Rather than wait till next week, the U.S. Senate approved the appointment of General David Petraeus as the new commander in Afghanistan on a 99-0 vote. (One seat is vacant due to the death of Robert Byrd.) Meanwhile, the Taliban today launched another attack on a U.S. base, this time in eastern Afghanistan.
** QUICK HITS. In the rather curious Russian spy case — in which 11 people were arrested as long-term deep cover agents in the U.S. right after the Obama-Medvedev summit, but no one has been charged with espionage — an individual identified as a funder for the group was arrested after fleeing to Cyprus, en route to Budapest, Hungary. But he posted bail and skipped out. Cyprus is a longtime favorite for Russian tourists and businesspeople, as well as a meeting ground for spies. Why U.S. intelligence had no one watching him seems odd. … The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the compromise version of Wall Street reform worked out late last week by negotiators and sent it back to the Senate. But with Democrat Robert Byrd having passed away, Republican Scott Brown balking at a tax on big banks, and two liberals saying the bill isn’t strong enough, proponents will have to push to avoid a Republican filibuster.
** CALIFORNIA 2010: JERRY BROWN LEADS, WHITMAN SWINGS, MORE BUDGET KABUKI. The new Reuters/Ipsos poll confirms the reputable private poll I reported here last week. Then, Jerry Brown led billionaire Republican wannabe governor Meg Whitman, 46% to 41%. Now he leads her, 45% to 39%.
Whitman has been blitzing the state with ads following a mere two-day break after her hard-fought Republican primary win. But she hasn’t gained ground on Brown, who has not spent a dime.
Of course, independent expenditure committees are spending on TV and radio ads. But those are usually not as effective as a candidate making a positive case for him or herself, not everyone loves the ads, and in any event, at a record-shattering $100 million and counting, Whitman has vastly out-spent all forces opposing her.
Whitman ripped Brown yesterday in her first appearance since last week’s deeply flawed attempt to put her expensive shoving incident with an employee behind her. But the ex-CEO of eBay and FTD — which she also left not long after settling a complaint against her from an employee, who in this case charged her with age discrimination — acknowledged during her appearance before a small crowd at a Japanese motorcycle dealership outside Sacramento that her charge that Brown wrecked the state budget during his first time as governor was, er, more complicated than her attack ad makes it out to be.
She had to admit that the state used a large rainy day fund accumulated by Brown by bail out local governments in the aftermath of the passage of Proposition, which dramatically cut property taxes for individuals and corporations.
Whitman failed to acknowledge that the nation was also in a deep recession when Brown left office, presided over by one Ronald Reagan.
Or that Brown’s Republican successor, George Deukmejian, left a far larger deficit that led her campaign chairman, ex-Governor Pete Wilson, to enact the biggest tax hikes in California’s history.
For his part, Brown appeared yesterday at the California Association of District Attorneys, a supportive crowd given his record as California attorney general and Oakland mayor. He addressed complaints about his youthful tenure as governor by saying: “For every hair I lost, I gained one brain cell.”
Today he was in Los Angeles, where he appeared on Good Day L.A.
There Brown ripped Whitman’s TV attack ad, which has been widely panned as inaccurate, with one web site charging trademark infringement.
Brown mocked Whitman for her mocking of his age and experience.
“Were I a CEO and someone said, ‘You know what, I’ve never been in this company, I never saw the product and I want to be a boss,’ I’d say, ‘Hey, why don’t you start at the bottom and work your way up?’” Brown said. “That’s the same way with government. You can’t wake up one morning and say, ‘Gee, I’ve got a billion dollars and I want to be governor.’ You got to learn something because those people up in Sacramento are sharks.”
Speaking of those people up in Sacramento, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a 27% job approval rating in that Reuters/Ipsos in which Brown leads Whitman by six points. Schwarzenegger will be there tonight to meet with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders in a “Big 5″ meeting on the chronic state budget crisis, which is no nearer to being solved on this eve of another constitutional deadline than it was months ago.
Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg are trying to work out their very different approaches to present a common Democratic front for negotiations. Perez said the other day that he and other Democrats would not negotiate with Schwarzenegger until he dropped his call for big budget cuts.
Perez is also setting aside the complicated borrowing plan he presented a few weeks ago to maintain the status quo in funding for programs. As Brown pointed out, it’s probably unconstitutional. But Perez says he’s not shelving it, merely sending it to be “tweaked” by lawyers.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … MEG WHITMAN SPINS AND SPENDS: MRS. HARSH FACES A HARSH REALITY.
** NEW NATIONAL POLL, DEMOCRATIC AFFILIATION STABILIZES AFTER RECENT SLIDE.A new Gallup Poll indicates that the slide in Democratic affiliation has stopped and slightly reversed.
For the first time since President Barack Obama took office, the percentage of Americans identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic held steady in a quarter’s worth of Gallup poll data. Prior to the second quarter of 2010, the percentage aligning themselves with the Democratic Party had declined at least slightly each quarter since early 2009.
With 46% of Americans identifying either as Democrats or as independents who say they lean to the Democratic Party, and 43% identifying as Republican or leaning Republican, Democrats now hold a three percentage-point advantage in party affiliation. The gap between the two parties had shrunk from 13 points when Obama took office to just 1 point in the first quarter of this year. That one-point gap in the first quarter of 2010 was the smallest Gallup had recorded in five years.
The regained Democratic is actually a tad higher in the daily tracking polls.
The current results are based on an average of four Gallup and USA Today/Gallup polls conducted in the second quarter of 2010, including interviews with more than 4,000 U.S. adults. Gallup’s Daily tracking survey, which also includes a measure of party identification and leaning, shows a similar four-point Democratic advantage (44% to 40%) in the second quarter of 2010 through June 28 interviewing.
Meanwhile, the recent rise in Republican affiliation looks rather soft, all due to a switch among independents turned off by a perception that the Democrats have moved left.
While the total percentage of Republicans, including independents who lean Republican, has increased since the start of 2009 (from 39% to 43%), this increase is exclusively the result of a greater percentage of Republican-leaning independents. Over the past 15 months, the percentage of Americans who initially identify as Republican, the party’s core supporters, has held steady at 27% or 28%.
President Barack Obama met yesterday in the White House with Saudi King Abdullah, where they discussed the global economic recovery, Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli/Palestinian question, and Iraq.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Wisconsin today.
Obama received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He then departed for Racine, Wisconsin, where he will talk about his policies to continue the real but slow-moving economic recovery.
At 10 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Racine, Wisconsin.
At 11:15 AM Pacific, Obama holds a town hall meeting on the economy at Racine Memorial Hall.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama departs Racine, Wisconsin on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 2:55 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 3:10 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden is in Ohio today talking up the economic recovery act and helping U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher in Cleveland. Fisher, the lieutenant governor and former state attorney general, has a slight lead over Republican Rob Portman, a former congressman who was George W. Bush’s budget director.
Confirmation hearings for Obama’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, continue today in the Senate. While she is not all that popular compared to most other recent appointees and there is opposition, it doesn’t look like her opponents have managed to come up with much.
Obama’s appointee as the new commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, finished his Senate confirmation hearing in one day on Tuesday. The Senate Armed Services Committee then voted unanimously to approve his appointment. The full Senate is expected to vote to confirm Petraeus after the 4th of July holiday break.
Obama has not designated a new commander for Central Command, the technically higher ranking position which Petraeus currently holds. Central Command is a theater level joint services command encompassing the Middle East and Central Asia. Its area of responsibility encompasses Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. International waters included are the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and western portions of the Indian Ocean.
You’ll note that Israel, though clearly in the Middle East, is not in Central Command. It’s in European Command. That’s to try to avoid complaints about Israel when dealing with Arab nations.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced late yesterday that General Stanley McChrystal will retire from the Army with four-star rank. That had been in question, as he had not served the usual time in grade required to retire at the rank, which he just assumed last year when he was named the commander in Afghanistan. He would otherwise have retired as a three-star, a lieutenant general, the rank he held when he was director of the Joint Staff in the Pentagon and commander of the Joint Special Operations Command before that.
McChrystal’s pension is thus a little higher than it would be otherwise, as well, at $150,000 per year. Though I expect he will make a lot more than that through consultancies, board memberships, book contract, etc.
Hurricane Alex, though it won’t hit the Gulf oil disaster area, is throwing off enough heavy weather to sideline clean-up efforts. The cap and capture effort and the relief drilling continue.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections. But there are at last signs of progress.
The U.S. has been formally suggesting for weeks that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies were, naturally, resistant to this. However, he and Allawi have begun meeting to form a government, which is causing other Shiite leaders to denounce the effort.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 11 AM, via teleconference, he joins governors gathered at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington to advocate for extension of the temporary enhanced Federal Medicaid Assistance Program through June of 2011.
Schwarzenegger wants $1.8 billion for California that President Obama budgeted after meetings with Schwarzenegger and others but Congress may cut.
At 2 PM, Schwarzenegger goes to Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington to announce some $7.5 million in grants around the state to help at-risk youth expand their opportunities and avoid gangs.
** FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: THE “RESET” CONTINUES.It certainly looked like Dmitry Medvedev had a good time on his first trip to America last week as Russia’s president. First with his host in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on whom he tried out his impression of Russia’s longtime favorite movie star. Then in Washington, where, in the midst of high-level summitry, President Barack Obama took his new ally out for a cheeseburger luncheon.
It was all a far cry from the bleak old days of the Cold War. No one pounded a table with a shoe; no one threatened to bury anyone. The focus was on economic modernization, but it didn’t feel especially dramatic. Maybe that’s a good thing. …From my June 27th column.
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …From my June 23rd feature.
** 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 $42 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
California’s Tesla Motors became the first auto company to go public since Ford in 1954. The electric car maker’s initial public offering today sold higher than expected.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … MEG WHITMAN SPINS AND SPENDS: MRS. HARSH FACES A HARSH REALITY.
** BIG WATER BOND: ARNOLD SAYS “HASTA LA VISTA,” FOR NOW. A day after it was designated Proposition 18 on the November statewide ballot, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today asked the California Legislature to remove the $11 billion water bond he painstakingly negotiated with them last year from the ballot. It’s the first big water program passed in the Capitol since the Pat Brown era in the 1960s.
“It’s critical that the water bond pass, as it will improve California’s economic growth, environmental sustainability and water supply for future generations,” the action superstar said in a statement. “For that reason, I will work with the Legislature to postpone the bond to the next ballot and avoid jeopardizing its passage.”
Why is Schwarzenegger making this move?
Here’s what I wrote two weeks ago in “The Arnold Factor”:
There’s no question that California is in a long-term drought situation. Nor that climate change can wreak havoc on the water supplies of a growing state. But California got a lot of rain this year and people don’t sense that they’re in a drought. The future is a long ways off. And many on the left think the package is too much of a giveaway for business, while many on the right say it’s filled with green pork. Schwarzenegger has an important decision to make about going forward.
Passage in this election cycle seemed unlikely, with fundraising lagging — in part due to corporate money rushing to pass another initiative to require a two-thirds vote for new fees — and polls daunting.
Schwarzenegger’s would-be Republican successor, billionaire Meg Whitman, had endorsed the initiative.
Jerry Brown was neutral, and I believe would have changed that position of neutrality to opposition had the initiative gone forward.
Of course, Schwarzenegger must persuade the Legislature to go along with him, but that seems highly likely.
This is hardly the first time that a big-ticket measure has been pulled from the ballot when its passage looked problematic, postponed to a future date.
For example, the high-speed rail act was delayed a few times until Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders felt it could pass at the ballot box in November 2008. With their help, it did.
** NEW POLL: MOST FAVOR AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE. A new Gallup Poll for USA Today shows very strong support for President Barack Obama’s timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
This poll comes as Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, is saying that it should be up to General David Petraeus whether or not a withdrawal from Afghanistan begins as scheduled.
A majority of Americans (58%) favor President Barack Obama’s timetable that calls for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan beginning in July 2011. Most of the 38% of Americans who are opposed reject the idea of setting any timetable rather than setting one with an earlier or later date. …
These results are based on a June 25-26 USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted in the days after the president announced he was relieving Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and replacing him with Gen. David Petraeus. A majority of Americans approve of Obama’s decision to remove McChrystal.
Obama said the change in command would not signal a change in U.S. policy in Afghanistan. On Sunday at the G-20 summit, Obama reiterated that the July 2011 date would mark the beginning of withdrawal but that it would not mark the end of the U.S. military presence there, adding that the U.S. would be assisting the people of Afghanistan for “a long time to come.”
Most Democrats, and the majority of independents, favor the timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops beginning in July of next year. Republicans, on the other hand, oppose it by a better than 2-to-1 margin. …
Democrats are in favor of the Afghanistan timetable, 80-17, and independents favor it, 57-36. Republicans oppose it, 65-31.
Obama still has a mostly positive approval rating on Afghanistan, despite recent setbacks there.
More generally, Americans are somewhat divided in their views of Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan. The poll finds 50% saying Obama is doing a “very good” or “good” job, while 44% believe he is doing a “very poor” or “poor” job. Democrats give Obama high marks on Afghanistan, while Republicans mostly say he is doing a poor job. …
Americans generally support the timetable Obama has laid out for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Most of the opposition stems from philosophical disagreements as to whether any timetable should be set as opposed to the specifics of the July 2011 date Obama has set. At the G-20 summit Obama decried “the obsession” with the timetable, saying he was more focused on the mission’s success, and refused to say whether the five-year exit strategy put forth at the summit was a reasonable timeline for getting all troops out of Afghanistan.
Under questioning from Senator John McCain, General David Petraeus fainted during his last appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee two weeks ago. Today he is back for his confirmation hearing as the new commander in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has not named his replacement in the technically higher ranking post as chief of U.S. Central Command.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 7:50 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Democratic and Republican senators to discuss energy and climate legislation in the Cabinet Room.
Obama is very unlikely to get comprehensive climate change legislation, including a cap and trade program, in this election year. However, he can get more movement on renewable energy and programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama receives a briefing on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Oval Office.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama has a working lunch with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in the Old Family Dining Room.
At 11:10 AM, Obama holds a meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office.
Principal topics are likely to include Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli/Palestinian question, and Iraq.
At 12:40 PM Pacific, Obama meets with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the State Dining Room.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden is touring the Gulf oil disaster today.
He is in Louisiana and Florida.
These are the senators from both parties taking part in Obama’s meeting to goose legislation on energy reform and climate change:
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)
Senator Mark Begich (D-AK)
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Senator George Voinovich (R-OH)
Confirmation hearings for Obama’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, continue today in the Senate. While she is not all that popular compared to most other recent appointees and there is opposition, it doesn’t look like her opponents have managed to come up with much.
We’ll see if her conservative opponents continue to malign one of her heroes, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the Supreme Court and the lawyer who successfully argued the Brown v. Board of Education case that ended legal segregation in education.
General Stanley McChrystal said yesterday that he will retire from the U.S. Army. McChrystal was relieved of his command in Afghanistan following a meeting last week with President Barack Obama.
General David Petraeus also faces a confirmation hearing in the Senate. He is slated to be the new commander in Afghanistan, replacing General Stanley McChrystal, who yesterday said that he will retire from the Army.
Opposition to the current mission in Afghanistan is emerging in the wake of the Rolling Stone profile which led to McChrystal’s sacking. The House is holding up billions in funding for civilian programs that many say are being siphoned off by corrupt officials, with some of the money ending up in the hands of the Taliban.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger joins forces with Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group at 7:45 AM at San Francisco International Airport to commemorate the launch of Virgin America airline’s first international destination, which is Toronto.
At Schwarzenegger’s urging, Virgin America made San Francisco its headquarters and base of operations.
** FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: THE “RESET” CONTINUES.It certainly looked like Dmitry Medvedev had a good time on his first trip to America last week as Russia’s president. First with his host in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on whom he tried out his impression of Russia’s longtime favorite movie star. Then in Washington, where, in the midst of high-level summitry, President Barack Obama took his new ally out for a cheeseburger luncheon.
It was all a far cry from the bleak old days of the Cold War. No one pounded a table with a shoe; no one threatened to bury anyone. The focus was on economic modernization, but it didn’t feel especially dramatic. Maybe that’s a good thing. …From my June 27th column.
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …From my June 23rd feature.
** 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 $42 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
In her Senate confirmation hearing today, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, pledged to judge cases that come before her with “even-handedness and impartiality.” Kagan is widely viewed to have a straight shot at confirmation.
** QUICK HITS. In one of those ironies of timing, the U.S. Justice Department today arrested 10 individuals charged with being deep cover spies for Russia. The move comes only days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s high-profile visit to California and mini-summit in Washington with President Barack Obama. The suspects are said to have been in America for many years, some dating back to the old KGB days. In another irony, they don’t appear to have learned much. … In the California governor’s race, Attorney General Jerry Brown essentially accepted all credible and semi-credible debate offers today, some 10 in number. Not surprisingly, billionaire Republican Meg Whitman, notorious for dodging debates in her long primary campaign, did not accept any new debates other than the rather staid event she’s agreed to at Dominican College in Marin in October.
** CALIFORNIA BALLOT PROPOSITIONS ANNOUNCED. The California Secretary of State’s office announced that 10 initiatives have qualified for the November ballot. More details on the initiatives are available here.
Proposition 18
Bond Measure
SBx7 2. (Chapter 3, 2009), Cogdill.
Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010
This is the $11 billion water bond measure adopted last year after painstaking negotiation between legislative leaders and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Proposition 19
Initiative Statute
Changes California Law to Legalize Marijuana and Allow It to Be Regulated and Taxed.
This would turn congressional redistricting over to a redistricting commission.
Proposition 21
Initiative Statute
Establishes $18 Annual Vehicle License Surcharge to Help Fund State Parks and Wildlife Programs and Grants Free Admission to All State Parks to Surcharged Vehicles.
Prohibits the State from Taking Funds Used for Transportation or Local Government Projects and Services.
Proposition 23
Initiative Statute
Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions That Cause Global Warming Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year.
This is the oil company-led campaign to stop California’s landmark climate change/renewable energy program.
Proposition 24
Initiative Statute.
Repeals Recent Legislation That Would Allow Businesses to Carry Back Losses, Share Tax Credits, and Use a Sales-Based Income Calculation to Lower Taxable Income.
This is a labor move to roll back nearly $2 billion in corporate tax breaks that was part of last year’s grand state budget compromise.
Increases Legislative Vote Requirement to Two-Thirds for State Levies and Charges. Imposes Additional Requirement for Voters to Approve Local Levies and Charges with Limited Exceptions.
This is a Chamber of Commerce move to make it harder to impose special fees.
Proposition 27
Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.
Eliminates State Commission on Redistricting. Consolidates Authority for Redistricting with Elected Representatives.
This is an attempt by opponents of the congressional redistricting initiative to muddy the waters by and cause its defeat with another initiative to roll back the legislative redistricting reform initiative that passed in November 2008.
** DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE PRESENTS “WHITMAN’S WORLD,” SCHWARZENEGGER RIPS HER BUDGET PROPOSAL AS “BOGUS.” The California Working Families independent expenditure committee, funded by labor unions and Democratic business executives, launched a third TV ad today criticizing billionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.
In it, the group hits Whitman, the former eBay CEO and Goldman Sachs director whose only previous experience in public affairs was as an official in 2008 Republican presidential campaigns, for using offshore tax shelters in the Cayman Islands, being the second most prolific CEO in the use of corporate jets, and for her program of big tax cuts for wealthy investors like herself and corporations.
The charges are accurate.
Whitman’s response? A scripted statement from spokesperson Sarah Pompei, presented here in its entirety: “Governor Brown’s ideology of more taxes, more spending, and more regulations is the real enemy of middle-class Californians. Jerry Brown Incorporated is a political conglomerate of unions and special interests determined to defend Sacramento’s status quo and launch misleading attack ads against Meg. Jerry Brown Inc. is learning that voters know Meg Whitman is the only chance for middle-class Californians to get meaningful tax relief, accountability in Sacramento and the jobs our state desperately needs. Meg’s plan eliminates the start-up tax for middle-class entrepreneurs and the capital gains tax for smaller investors, and it provides a new tax credit for middle-class homebuyers. What is Jerry Brown offering? Nothing.”
That’s more Whitman spin, wildly distorting Brown’s actual record and trying, once again, to recast her corporate conservative agenda as one of concern for the regular person.
In other action, speaking last night in Los Angeles at the Southern California Journalism Awards, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped Whitman’s plan (without mentioning her by name) to fire 40,000 state workers as “bogus talk.”
In the more than a year that Whitman has been repeating the 40,000 jobs cut figure as part of her robotic talking points, she has yet to explain where those cuts should happen.
Schwarzenegger encouraged reporters to ask where those cuts would be made.
** NEW NATIONAL POLL: STRONG SUPPORT FOR OBAMA’S FIRING OF MCCHRYSTAL.A new Gallup Poll shows nearly 2 to 1 support for President Barack Obama’s firing of General Stanley McChrystal from the Afghanistan command in the wake of disrespectful comments contained in a new Rolling Stone profile.
The relief of McChrystal, and his replacement by General David Petraeus, met with approval from most political sectors in the debate last week.
A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans approving of President Obama’s decision to remove Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Those who say they are following news of the story “very” or “somewhat closely” approve by close to a 2-to-1 margin.
The poll was conducted June 25-26, just days after Obama announced he was relieving McChrystal of his duties. Earlier in the week, a Rolling Stone magazine article quoted McChrystal and his aides making disparaging comments about members of the Obama administration. Sixty-three percent of Americans say they are following the news of the story closely, including 28% who say very closely.
Though most Americans approve of Obama’s decision to oust McChrystal, they don’t necessarily agree that removing the general from his duties was the best way to handle the matter. Specifically, 37% say Obama ideally would have reprimanded McChrystal but not removed him from his command, about the same as the proportion who say removing McChrystal was the best way to handle the situation (38%). Another 12% say Obama should not have taken any action against McChrystal. Fourteen percent do not express an opinion.
The vast majority (68%) of those who approve of Obama’s decision agree that removing McChrystal was the best way to handle the matter. Still, more than one-quarter of this group believe a lesser punishment would have been a better course of action. Those who disapprove of Obama’s ouster of McChrystal would generally have preferred that the president reprimand the general.
The more closely Americans are following the story, the more likely they are to view dismissing McChrystal as the best way to handle the situation. …
There is, of course, a partisan divide on the question.
Seventy-four percent of Democrats approve of Obama’s decision to remove McChrystal as U.S. commander in Afghanistan, compared with 49% of independents and 34% of Republicans.
Though more than 7 in 10 Democrats approve of Obama’s actions, significantly fewer, but still a majority (57%), say removing McChrystal would have been the best way to handle the matter. Most Republicans would have preferred a lesser punishment for McChrystal, with 56% preferring a reprimand.
President Barack Obama delivered an expansive press conference performance yesterday in Toronto following the G20 summit.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
A shortened week ahead with the 4th of July weekend nearly on tap. But a busy one for President Barack Obama, who oversees confirmation hearings for his Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, shepherds a plan to move energy and climate legislation, meets with the king of Saudi Arabia, promotes his economic recovery plan, monitors the BP Gulf oil disaster, and oversees the transition of command in Afghanistan.
In California, expect no progress on the state’s chronic budget crisis, with Democrats divided on their negotiating posture with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Meanwhile, the governor’s race continues with billionaire Republican Meg Whitman encountering difficulty in developing traction despite all her spending (she has a curious new ad linking Jerry Brown to the ’60s) and Brown playing rope-a-dope. And the race between Senator Barbara Boxer and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is yielding few fireworks heading into the 4th of July.
Here’s what Obama’s week looks like, so far.
On Monday, Obama, back from the G8 and G20 summits in Canada, will attend meetings at the White House. Senate confirmation hearings for his appointee to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, begin today. She doesn’t seem to have much of a problem
On Tuesday, Obama will meet with a group of Democratic and Republican senators to discuss the process for passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year. Later, he will welcome King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to the White House. Senate confirmation hearings for Obama’s replacement for General Stanley McChrystal in the Afghanistan command, General David Petraeus, begin on Tuesday. Petraeus will be swiftly confirmed.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to southeast Wisconsin to discuss the economy.
On Thursday and Friday, he will attend meetings at the White House.
As always, Obama’s schedule gets pretty vague toward the end of the week, allowing for flexibility in dealing with emerging events and issues. Who knew at the beginning of last week that a Rolling Stone profile was about to upend the command in Afghanistan.
The G8 summit did not agree on next steps for recovery from the global recession. Obama wanted agreement on further steps to stimulate the economy. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was supportive of this. But Western European and Japanese leaders balked, turning instead to deficit reduction.
The G8 leaders did reach agreement on geopolitical matters. They condemned North Korea for its sinking of a South Korean Navy ship, urged Iran to reform by respecting human rights, called on Muanmar’s military regime to release all political prisoners, urged Israel to ease the blockade of Gaza, and prodded the Afghan government to show tangible progress on security and governance at next month’s international conference in Kabul.
The G20 summit came up with similar sentiments, along with a few others. Leaders agreed that banks should pay for future financial crises they cause, but balked at a global tax on banking transactions, preferring that it be handled by individual nations.
Senator Robert Byrd, the longest serving member of the Senate and Congress in history, passed away early this morning at the age of 92. The one-time Ku Klux Klan member became a close friend of Ted Kennedy and backer of Barack Obama.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama receives his daily economic briefing in the Oval Office.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Confirmation hearings for Obama’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, begin today in the Senate. While she is not all that popular compared to most other recent appointees and there is opposition, it doesn’t look like her opponents have managed to come up with much.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Louisville, Kentucky this morning.
He delivers remarks on the Recovery Act at GE Appliances & Lighting headquarters in Louisville, then travels to Indiana, where he attends an event for Congressman Baron Hill, and Delaware, where he attends an event for U.S. Senate candidate Chris Coons.
Obama delivered a statement of condolence on the passing overnight of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. The 92-year old Byrd was admitted to a hospital in Fairfax, Virginia a few days ago suffering from Washington’s extreme heat and humidity.
Byrd was president pro tem of the Senate, third in succession to the presidency. Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye will replace him in that post. And West Virginia Joe Manchin, a Democrat, will appoint Byrd’s successor in the Senate seat. Manchin, who is very popular in West Virginia, will be the frontrunner when the election takes place, probably in 2012. (West Virginia law looks conflicting on the timing of the election, but 2012 seems the most likely interpretation.) In the meantime, he will appoint a Democratic caretaker.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He and First Lady Maria Shriver host an event this morning at Fox Studios to launch the Million Plates Campaign for the Arts.
It’s an effort to promote the sale of specialty arts license plates to fund arts education in schools and communities.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver will be joined by members of the California Arts Council, including its chair, Malussi Feruzzi Shriver, members of the Hollywood and New York-based Creative Coalition, and news Arts Ambassadors Quincy Jones and T-Bone Burnett.
** FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: THE “RESET” CONTINUES.It certainly looked like Dmitry Medvedev had a good time on his first trip to America last week as Russia’s president. First with his host in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, on whom he tried out his impression of Russia’s longtime favorite movie star. Then in Washington, where, in the midst of high-level summitry, President Barack Obama took his new ally out for a cheeseburger luncheon.
It was all a far cry from the bleak old days of the Cold War. No one pounded a table with a shoe; no one threatened to bury anyone. The focus was on economic modernization, but it didn’t feel especially dramatic. Maybe that’s a good thing. …
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …From my June 23rd feature.
** 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.
Tropical Storm Alex, on the cusp of becoming a hurricane, is fortunately now heading away from the Gulf oil disaster.
** 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 $44 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.
Not everyone thinks all that much of the G8 and G20 summitry in Canada.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Toronto and Washington today.
Obama continues today with the G20 summit in Toronto, Canada’s largest city and the provincial capital of Ontario. All G20 events take place in the Toronto Convention Center.
Obama had a working bilateral breakfast this morning with Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono. He told the Indonesian leader that his twice canceled visit to the country of his youth will take place later this year.
Obama then participated in the G20 opening plenary session, the G20 leaders working session, and the G20 plenary session.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama takes part in the G20 “family photo.”
At 10 AM Pacific, Obama meet with MySummit 2010 Youth leaders.
At 10:15 AM Pacific, Obama takes part in the G20 working luncheon.
At 12 PM Pacific, Obama participates in the G20 plenary session.
At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel in Toronto.
At 3:05 PM Pacific, Obama holds a press conference at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel.
At 4:20 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with new Prime Minister Naoto Kan of Japan at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel.
At 5:30 PM Pacific, Obama departs Toronto on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 6:40 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 6:55 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
At 6:30 PM, he participates in the Southern California Journalism Awards at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Schwarzenegger’s would-be Republican successor, billionaire Meg Whitman, is stumbling into an earlier pitfall of the governator’s.
Targeted by the California Nurses Association with their amusing ongoing “Queen Meg” theatrical production shadowing her movements, the Whitman campaign upped the ante beyond summer stock to escalated attacks.
Responding to what I’m told are the demands of a flustered and angered Whitman, her campaign first demanded that the nurses union, which is supporting Jerry Brown turn over its membership list to the Whitman campaign so Whitman could send a letter defending herself and extolling her virtues. That was an obvious non-starter. Naturally, the nurses union countered by inviting Whitman to appear with Brown at a gubernatorial forum.
Whitman’s response? She’ll only debate before non-partisan groups. Actually, she prefers not to debate before anybody; she’s notorious for avoiding debates and is still turning down Brown’s offer of 10 town hall debates.
Whitman then had her minions attack nurses union director RoseAnn DeMoro for being paid a few times more than what the average nurse makes. Which is, needless to say, a very odd line of attack coming from a billionaire. Especially one who increased her compensation and perks at eBay as the company’s performance sharply declined.
Whitman also launched an attack web site and put out a poll purportedly taken from a sampling of nurses indicating greater sympathy for Whitman.
The nurses union then upped the ante, scheduling a large forum near Whitman’s home next month in leafy Atherton and announcing a coming advertising campaign on the theme that “Nurses Won’t Be Pushed Around.” And yes, that is a pointed reference to Whitman’s very expensive physical altercation with one of her employees not long before she announced her departure from the firm.
Whitman’s chief strategist is Mike Murphy, who was Schwarzenegger’s chief strategist in 2005 when the nurses union bedeviled Schwarzenegger during his disastrous special election initiatives campaign. He can’t really think these are good moves, can he?
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama says “We are on the cusp of enacting the toughest financial reforms since the Great Depression.”
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Canada today.
Obama received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and participated in the G8 working session at the Deerhurst Resort in Muskoka, Ontario Province. He then departed Muskoka en route to Toronto.
At 9:35 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Toronto.
At 11:15 AM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel.
At 12:15 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Intercontinental Downtown Hotel. President Hu is not a doctor.
At 4:15 PM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama attends the G20 working dinner at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
The G8 leaders — representing the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia — issued a communique this morning at the end of their sessions prior to returning to Toronto to join the larger G20 summit this weekend.
They did not agree on next steps for recovery from the global recession. Obama wanted agreement on further steps to stimulate the economy. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was supportive of this. But Western European and Japanese leaders balked, turning instead to deficit reduction.
The G8 leaders did reach agreement on geopolitical matters. They condemned North Korea for its sinking of a South Korean Navy ship, urged Iran to reform by respecting human rights, called on Muanmar’s military regime to release all political prisoners, urged Israel to ease the blockade of Gaza, and prodded the Afghan government to show tangible progress on security and governance at next month’s international conference in Kabul.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assures Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that he’ll be back and bids him “Hasta la vista, baby.”
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …From my June 23rd feature.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …From my June 19th feature.
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) … From my June 11th feature.
** 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 $78.66 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $46 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
More good news. A potential hurricane is forming south of the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to move into the area of the BP Gulf oil disaster.
** QUICK HITS. California Attorney General Jerry Brown released the state’s annual crime report for 2009. It shows that crime in California is down for the third consecutive year. Violent crime is down 6.6% from the year earlier, property crime down 10.1%, and larceny and theft down 6.1%. California’s five largest counties all recorded significant declines. … Meanwhile, Brown’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, billionaire Meg Whitman, is quiet again after her attempts yesterday to explain away her expensive physical altercation with an employee not long before she left her CEO post at eBay. And the owner of the FAIL Blog demanded that she remove footage of it from her TV attack ad against Brown, noting that the use is unauthorized. The ad is shot through with inaccuracies, which I’ll get into later.
Nunez, 21, was in a group of four young men who felt disrespected by being kicked out of a fraternity party. They were angry and looking for trouble, and they most certainly found it.
He (co-defendant Ryan Jett) and Nuñez pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. They also admitted using a knife in the incident and causing great bodily injury.
The men and two co-defendants, Rafael Garcia and Leshanor Thomas, were originally charged with murder and assault.
Garcia pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to destroy evidence and faces a possible prison sentence of up to three years. Thomas faces up to four years and eight months in prison after pleaded guilty in February to assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon.
Prosecutors have said the four men became angry in the early morning hours of Oct. 4 after they were kicked out of a fraternity party. They roamed the SDSU campus “looking for trouble” and challenged Santos and his friends to a fight on 55th Street near Peterson Gym.
Santos was killed; three other young men were wounded.
Defense lawyers for Jett, Nuñez, Garcia and Thomas have argued that their clients were not the aggressors in the brawl and instead, acted in self-defense. One attorney has said others involved in the fight were armed with knives and Santos may have had a gun.
Prosecutors have said Santos was not armed.
After the fight, the men drove back to Sacramento. A witness testified at a previous hearing that Jett, Nuñez and Garcia drove to a spot near the Sacramento River where Nuñez placed a plastic bag on the ground containing clothing and what looked like a knife. Jett doused the bag with gasoline and set it on fire.
Nunez, who represented Los Angeles in the Legislature and is now a lobbyist, is best known for first opposing and then allying himself with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is the co-author of AB 32, California’s landmark climate change legislation, which is the subject of repeal efforts by an oil industry-funded statewide initiative campaign and billionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.
Conservatives have maintained their leading position among U.S. ideological groups in the first half of 2010. Gallup finds 42% of Americans describing themselves as either very conservative or conservative. This is up slightly from the 40% seen for all of 2009 and contrasts with the 20% calling themselves liberal or very liberal.
The 2010 results are based on eight Gallup and USA Today/Gallup surveys conducted from January through June, encompassing interviews with more than 8,000 U.S. adults. The 42% identifying as conservative represents a continuation of the slight but statistically significant edge conservatives achieved over moderates in 2009. Should that figure hold for all of 2010, it would represent the highest annual percentage identifying as conservative in Gallup’s history of measuring ideology with this wording, dating to 1992.
The recent rise in conservatism’s fortunes follows a decline seen after 2003; liberalism has experienced the opposite pattern. From 1993 to 2002, the ideological trend had been fairly stable, with roughly 40% identifying as moderate, 38% as conservative, and 19% as liberal. Before that, the presidential bid of independent candidate Ross Perot may have contributed to a heightened proportion of Americans (43%) calling themselves moderate in 1992.
There are no significant changes so far in 2010 compared with 2009 in how Republicans, Democrats, and independents characterize their respective political views. Consistent with the patterns seen last year, nearly 4 in 10 Democrats call themselves liberal and a similar proportion of Democrats say they are moderate.
Longer term, Democrats have grown increasingly liberal in their political orientation.
Seven in 10 Republicans continue to call themselves conservative, similar to 2009, while most of the remaining Republicans identify as moderate. Since 2002, however, the percentage conservative has increased by 10 points.
Independents today are slightly more likely to say they are moderate than conservative, with fewer than 20% identifying as liberal. While this is similar to 2009, it represents an increase in conservatism among this group since 2008. …
The ideological orientation of Americans seen thus far in 2010 would represent a record-high level of conservatism (since at least 1992) if it is maintained for the full year. This follows an increase in the percentage of conservatives in 2009 that was fueled by heightened conservatism among independents, a pattern that continues today.
Among independent voters, an increasingly critical group, moderates slightly outnumber conservatives, 41% to 36%. Only 19% are self-identified liberals.
This moderate edge among independents is down sharply since 2008, when mods led cons, 46-30, with libs where they are now.
So much for the myth that many Democrats believe that independents are really just Democrats in disguise.
It is a far more competitive situation than that, and significantly more so than it was in 2008.
Meanwhile, Democrats, as you can see from the graph when you click through, have gotten more liberal.
Before leaving the White House for the G-20 summit in Canada this morning, President Barack Obama hailed the impending passage of Wall Street reform legislation, which he says “represents 90%” of what he wanted.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Canada today.
At 5:40 AM Pacific, Obama made a statement to the press on the South Driveway of the White House regarding impending passage of the financial reform bill.
Obama, who received the daily intelligence and economic briefings on Air Force One, flew early this morning from Andrews Air Force Base to Toronto, Canada.
From there he traveled to Muskoka, Canada, a resort area north of Toronto.
He has arrived in Muskoka at the Deerhurst Resort where the G8 portion of the G20 summit will take place.
The G8 is the Group of 8 advanced industrial nations, the longstanding traditional cockpit of world economic decision-making. Or, one should say, attempts at economic decision-making. The G8 consists of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia. These events are frequently more show than substance, and notable mostly for what occurs in bilateral talks on the sidelines of the larger event.
The G8 has been superseded by the larger G20, but still exists as a core of the larger whole.
The G8 will meet prior to the overall G20 summit meeting this weekend in Toronto.
At 9:15 AM Pacific, Obama attends the G8 working lunch at the Deerhurst Resort.
Note: All G8 summit events take place at the Deerhurst Resort.
G8 summits used to take place in the cores of major cities, but proved to be magnets for large and sometimes violent protests.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama and G8 leaders take a G8 “family photo.”
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama participates in the G8 Session with African Outreach Leaders.
At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama participates in a G8 working session with African Outreach Leaders and Expanded Outreach Leaders
At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama, G8 leaders, African outreach leaders, and extended outreach leaders take a G8 family photo.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama and G8 leaders meet with My Summit 2010 Youth.
At 4:45 PM Pacific, Obama attends the G8 working dinner.
At 6:15 PM, Obama attends the G8 working dinner after-dinner gathering.
I’ll have a full read-out on Obama’s summiteering yesterday with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in the forthcoming column, “From Russia With Love.”
Presidents Obama and Medvedev led yesterday’s U.S.-Russia Business Summit in Washington. The focal point of Medvedev’s visit to California, where he toured high tech hot spots with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Washington, was economic modernization.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden travels to Milwaukee, Wisconsin today for an event and a fundraiser in support of Senator Russ Feingold, who faces a spirited re-election challenge.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 10 AM, Schwarzenegger will launch the nation’s first state Disaster Corps in an event at the Los Angeles City Fire Training Facility near Dodgers Stadium.
Schwarzenegger will join Secretary of Service and Volunteerism Karen Baker and California Emergency Management Agency Secretary Matthew Bettenhausen to tour volunteer field demonstrations.
With regard to the state’s chronic budget crisis, the Legislature’s conference committee has made very little progress.
Assembly Speaker John Perez, who proposed a very complicated scheme linking an oil severance tax to massive borrowing to maintain spending levels — a plan which Attorney General Jerry Brown thinks is probably illegal and which has met with massive pushback from many quarters — has advised Assembly members that he wants no negotiations until Schwarzenegger backs away from some of his budget-cutting proposals.
For his part, Schwarzenegger signaled through his office that he will put state employees on minimum wage if the situation drags on.
The fun never sets.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …From my June 19th feature.
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) … From my June 11th feature.
** 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.
President Barack Obama treated his guest from Moscow to an elegant Washington luncheon.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
** WHITMAN CHANGES HER STORY OVER ALTERCATION AND $200,000 SETTLEMENT AT EBAY, NOW ADMITS IT WAS PHYSICAL.Billionaire Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor of California, admitted today that she had a physical altercation with an employee that led to what the New York Times reported last week was a $200,000 settlement not long before Whitman resigned from eBay.
Whitman spokesperson Sarah Pompei had previously claimed that it was merely a “verbal” dispute. Whitman herself, appearing on a softball right-wing talk radio show — hosted by Sacramentan Eric Hogue, who served as a cheerleader at at least one Whitman rally — earlier in the week, had also made the same false claim.
Which had raised, among Whitman campaign insiders and others, the question of whether she indulged in racial epithets with the employee, an Asian woman who works in PR. Whitman’s son reportedly got in trouble at Princeton for a racial comment.
Today Whitman, who also left her other CEO post, at the flower delivery firm FTD, not long after settling claims that she engaged in age discrimination, admitted that she aggressively laid hands on the smaller female eBay employee.
“It escalated and I … escorted her out of the room and then I went back to what I needed to do in that meeting,” Whitman told reporters after a campaign event at a sports apparel store in in the LA area community of South Gate, Whitman’s first appearance in public in 10 days.
What does that mean? Whitman said she “physically guided her out of the conference room into a hallway.”
Was that like how I “physically guided” a ballcarrier while playing football?
Whitman, whose temper at eBay was so well-known that she was known as “the good Meg” and “the evil Meg,” says this event was “an anomaly.”
Despite her disclosure, Whitman made another false claim, this one about how she supposedly worked so well with the employee after their physical altercation.
“Young Mi and I settled this professionally,” Whitman said. “She came back to eBay and we worked together for nearly a year before I stepped down.”
There’s more to come on this.
** THE BURGER SUMMIT. After White House meetings that he pronounced to be “excellent,” President Barack Obama took his guest from Moscow to lunch. To a joint called Ray’s Hell Burger.
That Obama, he’s so into glitz.
Seriously, the president of the United States and the president of the Russian Federation seem to have developed a very good relationship.
Though I’m a bit concerned that President Medvedev may be eating too much red meat. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger took him out for steaks in San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Now if only Obama and Vladimir Putin had a better relationship …
Pool Report #1:
Obama, Medvedev head to Ray’s Hell Burger for lunch
President Obama treats Russian Dmitri Medvedev to a typical American lunch at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Va.
Due to small restaurant and large pool of Russian and American press, print pooler had limited access, so this is pooled pool report on what happened inside.
More to come.
After bilat, Obama, who took coat off in intense heat of day, and Medvedev rode over together. Left White House at 12:20 p.m. Arrived at Ray’s at 12:26 p.m. —————–
Pool Report #2:
Obama, Medvedev dine at Ray’s, share fries
No news
Pooler could not hear conversation – but in ordering lunch Obama went traditional while Medvedev went spicy
In a brief sojourn inside Ray’s, pooler saw the two leaders sitting at a table for two in shirt sleeves munching on burgers. Their translators at next table leaned in to hear and to do their jobs.
Obama in blue shirt and burgundy tie held a burger as he talked and had a bottle of some kind of tea on he table. Medvedev in white shirt and dark tie also had a burger, but I couldn’t see much else. The two tables were squeezed into full restaurant as security stood nearby. Other patrons appeared excited.
Pool was quickly moved out and placed in vans.
According to WH press:
Obama ordered cheddar-cheeseburger, onions, lettuce, tomato, and bread-and-butter pickles. He also had iced tea.
Medvedev ordered cheddar-cheeseburger with onions, jalepenos and mushrooms. He also had a coke.
They shared fries.
Waiting for word of cost and who paid. Cheers and clapping emerged from Ray’s as Obama party entered and again as they exited.
On way back to White House, left at 12:58 p.m.
——–
Pool report #3:
Obama, Medvedev and motorcade returned to White House, arriving at 1:09 p.m.
** MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.When President Barack Obama picked Stanley McChrystal to be his general in Afghanistan, I thought he might have picked the right man for the right mission. After all, McChrystal was a highly successful head of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with a strong record of going after jihadist leaders and cadre. And since the one underlying thing we must do in Afghanistan is deny its reprise as a base of operations for Al Qaeda, as it was in the run-up to 9/11, the career-long special operations officer was very well cast.
McChrystal had exactly the right skill set and experiences for that fundamentally counter-terrorist mission.
Instead, Obama had something much more conventional, not to mention massive, in mind. Nation-building, like we tried in Vietnam, cast in the guise of counter-insurgency. McChrystal embraced it. Who knows what he really thought? …
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev toured some of the high tech hot spots of Northern California yesterday prior to today’s Washington summit with President Barack Obama.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
This is a summit day with Russia.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 7:30 AM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in the Oval Office.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other key advisors hold an expanded bilateral meeting with President Medvedev and his principals in the Cabinet Room.
At 10:45 AM Pacific, Obama holds a joint press conference with President Medvedev in the East Room.
At 12:05 PM Pacific, Obama attends the U.S.–Russia Business Summit with President Medvedev at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In his actions away from the Russia summitry, Biden holds a planning meeting with members of the Middle Class Task Force and meets with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Obama and Medvedev head for Toronto this weekend for the G-20 summit.
I’ll have a lot more about the Russia summit, and Medvedev’s trip to California and time with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but there continue to be obvious reverberations from yesterday’s firing of General Stanley McChrystal and shift of General David Petraeus to the Afghanistan command, a technical demotion from his role as commander-in-chief of sprawling Central Command.
McChyrstal’s post as U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan toppled after the emergence of a sensational profile in Rolling Stone magazine.
McChrystal, who got virtually everything he wanted from Obama, allowed his associates to criticize the president — for whom McChrystal says he voted — and himself criticized other top figures of the Obama Administration, from Biden on down.
As readers know, while I admire McChrystal, I don’t think much of his strategy. Which is also Obama’s strategy.
I don’t think that McChrystal conned or cajoled him into it.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger accompanied Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on his visit to San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
He will hold private talks.
Schwarzenegger was with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev yesterday in Silicon Valley.
Most of Medvedev’s schedule was kept private for security reasons. He met privately with the leaders of several high tech companies, including Apple, Google, Cisco, and Twitter.
Schwarzenegger and Medvedev allowed press coverage of their tour of the headquarters of Cisco Systems.
And Medvedev spoke at the Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University.
Medvedev is now on to Washington for a mini-summit with President Barack Obama prior to the G-20 summit this weekend in Canada.
Medvedev seeks to foster a Russian Silicon Valley outside Moscow around the Skolkovo management school. He solicited ideas, support, investment, and joint ventures from California high tech leaders toward that end.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …From my June 19th feature.
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) … From my June 11th feature.
** 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 $42 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama, surrounded by Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Bob Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, and Central Command chief General David Petraeus, announced today that he has relieved General Stanley McChrystal of command in Afghanistan.
** QUICK HITS. A new private poll shows Jerry Brown with a 46% to 41% lead over billionaire Republican Meg Whitman in the California governor’s race. With only a few days respite, Whitman, who has already shattered all spending records for a California campaign, has been running advertising since last fall. Brown has yet to run an ad, though there has been some independent advertising for him. … President Barack Obama’s appointment of General David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, to run the war in Afghanistan raises some questions. As CentCom chief, Petraeus is already in charge of the theater which includes Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal worked under him. CentCom is run out of Tampa, Florida. Petraeus is evidently now playing a dual role. Thus he’ll technically be taking a demotion, going back to the status he had when he ran the war in Iraq prior to taking over CentCom. He’ll also be moving to Kabul. If so, who will replace him at the helm of Central Command? And does his fainting episode last week while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee concern anyone?
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … MCCHRYSTAL: RIGHT MAN, WRONG MISSION.
** “SPINNING” … PRO-JERRY BROWN INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE LAUNCHES NEW TV ATTACK AD AGAINST BILLIONAIRE MEG WHITMAN’S INSIDE TRADING. With billionaire Meg Whitman’s Republican campaign for governor of California having launched a 60-second kitchen sink TV attack ad against Jerry Brown, the California Working Families group is launching a new attack against her.
The practice is called “spinning,” and it’s been outlawed, in part because of the example set by Whitman not long before she settled a lawsuit and left the Goldman Sachs board.
“We can’t afford a governor who puts herself before us, no matter how she spins it,” says the female narrator.
** BROWN RECOVERS $1.4 BILLION FOR WELLS FARGO INVESTORS. California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced today that 3,500 investors have recovered $1.4 billion through a settlement that he and his office arranged with Wells Fargo affiliates.
The beneficiaries of Brown’s actions are people whose holdings in auction rate securities were frozen in the 2008 financial crisis,
“We went to bat for people who believed their investments were like cash,” Brown said in a statement, “but discovered after the financial meltdown that they couldn’t get their hands on even a dime of their money for two long years. Now, because of the settlement, they have all of their money back.”
The investors included retirees, working families, small businessmen, and charities. Nearly half are Californians.
Many invested in the securities because of assurances they were safe and liquid, “like cash.” They were not, and investors were stuck.
** NO SURPRISE: MCCHRYSTAL OUT AS AFGHANISTAN COMMANDER, PETRAEUS TO TAKE OVER DIRECT COMMAND.President Barack Obama relieved General Stanley McChrystal of command after their one-on-one Oval Office meeting this morning, then announced the decision in a Rose Garden statement following the monthly AfPak war council session in the Situation Room.
In a rather deft move, Obama named Central Command chief General David Petraeus to succeed McChrystal as the Afghanistan commander.
You can bet that McChrystal’s new #2, Lieutenant General David Rodriguez — until recently senior military advisor to Defense Secretary Bob Gates and former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division — will have an increased role in-country.
Rodriguez was nowhere hear when McChrystal and his crew had their rollicking adventure in Paris and Berlin with Rolling Stone writer Michael Hastings.
President Obama announced McChrystal’s resignation Wednesday at the White House following comments the general and his staff made mocking senior members of the Obama administration in a magazine article.
The president named General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, as McChrystal’s replacement, saying the move will allow the U.S. to maintain momentum in the war.
Mr. Obama said as difficult as it is to lose McChrystal’s leadership, it is the right decision for national security. He said McChrystal’s comments in the article did not meet the standards of conduct for a commanding general.
** BILLIONAIRE MEG WHITMAN LAUNCHES TV ATTACK AD AGAINST JERRY BROWN. Billionaire Meg Whitman’s Republican campaign for governor is launching a TV attack ad against Jerry Brown. It’s a 60-second long, kitchen sink sort of spot, with some things that sound wrong to me, and some more that are very distorted, all in a very derisory tone meant to make Brown look old and out of it.
I’m not sure how much it’s going to play, as it’s in the cumbersome-for-broadcast TV 60-second format. Broadcast TV time is sold in 30-second increments. I’ll have more later.
OBAMA UPDATE: President Barack Obama will make a statement about the controversy surrounding General Stanley McChrystal at 10:30 AM Pacific in the Rose Garden.
McChrystal and Obama met for half-an-hour in the Oval Office this morning. The U.S. commander in Afghanistan then left the White House without attending the AfPak war council in the Situation Room as previously scheduled.
President Barack Obama said yesterday that General Stanley McChrystal showed “poor judgment” in his controversial Rolling Stone profile but will wait until today’s meetings before deciding whether or not to fire him.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then met privately with General Stanley McChrystal in the Oval Office. McChrystal had come over from the Pentagon, where he met with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
McChyrstal’s post as U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan hangs in the balance after the emergence of a sensational profile in Rolling Stone magazine.
Obama discussed the situation last night with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
At 8:35 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
At 10:10 AM Pacific, Obama has lunch with senators in the Old Family Dining Room.
At 11:50 AM Pacific, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Nutrition Event at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 2 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 2:30 PM Pacific, Obama meets with winners of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service in the Rose Garden.
In addition to Obama, here are the participants in the monthly AfPak war council session:
Vice President Joe Biden
Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State
Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury
Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense
Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff
General James Jones, National Security Advisor
Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
John Brennan, Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor
Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
David Gompert, Acting Director of National Intelligence
Leon Panetta, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID
James Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Doug Lute, Coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan
John Tien, Senior Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan
General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command
General Stanley McChrystal, Commander, International Security Assistance Force and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (via videoconference)
Ambassador Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (via videoconference)
McChrystal, who has gotten virtually everything he wants from Obama, allowed his associates to criticize the president — for whom McChrystal says he voted — and himself criticizes other top figures of the Obama Administration, from Biden on down.
As readers know, while I admire McChrystal, I don’t think much of his strategy. Which is also Obama’s strategy.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger welcomed Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to San Francisco last night on his first trip to the U.S. as president. Schwarzenegger and Medvedev will be in Silicon Valley today.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles today.
Schwarzenegger will be with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Silicon Valley today.
Most of Medvedev’s schedule is being kept private for security reasons. He is meeting privately with the leaders of several high tech companies, including Apple, Google, Cisco, and Twitter.
However, Schwarzenegger and Medvedev will allow press coverage of their tour of the headquarters of Cisco Systems in San Jose at 11:30 AM.
And Medvedev speaks at the Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University at 4 PM.
When he leaves Schwarzenegger and Northern California, Medvedev is on to Washington for a mini-summit with President Barack Obama prior to the G-20 summit this weekend in Canada.
Meanwhile, as I’ve previously reported, the guided missile cruiser Varyag (“Viking”), flagship of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, is now in port in San Francisco, with most of its sailors on shore leave after the long cruise across the Pacific from Vladivostok. With the exception of the brief visit of a Soviet submarine during World War II, this is the first visit to San Francisco by Russian warship since the Civil War. Varyag sailors participated in a plaque dedication ceremony commemorating the six Russian sailors who died fighting a city fire during that visit in 1863. The Varyag (originally named Red Ukraine when it was built during the late Soviet days) will be open for public tour on Thursday.
Schwarzenegger is not presently scheduled to visit the Varyag.
In yesterday’s special election to replace Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado in his old Central Coast state Senate seat, right-wing Republican Sam Blakeslee narrowly missed winning outright over left-wing Democrat John Laird, leading 49.7% to 41.2%. The two will have a run-off election on August 17th.
Laird ran strongly in the northern part of the district, where he served as mayor of Santa Cruz and state assemblyman. But he was crushed in the southern part of the district.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) The big wins by billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the California Republican primaries for governor and U.S. senator carry the seeds of destruction. Not the least of it being self-destruction. Both candidates have exhibited a great deal of hubris. Which is hardly warranted after a campaign that resulted in the lowest primary election turnout in California history.
Amidst all the errant talk about them being “outsiders” — sorry, folks, super-rich big-time corporate CEOs are obviously not outsiders — running against “insider” Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, two little words have been forgotten. Scott Brown.
The shock winner of Massachusetts’ Senate special election in January is the model for a Republican who can win in a mostly blue state. An accessible, seemingly regular person. Whitman and Fiorina couldn’t be less like Scott Brown if they tried, though Fiorina at least is accessible. … From my June 11th feature.
** 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 $42 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who gave the Rolling Stone profile on General Stanley McChrystal to President Obama last night, described the president as “angry” after reading it and said the U.S. commander in Afghanistan committed “an enormous mistake in judgment.”
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … AFPAK AGAIN: SHOULD HE STAY OR SHOULD HE GO?
** QUICK HITS.The initiative to rollback California’s landmark climate change program formally qualified for the November ballot today. That prompted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to make this sharply worded statement: “This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy, and decimate our environmental progress for the sake of these companies’ profit margins. I will not allow this to happen on my watch.” … Schwarzenegger is welcoming Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to San Francisco, and the U.S., this evening. He’ll be with Medvedev tomorrow in Silicon Valley. … California Assembly Speaker John Perez is sharply scaling back his big, complicated borrowing proposal in hopes of coming up with a unified state budget negotiating posture with state Senate President Darrell Steinberg.
Hastings says he stumbled onto unprecedented access with McChrystal. After McChrystal’s press advisers accepted a request for the profile, Hastings joined McChrystal and his team in Paris. It was supposed to be a two-day visit, followed up with more time in Afghanistan.
The volcano in Iceland, however, changed those plans. As the ash disrupted air travel, Hastings ended up being “stuck” with McChrystal and his team for 10 days in Paris and Berlin. McChrystal had to get to Berlin by bus. Hastings says McChrystal and his aides were drinking on the road trip “the whole way.”
“They let loose,” he said. “I don’t blame them; they have a hard job.”
Hastings then traveled with McChrystal in Afghanistan for more time. What was supposed to be a two-day visit, turned into a month, in part due to disruptions of the volcano.
Hastings says McChrystal was very “candid” with him and knew their conversations were for reporting purposes. “Most of the time I had a tape recorder in his face or a notebook in my hand,” he said.
Hastings says most of the critical comments, which are now causing a stir, were said in the first 24 hours or so. “It wasn’t a case of charming him into anything,” Hastings said.
Volcanic ash, booze, and non-press ready special operators, that’s the cocktail for a kick-ass article.
Still, Hastings had to make it all happen. It’s a heck of a read.
** OBAMA GETS AN UPTICK ON THE GULF OIL DISASTER. After a strong week last week on the BP Gulf oil disaster, President Barack Obama has upward movement on the issue in the new Gallup Poll.
Obama is up four points from his approval rating on his handling of the disaster.
BP is still in the depths, of course, down around their gusher on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Americans give President Obama a 44% approval rating on his handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, up slightly from 40% in early June. Meanwhile, 16% of Americans approve of BP’s handling of the spill. …
These data are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted June 19-20. During the three-day period of June 18-20, President Obama’s three-day job approval rating was 49%. Obama’s approval on the oil spill trailed his overall approval rating by seven percentage points in polling conducted during the period of June 4-6, 40% to 47%, meaning approval on both measures has increased at least marginally over the past two weeks.
In the current poll, 40% of Americans disapprove of how both Obama and BP are handling the spill. The next-largest group of 32% approve of Obama’s actions relating to the oil spill, but not BP’s. Ten percent approve of both; 6% approve of BP but not Obama.
Naturally, there is a hyperpartisan split to all this.
* Sixty-one percent of Republicans and independents who lean Republican disapprove of both Obama’s and BP’s handling of the spill. The percentage of Republicans who approve of BP’s actions and disapprove of Obama’s is about the same as the percentage who approve of Obama but disapprove of BP.
* The majority of Democrats and Democratic leaners (56%) approve of Obama’s handling of the oil spill while disapproving of BP’s, but a not insubstantial 24% disapprove of both.
The issue had not affected Obama’s job approval before and is not affecting it now.
So, the president has succeeded in essentially neutralizing something which his staunchest opponents imagined could become his version of Jimmy Carter’s Iranian hostage crisis.
General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has been summoned to Washington in the wake of a sensational Rolling Stone profile called “The Runaway General.” McChrystal has apologized for his and his associates’ comments.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama then attended a meeting with health insurers and state insurance commissioners in the Roosevelt Room.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks regarding the ongoing effort to implement the new law and the new benefits it affords to families across the country in the East Room.
At 9:20 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden have lunch in the Private Dining Room.
At 10:35 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 12:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
I predict that they will discuss General Stanley McChrystal.
At 1 PM Pacific, Obama holds a Cabinet meeting in, not surprisingly, the Cabinet Room. Biden also participates.
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden deliver remarks at an LGBT Pride Month event in the East Room.
For his part, Biden held a breakfast meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Naval Observatory and hosted an event to introduce the government’s intellectual property enforcement strategy.
There is a firestorm over comments made by General Stanley McChrystal and his associates in a new profile of the general in Rolling Stone.
McChrystal, who has gotten virtually everything he wants from Obama, allowed his associates to criticize the president — for whom McChrystal says he voted — and himself criticizes other top figures of the Obama Administration, from Biden on down.
Obama has summoned McChrystal, who has apologized for the article and whose media advsior has resigned, to Washington for tomorrow’s regular AfPak council of war in the Situation Room, which the general usually participates in via video teleconference.
As readers know, while I admire McChrystal, I don’t think much of his strategy. Which is also Obama’s strategy.
The use of opiate drugs has skyrocketed in Afghanistan over the past five years. Afghanistan is the world capital of opium, the key ingredient in heroin.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco today.
Schwarzenegger will hold private talks.
Later today he will welcome Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to the United States.
At 5:50 PM, Schwarzenegger will welcome Medvedev to California at the City College of San Francisco Airport Campus at San Francisco International Airport.
At 7 PM, Schwarzenegger will meet with Medvedev in the Hunt Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
At 7:30 PM, Schwarzenegger, accompanied by Medvedev, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Renova Group of companies regarding Fort Ross State Historic Park. Renova is Russia’s leading private business consortium. It is forming a non-profit corporation to support the park, which was the hub of Russian settlements in California during the 19th century.
It’s not well understood that Russia also colonized California, along with Spain. Hence the popular Russian River resort area north of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Medvedev is in Northern California to make business connections and learn about Silicon Valley prior to his mini-summit with President Barack Obama on Thursday at the White House.
Schwarzenegger will be with the Russian president for much of this.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) The big wins by billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the California Republican primaries for governor and U.S. senator carry the seeds of destruction. Not the least of it being self-destruction. Both candidates have exhibited a great deal of hubris. Which is hardly warranted after a campaign that resulted in the lowest primary election turnout in California history.
Amidst all the errant talk about them being “outsiders” — sorry, folks, super-rich big-time corporate CEOs are obviously not outsiders — running against “insider” Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, two little words have been forgotten. Scott Brown.
The shock winner of Massachusetts’ Senate special election in January is the model for a Republican who can win in a mostly blue state. An accessible, seemingly regular person. Whitman and Fiorina couldn’t be less like Scott Brown if they tried, though Fiorina at least is accessible. … From my June 11th feature.
** 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 $44 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.
Failed Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad, arrested on May 3rd, pled guilty to terrorism and related weapons charges in New York federal court today.
** QUICK HITS. The Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their second straight NBA championship with an abbreviated 2-mile victory parade in downtown LA today. A crowd estimated by police at 65,000 celebrated without major incident as the Lakers players rode by on flatbed trucks. … In California’s chronic budget crisis, state Senate President Darrell Steinberg fleshed out his plan of raising taxes and returning various health, welfare, and safety programs from the state level to the counties. The plan would require Republican votes, which do not appear to be forthcoming. … Meanwhile, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer tossed more cold water on Assembly Speaker John Perez’s plan to maintain present spending through a complex plan of borrowing, which appears to violate state law. …
** WOULD-BE TIMES SQUARE BOMBER PLEADS GUILTY, GIVES POLITICAL JUSTIFICATION.Would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan who is the son of one of the highest-ranking generals to serve in the Pakistani Air Force, pled guilty today to 10 counts of terrorism and related weapons charges, which carry multiple life sentences.
After describing his disappointment at expecting to hear a loud explosion and realizing that he had failed in his mission after receiving rudimentary bomb-making and placement training in Pakistan’s frontier region, Shahzad recounted his walk home.
He then justified his actions, calling himself “a Muslim soldier.”
Actually, he’s an American-trained engineer who seemed to lose interest in his life in America, drifting in jihadism.
“It’s a war. I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people,” he said. “On behalf of that, I’m revenging the attack. Living in the United States, Americans only care about their people but they don’t care about the people elsewhere in the world when they die.”
Shahzad had previously told interrogators that he was upset about civilians killed in U.S. drone strikes targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban cadre and leadership utilizing safe haven inside Pakistan.
He received $12,000 from the Taliban through cash drop-offs in America to fund the failed attack on May 1st.
** STEVE SCHMIDT’S THREE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES THEORY. Looking ahead to 2012, former Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt says he sees three different primaries that will determine the next Republican presidential nominee.
Talking with the New Yorker in the course of its rambling profile of former Arkansas Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Schmidt opines: “Really, there’s three primaries within the Republican primary. There’s the primary that’s the evangelical wing of the party, there’s the establishment primary, and there’s usually a maverick or an insurgent category. Whoever occupies two out of the three is the nominee.”
Could Mike Huckabee be two out of the three, and thus the nominee?
Can Sarah Palin still claim to be a maverick or an insurgent, or is she now a media celebrity?
Mitt Romney looks like the establishment pick right now, and is narrowly the frontrunner. But can he be a maverick? Or appeal to evangelicals?
He certainly tried the latter in 2008, shifting way to the right on social issues. And, while some credulous figures on the right bought it, most did not.
The BP Gulf oil disaster is now threatening Florida’s tourism industry.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
Another big week in presidential politics, and perhaps not such a big week in California politics, with the campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate settling into a sort of routine.
For President Barack Obama, who achieved a breakthrough last week on the BP Gulf oil disaster, the week will be dominated by the economy, health care, geopolitics, and of course the Gulf of Mexico situation.
On Monday, Obama celebrates Father’s Day and discusses fatherhood and mentoring at events in Washington.
On Tuesday, Obama will hold a meeting with health insurers and state insurance commissioners. He will then deliver remarks. In the evening, he hosts an LGBT Pride Month event at the White House.
On Wednesday, Obama holds his regular monthly meeting with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Things are not going very well in Afghanistan. Later, he will meet with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss comprehensive energy and climate legislation. Then Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend a President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Nutrition event.
On Thursday, Obama welcomes Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to the White House, where they will discuss trade, investment, innovation, and geopolitics leading into the G-8 and G-20 meetings.
On Friday, Obama travels to Muskoka, Ontario outside Toronto in Canada to attend the G-20/G-8 summit over the weekend.
With the national health care bill having dragged on for months, Obama lost control of the economic debate. More recently, things have been going more his way, as we saw in the Gallup Poll I reported on Friday showing 60% in favor of more stimulus spending.
Obama also got good news when Israel announced over the weekend that it is substantially easing its Gaza blockade. As reported earlier, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as special envoy of the Mideast Quarter powers, negotiated the easing with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
All food products will now be allowed in, along with most construction materials and other goods. Only weapons and some construction materials with potential military applications will not. Netanyahu will meet with Obama in Washington on July 6th.
The week also ended well for Obama on the BP Gulf oil disaster.
He toured the region on Monday and Tuesday, winning plaudits. He then delivered his first Oval Office address on Tuesday night, winning more mixed reviews, mainly because of a concerted attack from the talk show hosts on the MSNBC left, who, I’m told, wanted more fire and brimstone and specifics about future energy legislation.
On Wednesday, Obama summoned BP corporate leadership to the White House and forced them into major concessions, establishing a $20 billion damages fund to be managed by Ted Kennedy’s former chief of staff.
Had Obama delivered that fire and brimstone wanted by Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow the night before, this forcing of gigantic concessions by a major corporation would likely have been more controversial.
On Thursday, BP execs were grilled by Los Angeles Congressman Henry Waxman and his House Energy & Committee. In the process, Republican Congressman Joe Barton handed Obama and his allies a political bonanza when he blurted out what many right-wingers believe — that BP and offshore drilling are being treated unfairly.
Then BP CEO Tony Hayward provoked another firestorm of criticism, spending his weekend at the posh J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race off Britain’s Isle of Wight while the Gulf oil disaster continued.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to make hay out of Texas Congressman Joe Barton’s absurd apology to BP on Thursday. Barton is the ranking Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and was the chairman of the committee prior to the Democratic takeover of the House.
His remarks mirrored those from the House Republican conference earlier in the week.
Obama meets with a more congenial spirit than Barton in Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. With Moscow tilting Washington’s way on Iran and Afghanistan — where America can use all the help it can get — relations are on an uptick. But the two will have plenty to discuss at their mini-summit heading into the big G-20 summit over the weekend outside Toronto.
Medvedev, incidentally, will spend a lot of time in California before he heads to Washingto to see Obama. He is especially interested in Silicon Valley. After arriving in San Francisco, Medvedev heads to Silicon Valley for various tours. He will speak at Stanford University, as well. And the cruiser Varyag, flagship of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, makes an unusual port call in San Francisco this week.
Russia is interested in replicating its own version of Silicon Valley outside Moscow. But that is easier said than done. I’ll have a column on this later in the week.
Medvedev will also meet twice this week with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. During his Hollywood days, Schwarzenegger was by far the most popular movie star in Russia. His Red Heat was the first American film production to shoot in Red Square.
We’ll see if Schwarzenegger makes as much headway this week with the California Legislature as he does with the Russian president. After winning some concessions on future pension funding from four mostly smaller unions late last week, Schwarzenegger is hoping for further breakthroughs down the line. But there has been little movement on fiscal matters with the Legislature.
The various parties are in an awkward position for negotiating. Schwarzenegger and Republicans are proposing budget cuts. State Senate President Darrell Steinberg is proposing taxes. And Assembly Speaker John Perez, in a move that Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office views a very suspect legally, is proposing a complicated borrowing mechanism.
California also has a special election for Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado’s Central Coast seat in the state Senate. It pits Democrat John Laird, a real left-winger, against Republican Sam Blakeslee, a real right-winger. Laird, who is gay, was the mayor of Santa Cruz and a former state assemblyman who may be too left for some southern portions of the sprawling district. Blakeslee, the Assembly minority leader, is a former Exxon executive who championed off-shore oil drilling until fairly recently. If neither candidate wins a majority in the multi-candidate field, a run-off is set for August 17th.
Baghdad blasts on Sunday pointed up the unsettled political situation in Iraq more than three months after national parliamentary elections.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.
Obama then delivered remarks at a Father’s Day Event in the Palm Room.
At 9:15 AM Pacific, Obama hosts a Father’s Day Mentoring Barbeque on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama receives the daily economic briefing in the Oval Office.
At 1:15 PM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden is in Michigan and Illinois today, where he appears at events on the economi recovery act and campaigns with candidates for Congress and Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.
Despite notable improvements in the economy, the economic recovery act still gets mixed reviews. Obama moved on to other things and didn’t sell the act heavily enough after its passage last year. As a result, Republicans had a relatively free hand to trash it.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will hold private talks.
The state passed its constitutional deadline for adopting a new budget last Tuesday.
But, not surprisingly, the Legislature’s budget conference committee has barely started, and nothing has been done to address the state’s chronic budget deficit. Or the budget and pension reforms Schwarzenegger is demanding.
As previously discussed, Schwarzenegger did win concessions from four public employee unions on the state’s pension system, cutting retirement benefits for future employees and and requiring greater employee contributions to the system.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
* Billionaire Meg Whitman, running against Jerry Brown to try to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, running to try to replace Senator Barbara Boxer, are running mates. Whether, to coin a phrase, they like it or not. …
* Fiorina is going to be an energetic and entertaining candidate, but will have a very tough time beating Senator Barbara Boxer. Like Whitman, her politics are too conservative and corporate for California. Unlike Whitman, she doesn’t have the vast amounts of money needed to try to obscure that reality. And she’s a little more conservative than Whitman. …
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) The big wins by billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the California Republican primaries for governor and U.S. senator carry the seeds of destruction. Not the least of it being self-destruction. Both candidates have exhibited a great deal of hubris. Which is hardly warranted after a campaign that resulted in the lowest primary election turnout in California history.
Amidst all the errant talk about them being “outsiders” — sorry, folks, super-rich big-time corporate CEOs are obviously not outsiders — running against “insider” Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, two little words have been forgotten. Scott Brown.
The shock winner of Massachusetts’ Senate special election in January is the model for a Republican who can win in a mostly blue state. An accessible, seemingly regular person. Whitman and Fiorina couldn’t be less like Scott Brown if they tried, though Fiorina at least is accessible. … From my June 11th feature.
** 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 $44 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.
BP CEO Tony Hayward provoked another firestorm of criticism, spending his weekend at the posh J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race off Britain’s Isle of Wight while the Gulf oil disaster continued.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington for Fathers Day.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
He has received good news and bad news.
The good news is that Israel announced today that it is substantially easing its Gaza blockade. As reported earlier, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair negotiated the easing with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
All food products will now be allowed in, along with most construction materials and other goods. Only weapons and some construction materials with potential military applications will not.
Netanyahu will meet with Obama in Washington on July 6th.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to make hay out of Texas Congressman Joe Barton’s absurd apology to BP on Thursday. Barton is the ranking Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and was the chairman of the committee prior to the Democratic takeover of the House.
His remarks mirrored those from the House Republican conference earlier in the week.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama complains that congressional Republicans are blocking action on a host of issues.
** WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE BIG CALIFORNIA RACES.Nearly two weeks into the general election, here are seven things we know now about the races for California governor and senator. Both races are fully engaged and trends are emerging. …
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Yesterday, Obama promoted his economic stimulus program during a trip to Ohio.
Despite notable improvements in the economy, the economic recovery act still gets mixed reviews. Obama moved on to other things and didn’t sell the act heavily enough after its passage last year. As a result, Republicans had a relatively free hand to trash it.
So he was probably quite heartened by the Gallup Poll I reported on yesterday showing 60% in favor of more stimulus spending.
The week also ended well for Obama on the BP Gulf oil disaster.
He toured the region on Monday and Tuesday, winning plaudits. He then delivered his first Oval Office address on Tuesday night, winning more mixed reviews, mainly because of a concerted attack from the talk show hosts on the MSNBC left, who, I’m told, wanted more fire and brimstone and specifics about future energy legislation.
On Wednesday, Obama summoned BP corporate leadership to the White House and forced them into major concessions, establishing a $20 billion damages fund to be managed by Ted Kennedy’s former chief of staff.
Had Obama delivered that fire and brimstone wanted by Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow the night before, this forcing of gigantic concessions by a major corporation would likely have been more controversial.
On Thursday, BP execs were grilled by Los Angeles Congressman Henry Waxman and his House Energy & Committee. In the process, Republican Congressman Joe Barton handed Obama and his allies a political bonanza when he blurted out what many right-wingers believe — that BP and offshore drilling are being treated unfairly.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
The governance situation in Iraq is still unresolved more than three months after March 7th parliamentary elections.
The U.S. is formally suggesting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite party govern jointly with the more secular Sunni party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which finished a surprise first in the national elections.
Maliki and his allies are, naturally, resistant to this.
Leonard Nimoy re-enacts some of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator lines at the Electronic Entertainment Expo yesterday in Los Angeles.
FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no scheduled public events today.
The state passed its constitutional deadline for adopting a new budget on Tuesday.
But, not surprisingly, the Legislature’s budget conference committee has barely started, and nothing has been done to address the state’s chronic budget deficit. Or the budget and pension reforms Schwarzenegger is demanding.
As previously discussed, Schwarzenegger did win concessions from four public employee unions on the state’s pension system, cutting retirement benefits for future employees and and requiring greater employee contributions to the system.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** THE ARNOLD FACTOR.He was once arguably the most popular governor of California in history. Now, not so much.
First elected in the dramatic California recall election of 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger has less than seven months left in the governorship. He’s won two landslide elections to the office, but, while he retains personal popularity, his job approval rating is now in the twenties. Post-mortems are already underway.
He’s strictly a lame duck, right? Well, no. Schwarzenegger played a big role in last week’s California primary election. And he may have an even bigger role to play in the general election, when Californians vote on an initiative to do away with the state’s landmark climate change program. With climate change and renewable energy initiatives slowed in Congress, this is a vote that will have both national and international import.
Before we get to the general election, let’s look back at the California primary election.
The Republican primary to succeed Schwarzenegger was striking for all the criticism of the moderate Republican governor. State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, once a Schwarzenegger ally, got a lot of mileage out of a TV ad in which a picture of Schwarzenegger morphs into billionaire Meg Whitman, claiming that she would be the second coming of Schwarzenegger. For her part, Whitman slammed Schwarzenegger in speeches, as both she and Poizner hugged the far right rail of California politics. Whitman, who spent a record-shattering $90 million to win the GOP nomination in the lowest turnout primary election in California history, faces wily maverick Jerry Brown in the fall. … From my June 16th column.
** WHITMAN AND FIORINA’S BIG PRIMARY WINS CARRY SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION (SELF-DESTRUCTION) The big wins by billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the California Republican primaries for governor and U.S. senator carry the seeds of destruction. Not the least of it being self-destruction. Both candidates have exhibited a great deal of hubris. Which is hardly warranted after a campaign that resulted in the lowest primary election turnout in California history.
Amidst all the errant talk about them being “outsiders” — sorry, folks, super-rich big-time corporate CEOs are obviously not outsiders — running against “insider” Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, two little words have been forgotten. Scott Brown.
The shock winner of Massachusetts’ Senate special election in January is the model for a Republican who can win in a mostly blue state. An accessible, seemingly regular person. Whitman and Fiorina couldn’t be less like Scott Brown if they tried, though Fiorina at least is accessible. … From my June 11th feature.
** 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.
An unidentified American collector paid $1.2 million at yesterday’s Sotheby’s auction in New York for John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to “A Day In the Life,” the song which closes the Beatles’ classic album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $77.18 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $43 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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