Vice President Joe Biden had hoped to promote a restart of talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet, while he found common ground with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Iran’s nuclear program, his visit to the region is clouded by word that Israel plans to build 1,600 more homes in disputed east Jerusalem.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S DAY: BUDGET BILL VETO, OPEN PRIMARY SAVE, CLIMATE CHANGE AND JOBS. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has had an interesting day. In a speech, a press availability, and some statements, he has explained his veto of an illusory partial solution of the chronic California budget crisis, pushed back against an assessment that the state’s landmark climate change program will result in some near term job loss, and expressed pleasure at blocking a secret move to eviscerate the open primary initiative appearing on the state’s June primary ballot.
Schwarzenegger yesterday vetoed a seemingly big bill sent to him by the Democratic majority Legislature that appeared to cut a few billion from the $20 billion deficit problem. Why? Because the cuts were illusory. None took place in the current fiscal year.
Schwarzenegger expressed pleasure about the legislative leadership folding on a stipulated settlement with a big public employee union that suddenly sued at the end of last week to change the ballot description of the open primary initiative the Legislature passed last year as part and parcel of the compromise budget package. Under pressure of sunlight (see yesterday’s item), the state’s Legislative Counsel abandoned plans to stipulate a settlement and instead agreed to allow Schwarzenegger and open primary author Abel Maldonado, the moderate Republican state senator and Schwarzenegger’s appointee as lieutenant governor, legal standing to fight the legal move against the initiative. Given the legislative intent expressed in legislative passage, the move will now almost certainly fail.
Schwarzenegger also pushed back against a curious letter issued yesterday by the Legislative Analyst’s Office which claims near term job loss from implementation of the landmark climate change program. Schwarzenegger did it in terms of faith in sticking to investing in clean energy, noting that most of the leading greentech firms are in California.
I looked at the actual letter. While it raises methodological questions about the the California Air Resources Board’s forecast that the climate change program will result in 120,000 new jobs, the LAO analysis provides no support for its assertion that some unspecified number of jobs will be lost in the near term. That is no more than an opinionated guess, and ought to be withdrawn.
The effort to repeal AB 32 is funded by two Texas oil companies.
This is not the first time that Texas-based energy companies have meddled in California’s energy and environmental policy. The role of Enron in manipulating California’s misbegotten Pete Wilson era electronic power deregulation will not soon be forgotten.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: OOPS, SHE DID IT AGAIN. No sooner do I write a column on billionaire Cali GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman as an inferior version of Arnold 1.0 then she goes and does her latest deceptive disappearing act on the much diminished local press corps in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Whitman, as I have just reported (see link just below) has held only two press conferences, both disasters. She had a press availability last month, which consisted of a non-answer to one (1) staff pre-approved question before fleeing the scene. Today she again agreed to take a few questions. And this time reneged entirely.
Shocking. Positively shocking.
The Whitman campaign also reneged on allowing reporters to view her tour of some meaningless Union Pacific site.
It’s all quite nonsensical. If you like, you can click through and watch Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei engage in wild dissembling about the situation, claiming that Whitman hadn’t really agreed to take any questions and the hosts wouldn’t allow it anyway and in any event Whitman was far too busy to take questions. Even though the would-be governor lingered at the scene, doing nothing much, as you can see if you are so inclined. And the hosts had no problem with the press. And Whitman had agreed to a press availability. It’s all highly predictable at this point.
It should be perfectly obvious at this point that Pompei is a flak catcher, nothing more. I had drinks with her last fall, teasing her about the missing Whitman helicopter. She’s a very nice young woman, a very familiar type in PR. She doesn’t really know much, which is actually fine as she isn’t supposed to know much. She is supposed to put an agreeable face on the fast shuffle, as well as provide the obligatory plug-in quote in a story.
She’s since been complemented, as it were, by the hiring of Whitman communications director Tucker Bounds. He was the Baghdad Bob of the McCain campaign, the guy rolled out to say preposterous, nasty things about Obama and get smacked around. There’s a whole piece in that, and there is ample video footage available to support that. But it’s essentially an obvious topic.
** IS MEG WHITMAN LIKE ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? YES (IN THE WRONG WAYS) Is billionaire Meg Whitman, the former McCain/Palin campaign co-chair who seeks to replace action movie superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California, like Schwarzenegger?
It’s a question that her ultra-megabucks campaign clearly doesn’t like. The heavily programmed career corporate marketing executive goes out of her way to distinguish herself from the multiple times Mr. Universe. She was a CEO, of a company you may have heard of, eBay. And in case you hadn’t heard that and you live in California, she’s spent many millions of dollars for months on ads telling you about it. After all, it is her sole claim to fame. Whereas, in her view, Schwarzeneggger was merely a jock turned entertainer. (Not that she mentions her not so excellent eBay era adventures with, say, Skype, Craigslist, and Goldman Sachs. So I won’t, either.)
Whitman hates the comparison with Schwarzenegger, a comparison which is nonetheless obvious as both she and Schwarzenegger are Republicans, both are super-rich, and neither had any experience in elected office before deciding to run for governor of California. Why does she hate it? Well, Schwarzenegger, while still personally popular, has seen his once record job approval rating plummet with the global recession and the state’s gridlocked budget process. And he’s turned out to be too liberal for the increasingly right-leaning party whose nomination she is trying to win.
As someone who knew Schwarzenegger and talked with him extensively before he ran for governor in the 2003 California recall election — and who began scouting Whitman, putting together several hours of film of her, when she suddenly emerged as national co-chair of the Republican presidential campaign in early 2008 — it occurs to me that Whitman is like Schwarzenegger.
But in the wrong ways. (Keep in mind that I’m referring to the Schwarzenegger who suddenly jumped from promoting Terminator 3 into running for governor in 2003.) …
After meeting today in Israel with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Vice President Joe Biden said that the U.S. will back those willing to “take risks for peace.” Biden is on a week-long trip to the Middle East, promoting the Israeli/Palestinian peace process and working on the the Iranian nuclear crisis.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9:15 AM Pacific, he has lunch with business leaders in the Private Dining Dining Room.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou in the Oval Office
At 12:10 PM Pacific, Obama meets with members of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the East Room.
At 1:30 PM, Obama meets with a bipartisan group of Senators to discuss energy at the White House. Here are the attendees:
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at reception honoring Greek Independence Day in the East Room.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.
Israeli leaders threw Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle East peace mission a major curveball today, announcing hundreds of new housing units for settlements in the disputed West Bank.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
At 12 noon, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks at the Bank on California Director’s Luncheon at th Citizen Hotel in Sacramento. Bank on California is a program to help Californians without bank accounts to gain them.
He will hold a press availability after his speech.
Schwarzenegger’s remarks will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.
Yesterday, Schwarzenegger vetoed the budget bill sent to him by the Legislature. After two months of work, only 10% of the state’s budget shortfall had been addressed.
** IS OBAMA’S AFPAK STRATEGY ACTUALLY WORKING? I’m not a big fan of the big escalation in Afghanistan. While there are many things that would be good to do in Afghanistan, there is only one thing that we have to do: Deny it as an operational base for Al Qaeda or other transnational jihadists. As Vice President Joe Biden and others have pointed out, that can be done with far less than the nation-building exercise which ex-President George W. Bush promised and President Barack Obama at times seems bent on delivering. Yet there are some signs that Obama’s strategy, which goes well beyond the escalation, is working. Is it? …
That said, what I like about Obama’s AfPak strategy, though I do not like the big escalation in Afghanistan, is that there is a suppleness to it. It evolves. Or, at least, it seems to evolve. For all I know, what appear to be evolutions in the strategy is merely Obama choosing to reveal new elements of it over time. … From my March 5th column.
** THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. With Democrat Jerry Brown finally declaring his candidacy for California governor today and billionaire Meg Whitman’s super-rich Republican rival Steve Poizner starting his own TV ad campaign against her, this seems a good time to talk about a big new negative theme about the rather tarnished Golden State.
Is California America’s first “failed state?” That’s what a lot of people are saying. So I talked about that with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the governor he replaced, Gray Davis; and a famous former governor favored to be the next governor, Jerry Brown.
It’s a hot topic. You see it suggested in the press. It’s spinning into the very high-stakes California governor’s race. There was even a formal debate about it in late January in New York City.
Schwarzenegger in particular was very struck by that debate, sponsored by Intelligence Squared, as he told me when we talked about it the other day. The event dripped with irony, as it featured Schwarzenegger’s brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, as the most prominent member of the team of three arguing that California is America’s first “failed state.” And it featured Schwarzenegger’s one-time bitter opponent, former Governor Gray Davis — removed from office in the famous 2003 California recall election that swept Schwarzenegger into power — as the most prominent member of the team of three arguing that California is nowhere near being America’s first failed state. …
Davis tells me … The veteran Democratic politician, who served as Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial chief of staff, state legislator, and state controller and lieutenant governor before winning two terms as governor, now thinks that the state Legislature should be made part-time. … From my March 2nd column.
** SO WHO IS THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER ANYWAY? PALIN, ROMNEY, PAUL (!) … … From my February 23rd column.
** MAD MEN: THE STREAK CONTINUES. … From my February 22nd column.
** THE BIGGEST SPENDING RACE IN AMERICA IS UNDERWAY! (WELL, SORT OF.) … From my February 19th column.
** TONY BLAIR’S GHOST (WRITER). … From my February 16th column.
** THE MACHINATIONS OF MEG WHITMAN: BEHIND HER ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE COMPETITION AND HER WHOPPER ABOUT HOW LONG SHE’S LIVED IN CALIFORNIA. … From my February 10th column.
** LOST IN LOST. … From my February 4th essay.
** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do? … From my February 2nd column.
** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** HELP FOR HAITI.
You can donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.
Despite its Oscars, the movie The Hurt Locker has gotten very mixed reviews from U.S. military personnel doing the real bomb disposal job on which the film is based. But they appear to appreciate the publicity.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $82 per barrel.
This is up about $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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| Comments (40) |
Biden is doing good in Israel.
I don’t think I’ll see “Hurt Locker.”
I will watch it on dvd. I’m sufficiently intrigued.
Biden was a great pick as Barack’s VP. He knows a lot of people and a lot of stuff.
Jonas Blane says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:15 am
Biden is doing good in Israel.
GREAT new column on Whitman and Arnold!!
Good piece on Arnie and Whitless.
Netflix
Capitol Boy says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:35 am
I will watch it on dvd. I’m sufficiently intrigued.
Whoa, you really nail the Megabucks Whitman in that article.
How can Joe Biden make peace in the Middle East when Israel keeps building housing in the West Bank?
This inquiring mind wants to know…
On second thought, I will check out The Hurt Locker.
It’s very good.
That will be a neat trick …
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 9, 2010 at 10:34 am (Edit)
How can Joe Biden make peace in the Middle East when Israel keeps building housing in the West Bank?
This inquiring mind wants to know…
Thanks, I appreciate that.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:43 am (Edit)
GREAT new column on Whitman and Arnold!!
He’s a terrific asset.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:39 am (Edit)
Biden was a great pick as Barack’s VP. He knows a lot of people and a lot of stuff.
Jonas Blane says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:15 am
Biden is doing good in Israel.
You’re missing a very good film if you don’t see it.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:17 am (Edit)
I don’t think I’ll see “Hurt Locker.”
More video today?
I am pleasantly surprised by Biden. I didn’t like him much at first.
Bill Bradley says:
March 9, 2010 at 10:54 am
He’s a terrific asset.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:39 am (Edit)
Biden was a great pick as Barack’s VP. He knows a lot of people and a lot of stuff.
Jonas Blane says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:15 am
Biden is doing good in Israel.
You’re going to have a lot of fun with this phony…
Bill Bradley says:
March 9, 2010 at 10:54 am
Thanks, I appreciate that.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:43 am (Edit)
GREAT new column on Whitman and Arnold!!
Where’s Schwarzeneger?
Yes, when I see something appropriate.
> Jonas Blane says:
March 9, 2010 at 11:23 am (Edit)
More video today?
Ah, the Meg and Arnold piece is a breathe of fresh air, especially after months of hearing her odious radio ads. Whoever is advising her are putting together a real poor campaign. Those millions are being flushed down a rathole.
She could have set up a think tank, positioned herself to be the one from the business community taking on the excesses, etc. It would have been a useful role, tailormade for her. She be in the limelight while doing some real good. Other than Warren Buffet most of the bigshots continue to want to pretend the days of excess can resume without apologies, etc. But a run for office by Meg–not a well thought out decision…
Good bad news video from Israel.
lol
** CALIFORNIA 2010: OOPS, SHE DID IT AGAIN. No sooner do I write a column on billionaire Cali GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman as an inferior version of Arnold 1.0 then she goes and does her latest deceptive disappearing act on the much diminished local press corps in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Whitman, as I have just reported (see link just below) has held only two press conferences, both disasters. She had a press availability last month, which consisted of a non-answer to one (1) staff pre-approved question before fleeing the scene. Today she again agreed to take a few questions. And this time reneged entirely.
Shocking. Positively shocking.
The Whitman campaign also reneged on allowing reporters to view her tour of some meaningless Union Pacific site.
It’s all quite nonsensical. If you like, you can click through and watch Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei engage in wild dissembling about the situation, claiming that Whitman hadn’t really agreed to take any questions and in any event was far too busy to take questions. Even though the would-be governor lingered at the scene, doing nothing much, as you can see if you are so inclined. It’s all highly predictable at this point.
Whitman is Unbelievable!!
I say if she looks like Britney, she can act like Britney…
** CALIFORNIA 2010: OOPS, SHE DID IT AGAIN. No sooner do I write a column on billionaire Cali GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman as an inferior version of Arnold 1.0 then she goes and does her latest deceptive disappearing act on the much diminished local press corps in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mr. Brown is the once and future Governor of California.
Is Meg Whitman honest to God going to keep running like this?
The Calif. Leg Analyst Office ought not be “opining” that on climate change that it does not support.
Mrs. Whitman is an imperious liar. The evidence grows clearer by the day.
Your Meg Whitman behaves like an oligarch.
What new video today?
Biden in the ME, and China and the US vying on green energy.
Minus the hitmen …
> sergei says:
March 10, 2010 at 2:38 am (Edit)
Your Meg Whitman behaves like an oligarch.
Yesterday was quite a display of arrogance and dishonesty.
> marcus waldron says:
March 9, 2010 at 10:04 pm (Edit)
Mrs. Whitman is an imperious liar. The evidence grows clearer by the day.
I hope so.
It’s even better for copy.
> marcos leon says:
March 9, 2010 at 6:22 pm (Edit)
Is Meg Whitman honest to God going to keep running like this?
Evidently no one there read the letter before issuing it.
> marcos leon says:
March 9, 2010 at 6:26 pm (Edit)
The Calif. Leg Analyst Office ought not be “opining” that on climate change that it does not support.
Quite likely, Dr. Hemlock.
> Jonathan Hemlock says:
March 9, 2010 at 4:26 pm (Edit)
Mr. Brown is the once and future Governor of California.
I was pressed for time on the title …
> Jack Aubrey says:
March 9, 2010 at 4:06 pm (Edit)
I say if she looks like Britney, she can act like Britney…
** CALIFORNIA 2010: OOPS, SHE DID IT AGAIN. No sooner do I write a column on billionaire Cali GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman as an inferior version of Arnold 1.0 then she goes and does her latest deceptive disappearing act on the much diminished local press corps in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Since Whitman looks like a cipher to me when it comes to politics, her candidacy for governor is quite curious …
> Dana says:
March 9, 2010 at 12:10 pm (Edit)
Ah, the Meg and Arnold piece is a breathe of fresh air, especially after months of hearing her odious radio ads. Whoever is advising her are putting together a real poor campaign. Those millions are being flushed down a rathole.
She could have set up a think tank, positioned herself to be the one from the business community taking on the excesses, etc. It would have been a useful role, tailormade for her. She be in the limelight while doing some real good. Other than Warren Buffet most of the bigshots continue to want to pretend the days of excess can resume without apologies, etc. But a run for office by Meg–not a well thought out decision…