor to come on board the idea of having the House pass the Senate version of the bill, then have the Senate do what it can do on a majority vote basis. Which is fiscal stuff that can be passed through budget “reconciliation.” … Cindy McCain today came out as a supporter of NoH8, a group seeking to overturn California’s Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage initiative that passed in November 2008 currently being contested in federal court in San Francisco. … San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that he’s through with politics. His staff then walked that back with a wink and a nod. Having dropped out of the governor’s race, he’s definitely not running for anything this year and is termed out of office after the 2011 election in the City by the Bay. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger meets tonight in Washington with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Having gotten education reform legislation passed that qualifies California for the new federal challenge grant program, Schwarzenegger hopes to actually win some of those funds.
** WHITMAN’S NEW STRATEGY — ATTACK WELFARE. Billionaire ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman has a new strategy in her bid for California’s Republican gubernatorial nomination. Attack welfare recipients.
In her first political move since the death of her mother, reported here yesterday, Whitman has launched yet another radio ad. This one targets welfare recipients.
Here’s the script:
MEG: Some people worry that we’re creating a welfare state. The fact is, California is the welfare state.
ANNCR: Meg Whitman talks about the California welfare system.
MEG: Did you know that California has twice the population of New York, but five times as many welfare cases? 32 percent of all welfare caseloads in America are here in California.
We provide among the highest cash welfare checks of any state.
But only 22 percent of our recipients work for their benefits.
The system is broken.
But we can fix it…
Let’s cut the lifetime welfare benefit from five years to two.
And let’s put able-bodied welfare recipients to work. Looking for employment, performing community service or working toward a GED.
If they don’t, they lose their benefits.
Welfare can’t be a way of life. We need to help those in need, but we need to do it in a way that’s accountable, sensible, and strengthens our communities.
ANNCR: Paid for by Meg Whitman for Governor 2010.
MEG: It’s time for A New California. What do you think? Share your ideas and read my plan at TalkToMeg.com.
It’s another predictable Whitman play, right out of the conservative campaign playbook.
Frankly, she doesn’t need all those highly-paid Republican consultants to come up with this. Anyone who has paid attention to a generic Republican campaign over the past few decades could easily come up with any one of what are now her seven radio ads. The first six of which were remarkably similar.
This is her first specific issue ad. Are her facts straight? Frankly, I don’t know. Most people will think they are, which is what counts. Just as most people think that a huge chunk of California’s state budget is comprised of “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Which happens to be false.
Whitman, whose actual political background is very murky indeed, is assiduously positioning herself as a hard right Republican on all issues other than abortion.
As I wrote last February. Nothing has changed.
** THE POST-MASSACHUSETTS CACOPHONY ROARS ON. Now we’re seeing, as if we hadn’t before, how dysfunctional our political and media cultures have become.
We have competing polls from left and right making very different claims about why Scott Brown won the Senate seat held by the Kennedys since 1952.
Some say a backlash to health care and big government spending won it for Brown.
Others say that Brown won because Obama and Deocrats didn’t go far enough.
Everyone is free to make these claims because … There is NO exit poll to show anything one way or the other. And why is that? Few considered there was a real race until it was too late to organize a proper exit polling operation.
And the mainstream media didn’t do an exit poll as a matter of course because the corporate bean counters who run things now wanted to save money.
I’m sifting through all this. Though it’s already clear to me that Martha Coakley blew a readily winnable race. And it’s clear, perhaps more to point, how Brown put together his winning campaign.
I’ll roll that out in a couple days after the screaming dies down a bit.
Republican Scott Brown is now the senator-elect from Massachusetts, winning the seat held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy since 1962. Brown’s victory over Martha Coakley puts the fate of many Democratic initiatives up in the air.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:50 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 1:05 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at event in honor of National Mentoring Month in the East Room.
Today is the first anniversary of Obama’s inauguration as president. His job approval rating in a rugged environment is at 50% or above in credible polls and he has a number of accomplishments to show for his effort.
However, this is not a festive day as the economic recovery remains sluggish and Democrats just lost the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts first won by John F. Kennedy in 1952.
I’ll have a piece later in the week analyzing what that means. For now, I’ll let the expected hype, hysteria, and hubris roll on out. There is too much noise in the system right now.
Right now, I’ll say what should be obvious. With a good campaign in Massachusetts — where independents far outnumber Democrats and Republicans — none of the hype, hysteria, and hubris would be expressed today. Or tomorrow, for that matter.
With Martha Coakley’s victory and Scott Brown’s loss in Massachusetts, Democrats drop one vote below the 60 votes needed to avert a filibuster in the Senate.
Which throws a wrench in the works of the national health care reform bill. While Scott Brown backs universal health care in Massachusetts, which already has a system analogous to the proposed national system, he opposes the national bill.
Obama’s talks with congressional leaders on the national health care reform bill have it nearly ready to go for final passage.
The Brown victory makes scenarios for passage significantly more difficult, and Obama is discussing the options.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, as well as the Ukrainian presidential election, the first round of which took place on Sunday.
Defense Secretary Bob Gates says that more U.S. military help is on its way to Haiti. Gates says that clearing the port in Port-au-Prince is a particular priority.
He is also stepping up the relief effort in Haiti, which is struggling amidst chaos and unrest.
The Haitian government, never very strong, has essentially collapsed, with the security situation perilous.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington today and tomorrow.
Schwarzenegger flew to Washington last night to press his case for more federal assistance for California. The chronic state budget crisis became chaotic with the advent of the global near financial meltdown and a consequent sharp decline in revenues, especially from its top-heavy tax structure.
Schwarzenegger will be joined in many of his meetings by state legislative leaders. He offered all four a ride on his red-eye private jet flight last night, but the two Democrats, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, chose to fly on ahead and avoid the red-eye.
Today Schwarzenegger meets with Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Republican members of the California Congressional delegation, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Schwarzenegger knows Sebelius, the former governor of Kansas, from her participation in his Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles.
** 24 NATION.Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19thcolumn.
** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) Is this the last Clinton melodrama? There is a certain air of finality to it. Not because nothing more can happen, but because the most likely melodramas of the future (and most recent past) are laid out and have received far less pushback than they would have before. … From my January 14th column.
** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE.President Barack Obama does have a big problem on security. Well, more accurately, he has big problems. But not all the problems that are trumpeted are real, for the trumpeting itself is a big part of the problem. … From my January 12th column.
** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?!What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st 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, 2009 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.
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