President Barack Obama struck an optimistic note in discussing today’s meeting at the White House with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.
** QUICK HITS.Interpol has reportedly just issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, now at the center of global controversy over his organization’s info-dump of U.S. State Dept. cables. Interesting timing. He’s charged with rape. The charges emerged a few months ago, and the case was pushed aside by Swedish authorities. Then it got more complicated. … San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, the only statewide California Democrat not to win in a landslide, declared victory today in her race for state attorney general. She has a 73,000 vote lead in today’s late afternoon vote count, and announced an expansive program in speeches in Los Angeles and San Francisco. … The man she is succeeding as AG, Governor-elect Jerry Brown, now leads billionaire Meg Whitman by 1.297 million votes. … Senator Barbara Boxer, easily re-elected by a 52% to 42% margin over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, has a 999,000 vote lead. Fiorina, like Whitman, was extremely slow to concede her race.
** OBAMA, ARNOLD, JERRY, AND THE BIG GREEN DREAM.The latest UN global climate summit has just gotten underway in Cancun, Mexico with little progress in store, despite 2010 turning out to be perhaps the hottest year on record. That makes the moves underway in California even more significant. Especially since, to President Barack Obama’s evident dismay, action in Congress was already dead even before Republicans took over the lower house of Congress.
We’ll see if there’s any action in Cancun, following last year’s debacle in Copenhagen, covered here on the Huffington Post. There was some action two weeks ago in California, where the UN again co-sponsored Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s third annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit, with the launch of a new global organization of subnational governments and agreements to preserve tropical forests.
Schwarzenegger, who is succeeded in office by Jerry Brown, the landslide winner over billionaire Meg Whitman, on January 3rd, began these gatherings in 2008. They bring together “subnational” leaders, i.e., governors of states and provinces around the world, along with leaders of cities and regions, a wide array of national and UN officials, scientists, policy experts, business people and activists.
The first, which I wrote about here on the Huffington Post, was at the Beverly Hilton in LA and featured a video address from a then senator named Barack Obama, who’d been elected president just a few weeks earlier (and just a few days after Schwarzenegger had amusingly excoriated him in his sole campaign appearance with John McCain, the weekend before the election in Columbus, Ohio). …
** NEW SURVEY: THANKSGIVING SHOPPING SPENDING UP, BACK TO 2008 LEVEL. According to a new Gallup Poll survey, the so-called Black Friday start to the Christmas shopping season is off to a good start, perhaps reflecting increases in consumer confidence.
American consumers reported spending more in the days spanning Black Friday and during Thanksgiving week this year than they did last year. Self-reported daily consumer spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online averaged $92 per day in the three days ending Saturday, Nov. 27 — up from $83 a year ago, and essentially the same as the $90 of 2008.
Of course, there was very heavy discounting.
Consumer spending in the days leading up to Thanksgiving this year was higher than at the same time in 2009, and remained higher during the Gallup three-day rolling average spanning Black Friday, from Thursday through Saturday. While spending in 2010 for these three days matches that of the same period in 2008, it trails 2008 comparables for the days immediately before Thanksgiving. …
Self-reported consumer spending for the days leading up to Black Friday and for the first few days of the Christmas shopping season should be encouraging to retailers and for the economy as a whole. It is also consistent with Gallup’s early November finding that sales are likely to be better this holiday season than in 2009.
Retailers have been aggressive this year. Some were open on Thanksgiving Day and most pursued heavy promotion and price discounting. Still, the ultimate success of this holiday sales season will depend on whether consumers continue spending throughout the weeks ahead. In this regard, holiday spending could get a boost if Friday’s jobs report contains good news.
As the USS George Washington carrier strike group continued a third day of exercises off the Korean peninsula, classified material from the Wikileaks info-dump revealed that China is thoroughly disenchanted with North Korea and may be ready for a Seoul-led reunification.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama and Biden then met with Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership in the Roosevelt Room. |
At 1:05 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Nobel Laureates in the Oval Office.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office. They will discuss the Pentagon’s report on the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military, which reportedly indicates that the policy can be changed without significant impact on combat readiness. They will also discuss the Korean crisis.
For his part, at 9:30 AM Pacific, Biden hosts a lunch meeting with Co-Chairs of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Erskine Bowles and Senator Alan Simpson. Their proposals for deficit reduction have been met with opposition from left and right and seem unpopular with the public.
At 12 noon Pacific, Biden meets with San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Issa, who funded the recall petition drive against then Governor Gray Davis but droppped his own mortally wounded gubernatorial candidacy with the advent of Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a fierce Obama critic who has threatened to endlessly investigate the administration in the run-up to Obama’s re-election.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula.
A third day of naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, featuring the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, passed without incident.
North Korea is doing its usual yapping, but China is notably silent. According to the Wikileaks info-dump, China is ready to drop North Korea as a client state, seeing it as an irresponsible liability.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who has beaten billionaire Meg Whitman in a 54% to 41% landslide, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.294 million votes in the Monday afternoon vote count. Less than 40,000 votes remain unprocessed.
With over 5.4 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
Brown led a Democratic sweep of all statewide offices in the November 2nd election.
Stopping by Barneys New York in Beverly Hills for some post-Thanksgiving shopping, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger encountered the paparazzi.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger is holding private talks on his special legislative session on the chronic California budget crisis, called for December 6th, and other administration matters.
At 11:30 AM, Schwarzenegger will participate in the 17th annual Chanukah celebration and Menorah lighting ceremony on the West Steps of the State Capitol.
** IF IT’S NOT ONE THING, IT’S ANOTHER: OBAMA’S BURGEONING GEOPOLITICAL CRISES.And Barack Obama thought he had problems with domestic politics. Just in time for, well, the run-up to the presidential race, President Obama finds that he has multiplying headaches on the international front.
Only a few weeks after definitively learning that, yes, it really was “the economy stupid” at least as far as the mid-term elections were concerned, Obama has several big new headaches. In regard to Korea, Afghanistan, the unending Israeli-Palestinian question, and Russia.
This week, North Korea attacked South Korea again. This week, our Afghan War surpasses the Soviets’ Afghan War in length. This week, Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations hang by a thread. And this week, Obama is struggling to gain Senate ratification of the big nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. … From my November 26th column.
** JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION. The prodigal son has returned. Not that he ever really left for good. Or was all that prodigal, for that matter.
Jerry Brown’s long and winding road has led him back to the door to the suite of offices that both he and his father occupied for two terms and which Brown, joining only the late Chief Justice Earl Warren in this regard, will take on for a third term as California’s governor as he succeeds Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After election week, Governor-elect Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown went off for a week on a well-earned vacation, so most serious public discussion of the transition held off for a bit. (It even held off last week with Brown back but conducting meetings in semi-stealth mode.) But it won’t hold on much past Thanksgiving. More on the transition then.
Meanwhile, the dust is still settling on Brown’s resounding landslide victory — 54% to 41%, a margin of more than 1.2 million votes over billionaire Meg Whitman — absolutely shattering the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history. In the process, Brown broke the record for the most votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate, leading a Democratic sweep for the statewide ticket. Some, predictably, are pushing myths to account for the Brown-led California exception to the Republican wave that crashed, as I predicted here on the Huffington Post, against the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. And the story as told in the cut-back conventional media is on the under-cooked side.
Which is not surprising, since virtually all the state and national press early on anointed Whitman as an unstoppable high-tech juggernaut of a campaign run by the best consultants in the business. Up against poor old Jerry Brown and his ragtag little band. When in reality, it was Ali-Foreman ‘74 all along, with what I called Brown’s Zen rope-a-dope approach unfolding as anticipated. … From my November 22nd 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 $51 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.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that the latest Wikileaks info-dump of classified U.S. diplomatic cables is an “attack on the US and the international community.”
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA, ARNOLD, JERRY, AND THE BIG GREEN DREAM.
** QUICK HITS. Perhaps unsurprisingly, national AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka today ripped President Barack Obama’s two-year wage freeze on federal employees (excluding the military) as bad for the middle class. … The Monday afternoon count in the California elections gives Governor-elect Jerry Brown a 1.294 million vote lead over billionaire Meg Whitman. U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer leads ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina by 995,000 votes. Ah, wasn’t that supposed to be a very close race? There are less than 40,000 votes remaining to be counted. … Brown is skipping a Thursday meeting at the White House for the nation’s governors-elect in order to concentrate on the state budget crisis. Don’t expect a lot of globe-trotting by this governor.
** SARAH PALIN SAYS THE WIKILEAKS CRISIS IS … OBAMA’S FAULT. Yes, Sarah Palin is the co-frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. And she is weighing in on geopolitics, something she knows nothing about.
But she does know how to attack.
So that is her angle. The latest Wikileaks info-dump, which is roiling international relations on many levels and in many directions, gets boiled down in SarahWorld to being about President Barack Obama’s ineptitude.
You’ll notice that Palin’s instinct is to shut down all information and to brand Wikileaks the equivalent of Al Qaeda. Palin has the makings of quite a dictator.
Of course, she doesn’t understand the precedent of the Pentagon Papers release in the Vietnam War, in part almost certainly due to her profound ignorance.
Palin weighed in today, naturally, via a Facebook message.
Enjoy …
Serious Questions about the Obama Administration’s Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco
Monday, November 29, 2010 at 3:17pm
We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications of leaked classified U.S. documents through the shady organization called Wikileaks raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco.
First and foremost, what steps were taken to stop Wikileaks director Julian Assange from distributing this highly sensitive classified material especially after he had already published material not once but twice in the previous months? Assange is not a “journalist,” any more than the “editor” of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a “journalist.” He is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands. His past posting of classified documents revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan sources to the Taliban. Why was he not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?
What if any diplomatic pressure was brought to bear on NATO, EU, and other allies to disrupt Wikileaks’ technical infrastructure? Did we use all the cyber tools at our disposal to permanently dismantle Wikileaks? Were individuals working for Wikileaks on these document leaks investigated? Shouldn’t they at least have had their financial assets frozen just as we do to individuals who provide material support for terrorist organizations?
Most importantly, serious questions must also be asked of the U.S. intelligence system. How was it possible that a 22-year-old Private First Class could get unrestricted access to so much highly sensitive information? And how was it possible that he could copy and distribute these files without anyone noticing that security was compromised?
The White House has now issued orders to federal departments and agencies asking them to take immediate steps to ensure that no more leaks like this happen again. It’s of course important that we do all we can to prevent similar massive document leaks in the future. But why did the White House not publish these orders after the first leak back in July? What explains this strange lack of urgency on their part?
We are at war. American soldiers are in Afghanistan fighting to protect our freedoms. They are serious about keeping America safe. It would be great if they could count on their government being equally serious about that vital task.
The latest Wikileaks info-dump of classified U.S. diplomatic cables is roiling international relations around the world. One of the biggest revelations is that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the U.S. to attack Iran in order to halt its nuclear program.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
A big week ahead in presidential politics, and an interesting week in California politics. But much of the action will be behind the scenes, as President Barack Obama’s block schedule reveals.
According to the White House, on Monday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
On Tuesday, Obama will host a meeting with the bipartisan Congressional leadership at the White House.
On Wednesday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
On Thursday, Obama will host a Hanukkah reception at the White House.
On Friday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
Doesn’t that sound exciting?
Actually, there is a tremendous amount of activity. Obama and the administration are dealing with the latest Wikileaks info-dump of classified State Department messages and reports from around the world. They are also pushing for Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, as well as resolution of the fate of the Bush era tax cuts, due to expire at the end of the year. And by the end of the week, legislation must be enacted to continue funding the federal government.
Oh, and he’s managing the new Korean crisis which erupted last week when North Korea devastated a South Korean island with a sustained barrage of long-range artillery fire. Obama sent an aircraft carrier strike group to dissuade the North Koreans from further attacks, and for once China is mounting little protest over the U.S. Navy operating so close to its own shores.
In addition, the two-week UN global climate summit gets underway today in Cancun, Mexico. But after last year’s debacle in Copenhagen, expectations are low, even though this year has turned out to be the hottest on record.
Before returning to the week in presidential politics, a look at the week in California politics.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is making plans for his special legislative session on the ballooning state budget deficit. He’s called it for December 6th. But what will he call on the Legislature to do as his governorship winds down and his post-governorship beckons?
For his part, Governor-elect Jerry Brown is continuing discussions on his own state budget proposal, which is due in January. He’s also continuing transition activities.
But he’s doing it all behind the scenes. It will be interesting to see how long the much diminished but still capable of restiveness state press corps will be content with having nothing to report.
Brown becomes the governor of California, once again, five weeks from today. Despite the fact that he will be the only three-term Democratic governor in history, a feat that eluded his legendary father, Governor Pat Brown — and despite the fact that his landslide victory led a Democratic sweep of all statewide offices in California — Jerry Brown’s Inaugural is looking like a low-key affair.
Fortunately for Brown and Schwarzenegger, they don’t have to deal with the latest Wikileaks sensation, this time the release of a quarter of a million U.S. diplomatic cables containing a host of revelations about international relations.
Perhaps most striking is the revelation that Arab leaders have urged the U.S. to attack Iran to stop its rogue nuclear program. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has been most insistent about this. Ironically, this aligns Arab leaders with the leaders of Israel.
There are a host of other revelations, including a dangerous stand-off with Pakistan over nuclear fuel, scenarios around the collapse of the North Korean state, heavy bargaining to get other countries to take Guantanamo Bay prisoners, suspicions of massive corruption in the Afghan government (including the Afghan vice president traveling to the UAE carrying $52 million in cash), global computer hacking efforts carried out by China, heavy Saudi funding for Al Qaeda and a very lax view of jihadist terrorism by Quatar, a very close relationship between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, big arms shipments from Syria to Hezbollah, and clashes with European leaders over human rights.
There are also many reports of very scathing comments and observations about various world leaders.
Perhaps most troublesome for the U.S. is the report that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered U.S. diplomats at the United Nations to spy on their colleagues from other countries. She’ll be doing damage control on that today and, I expect, all week long.
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group began drills off the Korean peninsula on Sunday.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He then delivered a statement to the press at the Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg., instituting a two-year pay freeze on federal employees. The freeze will not apply to members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
At 9 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Walmart CEO Mike Duke in the Oval Office.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama holds a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Oval Office.
For his part, at 2:30 PM Pacific, Vice President Joe Biden swears in Senator-elect Mark Kirk of Illinois at the United States Capitol.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger is holding private talks on his special legislative session on the chronic California budget crisis, called for December 6th, and other administration matters.
At 11 AM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks on the West Steps of the State Capitol at a press conference hosted by Green Cities California and the Clean Seas Coalition to highlight local efforts to adopt ordinances regarding the use of single-use bags and urge the Legislature to continue to work towards a statewide policy that promotes reusable bags.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who has beaten billionaire Meg Whitman by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.276 million votes in the Friday afternoon vote count.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
Brown led a Democratic sweep of all statewide offices in the November 2nd election.
** IF IT’S NOT ONE THING, IT’S ANOTHER: OBAMA’S BURGEONING GEOPOLITICAL CRISES.And Barack Obama thought he had problems with domestic politics. Just in time for, well, the run-up to the presidential race, President Obama finds that he has multiplying headaches on the international front.
Only a few weeks after definitively learning that, yes, it really was “the economy stupid” at least as far as the mid-term elections were concerned, Obama has several big new headaches. In regard to Korea, Afghanistan, the unending Israeli-Palestinian question, and Russia.
This week, North Korea attacked South Korea again. This week, our Afghan War surpasses the Soviets’ Afghan War in length. This week, Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations hang by a thread. And this week, Obama is struggling to gain Senate ratification of the big nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. … From my November 26th column.
** JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION. The prodigal son has returned. Not that he ever really left for good. Or was all that prodigal, for that matter.
Jerry Brown’s long and winding road has led him back to the door to the suite of offices that both he and his father occupied for two terms and which Brown, joining only the late Chief Justice Earl Warren in this regard, will take on for a third term as California’s governor as he succeeds Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After election week, Governor-elect Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown went off for a week on a well-earned vacation, so most serious public discussion of the transition held off for a bit. (It even held off last week with Brown back but conducting meetings in semi-stealth mode.) But it won’t hold on much past Thanksgiving. More on the transition then.
Meanwhile, the dust is still settling on Brown’s resounding landslide victory — 54% to 41%, a margin of more than 1.2 million votes over billionaire Meg Whitman — absolutely shattering the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history. In the process, Brown broke the record for the most votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate, leading a Democratic sweep for the statewide ticket. Some, predictably, are pushing myths to account for the Brown-led California exception to the Republican wave that crashed, as I predicted here on the Huffington Post, against the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. And the story as told in the cut-back conventional media is on the under-cooked side.
Which is not surprising, since virtually all the state and national press early on anointed Whitman as an unstoppable high-tech juggernaut of a campaign run by the best consultants in the business. Up against poor old Jerry Brown and his ragtag little band. When in reality, it was Ali-Foreman ‘74 all along, with what I called Brown’s Zen rope-a-dope approach unfolding as anticipated.
Jerry Brown ended his campaign and began his gubernatorial transition in the place where he regenerated as a political figure: Oakland. If you want to understand the stunning Brown comeback, to not only the California governorship but the heights of American politics, you’ll understand the significance of Oakland as its nexus. … From my November 22nd 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 $50 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
With the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group beginning joint exercises with the South Korean Navy in the Yellow Sea near the Chinese coast, China is now moving to engage a diplomatic process to restrain further North Korean attacks.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA, ARNOLD, JERRY, AND THE BIG GREEN DREAM.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released this statement with regard to Wikileaks’ massive release today of secret U.S. diplomatic messages and reports from around the world:
We anticipate the release of what are claimed to be several hundred thousand classified State department cables on Sunday night that detail private diplomatic discussions with foreign governments. By its very nature, field reporting to Washington is candid and often incomplete information. It is not an expression of policy, nor does it always shape final policy decisions. Nevertheless, these cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world.
To be clear — such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government. These documents also may include named individuals who in many cases live and work under oppressive regimes and who are trying to create more open and free societies. President Obama supports responsible, accountable, and open government at home and around the world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter to that goal. By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals. We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.
According to the New York Times, the diplomatic cables reveal quite a few things, including a dangerous stand-off with Pakistan over nuclear fuel, scenarios around the collapse of the North Korean state, heavy bargaining to get other countries to take Guantanamo Bay prisoners, suspicions of massive corruption in the Afghan government (including the Afghan vice president traveling to the UAE carrying $52 million in cash), global computer hacking efforts carried out by China, heavy Saudi funding for Al Qaeda and a very lax view of jihadist terrorism by Quatar, a very close relationship between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, big arms shipments from Syria to Hezbollah, and clashes with European leaders over human rights.
There are also many reports of very scathing comments and observations about various world leaders.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula.
China is now trying to engage a diplomatic process with North Korea, South Korea, the U.S., Japan, and Russia to prevent further North Korean attacks on South Korea.
As I expected, China is accepting the arrival of the USS George Washington strike group off its shores as a move to deter further North Korean attacks such as the one Tuesday morning on a South Korean island.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown, who has defeated billionaire Meg Whitman in a 54% to 41% landslide in the November 2nd election, leads her by nearly 1.3 million votes in the latest vote count available from Friday afternoon. There were fewer than 100,000 votes left to count.
Brown led a Democratic sweep of all statewide offices in California.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
First Lady Michelle Obama, with daughters Malia and Sasha, received the White House Christmas Tree on Friday afternoon.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama injured his lip playing basketball yesterday, and received twelve stitches.
Meanwhile, the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Yellow Sea near the Korean peninsula and China.
Joint maneuvers with the South Korean Navy are slated to begin shortly.
North Korea, which attacked South Korea on Tuesday, has engaged in its customary bluster about the carrier’s arrival. China has been very muted in its criticism.
Why any criticism from China? I don’t think it’s because it’s backing North Korea, its very problematic ally. No, it’s due to China’s desire to expand its purview well beyond the legal limit of international waters.
China views itself as an emerging superpower. So the U.S. Navy sailing with impunity near its shores is threatening to that self-image, and points up America’s very central role with its allies Japan and South Korea.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
And he and the White House are bracing for another threatened Wikileaks info-dump on Sunday, this disclosing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. communications from around the world.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has no scheduled public events.
The vote count from the November 2nd election is nearly complete, with fewer than 100,000 votes ballots remaining.
Brown has crushed billionaire Meg Whitman, who conducted by far the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history, 54% to 41%.
In the late Saturday afternoon tally, Brown, who has won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in American history, led Whitman by 1.276 million votes.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
The commander of U.S. military forces in South Korea, General Walter Sharp, this morning toured the island devastated by North Korean artillery fire earlier in the week. The USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group is en route.
** IF IT’S NOT ONE THING, IT’S ANOTHER: OBAMA’S BURGEONING GEOPOLITICAL CRISES.And Barack Obama thought he had problems with domestic politics. Just in time for, well, the run-up to the presidential race, President Obama finds that he has multiplying headaches on the international front.
Only a few weeks after definitively learning that, yes, it really was “the economy stupid” at least as far as the mid-term elections were concerned, Obama has several big new headaches. In regard to Korea, Afghanistan, the unending Israeli-Palestinian question, and Russia. And this is before the forthcoming Wikileaks info-dump.
This week, North Korea attacked South Korea again. This week, our Afghan War surpasses the Soviets’ Afghan War in length. This week, Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations hang by a thread. And this week, Obama is struggling to gain Senate ratification of the big nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. …
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula.
Part 2 of then presidential candidate Jerry Brown’s 1980 address from the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol. “The Shape of Things To Come,” produced as a live television program by Francis Ford Coppola, is discussed in snarky terms today as nothing more than a technical debacle. It’s actually much more than that, as I’ll discuss in future writings.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has no scheduled public events.
While vote counting is still not complete, Brown has defeated billionaire Meg Whitman in a 54% to 41% landslide.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, Brown, who has won more votes as a gubernatorial candidate than any other in American history, led Whitman by 1.276 million votes.
There were less than 100,000 votes left to be counted.
All other statewide Democratic candidates have been elected.
That includes U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Lieutenant Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Controller John Chiang, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Attorney General-elect Kamala Harris, Insurance Commissioner-elect Dave Jones, and Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect Tom Torlakson.
This is the first statewide sweep by the Democrats since 2002.
In other words, the first statewide sweep since Arnold Schwarzenegger won the first of his two terms as governor in 2003.
The California Republican Party fatefully chose in 2007 to move further to the right, rather than more towards the center as Schwarzenegger urged in his September speech to the state Republican convention meeting near Palm Springs.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
In his Thanksgiving weekend address, President Barack Obama discusses the nature of Thanksgiving, expresses gratitude to America’s military men and women and their families, and discusses the steps his administration is taking to help create jobs so that next Thanksgiving, Americans can give thanks for a stronger economy.
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is celebrating Thanksgiving today with his family, friends, and staff in the White House.
Here is the menu for Thanksgiving dinner in the White House:
Turkey
Ham
Cornbread Stuffing
Oyster Stuffing
Greens
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Dinner Rolls
Dessert:
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Cherry Pie
Huckleberry Pie
But Obama isn’t simply chowing down and watching football. He is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Korea.
In Afghanistan, with popular support in America having dropped sharply this year as previously reported, the US is about to surpass the late Soviet Union in the length of its Afghan War.
In Iraq, President Jalal Talabani today formally asked Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a new government, some eight-and-a-half months after national parliamentary elections placed former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s secular Sunni party in first place, kicking off months of delays by the former ruling party of Maliki.
In the latest Korean crisis, there have been no further attacks since the North Korean artillery barrage on the South Korean island seven miles off its coast that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians, wounding dozens more.
South Korea’s defense minister has resigned in the wake of the attack amidst revelations that the island’s defense system was deeply dysfunctional.
Meanwhile, the USS George Washington and her battle group are on their way from Japan. The nuclear-powered super-carrier is scheduled to begin exercises with the South Korean Navy in the Yellow Sea on Sunday.
Incidentally, I’m informed that the traditional term “carrier battle group” to describe an aircraft carrier and its supporting ships was changed by the Navy a few years ago to “carrier strike group,” so I’ll start referring now to the George Washington strike group.
Which I believe consists of the aircraft carrier, two guided missile cruisers with Aegis combat systems (linked computers and radars), seven destroyers, two submarines, and of course the carrier air wing with more than 60 jet aircraft. There are also helicopters and special operations troops in the mix.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses giving thanks and giving back on Thanksgiving.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – THURSDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – THURSDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has no scheduled public events.
The ongoing vote count, now nearly completed, shows Brown — who has defeated billionaire Meg Whitman, 54% to 41% — 1.276 million votes ahead as of late Wednesday afternoon.
The former two-term governor-turned-attorney general, a two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination and two-time mayor of Oakland, has won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in American history.
Senator Barbara Boxer, who defeated ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina by a whopping 52% to 42%, is nearly a million votes ahead in the county.
And San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is definitely the winner of the very closely fought race to succeed Brown as California attorney attorney general.
Her opponent, moderate Republican LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley, conceded the race around mid-day yesterday. NWN had declared the race definitively over early yesterday morning.
With less than 100,000 votes left to count as of late Wednesday afternoon, Harris is ahead by an insurmountable 58,000 votes. The candidate herself will not declare victory until the vote count is completed next week.
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington left Yokosuka, Japan early this Wednesday morning, as seen in this footage, heading for the waters just off the Korean peninsula. The George Washington battle group will link up with the South Korean Navy in the Yellow Sea for four days of exercises, scheduled to begin on Sunday.
** OBAMA TODAY – WEDNESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 7:30 AM Pacific, Obama pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey in the Rose Garden. This is the 63rd anniversary of this tradition, which dates back to President Harry Truman.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
The principal topic? The crisis on the Korean peninsula. The USS George Washington aircraft carrier battle group is en route, as seen in the footage above.
While Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were in Indiana yesterday, Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, and other top officials conferred for hours in the Situation Room. Upon his return, Obama joined them, conferred with South Korean President Lee Myung-bank, and ordered the USS George Washington to the area.
At 1:20 PM Pacific, Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha participate in a service event in the Washington, DC area.
Obama’s big Middle America event yesterday in Indiana, highlighting the saving of the US auto industry, was largely overshadowed by the crisis precipitated by North Korea’s attack early Tuesday morning on a South Korean island. During a sustained artillery barrage, two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed, with dozens wounded.
The survivors were evacuated to Inchon on the mainland, ironically the site of General Douglas MacArthur’s famed 1950 amphibious maneuver which decisively ended the North Korean advance during the early phase of the Korean War.
Over the weekend, Stanford physicist Siegfried Heckler revealed that North Korea has a major new facility to enrich uranium, which could be a big assist to its rogue nuclear weapons program.
Then early yesterday, North Korea reacted to a South Korean naval exercise by attacking South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island with heavy artillery fire.
The island is near the Northern Limit Line, a border imposed by the United Nations after the Korean War. Ever defiant North Korea says it does not recognize the border.
Earlier this year, a North Korean torpedo sunk a South Korean Navy corvette in the area, though North Korea denies responsibility.
North Korea has a large military, but can be defeated fairly readily by South Korean forces with a major assist from the 29,000 US troops in-country and major air and naval assets in-theater. The problem is that North Korea can exact a terrible cost as it goes down.
Seoul, for example, the capital of South Korea and one of the most modern cities in the world, is within artillery range of the North Korean guns.
What does North Korea seek to accomplish with these repeated provocations? To gain attention, certainly. But to what end? Simply money to go away for awhile?
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Middle East.
Part one of then presidential candidate Jerry Brown’s live, Francis Ford Coppola-produced address, entitled “The Shape of Things To Come,” from the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 28, 1980. I’ll discuss this, with a few personal anecdotes, in a forthcoming column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – WEDNESDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
He also helped Brown, in a much more overt way, during the governor’s more quixotic 1980 presidential campaign, producing the live TV broadcast, the first part of which you see above, on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. The address, which is actually grounded and visionary, was marred by a series of technical glitches which have left it viewed in retrospect as a debacle, its content, and Brown’s own performance, largely ignored in the snark that too frequently passes for commentary. Part two of the address will play here on Thanksgiving weekend.
In a forthcoming column, I’ll discuss the speech and what it may mean for Brown’s record third term as governor of California.
Incidentally, Brown, who has beaten billionaire Meg Whitman by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.261 million votes in the Tuesday evening vote count.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (Boxer leads by nearly a million votes) — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general had been in any doubt. And that doubt has now disappeared.
Harris has a lead of nearly 54,000 votes in the Tuesday evening vote count. With less than 150,000 votes to be counted, she will not be bested in this, thus giving Democrats a clean sweep of all 10 statewide offices in California.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – WEDNESDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
Schwarzenegger is holding private talks on his special legislative session on the chronic California budget crisis, called for December 6th, and other administration matters.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION. The prodigal son has returned. Not that he ever really left for good. Or was all that prodigal, for that matter.
Jerry Brown’s long and winding road has led him back to the door to the suite of offices that both he and his father occupied for two terms and which Brown, joining only the late Chief Justice Earl Warren in this regard, will take on for a third term as California’s governor as he succeeds Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After election week, Governor-elect Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown went off for a week on a well-earned vacation, so most serious public discussion of the transition held off for a bit. (It even held off last week with Brown back but conducting meetings in semi-stealth mode.) But it won’t hold on much past Thanksgiving. More on the transition then.
Meanwhile, the dust is still settling on Brown’s resounding landslide victory — 54% to 41%, a margin of more than 1.2 million votes over billionaire Meg Whitman — absolutely shattering the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history. In the process, Brown broke the record for the most votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate, leading a Democratic sweep for the statewide ticket. Some, predictably, are pushing myths to account for the Brown-led California exception to the Republican wave that crashed, as I predicted here on the Huffington Post, against the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. And the story as told in the cut-back conventional media is on the under-cooked side.
Which is not surprising, since virtually all the state and national press early on anointed Whitman as an unstoppable high-tech juggernaut of a campaign run by the best consultants in the business. Up against poor old Jerry Brown and his ragtag little band. When in reality, it was Ali-Foreman ‘74 all along, with what I called Brown’s Zen rope-a-dope approach unfolding as anticipated.
Jerry Brown ended his campaign and began his gubernatorial transition in the place where he regenerated as a political figure: Oakland. If you want to understand the stunning Brown comeback, to not only the California governorship but the heights of American politics, you’ll understand the significance of Oakland as its nexus. …
** WITH HISTORY WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE, JERRY BROWN HEADS INTO THE FINAL CURVE OF THE RACE. … From my October 23rd feature.
** MAD MEN‘S SURPRISING YET LOGICAL FINALE: DON DRAPER GOES ALL CALI IN “TOMORROWLAND.” … From my October 20th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $83.76 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $50 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.
CCTV footage shows North Korean artillery shells repeatedly striking a South Korean island early this morning. International officials are working to avert a second Korean War.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama’s visit to Indiana today to highlight the success of policies to revitalize the U.S. auto industry was overshadowed by the crisis on the Korean peninsula. While Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were in Kokomo, Indiana, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and other top official spent hours in the White House Situation Room working on the crisis. Military options are poor and North Korea holds itself outside the international system that even includes Iran. More to follow. … On a sleepy day in California politics, a Tea Party official filed a hoped-for initiative drive to enact an Arizona-style law against illegal immigrants. … And Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed his legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, to be a state appellate court justice. … Governor-elect Jerry Brown, who has defeated billionaire Meg Whitman, 54% to 41%, saw his lead in today’s late afternoon vote count increase to 1.261 million votes. Kamala Harris’s lead in the race for California attorney general is now 54,000 votes, all but insurmountable with less than 200,000 votes left in the hopper.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA’S GEOPOLITICAL CRISES.
** NEW POLL: CONSUMER CONFIDENCE TICKS UPWARD. A new Gallup Poll survey indicates that Americans’ confidence in the economy is up so far in November from what it was in October. And that it is higher than it was a year ago.
Of course, it’s all relative, as having greater confidence is not the same as having confidence.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index averaged -25 over the first three weeks of November — an improvement from -29 in October and -33 in September. Americans are more optimistic about the U.S. economy now and going forward than they were at this time a year ago.
The Economic Confidence Index consists of two sets of U.S. consumer ratings: one involving consumers’ perceptions of current economic conditions and the other involving their economic outlook.
Over the first three weeks of November, 41% of Americans called current economic conditions “poor” — down from 44% in October and 47% in September, not to mention the 48% of a year ago.
The percentage of consumers saying economic conditions are “getting worse” also declined, to 57%, from 60% in October and 62% in September. These expectations for the future direction of the economy are also slightly better than those of November 2009. …
North Korea launched a heavy artillery attack on a South Korean island early today, prompting a state of high military alert on the Korean peninsula.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Indiana.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office and departed on Air Force One for Peru, Indiana.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Peru, Indiana.
At 10:20 AM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden tour the Chrysler Indiana Transmission Plant II in Kokomo, Indiana.
10:35 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden deliver remarks to auto workers.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama departs Peru, Indiana on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 2:10 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 2:25 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
Having saved the American auto industry with federal intervention, Obama and Biden are now trying to get some credit for it.
Obama received some good news this morning. The U.S. economy grew by more than originally reported in the third quarter, at 2.5% rather than 2.0%.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, the Middle East, and the Korean peninsula.
Over the weekend, it emerged that North Korea has a major new facility to enrich uranium, which could be a big assist to its rogue nuclear weapons program.
Then early today, halfway round the globe, North Korea reacted to a South Korean naval exercise by attacking South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island with heavy artillery fire. Two South Korean marines were killed and many more military personnel and civilians were wounded.
South Korea retaliated with artillery fire and fighter jet sorties but not air strikes.
The island is near the Northern Limit Line, a border imposed by the United Nations after the Korean War. Ever defiant North Korea says it does not recognize the border.
Earlier this year, a North Korean torpedo sunk a South Korean Navy corvette in the area, though North Korea denies responsibility.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a school renamed after him yesterday in the Los Angeles community of Woodland Hills. The Schwarzenegger Community School teaches children of all abilities, from gifted to severely challenged, in the same classes.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 9 AM, Schwarzenegger will participate in the Inner-City Games and Hollenbeck Youth Center 29th Annual Turkey Giveaway at the Hollenbeck Youth Center in East LA.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.258 million votes in the Monday evening vote count.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (Boxer leads by nearly a million votes) — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general had been in any doubt. And that doubt has now essentially disappeared.
Harris has a lead of nearly 54,000 votes in the Monday night vote count. It’s not likely that she will be bested in this, thus giving Democrats a clean sweep of all 10 statewide offices in California.
** JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION. The prodigal son has returned. Not that he ever really left for good. Or was all that prodigal, for that matter.
Jerry Brown’s long and winding road has led him back to the door to the suite of offices that both he and his father occupied for two terms and which Brown, joining only the late Chief Justice Earl Warren in this regard, will take on for a third term as California’s governor as he succeeds Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After election week, Governor-elect Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown went off for a week on a well-earned vacation, so most serious public discussion of the transition held off for a bit. (It even held off last week with Brown back but conducting meetings in semi-stealth mode.) But it won’t hold on much past Thanksgiving. More on the transition then.
Meanwhile, the dust is still settling on Brown’s resounding landslide victory — 54% to 41%, a margin of more than 1.2 million votes over billionaire Meg Whitman — absolutely shattering the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history. In the process, Brown broke the record for the most votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate, leading a Democratic sweep for the statewide ticket. Some, predictably, are pushing myths to account for the Brown-led California exception to the Republican wave that crashed, as I predicted here on the Huffington Post, against the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. And the story as told in the cut-back conventional media is on the under-cooked side.
Which is not surprising, since virtually all the state and national press early on anointed Whitman as an unstoppable high-tech juggernaut of a campaign run by the best consultants in the business. Up against poor old Jerry Brown and his ragtag little band. When in reality, it was Ali-Foreman ‘74 all along, with what I called Brown’s Zen rope-a-dope approach unfolding as anticipated.
Jerry Brown ended his campaign and began his gubernatorial transition in the place where he regenerated as a political figure: Oakland. If you want to understand the stunning Brown comeback, to not only the California governorship but the heights of American politics, you’ll understand the significance of Oakland as its nexus. …
** WITH HISTORY WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE, JERRY BROWN HEADS INTO THE FINAL CURVE OF THE RACE. … From my October 23rd feature.
** MAD MEN‘S SURPRISING YET LOGICAL FINALE: DON DRAPER GOES ALL CALI IN “TOMORROWLAND.” … From my October 20th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $47 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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 one of the shattering events of American history, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Walter Cronkite provided the coverage and announcement of his death.
** QUICK HITS.Is Sarah Palin running for president? Her associates are looking into office space in Iowa, site of the first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican presidential caucuses in 2012. And in her new book, to be published tomorrow, the ex-Alaska governor reportedly rips in President Barack Obama repeatedly. … Speaking of the far right, current California Republican Party vice chairman Tom Del Beccaro is the clear frontrunner to replace the current state party chairman, Grover Norquist consultant Ron Nehring, at next year’s convention. He has the state Senate and Assembly minority leaders backing him. Del Beccaro is best known for his very futile lawsuit in 2006 trying to disqualify now Governor-elect Jerry Brown from taking office as attorney general on the spurious grounds that he wasn’t a qualified lawyer. Why? Because Brown, a Yale Law grad, had become an inactive member of the Bar while serving as mayor of Oakland, during which time he was legally barred from practicing law. … The man Del Beccaro is likely to replace as the leader of the GOP in California, Ron Nehring, amusingly said right before this month’s election that Brown and Senator Barbara Boxer are “has-beens who nobody will pay any attention to the day after the election.”
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA, ARNOLD, JERRY, AND THE BIG GREEN DREAM.
** JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION. The prodigal son has returned. Not that he ever really left for good. Or was all that prodigal, for that matter.
Jerry Brown’s long and winding road has led him back to the door to the suite of offices that both he and his father occupied for two terms and which Brown, joining only the late Chief Justice Earl Warren in this regard, will take on for a third term as California’s governor as he succeeds Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After election week, Governor-elect Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown went off for a week on a well-earned vacation, so most serious public discussion of the transition held off for a bit. (It even held off last week with Brown back but conducting meetings in semi-stealth mode.) But it won’t hold on much past Thanksgiving. More on the transition then.
Meanwhile, the dust is still settling on Brown’s resounding landslide victory — 54% to 41%, a margin of more than 1.2 million votes over billionaire Meg Whitman — absolutely shattering the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history. In the process, Brown broke the record for the most votes ever received by a gubernatorial candidate, leading a Democratic sweep for the statewide ticket. Some, predictably, are pushing myths to account for the Brown-led California exception to the Republican wave that crashed, as I predicted here on the Huffington Post, against the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. And the story as told in the cut-back conventional media is on the under-cooked side.
Which is not surprising, since virtually all the state and national press early on anointed Whitman as an unstoppable high-tech juggernaut of a campaign run by the best consultants in the business. Up against poor old Jerry Brown and his ragtag little band. When in reality, it was Ali-Foreman ’74 all along, with what I called Brown’s Zen rope-a-dope approach unfolding as anticipated.
Jerry Brown ended his campaign and began his gubernatorial transition in the place where he regenerated as a political figure: Oakland. If you want to understand the stunning Brown comeback, to not only the California governorship but the heights of American politics, you’ll understand the significance of Oakland as its nexus. …
Over the weekend in Lisbon, international leaders at the NATO summit agreed on a timetable to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
It’s a short week in presidential politics and California politics.
In presidential politics, President Barack Obama pushes for Senate ratification of the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, for which he gained the endorsements of all major European leaders over the weekend at the NATO summit in Lisbon. But don’t look for a whole lot of public activity before Obama pardons a turkey at a pre-Thanksgiving White House ceremony on Wednesday.
In California politics, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is prepping proposals for the special legislative session on the again flaring California budget crisis he’s called for December 6th.
And Governor-elect Jerry Brown is continuing private talks on the budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition. He’ll see what if any solutions to the sudden $6 billion shortfall in the current state budget are adopted in Schwarzenegger’s special session next month — Democratic legislative leaders may continue to wish for manna from heaven — and adjust his state budget proposal, which he must present not long after he is inaugurated in January, accordingly.
Meanwhile, the vote counting continues. Democrats have decisively won all statewide offices in California, from Brown on down, with the exception of Brown’s current post as attorney general. But San Francisco District Attorney General Kamala Harris has a small but consistent lead, and looks very likely to win the election over Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.
On Monday, Obama has no public events scheduled.
On Tuesday, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Kokomo, Indiana, as part of the White House to Main Street tour.
On Wednesday, Obama will participate in the pardoning of the turkey ceremony at the White House.
On Thursday, Obama and his family will celebrate Thanksgiving at the White House.
On Friday, Obama has no public events scheduled.
NATO leaders have again assessed the Afghan War and taken some decisions.
While the US will begin a drawdown next summer, and other NATO nations have already begun and in some cases, withdrawn altogether already, the full NATO drawdown is to conclude in 2014, at which time the full handover of security responsibility to the Afghan forces is to commence.
Except that the US and NATO will retain some forces in Afghanistan past that, per a new agreement with the Karzai government. And that the US is saying that forces will be ready to undertake combat operations in Afghanistan after the security handover in 2014. But NATO sources are saying that they will not go beyond training and support at that time.
Meanwhile, Russia has concluded an agreement with NATO for expanded supply routes into Afghanistan, as well as training for counter-narcotics operations and for Afghan helicopter pilots, the Russians being the experts in helicopter operations in Afghanistan, having conducted more of them than anyone else ever has in their losing Afghan War in the 1980s which led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has no scheduled public events.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden hosts a White House breakfast meeting with about to be House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and meets with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry.
In the evening, he and Dr. Jill Biden host a Thanksgiving dinner at the Naval Observatory for Wounded Warriors and families of veterans and service members being treated at area military hospitals.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, the Korean peninsula, and the Middle East.
Over the weekend, it emerged that North Korea has a major new facility to enrich uranium, which could be a big assist to its rogue nuclear weapons program. Though the reality is that North Korea looks very much like a decidedly more malevolent version of the mouse that roared.
Also over the weekend, and not at all surprisingly, Palestinian leaders rejected Israel’s very limited extension of a freeze on settlements in disputed areas by religious fundamentalists.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses new moves on the environment, including last week’s Governors’ Global Climate Summit at the University of California at Davis and a big showing for alternative fuel vehicles at the LA Auto Show.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 9:40 AM, Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver will participate in an event at CHIME Charter School in Woodland Hills to officially unveil the new name of the combined elementary and middle school as CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School. On July 30, 2007, CHIME Charter Elementary School was renamed after Governor Schwarzenegger. Recently the school combined the middle and elementary schools on the same campus and the school will officially be named CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School.
Prior to the event, Schwarzenegger and Shriver will tour classrooms.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.238 million votes in the latest count available this morning.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general remains in any doubt. And that doubt has significantly decreased. She has a lead of a little under 43,000 votes in the latest count available, which is from Saturday night. It’s not likely that Harris will be bested in this, thus giving Democrats a clean sweep of all 10 statewide offices in California.
** OBAMA’S BIG MISTAKE.In the end, politics is a matter of focus. As Ronald Reagan said: “There is no substitute for repetition.” Even Jerry Brown, who notoriously hates repeating himself, finds new ways to say the same things.
But not, at least so far and unfortunately for him, President Barack Obama.
Obama got a major economic stimulus bill passed and took other steps, but did not sustain his public focus on the economy. For nearly a year, we heard that Obama was at last about to pivot back to the economy. This said, ironically, in the midst of a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
If ever “It’s the economy, stupid” was a true truism, it’s been since 2008 in American politics.
But precious time, energy, and capital, i.e., focus has constantly been allocated elsewhere. Not the least of it on a health care bill that took far too long to pass, allowing a firestorm to be kindled that still hasn’t burned out.… From my November 2nd column.
** CALIFORNIA STORY: BROWN AND BOXER KICK FOR THE FINISH LINE.Is it really almost over? California Republicans’ Golden Parachute Twins, billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are bringing distinctly odd notes to their closing efforts to catch Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in the races for governor and U.S. senator.
The last Field Poll of the election season places Brown in the lead over Whitman, 49% to 39%, in the race to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Boxer ahead of Fiorina, 49% to 41%. I have tracking poll numbers from three very reliable pollsters who have Brown’s lead in that vicinity and Boxer’s a bit lower. … From my October 30th feature.
** WITH HISTORY WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE, JERRY BROWN HEADS INTO THE FINAL CURVE OF THE RACE. … From my October 23rd feature.
** MAD MEN‘S SURPRISING YET LOGICAL FINALE: DON DRAPER GOES ALL CALI IN “TOMORROWLAND.” … From my October 20th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, had the sixth largest opening weekend around North America in history, grossing over $125 million at the box office.
** 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 $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Significant progress was made on Saturday toward further rapprochement between the US, NATO, and Russia, lethal adversaries during the Cold War.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama returned on Saturday evening from the NATO, NATO-Russia Council, and European Union summits in Lisbon, Portugal.
While there he participated in the annual NATO summit — which will be held somewhere in the U.S. when Obama runs for re-election in 2012 — and two brief summits thrown on after the NATO summit, those of the NATO-Russia Council and the European Union.
As expected, Obama came away with agreement that the drawdown in Afghanistan, set to begin on a very limited basis in 2011, is to end in 2014 with the full handover of security responsibilities from the US and NATO to the Afghan government. There were also significant developments between NATO and Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came personally to the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, a group designed to foster better relations between the alliance formed to counter the late Soviet Union and the central successor government to the USSR.
After the discussions, which included a seemingly impromptu private meeting between Obama and Medvedev, NATO Secretary General Anders Fog Rasmussen announced that NATO strongly urges the U.S. Senate to ratify the US-Russia nuclear arms reductions treaty, presently stalled by Republican opposition, calling it a high priority for NATO and European security.
The NATO leader also hailed progress toward a joint US-NATO missile shield with Russian participation. The missile shield was once widely seen as an anti-Russian move. He also hailed new agreements for Russian aid in moving military supplies into Afghanistan and in providing training for counter-narcotics raiding parties and helicopter crews inside Afghanistan.
But Obama also got bad news today, one part expected, another unexpected.
On the expected side of the ledger came word that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will not return to the direct negotiations with Israel so long as its new proposed freeze on settlements in disputed areas by religious fundamentalists only lasts 90 days, and especially so long as it does not involve East Jerusalem.
On the unexpected side of things came word from Stanford Professor Siegfried Hecker that he has just toured a brand new North Korean nuclear enrichment facility that violates UN sanctions against the renegade state. He says that North Korea’s nuclear program is significantly more advanced than thought.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
No on 23, the campaign the governator spearheaded against the initiative to do away with California’s landmark climate change/renewable energy program, is now at 62% to 38% in the ongoing vote count. With over 5.8 million votes, No on 23 has won more votes than any other candidate or ballot position.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown, who has beaten billionaire Meg Whitman in a 54% to 41% landslide, has a 1.238 million vote lead in the Saturday evening update of the ongoing vote count.
Brown has won more votes than any other candidate for governor in history.
Senator Barbara Boxer, who triumphed decisively over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina by 52% to 42%, is over 942,000 votes ahead.
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, the only one of nine statewide Democratic candidates not to win big on election day, leads LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley by over 42,000 votes, which is probably an insurmountable lead.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama pushes hard for prompt Senate ratification of the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. Obama, speaking of Republican opposition, notes strong support for the treaty from former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, James Baker, George Shultz, and Colin Powell — Republican heavyweights all — and points out that that failure to ratify the treaty this year would not only mean losing our nuclear inspectors in Russia, but also undermine the international coalition pressuring Iran, put at risk the transit routes used to equip our troops in Afghanistan, and undo decades of American leadership and bipartisanship on nuclear security.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Lisbon, Portugal for the NATO summit and the NATO Russian Council meeting. He also participates in a brief European Union summit. Obama then flies back to Washington.
The time in Lisbon is eight hours ahead of the time in California.
All NATO summit, North Atlantic Council, and NATO Russian Council events are in Feria Internacional de Lisboa. All European Union summit events are in the Portuguese Pavilion.
Obama began by attending the NATO summit meeting on Afghanistan opening session, a more formal affair. He then attended the meeting on Afghanistan working session.
He then attended the North Atlantic Council working session with other heads of government, the NAC being the governing body of NATO.
Following that, Obama took part in the NATO Russian Council meeting opening session and the NATO Russian Council meeting working session.
The NATO Russian Council meeting is NATO expanded to include Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his advisors.
Following these sessions, Obama held a bilateral meeting with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.
At 8:30 AM Pacific, Obama holds a press conference to discuss the NATO summit, the expanded NATO meetings with President Medvedev, and his meeting with President Karzai.
At 9:25 AM Pacific, Obama participates in the EU/US Summit official photo.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama participates in the EU/US Summit.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama delivers a statement to the press with EU Commission President José Barroso and European Council President Herman van Rompuy.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama departs Lisbon, Portugal on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 7:25 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 7:40 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
NATO leaders have again assessed the Afghan War and taken some decisions.
While the US will begin a drawdown next summer, and other NATO nations have already begun and in some cases, withdrawn altogether already, the full NATO drawdown is to conclude in 2014, at which time the full handover of security responsibility to the Afghan forces is to commence.
Except that the US and NATO will retain some forces in Afghanistan past that, per a new agreement with the Karzai government.
Except that the US is saying that forces will be ready to undertake combat operations in Afghanistan after the security handover in 2014. And NATO sources are saying that they will not go beyond training and support at that time.
Meanwhile, Russia has concluded an agreement with NATO for expanded supply routes into Afghanistan, as well as training for counter-narcotics operations and for Afghan helicopter pilots, the Russians being the experts in helicopter operations in Afghanistan, having conducted more of them than anyone in their losing Afghan War in the 1980s which led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
For the first time in months, California’s economy added private sector jobs, though only a net gain of 39,000, and the unemployment rate remained stalled at 12.4%. Yet private sector payrolls are now slightly larger than they were a year ago, and that’s the first annual gain since the end of 2007, when the recession officially started, though most on the right denied it all through 2008.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.233 million votes in the latest count available this morning.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general remains in any doubt. And that doubt has significantly decreased. She has a lead of a little over 43,000 votes in the latest count available on Saturday morning. With only half a million votes still left to be counted, it’s not likely that Harris will be bested in this, thus giving Democrats a clean sweep of all statewide offices in California.
** OBAMA’S BIG MISTAKE.In the end, politics is a matter of focus. As Ronald Reagan said: “There is no substitute for repetition.” Even Jerry Brown, who notoriously hates repeating himself, finds new ways to say the same things.
But not, at least so far and unfortunately for him, President Barack Obama.
Obama got a major economic stimulus bill passed and took other steps, but did not sustain his public focus on the economy. For nearly a year, we heard that Obama was at last about to pivot back to the economy. This said, ironically, in the midst of a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
If ever “It’s the economy, stupid” was a true truism, it’s been since 2008 in American politics.
But precious time, energy, and capital, i.e., focus has constantly been allocated elsewhere. Not the least of it on a health care bill that took far too long to pass, allowing a firestorm to be kindled that still hasn’t burned out.… From my November 2nd column.
** CALIFORNIA STORY: BROWN AND BOXER KICK FOR THE FINISH LINE.Is it really almost over? California Republicans’ Golden Parachute Twins, billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are bringing distinctly odd notes to their closing efforts to catch Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in the races for governor and U.S. senator.
The last Field Poll of the election season places Brown in the lead over Whitman, 49% to 39%, in the race to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Boxer ahead of Fiorina, 49% to 41%. I have tracking poll numbers from three very reliable pollsters who have Brown’s lead in that vicinity and Boxer’s a bit lower. … From my October 30th feature.
** WITH HISTORY WAITING AT THE FINISH LINE, JERRY BROWN HEADS INTO THE FINAL CURVE OF THE RACE. … From my October 23rd feature.
** MAD MEN‘S SURPRISING YET LOGICAL FINALE: DON DRAPER GOES ALL CALI IN “TOMORROWLAND.” … From my October 20th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, opened around North America on Friday with the third largest Friday box office gross in history, behind only The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3.
** 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 $81.98 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
What is NATO’s role in the world six decades after being formed to oppose the late Soviet Union? And is it on a wise course in Afghanistan, a course originally set nine years ago?
** QUICK HITS. LA Congresswoman Maxine Waters, whose trial was to begin before the House Ethics Committee on November 29th, today found proceedings postponed indefinitely in light of the surfacing of new documents. Water is charged with using her influence to get $12 million in TARP bailout funds for a bank linked to her husband. … The late Friday afternoon vote count update has California Governor-elect Jerry Brown, who defeated billionaire Meg Whitman in a 54% to 41% landslide, now 1.233 million votes ahead. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, the only statewide Democratic candidate whose election was not assured immediately following the election, now leads LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley by 43,000 votes in the race for state attorney general. That’s an improvement of 14,000 votes since the numbers available this morning.
** A MORE SPIRITED OBAMA ANNOUNCES A MISSILE SHIELD DEAL AND NATO BACKING FOR HIS NUCLEAR ARMS REDUCTION TREATY WITH RUSSIA. President Barack Obama sounds more confident and energetic after an overnight flight from Washington and a first round of meetings at the NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
Obama announced that NATO and the U.S. have agreed to jointly develop a missile shield to guard against potential future attack from Iran, and that he expects Russia to participate in the project. And he announced that NATO backs the nuclear arms reduction treaty he negotiated with Russia, ratification of which is now pending in the U.S. Senate.
According to a pool report, Obama spoke for a few minutes after his meetings.
“I’m pleased to announce that for the first time, we’ve agreed to develop a missile defense capability that’s strong enough to cover all NATO European territory and populations, as well as the United States,” he said.
Obama went on to discuss the nuclear treaty with Russia: “Primarily let me say a few words about the need to ratify the new START treaty. As I have said, this is a national security imperative for the United States. But just as it is a national security priority for the United States, the message that I’ve received since I arrived from my fellow leaders here at NATO could not be clearer: new START will strengthen our alliance and it will strengthen European security.”
He didn’t say anything about Afghanistan.
** NEW FEATURE COMING UP … JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION.
** NEW POLL: SPLIT CONTINUES OVER GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY FOR HEALTH CARE, WHILE GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE IS SPURNED.A brand new Gallup Poll shows that passage of the national health care reform has not, contrary to the expectations of former President Bill Clinton and other observes, such as, well, me, consolidated a popular view that the government is rightfully responsible for health care for its citizens. Of course, I expected a much bigger selling job on the virtues of the bill, which never materialized.
While Americans are split on whether government should be responsible for making sure its citizens have health care coverage, they are not split on whether government should run a health care system. By a large margin, they are against that.
Sorry, single-payer fans.
Continuing a change in attitudes first seen last year, Americans remain split on the issue of whether it is the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage. At the same time, 61% prefer a healthcare system based mostly on private insurance rather than a government-run system.
These latest results, from the Nov. 4-7 Gallup Health and Healthcare update, come as the debate over the government’s role in providing healthcare remains a central issue confronting Congress. The new healthcare reform bill passed into law last March quickly became a symbol for many Republicans of an overextension of government power into Americans’ lives. Republican leaders have vowed to repeal the law in the next session of Congress — although recent Gallup polling shows mixed public sentiments on that front.
These two broad questions on the government’s role in healthcare trend back to the early 2000s, and are not designed to measure reactions to the healthcare reform bill per se. They do, however, provide valuable insights into the attitudinal context surrounding the continuing debate about healthcare reform legislation.
Americans for the first time shifted against the “government responsibility” stance last year, as the debate about the form and substance of healthcare reform was accelerating.
This question does not ask about direct government provision of healthcare, but rather about government responsibility for ensuring that Americans have healthcare coverage. It would in theory be possible for one to agree that the government should make sure all Americans have healthcare without favoring a government-run system — in similar fashion to the way the government requires motorists to have automobile liability insurance, even though it does not directly provide such insurance.
Majority Favor a Private Health Insurance-Based System
Gallup has asked Americans since 2001 if they preferred a government-run healthcare system or a private insurance-based system. Prior to this year, the question asked about “replacing” the current system with a government-run system. This year, the question was modified to ask more generally which type of system Americans prefer. Despite this change in wording, this year’s results are essentially identical to last year’s, with 61% preferring a system based on private health insurance. Before 2009, Gallup’s annual November updates showed some fluctuation in responses, although preference for a private health insurance-based system has always outpaced preference for a government-run system.
Implications
Support is not strong in America today for a broad, government-run healthcare system similar to those in operation in Canada, as well as Great Britain and other European countries. A clear majority of Americans continue to support the idea of a healthcare system based on private insurance.
In that sense, the healthcare reform bill is in sync with American public opinion. In the end, supporters backed off from including in the broader bill a “government option” health plan that was advocated by some who wanted expanded government coverage. At the same time, some opponents of the bill continue to argue that taken as a whole, it moves the country significantly closer to a type of government-run system.
The healthcare bill did mandate, in various ways, expanding healthcare coverage to tens of millions of Americans who otherwise would not be covered. That type of government action to ensure that Americans have healthcare coverage would be applauded by about half of Americans, but at this point, about the same percentage would argue that it is not the government’s role to see that all Americans are covered.
Before heading to Lisbon for the NATO summit, President Barack Obama discussed yesterday’s successful IPO relaunching General Motors as a public company, with the federal government’s ownership share reduced from 61% to 33%.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Lisbon, Portugal for the NATO summit.
There NATO leaders will again assess the Afghan War and take some decisions. It’s likely that the US, UK, and other nations — those who aren’t already rushing to the exits — will agree to withdraw troops in four years, with the drawdown beginning next year. Meanwhile, as I reported here yesterday, for the first time a poll shows more Americans opposed to involvement in Afghanistan than in favor.
The time in Lisbon is eight hours later than Pacific Standard Time.
After departing the White House late last night, Obama arrived in Lisbon shortly before 3 AM Pacific.
He then participated in a U.S. Embassy meet and greet at the Lisbon Marriott Hotel.
Following that, Obama participated in an arrival ceremony and signed the guest book at the Belém National Palace in Lisbon.
Then he held a bilateral meeting with President Cavaco Silva at Belém National Palace.
Obama and President Cavaco Silva then delivered statements to the press.
Next, Obama held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Socrates in the Prime Minister’s Office. The two then delivered statements to the press
At 8:20 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a NATO arrival reception at Feria Internacional de Lisboa in Lisbon.
At 8:55 AM Pacific, Obama attends the North Atlantic Council opening session. The NAC is the governing political body of NATO.
At 11:05 AM Pacific, Obama participates in the NATO official photo.
At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili at Feria Internacional de Lisboa.
Saakashvili is seeking assurance that Georgia will not be abandoned in the midst of the rapprochement with Russia.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama participates in the North Atlantic Council working dinner at Feria Internacional de Lisboa.
Many of the Republicans who hope to take on Obama in the 2012 presidential election were in San Diego for the just concluded Republican Governors Association conference. But they were oddly over-shadowed by the RGA’s effort to showcase a newfound diversity in its ranks. There are several women and people of color now among the lineup of GOP governors, and the Republicans are concerned about their image as the party of the angry white man.
I’m hearing that the Republican presidential race may not get underway right away after all, given the fatigue factor from the elections just past and a bit of confusion over the state of the party, which is surprisingly unsettled given the big Republican gains two weeks ago.
Incidentally, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was technically the host governor, was nowhere near the RGA conference in San Diego.
For his part back in Washington, Vice President Joe Biden holds a Middle Class Task Force event to announce new initiatives to help middle class and low income families secure legal rights in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg.
But Biden is spending most of his time working on securing needed Republican votes to ratify the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty.
The White House is putting on a full court press to gain a relative handful of Republicans needed for passage after Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl announced his opposition on Wednesday.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
Harrison Ford discussed the issues at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s third annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit earlier this week at UC Davis.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 9 AM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks highlighting green cars at the L.A. Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.21 million votes in the latest count available this morning.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes won by a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general remains in doubt. She has a lead of a little over 29,000 votes in the latest count available on Friday morning.
** OBAMA’S BIG MISTAKE.In the end, politics is a matter of focus. As Ronald Reagan said: “There is no substitute for repetition.” Even Jerry Brown, who notoriously hates repeating himself, finds new ways to say the same things.
But not, at least so far and unfortunately for him, President Barack Obama.
Obama got a major economic stimulus bill passed and took other steps, but did not sustain his public focus on the economy. For nearly a year, we heard that Obama was at last about to pivot back to the economy. This said, ironically, in the midst of a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
If ever “It’s the economy, stupid” was a true truism, it’s been since 2008 in American politics.
But precious time, energy, and capital, i.e., focus has constantly been allocated elsewhere. Not the least of it on a health care bill that took far too long to pass, allowing a firestorm to be kindled that still hasn’t burned out.… From my November 2nd column.
** CALIFORNIA STORY: BROWN AND BOXER KICK FOR THE FINISH LINE.Is it really almost over? California Republicans’ Golden Parachute Twins, billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are bringing distinctly odd notes to their closing efforts to catch Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in the races for governor and U.S. senator.
The last Field Poll of the election season places Brown in the lead over Whitman, 49% to 39%, in the race to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Boxer ahead of Fiorina, 49% to 41%. I have tracking poll numbers from three very reliable pollsters who have Brown’s lead in that vicinity and Boxer’s a bit lower. … From my October 30th 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 $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Before heading to Lisbon tonight for the NATO summit, President Barack Obama joined a White House meeting with high-ranking Republican and Democratic national security experts to push for Senate ratification of the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. From left to right in the image above: Former Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen, former Senate Armed Services Chairman Sam Nunn, former Secretary of State James Baker, Vice President Joe Biden, President Obama, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
** QUICK HITS. Before tonight’s flight to Lisbon and the NATO summit, President Barack Obama pushed hard for Senate ratification of the nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, merely the key to his nuclear build-down strategy around the world, the reset of relations with Russia, and several other geopolitical matters hinging on an entente with Moscow. But he does not have the votes yet on Thursday evening. … At the CERN supercollider facility in Switzerland, anti-matter was for the first time created and briefly (for a tenth of a second or so) stored for the first time. The Starship Enterprise is still a ways off, though. … Eight of the 14 members of California’s new independent citizen redistricting commission created by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s November 2008 initiative victory were selected today in the culmination of a several stage process that included the state auditor and the element of chance. Five are women, four are Asian, two are white, one is Latino, and one is African American. … In the mid-afternoon vote count update, Governor-elect Jerry Brown, who demolished billionaire Meg Whitman, 54% to 41%, has a 1.21 million vote lead. But Democrat Kamala Harris has only a 9000-vote edge over LA DA Steve Cooley for state attorney general.
** CALIFORNIA 2011: POLLS WITH FAMILIAR MESSAGES. (UNFORTUNATELY.) Two new polls pointing ahead to the days of the Jerry Brown Administration (2.0) tell us things that, unfortunately, we already know.
This poll tells us that three quarters of Californians think that funding for higher education is inadequate, one quarter approves of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job performance, about half that think the Legislature is doing a good job, most parents are worried about the cost of college, and most think the state’s three systems of higher education — California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California — are doing a good job.
Most say they favor more money for higher education even if it means less money for other programs. But they are split down the middle on whether they would pay more themselves in taxes for higher education. And most are against higher student fees.
As usual in such polls, Californians are for good and shiny things. How to secure them is a much hazier proposition. But they do want Governor-elect Brown to secure them.
Most Californians want to cut government spending.
They aren’t enthusiastic about raising taxes, even on others.
They don’t want to cut spending in the areas where there is actual heavy spending, i.e., on education and social services. They do want to cut spending on prisons, which are only 10% of the state budget, and already straight-jacketed by federal judicial mandates and voter-imposed crime programs.
And they do think that great savings can be achieved through eliminating the old canard known as “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
In other words, it’s an infantilized electorate.
The good news is that few seriously expect Jerry Brown to make a big difference in his first year.
In other words, they have unrealistically high expectations about state government, but realistically lowered expectations about the new governor.
For the first time, most Americans, as reflected by the poll, don’t think that the U.S. should be involved in Afghanistan.
50% now say the U.S. should not be involved in Afghanistan now, while 44% say we are doing the right thing by fighting the war in Afghanistan. That’s the actual wording of the question, incidentally.
In January 59% said we should be there, with only 35% opposed.
Which means that in only a 10-month span of time, opinion on the Afghan War has gone from plus-24 to minus-6.
That’s a very striking turnaround, especially since the war was barely discussed during this campaign season. You can bet it will be discussed as the presidential campaign ramps up.
It’s only because of heavy support from Republicans that the current question is at all close.
Republicans back the war, 64-31.
But Democrats oppose the war, 62-33, as do independents, 54-40.
The Obama Administration is pressing for prompt ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty by the lame duck Senate.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and then en route this evening to Lisbon for the NATO summit.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama then joined a meeting in the Roosevelt Room hosted by Vice President Joe Biden to discuss the new START treaty, i.e., the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction pact, which Obama wants ratified by the lame duck Senate.
The White House is putting on a full court press to gain a relative handful of Republicans needed for passage after Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl announced his opposition yesterday.
Attendees include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator John Kerry; Senator Richard Lugar; former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger; former Secretaries of Defense William Cohen and William Perry; former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright; and Senator Sam Nunn.
At 7:45 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Congressional Democratic Leadership in the Oval Office.
This was to have been a meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders, but the Republicans backed out, delaying that meeting until November 30th.
Small wonder that polls show that most Americans do not expect an end to partisan fighting, which they want ended.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 12 noon Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
At 8:15 PM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:30 PM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Lisbon, Portugal.
In some good economic news for the administration, the bailed-out General Motors is debuting one of the biggest IPOs in history today, selling shares at $33 at opening, which has already gone up to $36. This will reduce the government’s ownership from 61% to 33%. GM is already turning a profit in the year after Obama took it over.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
He is prepping for the NATO summit this weekend in Lisbon, Portugal.
There NATO leaders will again assess the Afghan War. It’s likely that the US, UK, and other nations — those who aren’t already rushing to the exits — will agree to withdraw troops in four years.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed his just concluded third annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit at UC Davis.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events and will hold private talks.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** NEW FEATURE COMING UP … JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is holding private talks on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.2 million votes in the Wednesday afternoon count.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes for a gubernatorial candidate in American history.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats — including the easily re-elected Senator Barbara Boxer and her 10-point win over ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — only San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general remains in doubt. She has a lead of 31,000 votes in the latest count from Wednesday afternoon.
** OBAMA’S BIG MISTAKE.In the end, politics is a matter of focus. As Ronald Reagan said: “There is no substitute for repetition.” Even Jerry Brown, who notoriously hates repeating himself, finds new ways to say the same things.
But not, at least so far and unfortunately for him, President Barack Obama.
Obama got a major economic stimulus bill passed and took other steps, but did not sustain his public focus on the economy. For nearly a year, we heard that Obama was at last about to pivot back to the economy. This said, ironically, in the midst of a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
If ever “It’s the economy, stupid” was a true truism, it’s been since 2008 in American politics.
But precious time, energy, and capital, i.e., focus has constantly been allocated elsewhere. Not the least of it on a health care bill that took far too long to pass, allowing a firestorm to be kindled that still hasn’t burned out.… From my November 2nd column.
** CALIFORNIA STORY: BROWN AND BOXER KICK FOR THE FINISH LINE.Is it really almost over? California Republicans’ Golden Parachute Twins, billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are bringing distinctly odd notes to their closing efforts to catch Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in the races for governor and U.S. senator.
The last Field Poll of the election season places Brown in the lead over Whitman, 49% to 39%, in the race to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Boxer ahead of Fiorina, 49% to 41%. I have tracking poll numbers from three very reliable pollsters who have Brown’s lead in that vicinity and Boxer’s a bit lower. … From my October 30th 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 $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta was awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday at the White House by President Barack Obama. The young paratrooper from Iowa is the first recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War who was not killed in action. He is only the fourth Medal of Honor winner from the Afghan War.
** QUICK HITS.As predicted all along, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco easily won election to be the House minority leader in the next Congress. The vote, taken by secret ballot, was 150 to 43 over North Carolina Congressman Heath Shuler, who was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1993 before playing a few seasons as quarterback for the Washington Redskins. … On the other side of the aisle, 45-year old Bakersfield Congressman Kevin McCarthy, who was minority leader of the California Assembly from 2004 to 2006, was elected House majority whip in the new Congress, the number three leadership post in the House. … Billionaire Meg Whitman, landslide loser to Jerry Brown for governor of California despite shattering all non-presidential campaign spending records in American history, reached a settlement today with Nicky Diaz, her former housekeeper. Whitman will pay her $5,500 to at least partially account for hours worked for which the illegal immigrant was never paid. I’d heard long ago that Whitman had a very aggrieved illegal immigrant housekeeper, cut loose as a liability after being underpaid and exploited. Why Whitman, who spent well over $144 million of her personal funds on her campaign, didn’t dig deep for another ten or fifteen grand for Diaz is a very intriguing question.
** 2012: NO CLEAR PRESIDENTIAL LEADER AS REPUBLICANS GATHER IN SAN DIEGO. The Republican Governors Association conference is getting underway in San Diego. While much of the attention will be focused on new look Republican faces, like Nevada Governor-elect Brian Sandoval, New Mexico Governor-elect Susana Martinez, and South Carolina Governor-elect Nikki Haley, an Indian-American, the bulk of the attention will focus on a raft of potential Republican presidential contenders.
All of them are mindful that the first presidential debate will take place in the spring at the Reagan Library in the LA suburb of Simi Valley.
But for all the talk of a wounded Obama presidency, the Republican candidates are not all that imposing. And none has an edge in what looks to be a fractious, crowded race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Rank-and-file Republicans have no clear favorite for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination when asked to choose among a large field of potential candidates. Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee are essentially tied for the lead, with Newt Gingrich close behind. Preferences have been largely stable since September, though Gingrich and Huckabee have seen modest increases.
It’s Romney 19%, Palin 16%, Huckabee 16%, and Gingrich 13%.
I must admit that I like to think of Gingrich as a frontrunner because then I have an excuse to read and write about his alternative history novels.
The current results on Republicans’ presidential nomination preferences suggest the 2012 contest could be more wide open than any since the winners began to be determined largely through state primaries and caucuses in 1972. Since that time, there has typically been a clear Republican front-runner before the nominating campaign got underway, including Richard Nixon in 1972, Gerald Ford in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and Rudy Giuliani in 2008. With the exception of Giuliani, the front-running candidate has prevailed.
** NEW SURVEY: SHARP IMPROVEMENT IN UNEMPLOYMENT COMES TOO LATE FOR DEMOCRATS IN THE MID-TERM ELECTIONS. A new Gallup Poll survey picks up a sharp improvement in the U.S. unemployment rate. Unfortunately for the Democrats, it comes at least a month too late for their hopes to hold on to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi will today be elected minority leader.
But it may be coming right on time for President Barack Obama.
Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, declined to 9.2% during the first half of November — down from 9.4% during the last half of October and 10.0% in mid-October — and one of the lowest levels of the year. …
The decline in the unemployment rate along with the slight drop in the percentage of part-time workers wanting full-time work combined to bring underemployment down to 17.7% — its lowest level of 2010. This is an improvement from the 18.6% underemployment of mid-October and mid-September, and is the second consecutive new low.
Gallup’s economic data suggest that the job market continued to improve during the first half of November. As noted previously, if current Gallup unemployment trends continue, the government’s unemployment rate for November is likely to show a decline when reported in early December.
Because Gallup’s U.S. unemployment rate and underemployment measure are not seasonally adjusted, some of the late October and November improvement is probably the result of retailers hiring for the Christmas holidays. This is particularly likely because Gallup’s most recent spending estimates suggest at least a slightly better holiday sales season this year.
Although many economists and politicians continue to complain about the Federal Reserve’s efforts to inject money into the economy, it may be that anticipation of this aggressive Fed policy has increased economic optimism among the nation’s business leaders. In turn, this could be leading to more companies being willing to hire.
Regardless of the reason, this is good news for retailers and the overall economy as the holiday season gets fully underway.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 8:15 AM Pacific, Obama meets with his national security team in the Situation Room for his monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
At 9:45 AM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet for lunch in the private dining room.
At 12:45 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
At 2:25 PM Pacific, Obama awards the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation in the East Room.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq.
He is prepping for the NATO summit this week in Lisbon, Portugal.
There NATO leaders will again assess the Afghan War. It’s likely that the US, UK, and other nations — those who aren’t already rushing to the exits — will agree to withdraw troops in four years.
Obama will also see his ally, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Last week, when they met in Japan, Obama declared that Senate ratification of the New Start treaty, the sharp reduction of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons, was on course.
But yesterday, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, the Senate minority whip, announced that he wants to delay ratification until the new Senate convenes, which would entail more hearings and more delay. Obama had hoped to entice Kyl’s support with promises of billions in new spending to modernize what would remain of the American nuclear arsenal. But Kyl, one of the Senate’s most conservative members, has not signed on.
It’s rather baffling to me why Kyl, who like most hawks of his party was never in the military and has betrayed no particular expertise in geopolitics, has such apparent sway over Republicans. After all, his state’s senior senator, John McCain, obviously a genuine national figure, says he is for the treaty. Can’t he sway a relative handful of Republicans to join Democrats to get the needed two-thirds vote for ratification?
Last December, amidst the wreckage of the UN climate summit of national governments in Copenhagen, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for a global program of concerted action by subnational governments — states, provinces, cities, and regions.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Today is the seventh anniversary of his first inauguration as governor of California.
At 10 AM, Schwarzenegger will participate in a press conference at Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters in San Francisco where Tom Steyer, founder of TomKat Charitable Trust will announce that the Trust has committed a quarter of a million dollars to create an energy efficiency sales training program. The gift will benefit The California Advanced Lighting Controls Training Program, a collaboration of statewide utilities, UC Davis, California Community Colleges, electrical workers and contractors. At the event, electrical contractors will announce their intent to hire the first 50 graduates of the program.
Steyer was co-chair of the No on 23 campaign, which Schwarzenegger celebrated at his just concluded third annual Governors’ Global Climate Summit, co-sponsored with the United Nations, at the University of California at Davis.
Schwarzenegger cited the 61% to 39% vote against the oil industry-backed initiative to do away with California’s landmark climate change/renewable energy program as the biggest public vote ever in favor of a green economy.
And “Building the Green Economy” happened to have been the slogan of this summit, perhaps the last big event of Schwarzenegger’s governorship.
Yesterday Schwarzenegger joined several leaders from around the world to announce a global subnational public-private alliance that will work toward climate change solutions and building the global green economy. This is R20, Regions of Climate Action, a UN-affiliated non-profit organization incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland. R20 is to focus on action at the level of subnational government, i.e., states, provinces, cities, and regions.
Schwarzenegger also joined Governor Arnóbio Marques de Almeida Júnior from Acre, Brazil and Governor Juan José Sabines Guerrero from Chiapas, Mexico in announcing a pact to save large tropical rain forests, in many respects the “lungs of the planet.”
I’ll have exclusive coverage of the Governors’ Global Climate Summit, and the overall state of green politics, in a forthcoming feature.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** NEW FEATURE COMING UP … JERRY BROWN AND THE CALIFORNIA EXCEPTION.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown and First Lady-to be (and more) Anne Gust Brown are back from their post-election vacation.
Brown came to Sacramento yesterday for talks on the chronic state budget crisis and his own gubernatorial transition, which has been proceeding behind the scenes.
In a brief press availability, he offered up few clues as to his exact moves.
Yet key clues have been evident all along.
Brown supports Schwarzenegger’s special legislative session on the new $6 billion hole in the current budget. Why wouldn’t he? The Legislature broke all records this year in tardiness in producing a budget, and ended up with one that was almost immediately out of whack.
Brown will have a $19 billion deficit to deal with in the coming budget. Does he want another $6 billion to deal with on top of that?
Obviously not.
And just as obviously, many Democrats would like to delay action yet again to try to … To try to what? Is a gusher of revenue going to magically appear after Brown is inaugurated on January 3rd.
That does not, shall we say, appear likely.
Personnel? Brown is now a very hands-on leader. Running around Oakland over the years while he was mayor made that clear enough. He essentially ran his own campaign for governor. His very clever and organized wife, Anne Gust Brown, is his closest advisor and manager. I’ve mentioned other key players in my coverage.
He’s in no rush to replace a raft of Arnold appointees in the near term. Though obviously most will depart in time.
Like his campaign, his governorship is not about a bonanza for staffers and consultants, it’s about ideas and direction.
Meanwhile, and I don’t get tired of this, Brown, who is besting billionaire Meg Whitman in the ongoing post-election count by a 54% to 41% margin, leads the biggest spending non-presidential campaign in American history by 1.2 million votes in the Tuesday evening count.
With well over 5 million votes, he has broken the record for most votes for a gubernatorial candidate.
Whitman, incidentally, gave another $2.6 million to her campaign on November 2nd, quietly reported yesterday, to cover outstanding bills. That brings her official personal contribution to $144.2 million. But we know that the real total is significantly higher, at least $2 million more, since she gave chief strategist Mike Murphy over $1 million for his credit-free Hollywood production company two days after he left rival Steve Poizner’s campaign and spent heavily early on for consultants, research, and travel, none of which she reported.
Whitman ended up spending around $180 million on her campaign.
With all other statewide offices held by Democrats, only Kamala Harris’s bid for attorney general remains in doubt. She has a lead of 31,000 votes in the latest count from Tuesday evening.
** OBAMA’S BIG MISTAKE.In the end, politics is a matter of focus. As Ronald Reagan said: “There is no substitute for repetition.” Even Jerry Brown, who notoriously hates repeating himself, finds new ways to say the same things.
But not, at least so far and unfortunately for him, President Barack Obama.
Obama got a major economic stimulus bill passed and took other steps, but did not sustain his public focus on the economy. For nearly a year, we heard that Obama was at last about to pivot back to the economy. This said, ironically, in the midst of a slow recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
If ever “It’s the economy, stupid” was a true truism, it’s been since 2008 in American politics.
But precious time, energy, and capital, i.e., focus has constantly been allocated elsewhere. Not the least of it on a health care bill that took far too long to pass, allowing a firestorm to be kindled that still hasn’t burned out.… From my November 2nd column.
** CALIFORNIA STORY: BROWN AND BOXER KICK FOR THE FINISH LINE.Is it really almost over? California Republicans’ Golden Parachute Twins, billionaire Meg Whitman and ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, are bringing distinctly odd notes to their closing efforts to catch Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer in the races for governor and U.S. senator.
The last Field Poll of the election season places Brown in the lead over Whitman, 49% to 39%, in the race to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Boxer ahead of Fiorina, 49% to 41%. I have tracking poll numbers from three very reliable pollsters who have Brown’s lead in that vicinity and Boxer’s a bit lower. … From my October 30th 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 $48 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s closing ad in his landslide 2003 election as governor of California.
Seven years ago today, Arnold Schwarzenegger was inaugurated as governor of California.
In one of the most spectacular elections ever staged, or for that matter, held, the voters of California recalled their just re-elected Governor Gray Davis and installed a new governor, the world bodybuilding champion-turned-action movie superstar.
Here is my account from the early days of the Arnold era, in my role then as chief political writer for the LA Weekly.
LA Weekly
Thursday, November 20 2003
A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN
Gov. Arnold starts the revolution
By Bill Bradley
The 38th governorship of California launched like a movie premiere, with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in between movie star and politician mode, projecting his image to teeming masses and swiftly greeting elites in classy, closed-door parties. It may mark the start of an era of political renewal in the tarnished Golden State, or it may mark a wild new phase in California’s ongoing political devolution.
First Lady Maria Shriver checked out the impressive outdoor stage setup Sunday afternoon with the couple’s four children, who practiced their part in the Pledge of Allegiance. She directed much of the day’s planning, and did finishing work with Schwarzenegger on his 12-minute address. The speech was a collaboration between Reagan speechwriter extraordinaire Landon Parvin and Kennedy speechwriting ace Bob Shrum. On inaugural day, fate intervened for Schwarzenegger, described as “the luckiest man in the world” by one associate, as the sun broke through as he spoke on a Sacramento day that usually would have been enshrouded in fog.
Heartfelt and well-conceived, the action movie superstar’s speech was the statement of a 21st century Hiram Johnson, its new-wave Progressive message emphasizing the point that the recall election which gave rise to the once seemingly fanciful new governorship of the former Mr. Universe was not simply about rejecting former Governor Gray Davis “but about changing the entire political climate of our state.” Likening the entrenched partisan divisions of Sacramento to the crisis of 1787 which led to the U.S. Constitution, Governor Arnold laid out his thematic template for what he hopes will be a fusion administration to revive California as “the golden dream by the sea.”
After praising Gray Davis for his grace during the transition, noting that the recall was not merely about him, Schwarzenegger declared that California has become the state with the biggest budget deficit, worst credit rating, most expensive workers’ compensation system, and so on. Oddly, Davis smiled throughout this litany, bringing to mind the old Mad magazine line, “Why is this man smiling?” But as the inaugural address went on, with Schwarzenegger clearly taking command before the 7,500 seated and standing guests and a global television audience, the recalled governor appeared stricken, his smile turned to a deep frown. Sharon Davis comforted him by taking his hand.
According to his ex-boss, former Governor Jerry Brown, his longtime chief of staff lingered after Schwarzenegger’s swearing-in, though he was gone from the capital by mid-afternoon when the new governor was attending the third and least exclusive of his three inaugural luncheons, an affair for more than 2,000 sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce at the convention center. Davis’ future plans remain as up in the air as the Southwest Airlines flight by which he departed the city where he has spent much of the past 30 years.
After the politicians luncheon in the Capitol Rotunda, Jerry Brown joined the family and friends luncheon at the venerable Sutter Club, named for the man who started the California Gold Rush. Asked how it felt to be in “the lions’ den” with all those Republicans and his two Republican successors, George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson, Brown quipped, “No, they’re pussycats.”
Brown has repeatedly praised Schwarzenegger and seems enthused about the new political era. “It’s a time again for reinvention in California,” declared the two-time Democratic presidential runner-up. “He has a real opportunity here.”
L.A. Mayor Jim Hahn is enthusiastic, too, though he wonders where the money will come from to replace the money for local government that comes from the reduction in the car tax, which Schwarzenegger had just slashed as his first official act. Still, “we get along well. And it’s good to have a governor from L.A. You know Gray lives in West Hollywood,” he joked.
Former Governor Deukmejian allowed as how Schwarzenegger is “more liberal” than he but probably needs to be. “It’s a changed state,” he said, “very different” from what it was in his 1980s tenure.
Former Governor Wilson, acknowledged that Schwarzenegger must draw “from an eclectic group.” Easy for him to say, since his former staffers and appointees have the most visible pedigrees in the nascent administration.
But Wilson, a very capable man who stumbled on immigration and energy policy, seems comfortable with a wide variety of voices having influence with Schwarzenegger. In any event, it is what the new governor wants. As befits a man whose latest movie, Terminator 3, moved into the all-time top 50 in worldwide box office the day before he was elected governor, Schwarzenegger had a crew of stars on hand, as well as many of his in-laws in the Shriver and Kennedy families, including Maria’s close friend Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy.
“We’re FOAs,” quipped Jamie Lee Curtis, “Friends of Arnold.” Curtis, smartly attired in a pantsuit which the pants-hating Arnold of the 1980s might have decried, is a Democrat as are most among the ranks of Danny DeVito, Rob Lowe, Vanessa Williams, Tom Arnold, Tia Carrera, Linda Hamilton and Dennis Miller.
Curtis’ fellow True Lies star Tom Arnold is married to the daughter of former Assembly Majority Leader Mike Roos of L.A. Kiddingly bemoaning the loss of the in-the-works True Lies 2, Tom Arnold said he is still amazed by the rapidity with which his friend has gone from the top of Hollywood to the top of politics. “Buddy, I’m still wrapping my head around this,” he exclaimed. “But Arnold is way too smart to blow it.”
A New Sheriff in Town
Gov. Arnold starts the revolution
By Bill Bradley Thursday, Nov 20 2003
…continued from page 1
Schwarzenegger consigliere Bob White, Wilson’s former chief of staff and the man behind much of the gubernatorial transition, seemed less stunned if a bit bemused by the whirl of it all. No administration has had a shorter transition and no governor a more rapid shift from one field of endeavor to another than this one. White is happy that things are coming off so quickly with so few hitches. But much remains unsettled.
Schwarzenegger’s opening ad in his first campaign for governor of California.
Schwarzenegger and Shriver’s longtime friend and confidante Bonnie Reiss, a liberal Democrat who is now senior advisor to the new governor, is still working out where she will be and when. Indeed, it was unclear on inaugural day where Schwarzenegger would be after a series of rapid-fire actions lasting till Wednesday around legislative special sessions on the budget crisis, workers’ compensation reform, and his proposed repeal of the illegal immigrants driver’s license bill. It’s also not clear where he will live when he is in Sacramento, beyond his immediate future at the Hyatt at Capitol Park. Shriver has been house hunting in Sacramento and has enlisted some friends in the effort.
Notable by his absence was recall champion Darrell Issa, the conservative San Diego congressman who bankrolled the drive to place the recall on the ballot and ended his own gubernatorial candidacy when Schwarzenegger entered the race. But 2002 Republican nominee Bill Simon, who attends the same Catholic church in Santa Monica as Schwarzenegger and former L.A. mayor–turned–Schwarzenegger education secretary Dick Riordan, was a ubiquitous presence. Indeed, one of the striking sights of the inaugural whirlwind was that of Simon, GOP powerhouse Frank Baxter, and other Republicans in lengthy discussions in a hotel bar with L.A. Senator Gil Cedillo, one of the Legislature’s left-liberal stalwarts. A key topic of discussion? Cedillo’s efforts to forge a compromise on his driver’s license bill for illegal immigrants, the passage and signing of which by Davis backfired dramatically for both the ex-governor and the Democratic replacement nominee, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.
As it happens, there will be no compromise by Schwarzenegger on the driver’s license bill. He demands that the Legislature repeal this bill opposed by 70 percent of the voters, and it appears likely that the Legislature will comply. A new version may appear down the line, with post-9/11 security safeguards similar to those present in the bill Davis vetoed last year but oddly absent from the bill this year. But for now, Team Arnold is insistent that there is a new sheriff in town.
In his special session on the budget crisis, the new sheriff in town will be pushing a massive plan to use bonds to take care of much of his inherited ongoing budget mess. He will ask the Legislature for $15 billion in debt restructuring bonds to place on the March ballot. Which is actually less than he wants. All but a few billion of that is to make up for constitutionally suspect bonds already issued. The Democrats will then be expected to bid up the total amount of the bonds to be placed before the voters or face the prospect of budget cuts which many would find draconian. The trade-off for such program preservation would be a new spending cap and expensive ongoing debt service, both of which would inhibit future spending growth like what brought on the current crisis.
And what of the Democrats? While lasting icons Jerry Brown and Willie Brown praise Schwarzenegger, the position of the current crowd of Capitol Democrats is less clear.
State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton was spotted by a colleague sitting alone in his darkened Capitol office Sunday night, before skipping Monday’s Inaugural in favor of a golf tournament fund-raiser. Burton, who loves movie stars and despised Davis, has issued waspishly cryptic remarks to the press after being charmed by Schwarzenegger in the election’s aftermath. The regime which he did so much to build as Senate president is crumbling, with the Democratic-controlled Legislature held in equally low repute as the former governor, its budgets and policies such as the driver’s license bill rejected by most voters as excess.
Director Rob Reiner, rumored to be considering a run for governor in 2006, attended Schwarzenegger’s private party for 600 guests Sunday night at the Sheraton Grand. The longtime Democratic activist will campaign for a teachers union–backed initiative to raise business property taxes for more education spending, which the former bodybuilding champion opposes. Reiner would not discuss his own political future. (He was not the only mum’s-the-word Democrat there. “I’m not here,” said one Democratic moneyman, though he clearly was.)
The Democratic field may be more open than anticipated, with the expected front-runner, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, having neatly tied himself in knots by revealing that he voted for Schwarzenegger, then saying that he was troubled by the L.A. Times’ late-breaking charges of sexual misconduct against him. Was he for Arnold now? Was he against Arnold now? Should he debate himself about all that stuff?
That left Treasurer Phil Angelides as the Democratic alternative. But even some of the most Arnold-hating members of the press corps say they don’t like Angelides much, either, considering him a grandstander. It is true that Angelides, who condemns Schwarzenegger’s increasingly apparent plan to restructure the debt with massive borrowing, was resistant to criticizing the similar though smaller-scaled approach of Davis and the Democratic Legislature during the recall election.
A New Sheriff in Town
Gov. Arnold starts the revolution
By Bill Bradley Thursday, Nov 20 2003
…continued from page 2
The Weekly had to ask several follow-up questions of Angelides to get him to acknowledge that the state’s bonded indebtedness was at a record level. Angelides, who is sharp as a tack, insisted at first that he didn’t know the numbers — seeking to deflect the question from the press conference call to later ask his staff — though his memory improved markedly under questioning.
Nevertheless, Angelides makes very fair points about the advisability of deferring the cost of the budget debacle to future generations through bonding, though he does not really say how much his alternative of increasing taxes rather than imposing debt service would cost Californians. However that debate turns out, it is a mistake to underestimate the state treasurer and former party chairman, who is clearly one of the most intelligent and hardworking people in California politics.
With a $10 million war chest, an activist base, and a well-honed programmatic message, Angelides, not Reiner (who has nowhere near the image of Schwarzenegger or any other big movie star), has to be the early favorite to take on the Terminator in 2006. Schwarzenegger won’t say if he will run for re-election. But here is one bet that he won’t be saying “Hasta la Vista, Sacramento” anytime soon.
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