In Rose Garden remarks this morning as he signed a big new jobs bill, President Barack Obama, citing a new fiscal analysis, said that his national health care reform bill would be the most significant effort to reduce the deficit since the balanced budget act of the 1990s.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are closing in on final passage of the national health care reform bill. Obama has again postponed his big Asia trip, this time till June, to one-time hometown Jakarta and other exotic ports of call, in order to close the deal. The word I hear is it is, at last, a go. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who intervened last year against State Bar officials to enable Sara Granda, a UC Davis law school graduate who is paralyzed from the neck down, to take the bar exam, has appointed her to a legal position with the state department of health services. … California Attorney General Jerry Brown was in the Inland Empire today joining forces with Republican Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco urging the public to help find members of a gang who tried to kill three police officers. … Billionaire Meg Whitman — who is today, predictably, already trying to alter the terms under which she will release her tax returns (and we haven’t even gotten to how long they will be available for needed forensic accounting analysis, which is to say, “Don’t blink”) — has also today, predictably, turned down a debate with Republican rival Steve Poizner offered by the Sacramento Bee and Fox News California stations. FNC made national anchor Bret Baier, who kept interrupting Obama in a nationally televised interview yesterday, available to moderate. Whitman and Poizner just debated before less than 2000 people in a constantly offline webcast format.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … THE GHOST(S): OF TONY BLAIR, ROMAN POLANKSI, AND A WAR ON TERROR.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: MEG WHITMAN RUNS INTO SOME REALITY-BASED PROBLEMS. Flushed out into actually fleshing out a program she has been touting for many months, billionaire Met Whitman is running into some serious reality-based problems.
There are the various sweeping and highly dubious claims I mention with regard to tax, budget, and regulatory proposals in my new column, linked below.
There is also the totally discredited report she cites as rationale for her pledge to dump California’s landmark climate change program, laid out in this report from the Democratic Governors Association California Accountability Project, and accentuated today by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Even the author of this report has walked away from it, after getting shelled by authorities from Stanford and other major universities. Shouldn’t a would-be governor know this?
And there is the matter of her sweeping tax cut policy, not for all but for wealthy investors and corporations. As Chris Kelly points out on the Huffington Post, one of the biggest beneficiaries of Whitman’s proposed tax cuts would be Meg Whitman.
It really is simpler to just keep repeating that you want more jobs, better education, and more efficient government and pretend you have a program that delivers that. Maybe an overawed press, just happy to be able to talk with her at last, will play along for a few more weeks.
** OBAMA POSTPONES ASIA TRIP AGAIN. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced at mid-day in Washington that President Barack Obama is postponing his Asia trip till June. It had been scheduled for March 18th, and was moved to March 21st to allow more time for passage of the national health care reform bill.
But with a vote likely on Sunday afternoon at the earliest, and substantial congressional handholding necessary throughout, it became clear that Obama could not jet off to Jakarta and other points west.
** CALIFORNIA FIELD POLL: BOXER BARELY AHEAD OF REPUBLICANS, WHO HAVE SPENT NOTHING ON ADVERTISING YET. The new Field Poll has bad news for Senator Barbara Boxer. Her image has flipped dramatically since January, and as a result an undistinguished group of Republicans are now running more or less even with her.
That includes far right Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who is only four points behind Boxer!
This is in sharp contrast to the governor’s race, in which billionaire Meg Whitman’s massive unanswered advertising has given her a three-point lead over Jerry Brown, according to Field.
Brown still holds a massive lead over the other Republican, super-rich state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. And in other polls is slightly ahead of Whitman, or even, as in the Republican Rasmussen poll, which has the race at 40% Brown, 40% Whitman.
Field has the Senate race this way: Ex-Congressman Tom Campbell 44%, Boxer 43%. Boxer 45%, ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina 44%. Boxer 45%, DeVore 41%.
In the Republican primary, the numbers are close. Campbell leads Fiorina, 28% to 22%. That’s all on name ID, and about what it was in January. DeVore trails with 9%.
Fiorina is poised to beat Campbell, who is at a financial disadvantage and has serious problems over his oft-changed story of his relationship with a convicted jihadist terrorist, his proposal of a big gas tax increase, and support for the legalization of heroin.
Indonesia is getting ready to welcome President Barack Obama in his first visit to the country as U.S. president. Many in the capital Jakarta have fond memories of Obama as a boy growing up. But will he have to postpone his Asia trip again as the national health care reform bill comes down to the wire?
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
The national health care reform bill is getting down to the short strokes, and Obama has cleared much of his schedule to deal with details and lobby wavering members of Congress.
The Congressional Budget Office released its “scoring” of the bill. It will, in the CBO’s analysis, cost $940 billion, provide coverage to 32 million more Americans, and reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next decade, and over a trillion dollars over the following decade.
Those are numbers that will please moderates.
A vote is tentatively being set for Sunday.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then signed the HIRE Act in the Rose Garden. This is a $17 billion bill to stimulate job creation.
At 10:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden is off to North Carolina today to promote the economic recovery act.
He speaks at Cree, Inc. in Durham, North Carolina.
He then meets with small business owners and local officials to discuss the recovery act, then returns to Washington in the evening.
Biden is lobbying members of Congress on the national health care reform bill today by phone, as well as bolstering support in North Carolina.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Moscow to work on closing the new nuclear arms treaty with Russia and to meet with other members of the Quartet powers on the Middle East (U.S., Russia, European Union, and United Nations).
Clinton is meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, President Dmitri Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on nuclear weapons and other security-related matters.
Clinton and U.S. special envoy to Middle East George Mitchell will meet on the stalled Israeli/Palestinian peace process with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, EU foreign secretary Catherine Ashton, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Quartet special envoy.
With the national health care reform bill reaching its final stages, Obama also finds himself this week managing a crisis with Israel. It came just before the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) meeting in Washington, which is drawing Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to town.
Analysts say that Al Qaeda has been seriously weakened by a relentless series of drone missile attacks and special forces raids against its leadership cadre since the end of 2008.
In the wake of last week’s snub of visiting Vice President Joe Biden in the form of the announcement of 1600 new housing units for the hotly disputed West Bank, Obama rescinded the scheduled trip to the region this week of Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Meanwhile, Palestinians are protesting the proposed increased Israeli settlement presence in East Jerusalem. Israel captured the area from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
He holds private talks in and around the Capitol.
Presented with only a fraction of the solutions he’d sought California’s chronic budget crisis, Schwarzenegger has vetoed all but a fraction of that, placing the remarkably slow-moving legislative process back at square one.
** THE MITT & MEG SHOW: “TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS” Billionaire Meg Whitman, the seeming political cipher who would be governor of California, is purchasing endless amounts of unanswered advertising. It’s propelled her into a slight lead over Democrat Jerry Brown in the new Field Poll, something which Brown (who’s held, lost, and held again leads in many campaigns) told me weeks ago that he expected.
Yet she has serious problems. At this past weekend’s state Republican convention, she tried to deal with two of them: Her avoidance of the press and her mysterious motivation as a newfound politician.
As a character, Meg Whitman lacks evident psychological credibility. Why is someone with no engagement in public affairs before her sudden leadership role in the 2008 Republican presidential campaigns — someone who couldn’t even be bothered to vote, and can’t say how long she’s lived in California — suddenly running for governor of the state?
Conservative Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Whitman’s business mentor, provides the answer. It was his idea that Whitman run for governor, and he convinced her to do it. … From my March 17th column.
** MEG WHITMAN’S NEW! IMPROVED! POST-JOURNALISM! POLITICS. Something new and more than a little bizarre is busy being born in California. Call it post-journalism politics. … From my March 12th column.
** 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.) … From my March 9th column.
** IS OBAMA’S AFPAK STRATEGY ACTUALLY WORKING? … 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. … 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.
** 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.
** 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 (61) |
What is the scene??
Bill Bradley says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:04 pm
There is also the big scene with Arnold in The Expendables, which naturally has not been reported on …
I’m sure he can donate something.
> Vladimir Bierko says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm (Edit)
Mister Bradley, just saw the new poster for “The Expendables” at http://www.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-expenables-movie-poster-3.jpg. It looks like we need all those items to balance the budget this year.
I am so happy. This will make a big difference in people’s lives and in American politics.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are closing in on final passage of the national health care reform bill. Obama has again postponed his big Asia trip, this time till June, to one-time hometown Jakarta and other exotic ports of call, in order to close the deal. The word I hear is it is, at last, a go.
Too funny!!
… Billionaire Meg Whitman — who is today, predictably, already trying to alter the terms under which she will release her tax returns (and we haven’t even gotten to how long they will be available for needed forensic accounting analysis, which is to say, “Don’t blink”) — has also today, predictably, turned down a debate with Republican rival Steve Poizner offered by the Sacramento Bee and Fox News California stations. FNC made national anchor Bret Baier, who kept interrupting Obama in a nationally televised interview yesterday, available to moderate. Whitman and Poizner just debated before less than 2000 people in a constantly offline webcast format.
I am very happy that a national health care program is about to be passed in the United States. 100 years it has taken since Theodore Roosevelt proposed it. We trail the rest of the world, a shame that is soon to be ending I hope.
Where’s my comment?
Sorry, had a near complete system failure early this morning.
It does look like it’s going to pass this time.
> marcus waldron says:
March 18, 2010 at 9:20 pm (Edit)
I am very happy that a national health care program is about to be passed in the United States. 100 years it has taken since Theodore Roosevelt proposed it. We trail the rest of the world, a shame that is soon to be ending I hope.
I’ll write about that later …
> marcos leon says:
March 18, 2010 at 5:55 pm (Edit)
What is the scene??
Bill Bradley says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:04 pm
There is also the big scene with Arnold in The Expendables, which naturally has not been reported on …
I’m sure he can donate something.
> Vladimir Bierko says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm (Edit)
Mister Bradley, just saw the new poster for “The Expendables” at http://www.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-expenables-movie-poster-3.jpg. It looks like we need all those items to balance the budget this year.
The difference is like night and day …
> Dana says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:51 pm (Edit)
Opps, somehow I missed #40. “very questionable and highly controversial dealings”. Now that sounds like a real story worth poking around on, vs. Jerry Brown’s sister’s business career.
Obviously, not everyone who works for a company is guilty of wrongdoing.
> Capitol Boy says:
March 18, 2010 at 4:21 pm (Edit)
Kathleen Brown isn’t a candidate for anything. She hasn’t done anything wrong.